In the second in a video series about designers in their offices and studios, Diane von Furstenberg, a standard-bearer of New York Fashion Week and the longtime president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, talks about creating her work/life space, what each object represents and the importance of color. (The conversation has been edited and condensed).
在一部讲述设计师的办公室和工作室生活的视频系列里，纽约时装周的领袖、美国时装设计师协会常任主席黛安·冯芙丝汀宝(Diane von Furstenberg)在第二集中谈起如何创造自己的工作/生活空间、每件物品代表的意义以及色彩的重要性（下面的对话经过编辑和浓缩）。

Q. You built your office building from the ground up. Why?
问：你从头开始建造了自己的办公楼。为什么？
A. I think the architecture of things is very much linked to the architect of the business. Where people sit and how you plan all charts — all of that is important.
答：我觉得事物的构建与公司的缔造者有很大关系。人们坐在哪里，你如何制定所有的计划——这些都很重要。
Have you always worked where you live?
你总是在自己居住的地方工作吗？
When I first started my company again in 1998, ’97, I moved to West 12th Street, and I bought a small carriage house, and everybody thought I was crazy. “What are you doing in that neighborhood? It’s full of condoms, it smells bad” — this and that. But it was beautiful, and I did my studio there, my office, and we started there. Then I even opened a little shop there. But then the neighborhood started to change, and I needed more space, and I wanted a corner. I just love corners. So I bought these three buildings, in the meatpacking district.
1997到1998年左右我重新开始自己的公司时，搬到了西12街，买了一个小马车房，所有人都认为我疯了。“你到那片地方干什么？那里到处都是安全套，很难闻”，诸如此类。但是它很漂亮，我的工作室、办公室都在那里，我们从那里起步。我后来甚至在那里开了个小小的门店。但是后来那个地方开始发生变化，我需要更大的空间，我想要一个街角的房子。我就是很喜欢街角。所以我在肉库区买下了这三幢楼。
Could you explain the renovation?
你能讲述一下翻修过程吗？
The problem is in the meantime we had passed a law to make this neighborhood a historic district, so when I bought these three little buildings I couldn’t touch them. I had to go to landmark and make a plan, and so actually it cost me a lot more because I had to keep this brick facade and gut completely the inside. Now the fourth floor is marketing, third floor is sales, second floor is showroom, first floor is the shop. And I have my little treehouse upstairs. It’s nothing but a bedroom really. This is my living room and my office. My exercise is going up the stairs.
问题是，当时通过了一条法律，把这一带变成了历史保护区，所以我买下这三座小楼时不能动它们。我必须把它作为地标建筑，并制订一个计划，所以实际上的花费增加了很多，因为我对内部进行彻底改变的同时，必须保留它的砖墙外观。现在四层是市场部，三层是销售部，二层是展厅，一层是门店。我在楼上有个属于自己的小小“树屋”，其实就是个卧室。这里是我的起居室和办公室。我的健身活动就是走楼梯。
What’s on your desk?
你的书桌上有什么？
Colored pencils. Good-luck things, my evil eyes to protect me, things I need, photographs, all my papers, my mail, things I have to read ... my life.
彩色铅笔。能带来好运的东西、邪恶之眼护身符、我要用的东西、照片，所有的文件、信件，我必须读的东西……我的生活。
Is it important for you to be surrounded by color?
被色彩包围对你来说很重要吗？
When people ask me that, I say just imagine the world in black and white, you know. Imagine a garden in black and white, how sad. I never thought pink was my thing — uh, one day it just happened. It’s a sort of Mexican pink. This room was not decorated, it’s just things that I have, you know, things that I’ve had along the way.
人们这么问我的时候，我会说，想像一下只有黑白两色的世界。想像一个只有黑白两色的花园，那该多么阴郁。我从没想过粉红色会成为我喜欢的颜色——呃，不知怎么有一天我就喜欢上它了，是一种墨西哥粉红色。这个房间没有装修，就是我放东西的地方——我一路走来收藏的各种东西。
For example?
比如？
The mandala over there was given to me last year. Christian Louboutin and I met the king of Bhutan, and he gave me that. The painting behind me is a picture Peter Lindbergh did of me, reinterpreted by a Chinese artist. It’s made out of ashes — ashes collected in a Buddhist temple. And there is an Avedon photograph of my daughter, pictures of my granddaughters and grandsons, my mother, my friend Ingrid Betancourt [the Colombian politician], who was kidnapped and was a prisoner for seven years. When she was released, the first dress she bought was a DVF dress. That’s the Obamas’s first Christmas card, where Mrs. Obama was wearing a wrap dress. The chairs we are sitting on were a present from my husband.
那边的曼荼罗是去年别人送给我的。我和克里斯提·鲁布托(Christian Louboutin)拜见了不丹国王，那是他送给我的。我身后的画是一位中国艺术家根据彼得·林德伯格(Peter Lindbergh)给我拍的照片重新创作的。它用灰烬制成的，就是佛教寺庙里收集的香灰。还有阿维顿(Avedon)给我女儿拍的照片，我外孙女和外孙的照片，我妈妈的照片，我的朋友英格丽德·贝当古（Ingrid Betancourt，哥伦比亚政治家）的照片。英格丽德遭到绑架，被囚禁七年。获释后她买的第一条裙子就是DVF的连衣裙。那是奥巴马寄给我的第一张圣诞贺卡，上面是奥巴马夫人穿着一条裹裙。我们坐的椅子是我丈夫送给我的礼物。
What is your favorite thing in the room?
这房间里你最喜欢的东西是什么？
I feel at my best behind the desk. I went to visit Tolstoy’s house. And, in Russian houses, in every room you have a bed, a desk and a chair. And that’s because in Russian history everybody writes their diary, so everybody needs a desk. I love desks. I have a passion for big tables and desks.
我坐在书桌后面时感觉最好。我参观过托尔斯泰(Tolstoy)的家。俄罗斯人家里每个房间都有床、书桌和椅子。因为在俄罗斯历史上，每个人都写日记，所以每个人都需要一张书桌。我非常喜欢书桌。我钟爱大桌子和书桌。
Do you have meetings there?
你在这里开会吗？
When I have meetings with people from the outside, we do it at the round table, because I don’t want them to feel like I am at the head of the table. At the couch I do every kind of interviews. Press interviews, when I interview somebody for a job. It’s more intimate.
我和访客在圆桌边开会，因为我不想让他们觉得我坐在首席的位置。我坐在沙发上接受媒体采访或者面试别人。这样显得更亲切。
Do you work on the computer?
你用电脑工作吗？
I do work on the computer, and a lot on my iPad. I have programs where you can doodle. Many of my prints come from doodle or photographs.
我用电脑工作，我经常用iPad工作。我装了很多涂鸦软件。我的很多印花来自那些涂鸦或照片。
Do your collections start with prints?
你的时装系列是从印花开始的吗？
The first thing is the mood, and that usually comes from me. Then we make mood boards and narrow down and change our mind. The next step is the palette. Color palette is so important. From there you go into the prints, and the silhouette. The silhouettes come very plain, and then you dress them with the prints.
首先是一种情绪，通常是我的情绪。然后我们做情绪板，缩小范围，进行修改。然后是调色板。调色板也很重要。然后开始设计印花和剪裁。剪裁非常简朴，用印花来做装饰。
So is this room a record of your life?
所以说这个房间是你生活的记录？
Yes, of course. But everything is a record of my life, including my face.
当然是的。不过所有的东西都是我生活的记录，包括我的脸。