ultra Q: Richard Speer
Willamette Week arts critic, author, and Beau Brummell and bon vivant, Richard Speer responds to the ultra Q in which ultra asks Portland’s movers and makers a number of pressing questions
Qualities you most admire in design:
Elegance, mischief, and the juxtaposition of energy and languidness — all of which are best experienced spatially and kinesthetically, as in hotels such as the Mondrian, the Standard, and the Delano; or clubs like Tantra, Privé, and Opium Garden. I like to be immersed in a cohesive design schema that specifically addresses each of the senses. More generally, I’m a huge fan of Philippe Starck, Arnold Chan, Tom Ford, and Pierre Paulin.
Qualities you most despise in design:
Populism.
Reading:
A collection of short stories and poems by Richard Brautigan.
Listening to:
A Klaus Schulze CD that Tom Cramer burned me the other night.
Dream project:
The novel I’m currently writing.
Favorite virtue in others:
Charisma.
Favorite vice:
Euphoria.
Tragic flaw:
There are four things I can’t say no to. One of them is pizza. The other three shall remain unnamed.
Secret superhero power:
I can draw blood from a stone.
That which keeps your afterburners firing:
Having substantive conversations with vital, idealistic people.
What you’d like to be when you grow up:
Grow up—are you kidding?
Portland’s best kept secret:
The pepperoni pizza at “It’s a Beautiful Pizza” on SE Belmont.
Portland heroes (sung or un-):
Architect Robert Oshatz (www.oshatz.com). Also: Lori Rose, a Portland animal lover who runs Free Range Whippets ( www.freerangewhippets.com), a rescue program for whippets, a breed of dog with gorgeous Art Deco lines, similar to the greyhound but smaller.
Interesting on the horizon (PDX):
Will the Portland Art Museum knock our socks off with the 2006 Biennial or leave us high and dry again? Also: Will Portland ever get a truly world-class restaurant, hotel, or club?
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