Editor’s Note: Arizona Muse was interviewed at the launch of a charity initiative for Women for Women International, an organization supporting women in countries affected by conflict. Muse, along with Naomi Campbell, Mary Katrantzou, Manolo Blahnik and others, has reimagined the classic Havaianas sandal for a charity auction on July 1, 2017.
Supermodel Arizona Muse is a well-known figure in the fashion world – having graced the covers of Vogue and i-D and fronted campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Chanel – but she also has a surprising passion for design.
Perhaps following in the footsteps of her ancestor Alfred Waterhouse, the English architect who designed the Natural History Museum in London, Muse had her eye on a career in architecture from an early age.
“If you’d asked me when I was 10 what I wanted to be, I would have said an architect,” she commented.
Muse’s mother was a textile restorer and her father, a dealer in ancient art.
“I think that growing up with these influences, coming from each of my parents, really gave me an appreciation for art, beauty and color,” she explained.
But her interest in design goes far beyond a love of beautiful things: “I love design with purpose. I love design with dignity. I love design with longevity. I love design that is made to last, that is made to be loved over and over again for years and years and years.
“For me, design is about design for life, about something that will last, something that has a story and about something that was created by people who were really trying to make the best thing that they could make.”
Watch the video above to find out more about Arizona Muse’s favorite examples of design around the world, from the Bahá’í House of Worship of South America, to the everyday: her very own heated laundry rack.