Ep. 189: Clodagh on the Twist & Turns of Her Extraordinary Life & Career [encore]

Clodagh (0:05)

That's the vision and mission I carry on, whether it's your bed, your furniture, the way your door opens and closes. I want to make people feel good.

Amy Devers (0:15)

Hi everyone. I'm Amy Devers, and this is Clever. Today, I'm talking to the legendary Clodagh.

Born in 1940, Clodagh grew up in the Irish countryside, in what was once Oscar Wilde's home. She embarked on her first career chapter as a fashion designer, when at the young age of 17, she opened a couture salon in Dublin. She jokes that in the 1970s, she changed husbands, countries, and careers, when after having three children, achieving global success in the fashion industry, and getting a hard-won divorce, she moved to Spain, remarried, and found her true calling as an interior designer. She moved countries again in the 1980s, setting up her own studio in New York City. Now, having been a design powerhouse for over five decades, she's completed projects all over the world, including multifamily residences, hotels, spas, yachts, private jets, and more. A renowned pioneer of sustainable and biophilic design, she's always cared most about how her spaces make people feel. And as such, she's earned a reputation for being somewhat of a healer by way of design. And she's been vegan since the 80s.

As the subject of two separate documentaries, she's led a remarkable life full of ups, downs, twists, turns, and near-death experiences. It's a wild ride full of grit, heart, wisdom, and humor. Here's Clodagh.

Clodagh (1:55)

My name is Clodagh, I live upstate New York and I work in Manhattan.

I'm a multi-faceted designer, not an interior designer. I design anything that's handed to me to design.

Amy Devers (2:11)

That is a special, special talent, very fluid. So let's talk about how you got to be this multi-faceted designer. And to do that, I would love to go all the way back to the formative years.

Can you talk to me about your childhood in the West of Ireland?

Clodagh (2:27)

I was born in the West of Ireland, in County Mayo.

Brought up in Oscar Wilde's country home, Moitura House on the banks of Loch Corrib. I had an interesting family. There were actually in the end three children. I'm the youngest. From a mother who actually was quite avant-garde in her way because she drove a sports car.

One of the first women actually to drive in Ireland. She had an art show and she rode fast horses, side saddle in cross country competitions. This was before I was born. She did all these things. No, by the time I came along, she was actually a very different person.

Amy Devers (3:10)

Was her avant-garde spirit an inspiration to you?

Clodagh (3:14)

Well, I didn't know she was avant-garde until I was much older.

Amy Devers (3:20)

She had settled down.

Clodagh (3:22)

She had really settled down, yes. She was very quiet and my father really did nothing very much at all. He didn't have a job or anything like that. We were basically downwardly mobile, country gentle people.

Amy Devers (3:35)

Okay. I don't have a lot of that. I don't have a lot of reference for that in my life.

Clodagh (3:40)

No, most people don't. My father bred dogs. He had what they call a gentleman's farm. We would row out to unlock carab to an island and have a picnic with a row of dogs swimming behind us, with their noses making Vs on the water. We had some cows and we had neighbors. And we're near Ashford Castle, which is one of the most beautiful castles in Ireland. We used to go over there sometimes as a huge treat. And then because we were down roadly mobile, we changed homes and went to a smaller one in Sligo.

That's when my first time to going to school.

Amy Devers (4:16)

In living in Oscar Wilde's country home, did you sense the history? Did you feel his presence?

Clodagh (4:22)

I was too small to feel Oscar's presence, but I felt it later because my brother and sister were older and my brother gave me a book about the Epigrams of Oscar Wilde when I was about eight, I think. And I have lived on his quotes for the rest of my life. I collect quotes like other people collect jewelry and stuff like that. Even have a quote wall in our studio. I'm very inspired by words. Always been inspired by words.

Amy Devers (4:51)

So what kinds of things captured your youthful imagination?

Clodagh (4:55)

I was a very wild child, not on drugs or anything like that, just wandering around the woods and very much on my own. I didn't have any friends until we actually went to Sligo when I was sent to school.