Page 38 - Allisons Magazine Issue #95

Some interior designers focus
on art and history, some on
architecture, and some on
furnishings. Glenn Gissler is a
designer who blends them all into
awe-inspiring interior spaces that
transcend trends, putting them in

a category all their own. Gissler
talks about why art plays such a
vital role in his work, his approach
to bringing a client’s vision to life,
and how his latest Westchester,
New York, project came to be.

How did you get started in design,
and what led you to being so
GLENN GISSLER: passionate about pursuing this as
a career?
INTERIOR ALCHEMIST When I was just thirteen, I publicly
declared to my class that I wanted to be
interview with glenn gissler | written by rebecca poole | photography by gross & daley an interior designer. I only knew of one
interior designer at the time—a friend of
my mother. She was a creative spirit and
a painter, and she really inspired me.
That was the beginning of a journey that
went on to include seven years of college
when I studied American architectural
history and historic preservation,
culminating with two degrees from The
Rhode Island School of Design, where
I studied architecture and fine arts.
Growing up in Wisconsin, there wasn’t
much in terms of historic architecture—
not like there was in New England.
This was the time before the internet,
so I was snooping around in books to
learn as much as I could. My father
was a journalist with one of his focuses
looking at the rebirth of American
cities so we had a lot of books around
on the topic. The idea of adaptive
reuse—finding a new purpose for old

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