Spencer Bailey is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the media company The Slowdown and host of the Time Sensitive podcast. He is also the editor-at-large of the book publisher Phaidon.
A writer, editor, and journalist, he has written at length about architecture, art, culture, and design, and contributed to publications such as Town & Country, The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Fortune. From 2013 to 2018, he was the editor-in-chief of Surface magazine. He is the author of several books—including In Memory Of: Designing Contemporary Memorials (Phaidon), which was a Financial Times “best book of 2020” and a Literary Hub “favorite book of the year”—and is currently overseeing the editorial direction of a five-volume book series celebrating The Leading Hotels of the World. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, New York, as well as on the advisory council of the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Bailey has spoken at or moderated live talks at venues including the Aspen Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions, and the 92nd Street Y, and has been on the juries of the Hyères Design Parade festival, the CFDA Fashion Awards, the James Beard Restaurant Design Awards, the Rado Star Prize, and the Swarovski Designers of the Future Award. He has taught a workshop in the Design Research master’s program at the School of Visual Arts. In 2023 and 2024, he was named to the Wallpaper USA 300 and USA 400 lists, respectively, as a curator “preserving and promoting creative culture.”
Born and raised in Colorado, he is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Dickinson College. He lives in New York City.
Portrait: Ogata