Peter Marino and one of the many Chanel boutiques he has designed, this one a white stucco box in Los Angeles (Photos from left: Steve Benisty, Paul Warchol)

“I started off residential, and now only about 30 percent of my work is residential, but I still do residences for high-profile people. Residential work is extremely difficult, because it is much easier for Karl Lagerfeld to say, ‘The image of Chanel is x, y, and z.’ That’s clear in his head. When you design someone’s house, it’s actually painful. I never say, ‘This house will be a total reflection of you and any defects in it will make you look defective.’ But people do expect their homes to be reflections of themselves. So what I say is, ‘Just pretend this is your eighth home. By then you won’t care.’ People start loosening up around number five. It’s no longer a reflection of them—they can just have fun with it. But the first one is excrutiating.”