GETTING PERSONAL

Gary McBournie has been in love with colors, textures, and the glamour of beautiful things since he was a young boy. He initially thought he would become an artist and studied painting at the New England School of Art and Design. However, as he delved deeper into art history, he realized he would never match the greatness of the Old Masters.

Fate led him to meet the supremely talented interior designer Richard Fitzgerald, who hired him as a design assistant shortly after he graduated college. During his first week there, he helped hang a large Modigliani portrait and immediately knew he had found his calling.

In the early 90s, he felt ready to establish his own studio, Gary McBournie Inc. Together with his partner in business and in life, Bill Richards, he has continued to travel the world in search of inspiring experiences and unique objects.

He has been fortunate to work with some of the country's most prominent art collectors, philanthropists, and business leaders, people who have trusted him to bring their ideal homes to life-sophisticated, collected, nuanced, and often majestic spaces. Renovating the historic Astor Courts, a 40,000-square-foot Gilded Age estate built by Stanford White, has been a highlight of his career.

His Boston and New York City-based studio continues to expand, with projects across the U.S. and Europe. Recently, they completed an 18th-century apartment in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris, a Grade II-listed townhouse in the Knightsbridge section of London, the interior of a private jet in Switzerland, and the interior of a 250-foot icebreaker built to navigate the waters of Antarctica.