Who

O'Brien heads up interior design firm Aero Limited. He's also the owner of SoHo home furnishings shop Aero.

Backstory

A graduate of Cooper Union and a former creative director at Ralph Lauren, O'Brien left the fashion company in 1992 along with colleague Bill Sofield to start up Aero Studios. They quickly assembled some very posh clients including Giorgio Armani and Martha Stewart, although the partnership dissolved some four years later. O'Brien held on to the Aero name—and the store—and has continued to design residential and commercial spaces for high-end clients. (For his part, Sofield went off to launch Sofield Studio and later designed boutiques for Tom Ford at Gucci.) O'Brien has established himself as a rare brand in the design biz, and launched an eponymous line for Target in 2005.

Of note

O'Brien still operates his perennially popular store in SoHo, although in 2004 it moved from its original Spring Street location to an expanded space on Broome Street. The 9,500-square-foot, two-floor furnishings mecca offers antiques, linens, lighting, bathroom fixtures, and other assorted domestic accessories. O'Brien still works on posh residences, too: He decorated the Fifth Avenue apartment of his former boss, Ralph Lauren, and the Upper West Side penthouse of Giorgio Armani. Commercial projects under his belt include Jason Pomeranc's boutique hotel 60 Thompson, Ken Aretsky's restaurant Patroon, and a branch of David Barton's gym chain. Over the past few years O'Brien has also nabbed a slew of licensing contracts: He designed bedding for Marshall Field's, carpets for Safavieh, and a range of bathroom products for Waterworks. His line of Target furnishings, Vintage Modern, debuted in October 2005.

Personal

O'Brien lives in a Midtown prewar that houses his collection of American Indian artifacts from the early 20th century. He won't be moving anytime soon. "I'll never move again," he told the Times a decade ago. (He's kept his word thus far.) He has a summer retreat in Bellport.