Read below for more about Richard and John\u2019s hands-on approach to design and life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIn the world of design, when an idea is thrown out, you\u2019ve got to try it before you say no. I think I approach life that way, too,\u201d John says. While studying advertising at the University of Cincinnati, someone prophetically gifted John with a piece of leather for his birthday. The accessory enthusiast decided to borrow a sewing machine and make a bag out of it. \u201cIt still didn\u2019t cross my mind to go into design and fashion,\u201d he says. \u201cI just made the bag out of the love of creating.\u201d<\/p>\n
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”3038″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”540″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”960″}}]]<\/p>\n
John Truex (pictured above)<\/p>\n
That bag, combined with his interest in fine arts, led John to seek a different path when he arrived in New York City a few years later. Rather than pursue a job on Madison Avenue, he answered a help-wanted ad for an office assistant position with renowned Brazilian accessories designer, Carlos Falchi. Within a few years, he\u2019d go on to touch every part of the industry from retail and merchandising to manufacturing and PR, and finally design. \u201cOne day there was a design opening in wallets. I started designing accessories and never stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard\u2019s foray into fashion was equally fortuitous. After attending art school and studying dance at Brown, he moved to New York City without a place to live or work. \u201cI got a job at Saks Fifth Avenue my first week. I was walking past the store one night and saw them changing the window displays. It seemed like something I would be good at.\u201d<\/p>\n
He arranged a meeting with the senior vice president, and despite his lack of experience, Richard was granted a position in their visual display department. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a conventional background but he took a chance on me because of my travels and extracurricular activities,\u201d Richard says. Gumption probably had something to do with it, too.<\/p>\n
Richard was poached by Bergdorf Goodman two years later. Somehow, while working full days at Saks Fifth Avenue, and later Bergdorf Goodman, he managed to find the time to work evenings as Steve Rubell\u2019s production assistant at Studio 54.<\/p>\n
From Bergdorf, he went to work for Geoffrey Beene, took a stint at Barney\u2019s, helped re-launch Gucci, then went back to Geoffrey Beene, to Calvin Klein, and back to Bergdorf Goodman to serve as their Creative Director. \u201cI went from job to job over the years but one job led to a greater job and then a greater job. I was very lucky that way\u2014I think I\u2019ve worked everywhere at least twice.\u201d Richard says.<\/p>\n
At Geoffrey Beene, while collaborating with designers to produce fashion shows, Richard fell in love with accessories. \u201cI was not a trained designer, so I started taking classes at Parsons and studying shoe design,\u201d he says. \u201cI later went to Italy to learn how to physically make a shoe.\u201d<\/p>\n
[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”3039″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”540″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”960″}}]]<\/p>\n
Richard Lambertson (pictured above)<\/p>\n
By the time the two got acquainted in the mid-90s, John and Richard had collectively enjoyed massive success at several major brands. It was time to start their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ready to take a chance and do something new. I knew Richard was feeling the same way,\u201d John says. In 1998, they launched their own line of leather accessories. \u201cWe were able to start Lambertson Truex because we had such sensitivity towards not only design, retail and merchandising but also manufacturing and distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n
A couple of decades and several collections later, that same desire to try something new would bring them to Detroit to help Shinola revive American manufacturing\u2014a pursuit close to their heart.<\/p>\n
Where they work has changed, what they work on has evolved, but the way they practice their craft has stayed the same\u2014which is to say, different.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin chaos comes my creativity,\u201d says Richard. \u201cJohn has to devoid himself from chaos to create. We\u2019re kind of opposites that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard co-owns a charming shop in Connecticut called Privet House and spends many of his weekends designing the store\u2019s windows and antiquing. He finds great joy in braving crowds at flea markets around the world to stock his well-appointed shop.<\/p>\n
John, on the other hand, takes his designer cap off on the weekends. \u201cI am an avid adventurer.\u201d John says. \u201cOn Friday nights I don\u2019t even go to the house first, I go straight to the stable to check on my horse. I feed him carrots. I go for a long hack. That\u2019s how I relax. That\u2019s how I find my center,\u201d John is active in the local equestrian community near his weekend home in Connecticut. \u201cOn Saturdays we\u2019ll ride all day and catch up on gossip in the horse world. When Monday comes around, I can go back and look at a color with a fresh eye. When I\u2019m faced with a design problem, I\u2019m able to tackle it efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite neither John nor Richard having intended to go into fashion, the industry has come naturally to them. They had mastered the art of adding beauty, emotion and edge to the world long before they did it professionally. Their lives \u2014 much like their accessory line \u2014 are rich with color, texture and delightfully unexpected features.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The secret to designing the ultimate accessory line is simple: Live a lot. For Richard Lambertson that means painting, gardening, entertaining and scouring the ends of the earth for antique treasures. For John Truex, it\u2019s weekends spent in nature, on his horse. It\u2019s tennis one day, skiing the next. And he\u2019ll look for any excuse […]<\/p>\n
Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[7],"yoast_head":"\nRichard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The secret to designing the ultimate accessory line is simple: Live a lot. For Richard Lambertson that means painting, gardening, entertaining and scouring the ends of the earth for antique treasures. For John Truex, it\u2019s weekends spent in nature, on his horse. It\u2019s tennis one day, skiing the next. And he\u2019ll look for any excuse [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-09T15:07:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-03T16:40:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Taylor Rebhan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/\",\"name\":\"Our Stories\",\"description\":\"A journal by Shinola dedicated to THE joy of craft\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/\",\"name\":\"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-09T15:07:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-03T16:40:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/060aa96ae4cfa418688aa72467ed4568\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/060aa96ae4cfa418688aa72467ed4568\",\"name\":\"Taylor Rebhan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ef281772e6ea80de61c511c2f4d4eef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ef281772e6ea80de61c511c2f4d4eef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Taylor Rebhan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/author\/trebhan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories","og_description":"The secret to designing the ultimate accessory line is simple: Live a lot. For Richard Lambertson that means painting, gardening, entertaining and scouring the ends of the earth for antique treasures. For John Truex, it\u2019s weekends spent in nature, on his horse. It\u2019s tennis one day, skiing the next. And he\u2019ll look for any excuse [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/","og_site_name":"Our Stories","article_published_time":"2016-12-09T15:07:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-03T16:40:34+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Taylor Rebhan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/","name":"Our Stories","description":"A journal by Shinola dedicated to THE joy of craft","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/","name":"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made - Our Stories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-09T15:07:18+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-03T16:40:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/060aa96ae4cfa418688aa72467ed4568"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/richard-john-life-well-made\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Richard + John: Life, Well-Made"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#\/schema\/person\/060aa96ae4cfa418688aa72467ed4568","name":"Taylor Rebhan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ef281772e6ea80de61c511c2f4d4eef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0ef281772e6ea80de61c511c2f4d4eef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Taylor Rebhan"},"url":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/author\/trebhan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2038,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions\/2038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourstories.shinola.com\/our-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}