Joseph Lembo: 1998 Hall of Fame Inductee
During a partnership between 1980 and 1996, New York-based designers Laura Bohn and Joseph Lembo produced a wide range of residential and commercial interiors in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Along the way, Lembo-Bohn Design expanded its purview to include set design for motion pictures and styling for photo shoots. With degrees in environmental design–Bohn’s from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Lembo’s from Parsons School of Design in Manhattan– they plied their trade with highly personal, signature flourishes: setting antiques against their own minimalist furniture designs; employing unexpected color palettes; and using luxurious fabrics and finishes.
The result was a large and diverse body of work, including product design, textiles, and wall coverings, that has been published in interior design books as well as in professional journals, newspapers, and shelter magazines around the world. For their design of fabrics and wallpapers, Bohn and Lembo were honored with two Interior Design Roscoe Awards. Lembo-Bohn Design’s portfolio had a decidedly international flavor: the V&V Restaurant in Kobe, Japan; retail shops and residences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Archinet Building in Tokyo, Japan; a farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Angelo Pietro Restaurant in Kyushu, Japan; and film sets for “Year of the Dragon,” among others. Textile designs for Sunar Hauserman and Linda Thompson Inc., rounded out their exceptional achievements.
Today, Bohn heads Laura Bohn Design Associates, an international architectural and interior design and consulting firm. The firm’s aesthetic combines contemporary minimalism, custom-designed furniture, antiques, wallcoverings, and unexpected color palettes. Lembo, founder of Lembo Design Inc., continues to work on global residential projects and recently designed the Florsheim flagship store on Madison Avenue, New York. In addition, he is a tenured professor of interior design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.
