Who

One of the city's most prolific interior designers, Wolf is also the owner of the SoHo furniture and home accessories store VW Home.

Backstory

Wolf was born in Cuba and spent his early days working as a floor-sweeper and model after dropping out of high school. He eventually transitioned into interior design and spent several years toiling for several decorating firms around town, before going out on his own in 1988 and founding Vicente Wolf Associates. Now one of the city's more prominent interior designers, he's known for an aesthetic that often relies on fine art photographs and the color white. Wolf has also branched out into hotel and office design, and in 1999 he opened VW Home in SoHo, a retail space and showroom that sells his line of upholstery fabrics, accessories, and lighting fixtures, as well as a collection of rare items he's picked up on his travels to Asia and Africa.

Of note

Wolf's clients have included Twyla Tharp, Michael Lynne, Carl Bernstein, designer Ralph Pucci, Egon von Furstenberg, and Nely Galan, the former president of Telemundo. He was responsible for appointing Clive Davis's cottage on the North Fork as well as the offices of J Records. On the hospitality front, Wolf designed the Luxe Hotel in Beverly Hills, the restaurant SW at Steve Wynn's W hotel in Vegas, and the Italian restaurants Alto and L'Impero, both of which he also co-owns. (For his design of L'Impero, Wolf took home the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design in 2003.) Product contracts have included stemware for Steuben, rugs for Tufenkian, and flatware for Sasaki.

On the side

Wolf has been busy pursuing his passion for photography in recent years, and he's exhibited his work at several shows and even landed a few ad commissions. (In a recent interview, he scandalously revealed that he prefers photography to interior design.) Wolf is also the author of two design books, Learning to See in 2002 and Crossing Boundaries in 2006.

Personal

Wolf lives in a garment district loft featuring his collection of crocodile sculptures and rodent skulls. He spends weekends at his house in Montauk.