Since its inception in 2008 (years before Architectural Digest’s Open Door or Vogue’s 72 Questions popular video series launched) Todd Selby’s website and blog The Selby has given design enthusiasts an inside look on how creative people of all kinds live, play and create. 

A Los Angeles-based tastemaker and classic creative multi-hyphenate, a playful, stylish and personality filled approach typified Todd’s approach from the get-go. His visual style – combining illustrations, bright photography and detailed oriented observations quickly became synonymous with a certain sect of interior design and in many ways, an era of blogging. 

Impressively, he translated this into genuine commercial success too, collaborating with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Nike, Ikea, AirBnb and many more. Books have also proven as a valuable avenue for Selby’s creative outlets. To date he's published three books capturing the lives of offbeat individuals: The Selby Is in Your Place, Edible Selby, and Fashionable Selby – which photographed visionaries from the fashion world inside their studios, workshops and homes.

This week he adds to his literary stable with The Selby Comes Home, an energetic tome showing how creative families around the world incorporate family life into their aesthete spaces, including some creative Kiwis such as artists Lissy and Rudi Robinson Cole who are photographed at home in Tāmaki with their whānau. It’s an angle with personal appeal to Selby, who is now married with two kids of his own. 

Below, Todd tells us about the book, which is on shelves now, how its subject matter has seen him reflecting on his own childhood and the one he’s shaping for his daughters. 

What was your childhood like? What are your earliest memories of your childhood home?

I grew up in the suburbs [of Orange County, California], which used to be all orange and avocado groves and suddenly rows and rows of houses. There wasn't much going on, so we had to make our own fun, which was a really good thing.‍

In the opening of your book you recount a moment when your daughter Simone first showed an interest in your photography. How did your own fascination with the photography medium develop?

My grandfather was a doctor, and he did photography as his side passion. My father is a neurologist who also loves photography, so there's a bit of a family tradition. We travelled a lot, and that's when my dad took the most photos, and I started to associate travelling with photo taking. I had to take a darkroom black-and-white photography class and a summer art camp, and I really loved it.‍

There are three families from Aotearoa in The Selby Comes Home. What unites the whānau and the homes you've visited here in New Zealand?

I'm always looking for that unique something, that entrepreneurial spirit, that colourful sense of design, the collective aesthetic, and I think so many people in New Zealand have that.

‍How has having a family evolved your design ethos? 

First and foremost, it teaches you about compromise and embracing differences.

How would you describe your approach to work currently? How has parenthood influenced the way you work and approach The Selby?

I think in any commercial artist, it's essential to have a balance between your personal work and commercial work, and I'm lucky and fortunate to have that.

In five words, can you tell us how you think a home should feel? 

The inside of your brain.‍

Do your kids have any interest in design? How does their childhood contrast yours and [wife] Danielle's?

They love art and making things.

How is your home a reflection of your family? 

Each of us has a room in the house that really reflects off ourselves. 

‍The Selby Comes Home - An Interior Design Book for Creative Families is out now, $110