The dictionary defines a tastemaker as one who sets the standards of what is currently popular or fashionable. I'd like to take that definition a little further. It's someone who not only has exquisite taste but someone who has the motivation, courage and passion to share that with the world. They are today's go-to experts. They're the ones who's words inspire us to find our own creativity, to look at the world in a new way or the ones who help us define our own tastes.
And though they may not always be the journalists breaking the news or the designers creating the products, they are the ones we look to, to guide us through the web. The ones who have spent the time and effort filtering through it, to bring you their beautiful, meaningful little treasures.
Here are the top 10 tastemakers of our time.
Oh Joy!
About: Joy Deangdeelert Cho, the founder and designer behind Oh Joy! Studio, began her career as a graphic designer at a boutique advertising agency in New York. Joy transitioned into home accessories and textile design at Cynthia Rowley designing home accessories for the Swell line at Target. In 2006 she opened her studio, transferring the love for color and pattern developed during her years in the textile and print design industries to her work with a variety of clients in home accessories, surface patterns, packaging and corporate branding.
Why I Love This Site: Oh Joy! is the first blog I ever fell in love with. Joy picks out the prettiest things you'll ever see. She definitely has a designer's eye.
Coco + Kelley
About: Coco+Kelley is run by Cassandra Lavalle. Stunning interiors, brilliant fashion, and inspired color palettes – always with a touch of glamour. Her mantra? Life is in the details. style accordingly.
Why I Love This Site:: If I ever need a little design inspiration, I head to Coco + Kelley. Not only does Cassandra dig up the most beautiful fashion, her interior design taste is impeccable.
Swiss Miss
About: Swissmiss is a design blog and studio run by Tina Roth Eisenberg, a ‘swiss designer gone NYC'. Her full name is Tina Roth Eisenberg. She started swissmiss in March of 2005 as her personal visual archive. Little did she know that it would eventually grow into a popular design journal with an average of 600k unique visitors a month. She now runs her own studio, swissmiss, with recent clients including the Museum of Modern Art and the Food Network. Her aesthetics reveal her Swiss roots – she's a firm believer in white space and clean, elegant design.
Why I Love This Site: I always turn to Swiss Miss if I want to find simple, clever design items. You'll often find that I re-post some of her stuff. Her taste? Amazing.
Dooby Brain
About: Doobybrain.com is a website about music, fashion, art, and pop culture written by Herman Yung. The website has been online since 2002.
Why I Love This Site: Herman keeps me up-to-date on all the cool things that are happening on the web. His taste in technology and art is fantastic. Plus, you can really feel the passion come through in his writing.
Josh Spear
About:: JoshSpear.com emerged in 2004 from the back of a Journalism 1001 class. Josh was disappointed with the way major academics ignored the blog-phenomena as a credible form of media. This blog began as a place to catalog those things he saw from a wide range of sectors both online as he surfed the web and offline as he traveled around the globe; he began writing daily about things he liked, reviewing products, ideas, people or places that inspired him. Today, the blog is a daily source of inspiration for marketers, brand managers, advertising executives, and a wide range of everyday people from around the world who love to stay ahead of the curve.
Why I Love This Site: Josh is the first one to tell me about the coolest sneaker or packaging out there. He criss-crosses the globe going to events such as TED and almost always seems to know what trend is going to break next.
The Sartorialist
About: Scott Schuman started The Sartorialist simply to share photos of people that he saw on the streets of New York that he thought looked great. When he worked in the fashion industry (15 years), he always felt that there was a disconnect between what he was selling in the showroom and what he was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life.
Why I Love This Site: Selected as one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Design Influencers, Schuman shows us what the real life runway is all about. By capturing everyday people rocking their own style, Schuman inspires me to dress creatively.
The Selby
About: The Selby features photographs, paintings and videos by Todd Selby of interesting people and their creative spaces.
Why I Love This Site: Want to see how creative people live? Their rooms are a lot more cluttered and chaotic than you might think…but in a very interesting way.
A Cup of Joe
About: Joanna Goddard is a magazine writer in New York. She writes for Glamour magazine's relationships blog Smitten. In her spare time, she shares things she's most passionate about in A Cup of Joe.
Why I Love This Site: Joe has a loyal following because she has fabulous taste. Not only that, she likes to share personal stories about her life – in a sweet and intimate way.
Design*Sponge
About: Design*Sponge is a daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge was declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” (NY Times, 2008) and features store and product reviews, city, product, and gift guides, diy projects, before & after furniture and home makeovers, home tours, recipes, videos and podcasts, and trend forecasting.
Why I Love This Site: Grace Bonney's posts are always uniquely written and stylishly presented.
Decor8
About: Founder and Editor Holly Becker is an American writer and interior stylist. Launched in January 2006 before design and decorating blogs became a trusted and popular source of information, decor8 is an established site known as a reliable design resource on the web. decor8, a play on the word decorate, is dedicated to sharing honest opinions, decorating ideas, beautiful interior spaces, independent art and design, products and services, and articles meant to inspire readers to live a more fulfilling, creative life.
Why I Love This Site: Similar to Design*Sponge, this blog has been around awhile. What does that mean? Holly's an experienced writer who's seen it all. If you're looking for design inspiration that will never go out of style, start at Decor8.
First pic from Coco+Kelley