Michael Diaz-Griffith | Writer, Designer, Historian

WRITING & CURATION

Cover of "The New Antiquarians: At Home with Young Collectors" by Michael Diaz-Griffith featuring a dark-blue and chartreuse jacket showing a tasseled pair of parted curtains.

For his bestselling book The New Antiquarians: At Home with Young Collectors, Michael drew on over a decade of antiques advocacy to spotlight a rising generation of collectors whose spirited interiors are resetting the conversation around historic art and design.

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ORDER YOUR COPY

INSIDE THE DESIGN

INSIDE THE DESIGN

INFLUENCE

René Lalique’s dining room for the Sèvres pavilion, 1925

In an essay for The World of Interiors, Michael took up one of design's great ironies: that the most modern objects on offer are already antique, and that the surest route to a daring future runs straight through the past.

EVANGELISM

On the Middlebrow podcast with comedians Dan Rosen and Brian Park, Michael makes a spirited case for antiques, connoisseurship, and the importance of cultural history—leaving one of the hosts unexpectedly converted.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

TASTEMAKING

A pair of Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese celadon porcelain ewers, almost certainly supplied by Lazare Duvaux, the porcelain Qianlong period (1735-1795), the mounts circa 1750-1755. 12½ in (32 cm) high.

For Christie’s In the Frame series, Michael discussed his latest projects, preoccupations, and picks from the treasure-filled collection of Irene Roosevelt Aitken, which went on to fetch a record-setting $28 million—with 172% hammer and premium against low estimate.

EDITORIAL & CREATIVE DIRECTION

The May/June 2025 issue of The Magazine Antiques: one cover shows a retro-modern collage, the other shows a blue-painted antique cabinet filled with mochaware pottery.

For a guest-edited "Collector's Edition" of The Magazine ANTIQUES, the century-old publication at the heart of the collecting field, Michael assembled curators, dealers, designers, photographers, preservationists, technologists, veteran connoisseurs, and new voices to imagine the future of antiques and ANTIQUES.

TASTEMAKING

Ancient Greek ceramic fragment depicting a seated youth holding a hare, with a black background.

For Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2025, Michael highlighted an ancient pottery fragment, a snuffbox decorated with sea creatures, and a contemporary sculpture to cleverly house them.

SEE HIS TOP PICKS

SEE HIS TOP PICKS

COMMUNITY & LEADERSHIP

Michael Diaz-Griffith mid-presentation — on stage before a red background, slide-advancer in hand, brown cardigan over untucked embroidered dress shirt, smiling.

For the Design Leadership Network’s twentieth-anniversary summit in Madrid, Michael orchestrated a multi-day, city-wide experience that combined thought leadership, cultural immersion, and explorations of Spanish architecture, art, design, and fashion with the distinctive sense of community that defines DLN gatherings.

Under Michael’s leadership, the Design Leadership Network has mounted summits in Rome, Mexico City, and Edinburgh, alongside the cultural, editorial, and educational programming he guides throughout the year. Together, these efforts expand collective knowledge, spark collaboration, advance best practices, and bring designers and makers into conversation on craft, heritage, emerging ideas, and the rapidly evolving future of the design field.

For The Madrid Summit, Michael and DLN editorial director Hadley Keller Lloyd produced a special edition of the Design Leadership Network’s quarterly magazine—part summit guide, part city guide for those wishing to delve deeper into the Spanish capital.

THE MADRID GUIDE

THE MADRID GUIDE