Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/304023
very important. We created the first swim tee and went on to create the first long-sleeve swimsuit. Chic rash guards, swimsuits with sleeves and swim leggings are Cover innovations, and others have followed suit. I do most of the design and visual aspects of Cover and have a very specific and strong opinion about our style. INSPIRATIONS. I find inspiration everywhere. I've always loved fashion. As a child, I remember all I wanted to do when we took a weekend trip to the lake was read magazines and apply beauty treatments. My beloved grandmother had a sewing room, and I remember sitting with her, watching her make patterns and sew garments. It was fascinating. I have a collection of clothes from the late 1990s, early 2000s — Tom Ford for Gucci and YSL, Stella McCartney for Chloé. I remember discovering designers like Dries van Noten and Marni when Forty Five Ten first opened. It was amazing. I would shop the sales at Forty Five Ten, Stanley Korshak and Carla Martinengo as soon as I could drive. For every day, I love the clean modern lines of labels like Theory, Alexander Wang and Vince. I also love modern art and architecture. Mid-century modern is my favorite era of furniture design. DESTINATIONS, EXOTIC OR OTHERWISE, THAT INFORM YOU CREATIVELY? Wayne and I love to travel. We spend a lot of time with our kids at my family's home in Carmel. Growing up, my parents took us to the beach often. Beach living is definitely an inspiration. YOU LAUNCHED A COLLABORATION WITH ARTIST RICHARD PHILLIPS. HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT? DO YOU EXPECT MORE IN THE FUTURE? Richard has always been one of my all-time favorite artists. Seeing the Mask at Lisa and John Runyon's home years ago ignited my passion for figurative art. I met Richard at the Power Station premiere of his Lindsay Lohan film. I introduced myself and told him that I loved his surf-inspired film and that I design surf-inspired swimwear and would be over the moon if he would consider collaborating on a nonprofit project. I got in touch with him on my next trip to NY, and we got the collaboration rolling at his studio. To me, there is nothing cooler than collaborating with someone as supremely talented as Richard. YOUR HOME IS AN OASIS OF CREATIVITY. Thank you! We love color and try to minimize clutter. Wayne is my sounding board on everything. He is a true partner and is very creative and incredibly smart. We make a lot of design decisions and all of the art decisions together. It's important that our home be completely kid-friendly and comfortable. We often have 10 to 20 kids running through the house on a Saturday night. TELL ME ABOUT SOME OF YOUR ART PROJECTS WITH YOUR KIDS. THE PAC-MAN WALL IN YOUR HOME COMES TO MIND. I like to inspire creativity. We frame and hang a lot of our kids' art and keep an art table in the playroom stocked with all kinds of random art supplies. Right now, they are into applying "googly eyes" to everything. We painted our guest bathroom with chalkboard walls so that our kids and guests can draw and write. I love the messages and pictures left after a party, especially one with kids. We spelled the word "yes" in neon in honor of my late brother-in-law and all the people in our lives that are yes-people. I can't stand people who say no all the time — no fun. We did the Pac-Man sticker installation as a fun surprise for our kids when the Wreck It Ralph movie came out. We also stuck organic fruit stickers on a poster for months then framed it for the chalkboard bathroom. And with the help of my friend Marley Whistler, we hung cat scratchers made out of awesome corrugated cardboard up on one of the walls. My son now asks me daily if we can get a cat. YOUR ART COLLECTION: IS THERE A FOCUS OR A THEME IN THE WORKS YOU COLLECT? I am especially drawn to figurative art. Really, we just buy what we like to look at, and it happens to be a lot of blue. I love discovering the work of talented modern artists and don't have the time to be as in the know as I would like to be. John Runyon and Baker Montgomery have both helped me discover art that I love. A WORK OR TWO THAT HOLD SPECIAL MEANING? The first piece of art I ever bought is the bright-colored face in the kids' playroom. I saw it in a coffee shop in college and loved it so much that I contacted the artist. He built a cool aluminum frame around it and sold it to me for $300. I love the work of Chuck Close, the scale and the rawness of his portraits especially. HOW TO BALANCE THE DEMANDS OF A FAMILY AND A GROWING COMPANY. I have always put my family first and spent my free time on my company. That has translated into slow and steady growth, which is what we needed anyway. I pretty much put Cover on hold when I had my third child, then ramped it back up when the economy started to recover. Clockwise from top left: In the dining room, Saarinen tulip armchairs surround a vintage Florence Knoll rosewood conference table from Sputnik Modern. Brillo by Andy Warhol. Random light by Bertjan Pot for Moooi. Large-scale oil painting by Marfa artist Leslie Wilkes, through Barry Whistler Gallery. Custom wool-felt rug from FilzFelt. Lisa painted inspirational words on the chalkboard walls of the guest powder room. In the children's downstairs playroom, colorful painting and fantastic drawings by Holden (10), Gwyn (8) and Gretchen (5) cover the art table. Gwyn plays the white upright piano. The lime-green mini Panton chairs from Design Within Reach were a gift from Lisa's parents. Leather-edge rug from Nest. Scott McDermott painted the face — Lisa's first art purchase; she contacted the artist after spotting it at her favorite coffee shop in college. Above the sofa in the family room is Chuck Close's Roy, a 2009 paper pulp. Two Jonathan Adler pillows join a vintage-store find. Alexander Girard coffee table for Knoll and wool pouf, both from Design Within Reach. Hanging walnut cabinets were custom-built for the space. Hanging on a line in the backyard are Cover pieces that Lisa designed: long-sleeved maillot in houndstooth, short-sleeved swimsuit in Dark and Stormy, laser-cut scallop rash guard in fuchsia and a Surf shell (a collaboration with artist Richard Phillips), all at Neiman Marcus, shopbop.com. In the breakfast room, a Jens bench by Jens Risom from Design Within Reach rests beneath Jim Hodges' What Becomes The Sky Roberto, which Lisa's friend Baker Montgomery helped her find. The Cover long-sleeved maillot in houndstooth hangs from a powder-coated blue coat rack from Blu Dot. Céline handbag from Forty Five Ten. Two Gray Malin photographs atop a slab of Carrara marble in the kitchen.