Min Hogg's Rarefied Eye
Min Hogg, the founding editor of The World of Interiors magazine, has an individual and rarefied eye. The London native finds beauty in the less obvious, the least glossy and the most idiosyncratic of rooms, chateaus and even potting sheds. From her mother, Hogg inherited a love of faded Oriental carpets, chinoiserie lacquer and the chintz-like colors found in 18th-century porcelain. From her father — who was a personal physician to the queen — she got her innate precision and distaste for pretension.
Hogg’s career began in the golden age of publishing (and style) in 1960s London. She studied graphic design under Terence Conran at the Central School of Art, wrote about architecture and decoration for The Observer and, in 1974, became fashion editor of the influential British society magazine Harpers & Queen.
Throughout her 20-year reign as editor of WOI, Hogg demonstrated her unique approach, displaying romantic, rare and inspirational interiors with a historical perspective rather than the mundane domestic perfection portrayed by her competitors. “I never considered what any other magazine was doing,” says the 78-year-old, who now has her own line of seaweed-inspired wallpapers. “I was doing something simply to please myself.”
