Murphy’s Laws
Secret stashes, Singapore Saturdays and ski chalets with designer Christopher Murphy
Christopher Murphy
“I have always said that nothing happens in my work by accident. Everything is there for a reason, whether it is recognizable or not. It’s just the way my brain works.” Christopher Murphy makes this proclamation, which happens to be quite true, while giving a small wave of his bangle-laden arm for emphasis. This is a man who once used more than 43 shades of paint in a single home, yet the result was seamless and impeccable. This is also a man who has top-secret caches of antiquities and homewares from around the globe scattered around Tulsa. No, you cannot see them. They’re for him to know and you to find out about, when they become part of a project.
Christopher Murphy Designs, based in Tulsa, arrived via a circuitous route: extended time spent in Nebraska (Lincoln where he grew up, then later Omaha), Arizona (undergrad) and California (Los Angeles for grad school) sprinkled with far-flung travel since he was a child. “As a kid, I got to experience a lot of America: New York, and San Francisco and Los Angeles, but also the mountains in Colorado. We spent a lot of time out there. I think my first trip to Europe was at 12. And to see London and Paris, as a 12-year-old, was amazing to me.” You can hear him time travel a bit as he speaks. “It was, you know, the height of ’70s and ’80s excess. So creative, you know, London was just coming into its own and Paris was before it was so Americanized … I loved it.”
The family spent time in museums everywhere they went — it was their thing. Murphy says his mother was stylish, but not purposely so. “She was not couture aware or anything like that. But she had taste and she had style. My father was an executive. And she was the consummate hostess.” So Murphy learned by osmosis things like how to properly throw a party. “People don’t know how to do that today. To see those kinds of things, from the flowers to the food to the table settings, was exciting for me.” His parents traveled on their own, too, which is how Murphy, a lover of excellent meals, learned to cook — really cook — on his own. “It was all part of the kind of creative world that I lived in. It was just who we were. It’s how we lived.”
After studying architecture at Arizona State for a couple of years and working for an architectural firm in the summers, Murphy realized architecture was less I.M. Pei or even Mike Brady, and much more a technical field. “It was not what I thought it would be. I loved the experience I had working for the firm and seeing things and learning that I didn’t want to be an architect.”
Equipped with a liberal arts degree and unsure of what he really wanted to be, Murphy moved to sunny Los Angeles to figure it out. And to come out. “I was not out to my parents. When I came out, my dad said, you know, ‘I don’t want to be stereotypical, but I want you to be happy. And I want you to be in a profession where you are not challenged by horrible people.’ And then he goes, ‘I don’t, again, mean to stereotype you guys, but our designers have always been gay.’ And so I went back to grad school at UCLA, and studied interior environmental design there.”
Large, public spaces like the Tulsa Performing Arts Center give Murphy room to expound: Playful, elegant and comfortable.
At design school, all of Los Angeles became his classroom. “We would have these weekend study tours of an architect or a designer and learn about something on a Friday night and on a Saturday get to go to private homes or businesses that were never open to the public, to see their works, but also how these other people were living, too.” They’d walk in and see a Degas in the bathroom or a Lichtenstein in the gym. “It was super, super inspirational for me,” he says.
Murphy’s always been entrepreneurial, and had an antique store in Beverly Hills while he was going to school. Definitely a precursor to his secret Tulsa caches. “Most of my work is much more contemporary, but I like to throw in a mix of old and new at times,” he says. “My shop was called Luxe.”
Los Angeles, magical as it is, was tumultuous in the early 1990s. Murphy witnessed the earthquake, the violent protests around the beating of Rodney King and the insanity around the O.J. Simpson murder trial. It was time to leave. “I also knew that to stay in Los Angeles was to be a little fish in a big pond. I had an opportunity to move back to Nebraska.” His parents had decided to return to their home state and build their dream home.
“They charged me with kind of designing it, and it grew and it became much more than they ever thought it could be. They sent me all over the world to collect parts and pieces. They trusted me to just create. I knew that what I was creating was going to be difficult to oversee, so to speak, from a distance. And so I really made that hard decision to move back to Nebraska, to get my career started, to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, so I moved back to Omaha versus Lincoln.” That home turned out to be the perfect launch. “It was open to the public for events and my parents were very charitable. So lots of people saw it, and I got lots of wonderful referrals and projects from it.”
Many of his subsequent projects were — and are — less like designing a space and more like creating a fully immersive experience for clients, one of which came with a sort of rite of passage. “I worked on a 37,000-square-foot house where the private assistant had challenged me, to get the job, to redesign the client’s master bath in a weekend.” He was granted some planning time, but literally had two days to install it while the client was in Vegas. Logistics required that Murphy overnight toilets from Italy. “I rose to the occasion; I did it and got the job, which was amazing.” This client, a friend of Elton John’s, went on to commission an 1,800-piece Chihuly chandelier. “We put Elton John’s white concert grand underneath it in the entryway,” Murphy says. “I got to create a whole kind of very fantasy world for somebody that was very eccentric and very wonderful.”
Christopher Murphy-designed interiors are sleek but never stark. Layers of subtle texture and exuberant bursts of color are two hallmarks of his style.
Murphy’s ability to create bespoke worlds for his clients is his superpower. “I want to get to know the client, I want to get to know how you live. And I want to give you something that is for you. That has worked really beautifully for me, and to be able to have clients trust me to create things for them. Most of my projects are large projects where we are either [from the] ground up or complete renovations. The art, the linens, the table settings — it’s turnkey, in a way. It’s lifestyle,” he says.
So much so that clients quickly come to rely on him for all manner of decisions. “I have clients that will say, you know, ‘I need a birthday gift for my wife or an anniversary gift. Can you get me a Birkin? Can you get me a Kelly? Can you get me a Patek?” Of course he can. He can also tell you what color car to buy, the best dress for an event, where to eat in Paris or where to stay in Singapore. “It’s super exciting. It’s also a lot of responsibility. But it’s really fun. And you know, from planning menus to planning parties to planning whatever, it’s really about creating a whole environment for them that’s beyond just their home. And I love that.”
About that Ski Chalet
Christopher Murphy had a client text him on Christmas Day a couple of years ago. “She said, ‘Guess what I got for Christmas?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, a ski house?’” Yep. And she had carte blanche to transform it into a dream getaway for her family, so off Murphy and his client went to Utah’s Deer Valley to take a look. “I said, ‘Well, nothing really can stay.’ And she goes, ‘Okay, I agree.’” Murphy’s task? To have it ready for the family to gather by the following Christmas. Which of course he did — and as you can see, it’s brilliant.
Her husband, a quiet man, had just one request. Altitude triggers this gentleman’s anxiety, and he wanted Murphy to see what he could do about that. “After doing some research, we found we could add an oxygen system to the house and bring it to sea level. It’s his favorite thing. He said it’s the best night of sleep he’s ever had in the mountains.”
Wooden flooring in the chalet came from Spain, but not without a little drama. “They were not going to be ready to make the boat to be here in time,” Murphy says. The contractor suggested they use carpet, temporarily. To that, Murphy said, “No, just put it on a plane. Just overnight it.” They did. And they overnighted the sofas from Paris.
“The kitchen came from Italy. And again, it was a short timeframe, but we were able to get it here.” Or so he thought.
“The contractor received it and, I kid you not, said they’d opened the crates for the kitchen, but it’s purses.” Murphy pauses. “And I’m like, ‘Were they good purses?’ No, they’re sh***y purses from China.” Ten days went by and nobody could locate the kitchen. “At certain point, I had to tell the client that we may have a problem. So I said, ‘The kitchen came and it was actually purses.’ And she literally goes, ‘Well, were they good purses?’”
For a client’s ski chalet, Murphy found a kernel of inspiration in the Disney movie “Frozen,” ran it through his impeccable filter, elevated it and voila!
The Luxiere List: World in a Weekend Edition
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Christopher Murphy’s husband Ben Stewart, senior program officer and managing director at the George Kaiser Family Foundation, also manages a nonstop schedule. Murphy, an early riser, and Stewart, who attends many evening events for his job, find their schedules at odds. The work-around they’ve come up with is genius, with a splash of madness.
“We found that sometimes the best thing to do is what we would call Saturdays in Singapore or Saturdays in Shanghai. We get on a flight, you know, on a Friday in Dallas, and we would arrive in Singapore, Shanghai or Auckland on a Saturday morning. And power through the whole weekend, leave on a Sunday and be back in the U.S. at the same time we left.”
The couple experiences wonderful food, inspiration, time together and, importantly to Murphy, time on a plane. “I get to really disconnect and catch up on some sleep and spend some time. I get to have dinner with my husband.”
FAVORITE AIRPORT AND AIRPORT LOUNGE
My favorite airport is in Doha, Qatar. The Hamad International Airport is both spectacular in its design, but so interesting in its public art installations as well. Oddly, my favorite airport lounge is located within this airport. The Al Mourjan Business lounge for Qatar Airways is so chic with its B & B Italia and Knoll furniture. Spacious, yet intimate. But if we happen to be flying first class, the Al Safwa lounge is the best. Very few travelers, large open spaces with a huge reflecting pool in a space that is entirely covered in limestone. It is like being in a museum. The private dining area is truly like a fine restaurant and amazing food.
MUST-DO IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
The city reminds me of San Francisco 30 years ago. From its physical similarities of being on the water and many hilly areas, to its Victorian neighborhoods, it is an easy city just to walk and explore. Ponsonby Street is a must with galleries, great design shops, chic and easy cafes. Just wander and take your time to enjoy. Go into the old Ponsonby Hotel for dinner or a drink.
MUST-DO IN SINGAPORE
Several musts!!! You must go to the National Orchid House in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Located in the middle of the bustling city, the cool house contains over 1,000 examples of the most gorgeous plants and blooms. Wander the gardens too, then exit right into the city. Go to the street food halls and experience the best Singapore noodles and try everything. There is even a
Michelin-starred vendor there. If you can, stay at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel; the infinity pool runs the entire length of the rooftop and is 57 stories above Singapore overlooking the entire city. Spectacular, and great people-watching.
BEST CITY IN THE WORLD
This is such a hard one, but I have always felt that Rio de Janeiro is the best. The physical beauty of the city, how it is nestled at the bottom of Sugarloaf Mountain, right on the Atlantic Ocean, is dramatic. But it is also the brutalist and colonial architecture of the hotels and neighborhoods that create a special juxtaposition. From the hustle and bustle of the Copacabana to the quiet and chic Ipanema neighborhood. The food is amazing, the tropical colors vibrant, the men and women gorgeous, the heat intoxicating.
I spent one of my most memorable New Year’s Eves there. Seven million people on the strip lining Copacabana beach, fireworks in the bay, with Christ the Redeemer watching over all of it was quite an experience! Tradition says that one wears all white for purity, and sends out offerings of flowers into the ocean and, at midnight, hops seven waves for good luck. Magical.
FAVORITE BREAKFAST
Easy: the fabulous dining room at the Plaza Athene hotel in Paris. The room is traditional Parisian with its 18th century feel, yet has been updated with modern banquettes and lighting. The croissants are sublime, as is all of the breadbasket delivered to the table, but it is the scrambled eggs with fresh black truffles all over the top that makes me know that I am in Paris. I have two special memories there in that room: We had our honeymoon breakfast there, and another time we took our moms to Paris, and seeing how much they loved the food and space was amazing, but it was the special memory of getting to spend that time with them that helps to make it my favorite.
MOST BEAUTIFUL HOTEL
The Aman Tokyo. Hands down. It is located high above the craziness that is Tokyo. The lobby space is filled with the most amazing bonsai and flowers, towering ceilings, yet intimate at the same time. The spa and pool are true Zen. But it is the rooms that are the most chic. Simple and elegant furnishings fill the hinoki-paneled walls. But the best is the bathroom. There is a Japanese soaking tub that they fill with oranges and eucalyptus leaves to create the most heady experience, all while 35 stories above the neon of the city.
BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER RECOMMENDATIONS
So this is hard as we have experienced so many amazing places for each all over the world, from the high to the low. But, for breakfast, honestly I love a hotel breakfast, but a great memory was leftover foie gras fried rice from the night before in Singapore at the Raffles Hotel. We had the butler heat it up and add two poached eggs to it. Pure indulgence. As we say now, “just put an egg on it.”
For lunch, Chez Monsieur in Paris, traditional French bistro near all the great shopping. Small and delicious, everything. And I think I have had it all!
Dinner, Don Julio in Buenos Aires. The best steaks. The best of all. True gaucho dining experience that has not changed in the 15 years we have been going.