German born, Australian raised, Marcus hails from a creative family. As a child, he worked on set with his uncle, photographer John Hay. His decorator mother, Janet, introduced him to paint and fabric swatches. He spent many youthful weekends at his parents' decorating stores and helping arrange store windows. With a B.A. in Visual Communication from the University of Technology, he began as a Style and Art Director in Australia. Marcus came to New York to join Real Simple as Style Director, later working for Vogue Living, CB2 and Wallpaper, among many US, UK, and European clients. Marcus has so many collections he refers to his "collection of collections", currently focusing on miniature furniture, ceramic vases and figurines.

Question and Answer with Marcus Hay:

Favorite objects when young: Velvet flocked wallpaper in our living room, ceramic glazed tiles from my mother's design schemes, my uncle's Alfa Romeo Spider with the floor missing, my Smash Up Derby cars with their metallic exteriors, geranium leaves and the way they smelled.

Earliest color preference: Blue was always my preferred color, especially turquoise.

Design inspirations: Early pop icons like Grace Jones and her work with stylist Jean-Paul Goude, Coco Chanel, Andy Warhol, Eero Saarinen and the Eames', Isamu Noguchi, designer Alexander Girard, Danish ceramic artist Bjørn Wiinblad

Trend you miss: I miss people being adventurous and daring with interiors; there is nothing more bad taste than good taste.

Motto: Where you put your attention is where you get your results.

Influential movies: Alfred Hitchcock, especially The Birds and Rear Window, the yellow and white apartment in Rosemary's Baby, the apartment in Auntie Mame, the fashion scenes in Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire's Funny Face. As I kid I loved reruns of old 50's movies on Sunday afternoons. They influenced me beyond belief. I still marvel at the interiors in those films.