Baron, “Lord”, Joël was born in what he believes to be the oldest mountain range on Earth, the Cohutta Mountains, and loved playing on the families working sorghum farm located in North Georgia. He inherited his title from his Flemish Friesland heritage through his ancestral uncle, Baron Peter von der Geest. Lord Joël studied design and aesthetics at the Atlanta College of Art. In 1990 he established his first East Coast based interior and architectural design company with the late Baron “Lord” Peter von der Geest with a principal roster that includes the Bienstock family (Chappell Music and Atlantic Records) as well as the legendary song writing team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and the Rockerfeller family. Over the past three decades his principals have also included Dina Merrill (daughter of E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post and the Vanderbuilt family.
As a young boy, Lord Joël fell in love with Greece and everything Greek and has traveled extensively throughout the Greek territories for over twenty years. He is a true Philhellene and is currently nestled in the hillsides of Greek’s paradisiacal Kefalonia Island located in the Ionian Sea.
His passion for Greek Orthodoxy and Byzantine Architecture guided him to visit the second-most important religious place of pilgrimage, after Jerusalem, Mount Athos which is an UNESCO World heritage site. There, Lord Joël was asked to design an addition to the treasured circa 910 AD Byzantine Peter and Paul Skete in the settlement area near Karyes, Mount Athos by the abbot, Father Ioannikios. His travels took him to several small monastic houses called Sketes and to several Monasteries where he was able to study the gardens and architectural styles while all the while attending the services for prayers which inspired a series of botanical and architectural pencil renderings. Currently, he is working on a series of portraits of monks that he met on his sojourns to the Hole Mountain. His culinary interest were rewarded by the request of the abbot, Father Spyridon, to join the kitchen team at Mikra Agia Anna located at the tip of the Holy Peninsula of Mount Athos to prepare the meal for seventy guest for Dekapentavgoustos celebrating Panagia, mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His real estate interest have been extensive including restoring a circa 1700 Georgian Colonial home originally designed and built following the Pocket Guide that was designed for the New World settlers and influenced from the studies of Ancient Greek Architectural scale, symmetry, perspective and forms by the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. Lord Joël implemented extensive gardens on his property’s tree farm including a collection of more than sixty rare conifers and one of a kind trees all propagated by the late Dennis Dodge. He designed his timeless gardens to hug the three century year old home and it compares to world renowned gardens including a botanist’s dream array of arbors, sprays and shrubs. Lord Joël sowed over five million wild flower seeds throughout the pastures. Therewith, his studies of the historical gardens of Japan are evident in his use of barrowing from nature creating a butterfly sanctuary and inviting hundreds of migratory wings a rest or to nest and sing a song.
His attention to research and detail for the interior renovations was rewarded in finding a piece of what he believed to be part of the original, hand painted wall covering for his master bedroom. The fragment was found inside a wall during the renovation. He secured toile fabric in the same palette of colors that was woven on sixteenth century wood looms in Lyon, France to cover the master bedroom walls. He confirms that the New World settlers brought with them elements and style that continues to evolve across the Americas.
He has had the opportunity to implement his extensive studies of various architectural styles and gardens in designing details for the landmark Villa Lavern located in the cliffs above Saint Tropez, France and the complete renovation of the mid-century modern ocean side home and extensive gardens of Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley located in the dunes of East Hampton, New York and their Palm Beach, Florida residence located at the world renowned Breakers Hotel just minutes away from her childhood landmark home Mar-a-Lago. Having shared years together with “Deenie”, he has heard first-hand stories from the famed heiress including humorous tells about her pet turtle Jumbo, sailing on the high seas aboard her family’s boat, Sea Cloud, and her successful recipe for soufflé. One of her favorite childhood memories was her sleeping porch that was connected to her one-of-a-kind bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.
His interest in Greece led him to further research of Ancient Greek architectural harmony and balanced scale. He confirms that scale is a master element in design and determines the overall interpretation of a particular setting juxtaposing it with the balance of the foreground and background verifying the importance of positive and negative space as equal and one in the same.
His interpretations of details for style was rewarded during his design of the renovation of a sprawling Spanish Revival home just a short drive from Manhattan, New York. Therein, he incorporated elements pulled from Byzantine, Romanesque, Moroccan, Italian and Spanish designs and included items from India, Austria, Morocco, Portugal, Greece, France and England.
Having come from a family of builders, contractors and farmers, his hands-on approach alongside sub-contractors, engineers, architects, contractors, tradespersons and staff, he is comfortable as the overseer and liaison for his principals in implementing one of his designs for a renovation and installation. Among the many projects he has managed include but are not limited to apartments in Manhattan Skyscrapers, a multi-tiered penthouse and rooftop garden in Thessaloniki, Greece and an ocean side estate in Central America.
He studied classic French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. Following his graduation, he was invited to join the staff of Three MICHELIN Stars chef, Pierre Gagnaire’s restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris, France but decided to return to New York and continue his multi talented expressions including interior design, architectural design, painting murals, garden design, real estate, writing, poetry and visual art. His most recent invitation to cook in NYC was for Tony Blair. He prepared a delicious garlic basil roasted rack of lamb recipe that he learned to make during his studies at Le Cordon Bleu.
His visit to his ancestral Flemish Netherlands including Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Griot-Bijgaarden, Dilbeek, and the natural garden of Hallerbos, Flanders awakened his interest to research his family’s decision to travel to the New World in 1683 at the invitation of the new found colony of Pennsylvania and was a stimulus to step onto the jet in NYC to his destination on Kefalonia Island, Greece.