Something Larger than Us: On Making the Heartwood
Michael Young
As an arborist for 35 years, I’ve spent my life focused on the exterior landscape. It was an enlightening—if perhaps late—realization, then, that my interior landscape also needed to be curated and tended: I needed to feather my nest.
Renowned arborist Michael Young unearths the personal discoveries and expressive possibilities at the core of his experience as a Chroma client.
Nine years ago, I bought a pied-à-terre in a 1927 co-op. It was very quaint, but it needed to be completely stripped down. After a year spent planning, I had a very clear vision: I wanted to honor the history of the building but modernize it, using timeless materials that respected the craft and beauty of the building’s creation. It looked like a museum when I was done, which felt good—that was my goal, a modern clean slate. But after living in it for nine years, I felt that something was missing. It needed more richness, more three-dimensionality, more texture. It needed that lived-in factor. It needed more funk.
In the art of horticulture, the tree is the canvas. And, for me, it’s a dynamic canvas: you can create an experience, you can create a dialogue, you can create something sublime that has integrity and respect for life. In this work, the story is about permanence: it’s about creating a legacy. But it’s also a story about community and care—taking care of the landscape and taking care of people. I wanted interior design to be like that, too. And that’s what drew me to Chroma: the thought, the intention—but also the youthfulness, the enthusiasm, and the playfulness with eras and styles.
I’m a third-generation Californian with a deep connection to the Bay Area. We have such a rich creative and cultural history here. Like any alternative point of view, it can be underestimated, but it’s a thriving community. And as a collector, I’ve focused my impact on local artists and galleries. I love the personal stories and being able to meet the creators, visit their studios, experience the process, and see them succeed. My relationships with these artists, like Ido Yoshimoto and Catherine Wagner, and galleries, like Altman Siegel, Jessica Silverman, Hosfelt Gallery, and Crown Point Press, enrich the experience of living with the work. It becomes something larger than any of us.
Working with Chroma is a continuation of cultivating this creative community, and of the lineage of craft and beauty in the Bay Area that first informed my approach to horticulture. What I’ve come to appreciate most about collaborating with Chroma is seeing my ideas elevated to the next level. I know what I like. But to turn my home into something more, to transform it into a space for self-expression, that’s what I’m learning. And that speaks to what we’re building together.
