Gabrielle Johnson

Photographer and illustrator Todd Selby's 2008 personal project — shooting the homes of his fashionably eclectic friends — took on a life of its own when he posted the compelling images on his website, The Selby. Within two months, the project turned into a full-time job and Selby became an internet superstar. He was in town last week promoting his new book, The Selby is in Your Place; we sat down to chat about design, Karl Lagerfeld and living with a minimalist.     

How did The Selby come about?

I worked for a year at Details, and then I became a freelance photographer, mostly shooting portraits for different magazines. I always felt that one of the most interesting parts of doing portraiture was going into the homes of these really interesting people. I’d learned so much from going into their spaces and seeing their things,  and I thought it would be cool to do a personal project around that idea.

And people were willing to open up their homes to you? Your photos look extremely un-styled, especially compared to traditional shelter magazines.

In the beginning, it was me just calling my friends and saying, “Hey, I’m doing this thing, do me a favour and let me shoot your place.” Because no one knew about the project, it was nothing. The website snowballed quickly, and as time went on it became more and more popular – the only real drawback is that because so many people are now looking at The Selby, the people I shoot can sometimes become self-conscious.

What makes a space interesting?  

A space is interesting to me if it says something about the person who’s in it. I don’t like spaces that don’t say anything about the people who live there, which is a lot of homes that you might see in publications – it’s just something that some interior designer did for someone who paid them to do it. And maybe that’s an expression of the interior designer’s art. I respect that, but it’s not a naturally occurring process, when people assemble things and it says something about them.

Do you have a favourite design style or era?

I love Memphis furniture. I don’t have any but I really like it. Karl Lagerfeld used to have the best collection, but he auctioned it all off. I really love it.

Lagerfeld was the one person you always said you wanted to shoot, and you shot him for your new book. Were you nervous?  

Yeah, I was nervous. I’m not very easily intimidated, but he’s an intimidating figure. When I was in there, I was taking pictures of some of the stuff before he got there, and his assistant kept saying, “No, you can’t take a picture of that! You can’t take a picture of that!” And I was like, “Oh my god!” and I was really scared, but then she just started laughing. She did it to me a bunch of times – she knows that Karl has that intimidation factor, so she was just teasing me.

What’s your place like? Are we ever going to see it?

Maybe! I have two places [in New York’s East Village]: a studio, where I am most of the time, and my house, which I share with my girlfriend. My studio is the place that’s more representative of my style and who I am. It’s pretty colourful and chaotic and disorganized. Everything is stuck to the walls. The whole place is like an inspiration board.

What’s your girlfriend’s style?

She’s very minimalist and slick and tasteful and polished, and I’m not slick, messy, maximalist. I really love colour, and she likes black and grey, so it’s kind of funny,

How have you reconciled your opposing décor styles?  

We haven’t reconciled them – it’s an ongoing thing. I’m proposing creative solutions, which she hasn’t liked yet. I thought we could split our space in half, and I could do whatever I wanted in my half and she could do whatever she wanted in her half. She hated that idea.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to keep expanding the scope of what I’m shooting – I’m going to come do Canada and shoot some spaces. It’s long, long overdue.