My Design Mission

In the 36 short years that I’ve been on this earth I have always designed. Wether it be a LEGO house, a kitchen, or a logo, design is an essential part of my RNA and pulses this blood hotter and more rapid than anything I have ever known. It may be that a grandfather was an extreme home builder, that a grandmother is an amazing seamstress/textile expert, or that my mother is a passionate floral designer, but it is quite simple that none of them planned their skilled crafts, and neither did I. It is clear that I have a pre-disposed genetic set of conditions toward design and I always thought I’d be an architect, or a painter. I guess I’m a little of both because design is everything.

Being an interior designer comes with a great responsibility and a large part of that responsibility is to trust my instincts. I always explain to my clients that design is apart of my blood, I may not know exactly why I do things a certain way, or, that I can not quite verbalize and explain it, but I do know that it is right. Not quite being able to define my natural design process led me to think harder about how I move and flow through a concept. I am pretty rapid and am usually able to have the space completely designed within the first 5 minutes of entering, but that can be a challenge when a client has a set idea of how they envision their space. I needed to find a way to quickly define my instincts.

For me, the process of interior design has evolved into seven laws. These laws provide a foundation, a set-point, for every project, process, and goal of my interior design practice.

Seven Laws of Interior Design

1 Safety before function and form / Form has always followed function, but before both of them comes safety. If the design is unsafe, there is no point to designing it. There are planning guidelines and building code requirements that every interior designer must know, but ultimately safety of the user is top priority. Detaching the designer-self from form immediately allows greater practice of safety, followed by function, and lastly, finished with form.

2 Style and price are symbiotic / What you do to one affects the other. It is a simple concept but quite often forgotten in the excitement of a new project. A highly styled interior comes at a high cost, and although I would normally jump on it, there is a benefit to return to simplicity. Cheap is cheap, please remember that.

3 Be aware of decisions / Compromises do not mean sacrifices, they mean customization. We have altered how we operate in our decision making process when it comes to interior design. Most of our decisions are based upon the ego’s idea of how something must be, strongly influenced by television/media drama, online information inaccuracies, and novices claiming to be experts. Creating a set of conditions not only limits the designer, it limits the outcome. Moving away from limited mind-sets will allow for a more creative, customized space that is unique to you.

4 Be free to explore all options / Choose to be unlimited, but stay focused and avoid confusing the design goals. There are a plethora of customizable options within standard but let’s not agonize and draw out decisions because there’s no sense debating everything – the project will never start or end. There are really only ever two clear options in every decision. Choosing to be unlimited allows us to be open to more ideas, become democratic about the functions, and determine what those two choices really are.

5 Sustainability is everlasting / It is unfortunate that we were so limited in the past and that we are limiting our future, but we can change that. We must look at all aspects of the design to be aware of green-washing, limit out-gassing, limit airborne contaminants, decrease carbon foot-prints, increase environmental efficiencies, and eliminate after-services. It is not easy and easy task, because we have globalized our manufacturing processes, however choosing to work with local suppliers and on-continent manufacturers that follow their environmental policies benefits everyone.

6 Plan it right / Since the advent of HGTV and the Internet, everyone claims to be a designer. A designer takes both education and practice. Without the technical know-how and skills, working in the absence of plan means there is no direction and your desired outcome is lost in the pattern of unlimited on-the-fly decisions, which only confuse and complicate matters. Every great party has a secretly devious plan to execute. Write a list, map it out, and execute the plan.

7 Relationships build meaning / We live in a disconnected, multi-tasking world that distances us further and further from each other. This does not work for interior design. To achieve a successful concept all parties need to understand and relate to each other, the product, and the use. Be specific and authentic about preferences and communicate that information to each other so all benefit.