Contents
FEATURES 09
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The Power of Perseverance
The Power of Alternative Ideas
The Power of Women
The Power to Innovate
The Power to Reinvent
We get up close and personal with five of Interior Design’s most prolific female figures, including Anita Barnett, Jane Rohde, Nila Leiserowitz, Barbara Barry and Robin Klehr Avia.
The power of design isn’t limited to the innovation of the designer. We explore the strategies developed by manufacturers and designers to not only help their clients be more innovative, but also to improve their relationships with each other.
Increasingly, Interior Designers are entering the industry after working for years in a different field, from finance to fashion and everything in between. We explore how these new recruits are finding professional fulfillment the second time around.
The recession may have cost them their jobs, but it didn’t stifle their creative spirit. Here’s how a few recently unemployed designers and architects are using their design education to stay afloat despite the economic downturn.
The proactive approach to sustainability occurred quickly, speeding through the last decade. But beyond sustainable materials, today’s green-alternative practices are keeping the design industry focused on the future.
By Chi-an Chang
By Michele Meyer
By Steve Hendershot By David Whitemyer
By Michelle Bowles
THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL INTERIOR DESIGN ASSOCIATION
IN EVERY ISSUE 02
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From IIDA Derrell Parker, FIIDA Cheryl Durst, Hon. FIIDA
Design Dialogue Joseph Pettipas
Ahead of the Curve The Royal Hawaiian Hote l
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Resources By Elizabeth Cotner
Advertising Index
Viewpoints What is the power of design?
Please recycle this journal and its plastic wrapper.
FROM IIDA
Growing up, that was a repeated mantra my mother instilled in my head. Friday night basketball game? You better be sure I was getting there, and coming home, with my gals. The rules my parents instilled in me I now work to instill in my own children. Absolutely no riding in cars with boys. Rules are good. Rules keep us in line. Rules provide the guidelines that enable us to excel, because once you get the rules, you know where you can bend, break or stretch them. And isn’t that part of what makes us all a strong community? Speaking of community, De r rell and I were recently celebrating the feat that IIDA has so greatly enhanced its community presence over the pa st six months. From transforming a Facebook fan base from 500 to more than 5,900, tweeting on average eight times a week, and starting blog conversations that stretch into LinkedIn and the Otto Forum, IIDA has consistently wo r ked to foster and support its Members’ online community. It’s no wonder Members took it a step further and requested an online response mechanism for Perspective articles, which we we re happy to deliver. Check out the conve rsation now at iida.org,
RULES PROVIDE THE GUIDELINES THAT ENABLE US TO EXCEL.
and comment directly about the articles that inspire or provoke you. And trust me, we’ve got articles to evoke comments in this issue! The annual Power of Design/NeoCon issue always presents the best of the best, and this issue doesn’t disappoint. Check out “The Power of Women” featuring some of the most extraordinary women in our industry, and nuggets of wisdom about how they do what they do, on page 19. Read “The Power to Reinvent” on pa ge 31 to learn about how some design professionals took a nontraditional ro u te to their dream job, and how previous care e rs are impacting their Design wo r k .
Watch for details of the upcoming Smart Environments Awards — to premiere at Greenbuild in Chicago next November — and a better-than-ever Student Sustainable Competition, coinciding with the Fall issue of Perspective, which will feature a special education section. Here’s to knowing the rules, knowing when it’s OK to bend the rules, and most of all, to the Power of Design.
DERRELL PARKER, FIIDA 2009–2010 IIDA PRESIDENT
CHERYL S. DURST, HON. FIIDA, LEED AP IIDA EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CEO
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ABOUT THE COVER
CALLING A L L STUDENTS
For the cover, I wanted to create an eclectic mix of interior patterns and designs, incorporating all kinds of opposites with traditional and modern, natural and geometric elements all linked together around the title.
IIDA wants YOU to design the Fall 2010 cover of Perspective! With the redesign of Perspective earlier this year, we set out to refocus our cover illustrations on original, raw and innovative designs. The Fall 2010 issue is our education issue and the theme for the cover is “The Future of Design.� The winning illustration will grace the cover and the artist will design illustrations for the interior of the magazine, as we l l . Focus: The Future of Design Deadline: June 25 Specs: 300 dpi at 8.5 x 11.125
Hennie Haworth lives and works in east London. Having studied illustration at Brighton University, she now has a client list which includes Penguin, The Guardian, Habitat, Urban Outfitters, Waitrose and Vodafone. Her mixed media illustrations are hand drawn, decorative and very colorful. She has shown in galleries in the UK and Sweden.
Contact: Please submit your entry via email at perspective@imaginepub.com or visit us in the Perspective Booth at NeoCon (Booth 8-3018) on Wednesday, June 16, between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. *Rules of En t ry: You must be a current Interior Design student to qualify. Those graduating in 2010 may also apply. Notification: If your design is chosen, you will be contacted via email by June 30. *Perspective and IIDA reserve the right to select the winning design or designer regard less of specific entry rules and regulations. Selected artwork becomes the property of IIDA, with credit to the designer, for use in related initiatives (newsletters, website, etc.).
CONTRIBUTORS
09 The Power of Perseverance Michele Meyer is a regular contributor to Perspective, and writes about interior design, fashion and travel for Travel + Leisure, InStyle, W, GQ and Art & Antiques. Based in Texas, Meyer is a former Allure and Lucky correspondent.
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13 The Power of Alternative Ideas David Whitemyer is a registered architect and Project Manager at Christopher Chadbourne and Associates in Boston. He writes about finance, workplace culture and design from his home in Rockland, Mass.
Summer 2010
27 The Power to Innovate Steve Hendershot writes about topics ranging from entrepreneurship trends to cancer resea rch; eco-friendly construction to college basketball. His work appears in publications including Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Chicago.
31 The Power to Reinvent Michelle Bowles is a contributing editor for Perspective who resides in southern Illinois. She has written for a variety of print and online publications, and has blogged extensively for various B2B and B2C companies.
Perspective got a peek inside the sketchbook and creative mind of Joseph Pettipas, IIDA, IDC, ASID, RDI, LEED AP, Senior Vice President and Western Practice Leader at HOK in Toronto
DESIGN DIALOGUE 1 I gain inspiration from the world around me. I have been extremely fortunate to travel to many parts of the world and have experienced many cultures and environments.
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2 Some of the things on my desk right now are a Las Vegas “fun house” mug with a photo of me and two collea g u es magically imprinted on it, a miniature bottle of Glenfiddich 18-year-old Scotch, my Blackberry and a raft of colored markers. 3
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If I didn’t design, I’d likely be a doctor.
4 My sketchbook is filled with mostly messy abstract telephone call doodles. When I sketch for rea l , I tend to use flimsy or sc ra tch paper so that I can apply transparent color. 5 My favorite example of good design is anything Mies van der Rohe. 6 Five words that describe design to me are…
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Purposeful | Appropriate | Delightful | Elegant | Right 5
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By Michele Meyer
Staying alive and creative despite the downturn.
Creativity has always fueled design. But now, downsized architects and Interior Designers find it’s spurring more — and that’s helping them keep their artistic juices flowing so they can pay the bills until they’re rehired. “When the recession hit in September 2008, architecture and design projects screeched to a halt. Thousands of people were laid off,” says Kerry Harding, President and Chief Recruiting Officer of The Talent Bank, Inc., in Washington, D.C. “For a while — as one of my clients put it — we cut fat, three months later the muscle, and two months later the bone.”
If they ’ re among the masses laid off or underemployed, designers and architects should use the time wisely by making themselves more marketable, Harding advises. Learn how to u se the industry standard, Au todesk’s Revit® computer-aided d esign sof twa re; become green with the LEED accreditation m a ny firms seek; and update your portfolio using self-launching Powe r Point, Adobe Flash Player and music. Then let ingenuity guide you to new income sources. “If design is your passion, never give that up,” Harding says. “Exploring new angles to make money may lead to something that makes you deliriously happy.’’ Here are imaginative ways several designers and architects are staying afloat. NEW SKILLS
Kathy Andrews, ASID, Principal at Houston’s Kathy Andrews Interiors, rebooted her 34-year career in January. “We’ve never had a downturn like this,” says Andrews, a multi-family home designer whose policy became “If the phone rings, we do it.” She and Ladco Design Center, a trade-targeting seller of furniture and lighting, formed Campus Design Group to design and furnish private dorm rooms and public spaces. “It was diversity neither of us had.” And the collaboration will endure once the economy recovers. “It’s exciting and challenging to learn new skills — and as old as I am, it’s fun to be around campuses and students again.” Henry Vega, IIDA, developed a love for photo g ra p hy when he was laid off in November 2008 after a decade designing co r-
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Kerry Harding, President and Chief Recruiting Officer of The Talent Bank, Inc., in Washington, D.C.
“If design is your passion, never give that up. Exploring new angles to make money may lead to something that makes you deliriously happy.” pora te and hea l t h ca re inte r i o rsin Philadelphia. “I’ve exhibited at a gallery and been hired to photograph ads and corporate events,” Vega says. While he hopes to return to a full-time firm, he even uses his new skill as the director for IIDA’s Philadelphia City Center. “I’m able to maintain my connection to design — and my sanity.” Af ter Inte g ra ted Design Solutions of Troy, Mich., cut Becky Fixel, Asso c. IIDA, as an education project design intern last J u n e, she realized she had learned more than she’d thought. “I was taught to crea te presentation layo u ts, and it’s pre t ty similar to creating flye rs, b ro c h u res and we bs i tes.” She’s found that those niches — plus T-shirt, business ca rd and c u stom invitation design — not only pay her bills, but also have their own rewa rds. “ T h ey ’ re creative and you se e res u l ts quickly.” She discovered another passion: repurposing T-shirts into grocery totes, magazine stacks into gift wrap bows and leftover upholstery scraps into pillows and placemats (with pockets for the silverware). “My crafts are such a relief when my eyes are beginning to cross from doing the graphic projects, and now they’re selling at local art markets.” Not only that, she’s built an impressive portfolio that shows her flexibility. “My dream is to work in hotel and restaurant design, but in the meantime, I plan to stay the course. I love the freedom and flexibility, and working one-on-one with clients will benefit me if I work at a firm again.” NEW DESIGNS
The blow of the economy quickly faded for Judy Klich, AAHID, a former IIDA National Healthcare Advisor, despite Nashville’s Gresham Smith and Partners slashing her post as a hea l t h ca re Interior Designer a year ago. She picked up paintbrushes and
d ow n s i zing (to accommodate smaller square footage). She also donates two- to five-hour consultations to charity auctions.
has rarely put them down since. “I’ve sold pa i n t i n gs, organized shows and taught art workshops to adults and children,” she says. “I’m challenging myself and pushing my creativity beyond my comfort zone.” Uncertain what the future holds, she’s hoping it includes representation — which she’s currently pursuing — in several art galleries by sometime early next year.
“It starts with something small,” she says. “I might meet with a client for something à la carte and that could turn into a larger-scale project.” The economy has forced Dalrymple to be crea t i ve as a marketer, not just a designer — a skill that will pay off whether working on her own or joining another firm. “It all leads back to doing what I want with my life: Be an Interior Designer. Since I was nine, it was that or be a “Solid Gold” dancer, but that we n t off the air when I was in third grade.”
SWEET DREAMS
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Laid off by San Antonio’s Marmon Mok last February, architecture intern and student Erin Karr embraced a previous artistic craft: cake designing.
Like many out-of-work architects, Bryan Couchenour, LEED AP, who lives on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. John, barters. While some professionals trade with doctors, lawyers, accountants and even daycare centers, Couchenour was able to lower his rent by offering his landlord the skills he acquired
“If I can’t do architecture, I want to use my design skills,” says
CREATIVITY
ECONOMY
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UNCERTAINTY
Karr, who became a made-to-order specialty cake designer of 3-D My Little Pony birthday cakes and seven-tier wedding cakes. “Cakes allow you to have visions and express them.” In fact, Marmon Mok hired her to design a cake almost five years ago due to a delicious portfolio of cakes she’d designed while working at a bakery to pay for school. She’ll be adding to that — and an architectural portfolio — to assist in her job sea rch after graduating from the Univers i ty of Texas at San Antonio’s College of Architecture this yea r.
SEARCH
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as an architect such as re-roofing, painting and installing solar heating at his bayside villa. “Construction makes me more marketable,” says Couchenour, who worked in construction while attending the University of Cincinnati. “And I fulfill a need to use my hands and put something together.” And according to Harding, the crisis is almost over. “Just hang in there. Work put on hold two years ago has started up, and employee searches are rising. Things are getting much better.”
“The next best thing to designing buildings is making highend cakes,” she says. “Once I got a taste of design, I never could go back to working retail. I have to do something creative.” THE WORLD IS A STAGE
Lauren Dalrymple, CID, of Canton, Md., sells her work by the slice. “People hear ‘Interior Designer’ and think, ‘That’s going to cost me,’” she says. So, since The H. Chambers Company laid her off last January, she opened L’Hirondelle Interior Design, breaking business into affordable bite-size portions. She charges hourly ra tes for interior co l o r co n s u l t a t i o n s, room rev i va l , home staging or furniture
“If I can’t do architecture, I want to use my design skills. Cakes allow you to have visions and express them.” Erin Karr, specialty cake designer and student at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s College of Architecture
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By David Whitemyer
The last 10 years have been deemed “The Green Decade.” But beyond sustainable materials, today’s green-alternative practices are keeping the design industry focused on the future.
Interior Designers, along with builders and suppliers, have pushed “green design” from a fringe concept to a trend, and finally to being standard practice. This proactive effort occurred quickly, speeding through the last decade. But with mainstream and commonplace often comes complacency, and although leaps and bounds have been made in energy-saving building design, it’s too early for designers and architects to rest on their laurels.
Fortunately, innovative designers have their sights set on spawning alternative ideas to mend the planet — well beyond recycled products and energy efficient appliances. “Alternative thinking goes way past materials,” says Holley Henderson, IIDA, LEED AP, Founder of H2 Ecodesign in Atlanta. She notes that a number of interior goods coming to market will certainly have positive effects on both the environment and the bottom line, such as solar-powered lighting, 100-percent recycled material walls, phase change sheetrock and nontraditional cooling equipment. But, Henderson adds, “The one thing I’ve learned about green is that there’s a lot of grey in it,” suggesting that designers need to look at eco-friendly design from a different perspective. Starting simply, the standards that most designers are now familiar with are still evolving, and are providing the industry with alternatives. Henderson describes a new LEED credit piloting library that allows for beta testing credits in isolation versus entire rating systems. During the pilot, for projects willing to document these credits — even if the intent and requirements are not achieved — the points will be awarded. “LEED has been a market transformation tool,” Henderson says, “but it’s the triumph of good over perfect.” She illustrates a scenario where LEED credits are given for specifying carpet or tile with a high-recycled content. “But wouldn’t it make sense to get credit for not using carpet or tile,” she proposes, “and just having sealed concrete or a
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multi-attribute flooring product?” Whereas carpet is easily subject to damage and staining from general use, and can cost upwards of $50 per square yard, concrete — with an array of finishing options, such as sealers and colorings — is incredibly long lasting and inexpensive. THINK DIFFERENTLY
It’s this concept of omission that Henderson finds particularly revolutionary. “Most designers take few risks, using the same materials and details they have in the past,” she says, “when sometimes the best thing to do is to say ‘No.’” Henderson applauds the commercial architecture and design firm, Perkins + Will, for p u blicizing a “Precautionary List,” which identifies all of the materials and chemicals their designers will not use, rather than yet another database of greenrated goods. In addition to assessing the health and environmental effects of certain products, the list also provides cost and lifecycle information. Henderson is optimistic that when designers see the brave stance that influential firms are taking, the whole industry will follow suit. Alternative green must find the balance between stubbornly taking a stand and moving forward with high quality, earth-friendly built design. Changing construction techniques is one alternative. The pioneering alternative idea of Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, LEED AP, came from a strong belief that environmentally friendly homes should be within easy grasp of more people. For almost 10 years, Kaufmann, who has been called “The Henry Ford of Green Homes” by the Sierra Club, has been designing elegant, low-impact, prefabricated homes. Preferring the term “smart construction” to prefabricated, Kaufmann explains that her factory-assembled homes generate 50 to 75 percent less co n struction waste than similar sized site-built houses. “Factories have precision-cutting tools and plenty of storage capacity for
SAVING THE EARTH TRUMPS SAVING MONEY Developers tend to focus on the upfront costs of building green, whereas the end users judge the success of green design by its annual operations costs. The true cost of green is the price paid for saving planet Earth, one construction or renovation project at a time. And what do you get for that price? A recent study comparing 41 high-performance Minnesota commercial buildings — including high schools, libraries, hospitals and fire stations — to traditionally constructed facilities shows how much green design can save Mother Nature from swallowing in just one year.
205,900 lbs.
LESS SULFUR DIOXIDE u n u sed materials to be further cut dow n and used in the next home,” she says, adding that, generally, the lumber and windows come from suppliers within 100 miles of the assembly line. On top of the environmental benefits, a prefabricated home can cost 10 to 25 percent less than a traditional site-built house. Add to that the yea rs’ worth of lowe r operating costs for a well-designed ecofriendly house, and it’s a win for both owner and Earth. “Good green design is about more than n ew materials and energ y- sav i n g systems,” says Kaufmann, whose home designs feature sloped ceilings and clerestories for air circulation, and high windows to grab the sunlight. “There’s so much to be learned by looking at architecture of the past,” she suggests. One of Kaufmann’s homes — full size and completely functional — is on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, through January 2011, as part of the exhibit, Smart Home: Green + Wired.
229,300 lbs. LESS NITROUS OXIDE
880 grams LESS MERCURY
59,900 tons LESS CARBON DIOXIDE
Holley Henderson, IIDA, LEED AP, Founder of H2 Ecodesign in Atlanta
“Most designers take few risks, using the same materials and details they have in the past, when sometimes the best thing to do is to say ‘No.’”
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Kaufmann predicts that a popular alternative green concept of the near future will be to design spaces for deconstruction and reuse — meaning that planning for disassembly will be just as important as construction. “Cradle-to-Cradle is going to become mainstream, if not a requirement,” she says. A research paper titled “Design for Reuse Primer,” funded by the U.S. Green Building Council, indicates that between 80 and 90 percent of the waste that comes from demolition is capable of being reused. In the U.S., almost 1.75 billion square feet of buildings are torn down each year, and about 5 billion square feet are renovated. Buildings are a mass of potentially reusable components, such as doors and windows, mechanical apparatus, framing and built-in furnishings.
It’s not unusual to see a price tag of more than $80,000 for a kitchen remodel. But companies such as Green Demolitions, a non-profit organization based in Greenwich, Conn., work with contractors to carefully deconstruct
“When people remodel their kitchens, almost everything gets chucked,” says Kaufmann, citing kitchens and bathrooms as the most obvious spaces
“A lot of things claiming to be ‘green’ are just doing less harm than they were before. I’m trying to promote a healthy amount of skepticism.” Jack Elliott, LEED AP, Associate Professor of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
that should be designed with deconstruction in mind. These rooms are primarily made of integrated components — appliances, cabinetry, plumbing and electrical — all prime candidates for modularity and reuse. And because these spaces are typically the most costly in home design, there’s opportunity for payback.
kitchens so that others can reuse the cabinets, countertops, hardware, and appliances. Buyers get good quality products at a discounted rate, and the donors receive a tax deduction. But most importantly, the reusable kitchen parts are kept out of the landfill. On a smaller scale of recycling and reuse, Jack Elliott, LEED AP, Associate Professor of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell Unive rsity in Ithaca,
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being sustainable or renewable or low energy, and Interior Designers must learn to assess those claims. “A lot of things claiming to be ‘green’ are just doing less harm than they were before,” he says, “I’m trying to promote a healthy amount of skepticism.” N.Y., crea ted an awa rd -winning light fixture that is not only 100-percent recyclable, but is also designed as a zero-waste product. Starting with a small billet of aluminum, Elliott lathes the cylinder to create the ceiling mount. The removed waste, or swarf, is then formed into a sphere to create the diffuser. He even considered the cord, made with a non-PVC coating. Some manufacturers of large appliances are now designing for disassembly, encouraging users to return items for dissection and refurbishing. The life expectancy of major appliances isn’t long — about 13 years for a refrigerator and nine years for a dishwasher — so the industry is creating incentives and systems to keep all of this equipment from ending up in a junkyard. As the cost of raw goods and equipment disposal continues to rise, this will benefit both consumer and supplier. “There needs to be a shift from product to service,” Elliott says. Interface, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, made headlines a decade ago when CEO Ray Anderson introduced the idea of lea s i n g carpet rather than selling it, flipping a product industry into a service industry. Appliance manufacturers are now seeing how this alternative idea might work for their products. In Sweden, Electrolux has experimented with renting washing machines to homeowners. A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF SKEPTICISM
Elliott teaches a course at Cornell called Ecological Literacy and Design, which falls into the college’s Interior Design program. The goal of this co u rse is to teach students one of the most alternative green ideas of all: critical thinking. “We want them to understand media and advertising, and to analyze whether something is truly green,” Elliott says. There are always going to be new products and processes in place, making new assertions about
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More than anything, Elliott simply hopes that he’s encouraging his students to become not just green designers, but activists. Interior Designers need to remember the grand picture, he says, adding that we should be trying to improve the natural conditions on Ea r t h , including clean air, safe wa ter and healthy so i l . “This isn’t just about indoor air quality and re cycled mate r i a l s.” Elliott tries to get his students to see buildings as organisms, with the Earth being a super organism, and he envisions a time, soon, when buildings will be designed for disassembly, to allow them to change, adapt or disappear, returning to their natural sources. Kaufmann believes that the next big idea that will go mainstream is biomimicry, where principles found in nature are incorporated into built design. Imagine a lotus-i n s p i red paint that cleans itself, a cooling system based on termite mounds, or water-collection devices using leaf vein concepts. These interiors products are already in development — 3.8 billion years of research and development is quite the track record. Although the last 10 years has sometimes been referred to as “The Green Decade,” with the introduction of standardized green ratings, mainstream movements, and a focus toward the future, the next 10 years will see innovations like no other. Interior Designers must continue dreaming up alternatives to the pool of current sustainable products and methods if design is to be kept fresh, costs under control and the Earth healed. And these alternatives, Elliott says, “have got to be good — not just new.”
Summer 2010
THE PRICE AND PAYBACK OF LEED CERTIFICATION The cost of the LEED AP exam: $400 for USGBC m e m b e rs ($550 for non m e m b e rs), plus $50 per yea r. The cost of the LEED AP Interior Design Study Guide: $70 for USG BC members ($85 for non members). The LEED certification process can cost anywhere between $20,000 and $60,000, just in paperwork and administration, depending on the size and complexity of the project. Initial capital costs have to be compared to annual operating costs (over the co u rse of five to 10 years) to assess the real payback from constructing environmentally friendly buildings. Life - cycle assessments are becoming increasingly standard in the LEED-certification process. As a high-perfo r m a n ce produ c t, a LEED-certified building can generate a seven to 12 percent increase in net operating income by reducing operating costs. Also, an initial investment of two percent in green design can benefit the owner tenfold in savings.
By Chi-an Chang
From the showroom to the boardroom, five pioneering females continue to carve out their place in Interior Design histo ry.
People have long posed the question: Is talent born or bred? No doubt, there are natural born leaders, and then there are those who make it to the top with an unwavering work ethic. But regardless of how skill, determination and cutting-edge creativity are cultivated, it’s clear that some people pave the way for the rest of us to follow. When it comes to Interior Design, these qualities translate into influencing how designs are developed, products are created, companies are operated, and even how new stars are born. Perspective identified five pioneering women whose talent has not only helped to shape the industry, but, in many cases, the world we live in.
In 1980, “The world is changing too, so as designers, we have to respond to that change and the outside forces that affect how we design.”
Robin Klehr Avia joined Gensler, one of the largest architecture and design firms in the world, as a junior designer. She has grown with the firm ever since. Today, she is the Managing Principal of the Northeast Region of Gensler, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Management Committee. In addition to her responsibilities in the Northeast Region, which includes the New York, Boston, New Jersey and Costa Rica offices, she has firm oversight for the Workplace and Professional Service Practice Area. She also works closely with Gensler’s leadership on strategy and planning related to running the business, at both a regional and global level. ”Design is always evolving and as a professional in the industry you need to embrace a fluid approach toward your career; remain open to learning, try novel things, seize opportunities and be willing to explore new paths,” Klehr Avia says. “The world is changing too, so as designers, we have to respond to that change and the outside forces that affect how we design. With the availability of advanced technology, a focus on performance - ba sed design and clients pushing us to crea te better work, I feel strongly that our industry today is doing the best work we have ever done.” She adds that in today’s market, Interior Designers are no longer charged with educating clients about the value of design. Instead, she’s found that clients are increasingly educating designers. For example, “one of the things they’ve educated us on is that we need to show them in some sort of concrete way how design can enhance business results,” Klehr Avia says.
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ROBIN KLEHR AVIA, FIIDA NORTHEAST REGION MANAGING PRINCIPAL, GENSLER, NEW YORK
“Robin really understands her clients’ business. She works at asking the right questions,” says Diane Hoskins, FAIA, LEED AP, Executive Director at Gensler in Washington, D.C. “She really understands what drives them, how they make money and uses them as key drivers to the way we design and deliver that space.” Klehr Avia’s projects have won many design awards, including the BusinessWeek/Architectural Record finalist award for the ING Direct Café in New York in 2002, IIDA’s Decade of Design Award in 2004 for her design of New York-based Swiss Re Financial Services, and two national awards from the Society of American Registered Architects, one in 2007 for the American Red Cross building in New York, and another in 2008 for The New York Times headquarters. Designers at Gensler say she has raised the quality of work at the firm, not only aesthetically but also in the way designers present interiors to exceed client needs and expectations. “She provokes you,” says Carlos Martinez , IIDA, AIA, LEED A P, Pr i n c i palat Gensler in Chica go. “Many times, she asks the sort of questions that force you to really explain why something is a certain way. She’s not necessarily doing that beca u se she d o es n ’t believe in it; she’s doing it beca u se it becomes a way for us to be more co nvincing when we are dealing with our c l i e n ts, u se rs, the media or any audience that we might have.” Interpreting clients’ needs into designs is just one of Klehr Avia’s many strengths. Julia Simet, IIDA, Principal at Gensler’s New York office, says Klehr Avia is also talented in explaining her vision to clients. When clients don’t understand the direction or the design, Simet says, she can successfully convert it into the language that they are comfortable with. Klehr Avia’s talent in translating her vision for clients and colleagues has also made her a trusted advisor. “She’s very proactive and she knows five years down the line where things are going,” Simet says. “She has her finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the office, but she also completely understands what’s happening globally in the firm.” The reach of Klehr Avia’s impact on Interior Design goes beyond Gensler. For the next generation of female interior designers, she is an inspiration and role model. “Interior Design is more balanced in terms of gender, but still it’s a fairly male dominated one,” says Martinez, who is also an Adjunct Professor of Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “As a teacher, I’ve had interesting conversations with female students as to their future. When they are aware of Robin, someone like that becomes an amazing inspiration that they can achieve whatever they want, and that there’s a place for them at the highest level.”
TOMORROW’S LEADING LADY Since being named one of the “Ten To Watch” by IIDA in 2004, Viveca Bissonnette has added more than 30 projects and many awards to her portfolio for her work in the corporate, education, government and residential sectors. Of the many projects Bissonnette has designed, the one she feels most strongly about is the High Tech High campus, a single charter high school launched in 2000 by a coalition of San Diego business leaders and educators. “It touched me on a personal level because my son Zachary is currently a junior at High Tech High and has been a student on campus since starting grade six in the Middle School. For him to be able to experience and thrive in a space that I’ve worked on is very meaningful and brings home the reason I became an Interior Designer,” she says.
VIVECA BISSONNETTE, PRESIDENT-ELECT, IIDA, ASSOC. AIA, CID, LEED AP ASSOCIATE AT CARRIER JOHNSON + CULTURE, SAN DIEGO
The school doesn’t have traditional hallways and lockers. Instead, the design team’s vision was to create a neighborhood and a community for the students to collaborate together on projects.
“It is de-centralized with no main administrative area and teachers have their offices adjacent to the classrooms,” says Bissonnette of the school’s teaching clusters designed to encourage team teaching. In 2005, the campus received an Honor Award from the DesignShare Design Awards program, which recognizes designs focused on creating innovative learning environments. Soon, B i ssonnette will be sharing her innovative skills of creating communities elsewhere when she becomes the President of the IIDA International Board of Directors, inducted at the IIDA Annual Meeting at NeoCon 2010 on June 13. “IIDA is in a unique position to take the lead in bringing together practitioners, educators and legislato rs to strengthen and unify the design community,” she says. “As President, it will be my priority to foster this environment of collaboration.”
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An avid
mountain climber, Nila Leiserowitz has scaled many peaks, literally and metaphorically, during her 30-plus years in the design industry. At 24, Leiserowitz (née Hildebrandt) started her own interior design company, Wheeler Hildebrandt, with partner and friend Gary Wheeler. A decade later, she joined Chicago-based commercial architecture and interior design firm Perkins + Will as a vice president leading the healthcare and corporate interiors practice. While at Perkins + Will, she became the first woman to serve on the firm’s board of directors. In 1995, Leiserowitz was recruited by global architecture and design firm Gensler, to help rebuild its Los Angeles Workplace practice, and quickly became a firm-wide Workplace leader. Her client list includes such companies as Glendale, Calif.-based DreamWorks Animation, New York-based international accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP, and Saban Capital Group, Inc., a private investment firm based in Los Angeles specializing in the media, entertainment and communications industries. A leader in workplace design, Leiserowitz has received many accolades from IIDA, ASID and AIA.
NILA LEISEROWITZ, IIDA, FASID, ASSOC. AIA MANAGING DIRECTOR/PRINCIPAL OF GENSLER, LOS ANGELES
“Part of the way I measure my success is by creating an environment for people to do great work.”
Maintaining Gensler’s position as the top commercial interior design and architecture firm in Los Angeles County is demanding enough, but Leiserowitz’s concern about the greater world around her led to her creating gServe, a community service and outreach group in Gensler’s So u t hwest Region. gServe has successfully raised money for various ca u ses, collected food and clothing for local schools and the homeless, and built or renova ted shelters for others in need around the Southwest United States, Haiti and China. She also is a champion for professional women. She organized “Women in Design,” an event highlighting successful female executives and their inspirational paths to lea d e rship. “Part of the way I measure my success is by creating an environment for people to do great work,” she says. “I’m a firm believer that you are only as good as the crea t i ve people around you.” Former colleagues say Leiserowitz empowered them to succeed by offering them guidance and allowing them to voice their opinions. “She created a place where people had equal opportunity and felt they were being supported. She would empower you to believe that you could accomplish things,” says Rey Viquez, who worked with Leiserowitz at Perkins + Will and at Gensler throughout the ’90s. Viquez now owns his own design firm in Los Angeles. Christina Clark, who worked as Leiserowitz’s assistant from 2003 to 2007, credits Leiserowitz for helping her become successful both professionally and personally. “She taught me how to blend my personal and business lives together so that I could be successful as a professional, as a woman, a wife and friend,” says Clark, who is now Vice President of Warren Wixen Real Estate Services in Los Angeles. “She really showed me how to bring people together.”
Jane Rohde
has more than 22 years of experience designing spaces for seniors. Among her most n o tewo r t hy ef forts, she developed Continuing Care Retirement Communities, which prov i d es long- term care for seniors in Maryland and Michigan, while serving as the Vi ce President of Design for Er i c kson Retirement Communities, a co m pany ba sed in Catonsville, Md., that developed and managed retirement communities.
“Elders and children are the most vulnerable populations; they are the ones who are least designed for in a purposeful manner.”
Growing up in a farming community in Eden, N.Y., Rohde says it gave her a different set of values. “You always knew the older people in the community,” she says. “That definitely impacted me.” In 1996, she founded JSR Associates, Inc., in Ellicott City, Md., which provides consulting services for senior living, healthcare and sustainability across the nation, to integrate the gap between operations for senior living care models and the designed environment, an issue she witnessed earlier in her career. She says she chose her current profession “because elders and children are the most vulnerable populations; they are the ones who are least designed for in a purposeful manner.” Since then, Rohde has won several awards for her designs, including the 2009 AIA Design for Aging Award, which honors innovative design and execution of senior living facilities, for an intergenerational community she co-designed in Rantoul, Ill. She also received the 2008 Innovative Product Award from Long-Term Living and Healthcare Design magazines for her
patented Access Table, which frees elders from using a bib while dining and allows them to share the table with those in wheelchairs and chairs simultaneously. “She’s a leading expert in senior living design,” says Amy Lopez, IIDA, AAHID, Principal at Houston-based WHR Architects, Inc. “She has influenced it greatly through her activism and her education of the public.” A champion of seniors, Rohde has impacted Interior Design with her work as a member of the 2010 and 2014 Health Guidelines Revision Committee for the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities, which is used as a reference standard by federal agencies, architects, engineers and designers in 42 states when reviewing, approving or developing their own codes. She was instrumental in improving the long-term care nursing portion of the Guidelines. But it’s not just designers, architects and engineers that Rohde has influenced. She has also improved the daily lives of many seniors, such as Jane Heald, a resident of a senior living community in Pleasant Hill, Tenn. Heald reached out to Rohde for advice when reconstruction was taking place at the Wharton Care Center nursing home. Rohde offered suggestions on care models and later became responsible for the center’s senior living consulting, programming, Interior Design and space planning. “We have a gated courtyard, so now people will be able to go outdoors when they want to and be safe,” she says. “And instead of one big nursing home, we now have four unique households.”
JANE ROHDE, FIIDA, AIA, ACHA, AAHID, LEED AP PRINCIPAL AND FOUNDER OF JSR ASSOCIATES, INC., ELLICOTT CITY, MD.
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Barbara Barry,
who began her career as a fine artist, launched her namesa ke residential interior d esign studio in 1985, designing for such clients as Michael Ov i t z , co - founder of Crea t i ve A r t i sts Age n cy and former president of The Walt Disney Company, and Da r ren Star, crea tor of telev ision se r i es Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City. S i n ce the company ex panded to include co m m e rcial work in 1995, Barry — who’s known for her simple yet elegant style that evokes old Hollywood glamour — has designed interiors for spaces such as The Savoy Hotel in London, Bro o ks Brothers’ flagship Manhattan store and the Avon Centre Salon and Spa in Trump Towe r in New York.
BARBARA BARRY, IIDA FOUNDER OF BARBARA BARRY, INC., LOS ANGELES
“Design awakens you and brings you back to your five senses, and in doing so, brings a richness to your life that is tangible,” Barry says. In 2000, Interior Design magazine inducte d Barry into the Interior Design Hall of Fame, which reco g n i zes des i g n e rs for their co n t r ibution to the evolution of Interior Des i g n . Architectural Digest also named her one of the “World’s 100 Best Designers” in 20 0 5. Through licensing arrangements with manufacturers such as Henredon, Baker Furniture, HBF (formerly Hickory Business Furniture) and Tufenkian Carpets, her style has also influenced product designs from furniture, rugs and linen to lighting at Boyd Lighting and even home fragra n ces and chocolate.
“Design awakens you and brings you back to your five senses, and in doing so, brings a richness to your life that is tangible.”
John Black, owner of J Black Design, a furniture design company based in Greensboro, N.C., first met Barry in the mid ’90s when he served as the Design Director at Baker Furniture, then headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich. He says her designs are simply powerful. “The most obvious influence she has had in the furniture business is bringing a sense of simplicity to product design; not just modern design, but the strength and versatility of simple forms," Black says. Long-time friend Michael Vanderbyl, IIDA, founder of Vanderbyl Design, a multidisciplinary design practice in San Francisco, agrees. “She's like Coco Chanel with her interiors — they are never overdone.”
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For Baker Furniture, a division of the Kohler Company based in Kohler, Wis., Barry designed a collection that features furnishings from cabinets, beds and chairs to lighting and accessories such as throws, vases and mirrors. “When we launched her collection in 1996, it was such a success that everybody in the industry basically copied her,” says James Caughman, I n terior Senior Sales and Marketing Executive at Baker Furniture. “She’s produced several icons.” Barry has also pushed the envelope in the rug industry with her simple design aesthetics.
“Her first collection for us [in 1995] was incredibly simple by the standards of even modern rugs,” says James Tufenkian, owner of Tufenkian Carpets, a New York-based dealer of artisan rugs handmade in Nepal and Armenia with showrooms nationwide. “Barbara took respect for the materials and craft that we employ to the limit by keeping the design so spare and the colors so subtle that the complexity of the fabric itself became the star.” The result? “The success of that collection opened the eyes of the interiors industry and expanded their notions of what could be done in handmade rugs,” Tufenkian says.
Anita Barnett’s
interest in Interior Design was first piqued when her family built their own house in Elwood, Ind., in the ’70s. “It was interesting for me to see how [the Interior Designers] led my parents into understanding that a home was an experience,” says Barnett. Throughout Barnett’s career, she too has tried to bring her clients to a better understanding of the power of design and how it can support their business objectives. Her portfolio includes clients such as food giant General Mills, Inc., Accenture, a global outsourcing and consulting firm based in Dublin, Ireland, and Edelman, a global public relations firm.
ANITA BARNETT, FIIDA
In 2001, when General Mills acquired food manufacturer Pillsbury, Barnett and her team helped bring talent from the two companies together with their design of the new General Mills World Headquarters in Golden Valley, Minn. The interior of the new campus emulates a town center, with stores featuring famous brands from both companies, glass-walled offices and a Betty Crocker Test Kitchen at its center.
PRINCIPAL OF PERKINS + WILL, MINNEAPOLIS
“Instead of everything being very removed, we created an open and transparent environment so everybody can really see what was going on throughout the facilities,” Barnett says. In 2004, the facility was a finalist for the BusinessWeek/ Architectural Record Awa rds, which celebrates the collaboration of client and architect in achieving measurable business and organization goals through design. Barnett has also received many awards for her leadership skills. In 2000, she was honored with IIDA’s Distinguished Leadership Award for her outstanding leadership contribution to IIDA and the Interior Design profession. In 2007, she was honored again by IIDA with the Lifetime Achievement Award for making a positive and lasting impact on the organization and profession. “The attention to detail and the listening skills she possesses are amazing,” says Melissa Lamb Brown, Owner of Relocation Strategies, Inc., in Indianapolis, who worked with Barnett in the ’90s. “Her designs reflect the passion she has toward solving the client’s individual need.” Over the years, Barnett has moved from designing interiors for clients to playing a more strategic role as corporate, commercial and civic market sector leader at Perkins + Will in Minneapolis. But her core objective has always been about leading organizations to find solutions that support a common goal. “Anita is one of those exceptional leaders with excellent consensus-building skills,” says Peggy Noakes, FIIDA, AAHID, LEED AP, EDAC, Associate at the Houston-based WHR Architects, Inc., who served with Barnett on the IIDA International Board. “As President of the board, she brilliantly applied her own problem-solving skills to the business of leading the board in an extremely collaborative manner that continually resulted in effective outcomes,” she says.
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Barnett’s core objective has always been about leading organizations to find solutions that support a common goal.
By Steve Hendershot
Recession is the mother of innovation. Whether it’s revamping their business models, developing new products and services, or exploring new relationships, manufacturers and designers have relied on innovation to survive the downturn.
Design, in its grandest sense, is practically a synonym for innovation. There is design and there is Design, and the latter is intrinsically innovative — it implies the vision and artistry of a skilled professional who sees what others cannot, creates beauty and function from shapelessness and obstruction, and helps others to e x p r e s s themselves in ways that those people would not have achieved on their own. The power of design isn’t limited to the innovation of the designer, however. There is also the innovation of the user, the client, t h e “experiencer” of design. And while innovation isn’t always conveyed from one person to the next, it can be encouraged, it can be stimulated, it can be drawn out.
“Physical space, in and of itself, doesn’t bring about change. But it can get in the way. What that means is that you have to get the physical environment aligned with where you’re trying to go,” says Rick Perkins, Ideation Lead at Haworth, Inc., a workspace manufacturer based in Holland, Mich. “Physical space is one of the largest canvases we have to paint on, so it’s an important symbolic representation to your entire organization that ‘We’re trying to go here.’” Industrial and Interior Designers have developed several strategies to help their corporate clients be more innovative. Those strategies range from creative thinking about offices and even the definition of a workspace, to applying design thinking to business problems — a strategy that can even benefit design firms themselves. CREATING INNOVATION-FRIENDLY SPACE
Not only are design firms and manufacturers confident they can help clients become creative and productive by equipping them with more collaborative work environments, but the clients themselves believe it, too. When the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based office furniture manufacturer Steelcase, Inc., launched a new line in 2008, it expected that the early adopters would be edgy companies such as Web startups or boutique ad agencies. Instead, Steelcase made early sales to a food chain and a financial services company, and those companies didn’t just want to purchase the products — they wanted capital-D Design. “The recession has forced more and more companies to reevaluate their missions, and then they come to us and ask, ‘What models are working?’ They are open to innovation in the way they do business, and in turn that’s helping Steelcase reinvent itself as a strategic partner in helping these people to reinvent their companies,” says James Ludwig, Steelcase’s Global Vice President of Design.
James Ludwig, Global Vice President of Design, Steelcase, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.
“The recession has forced more and more companies to reevaluate their missions, and then they come to us and ask, ‘What models are working?’”
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RETHINKING SPACE
In addition to building collaborative workspaces in offices, some des i g n e rs are also focusing on creating more productive and distributive work environments — where some or all members of a team work in different locations. Because off-site
work environments also require less workspace on a company’s main campus, and thus consume fewer resources, distributive work constitutes an efficient, sustainable practice that’s attractive to corporations. “A lot of companies are discussing mobile work right now. The technology is there to enable it, it’s less expensive than it used to be, culturally it’s more acceptable, and organizations see the opportunity to reduce their real estate footprint,” says Jan Johnson, FIIDA, LEED AP, Vice President of Design and Workplace Resources for of f i ce manufacturer Allsteel, based in M u scatine, Iowa. “It’s a chance to be opportunistic — to see a cost reduction and also align your wo r k p l a ce st ra tegy with h ow work is happening now, to make sure you’re supporting work in the best way possible.” Perkins agrees, but also says that mobile work isn’t always conducive to innovation. For creative, team-based projects, he still prefers to get people together. “If my team is undertaking a complicated, we’ve-never-done-this-before type of project, that’s where I think co-location is more effective. The ability to come together, at least periodically, is powerful.” INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Distributive work environments are just one example of sustainable design practices that can help businesses solve problems effectively and efficiently. Weetu, a multi-faceted Chicago design firm that specializes in interiors, architecture, branding and marketing, emphasizes energy-saving green-building features and paperless marketing solutions to its clients. “Sustainability is always part of the equation in Weetu’s approach, as opposed to a specialty category. It’s not just about specifying eco-friendly materials or implementing a recycling program. It’s also about examining whether your business is running as effectively and efficiently as possible,” says Carly Cannell, Weetu’s President. Sometimes creative sustainability means limiting the scope of a design project by emphasizing reuse. “Sustainability iss u es are coming up on almost every project. With the recession, that of ten means companies want to re u se more of what they have and incorporate more of their existing furniture stock in a new des i g n ,” says Aaron Eggert, IIDA, LEED AP, Director of Sales at S&T Office Interiors Group in St. Paul, Minn., and Industry Chair of IIDA’s Northland chapter. “It forces us to be more crea t i ve. We find ways to complement what they already have.” INNOVATION AMIDST A RECESSION
The recession hasn’t been kind to office manufacturers or Interior Designers, in particular, because some clients have
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pushed re-designs to the back burner while focusing on the bottom line. That has hurt sales volume, but has also created opportunities. That’s because a difficult economy also challenges companies to re-examine their business practices. “Companies are abso l u tely being more efficient, and they’re also being judicious. They’re not getting slammed [with business], so they have more time to think about [design issues],” Perkins says.“That ge ts them thinking about different ways to do things.” That is where design can help, not only by changing physical spaces but by addressing business issues. “Design thinking is about solving problems. It’s a way of looking at a situation and imagining what the result could be,” Johnson says. “It’s a highly integrated process where we take disparate thoughts and resources, then synthesize them; it’s a way of applying methodology to a problem.” Allsteel has first-hand experience with the poss i b i l i t i es of applying design to business issues — the company makes numerous tweaks to its factory processes every year, and those changes have netted substantial savings over the last few years. INNOVATION IN COLLABORATION
Innovative business efficiencies aren’t limited to the factory floor, either. Manufacturers and designers are looking for more ways to collaborate on projects, in hopes of delivering more tailored, individual solutions to clients. Interior Designers start there intuitively — “You have to have a deep understanding of how things work before you can get to, ‘This is a great idea, let’s do it,’” Cannell says. In contrast, manufacturers often design products based on workplace trends and then hope t h ey fit the needs of individual clients. But by working to ge t h er, manufacturers and des i g n e rs can deliver more powe r f u l so l utions to their clients. “The best projects for all of us [manufacturers and designers] are when companies come in and say, ‘We see space as an opportunity to reinforce our values and to make improvements to our culture,’” Ludwig says. “Those are exciting projects that we share with design firms, and they are surprisingly frequent because of the pressures our customers are facing — they see the value in positioning themselves for the future. Everyone is changing right now — we’re changing, Interior Design is changing, but that’s the natural state of things, and it’s strategic.” It’s also innovative, which is something uniquely suited to Design.
By Michelle Bowles
A growing number of Interior Designers are entering the profession after years in seemingly unrelated fields. How are these second-career designers impacting firms, team members, clients and the industry?
Gone are the days of staying in one career and working for one employer for 40-plus years. The modern workforce has kissed its collective chance at a gold watch and blow-out retirement party goodbye. These days, it’s not uncommon for professionals — hungry for career progression and personal fulfillment in the workplace — to have upwards of 10, 15, even 20 jobs in their lifetime. That’s a far cry from the one or two jobs held by our parents and grandparents throughout the course of their working careers. But a growing number of Interior Designers have taken the notion of career movement to the extreme. While many designers were “born and bred” in the profession, others have taken a roundabout route, spending a few years — or several decades — in another field before making the switch.
“I knew I wanted to find a job that didn’t always feel like a job,” says Jason W. Wong, Student IIDA, who entered the Interior Design profession after 10 years in graphic design. “I asked myself, ‘What can I do for a living that won’t always feel like I’m doing it for a paycheck?’” Wong, like many others, went in search of new challenges and deeper personal fulfillment, and found Interior Design was the answer. Some second-time Interior Designers set out on their journeys to benefit themselves and their careers. But the experience gained in other professions is also profiting employers, clients and the profession as a whole. “People with other experiences bring professionalism and another perspective [to Interior Design],” Wong says. “Someone from finance could end up being an excellent project manager. Someone with a retail visual merchandising background could be excellent at picking furniture and finishes.” MAKING THE LEAP
The decision to switch careers is not an easy one, whether it’s made five years or two decades into a career. Soon after graduating from Vanderbilt University in 2004 and landing a job in
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Jason W. Wong, Student IIDA
corporate recruiting for Wachovia, Erika Thompson, Student IIDA, realized something was amiss. “Ever since I graduated, I had been looking at Interior Design programs,” she says. “I told myself, ‘Erika, you can’t go back to school; you just graduated!’”
“I asked myself, ‘What can I do for a living that won’t always feel like I’m doing it for a paycheck?’” “I got to a point where I had been there for a long time and had outgrown the company,” she says.“So I left to look at other options.”
Since high school, Thompson had an interest in design, but because Vanderbilt didn’t offer an Interior Design program, she never pursued it.
In searching for new opportunities in fashion, Nigh came to the realization that her future might not be in apparel design.
“Ultimately recruiting was not where I wanted to be for the rest of my life. I wasn’t passionate about it,” she says.“I decided [changing careers] was now or never.”
“The more I started looking around, the more I realized I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this anymore,” she says. “My priorities no longer aligned with the fashion industry’s priorities.”
So in January 2009, after three years of recruiting, Thompson headed back to school — this time to Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Interior Design, which she plans to receive in 2012.
Nigh worked with a career counselor to help her assess her future, honing in on her skills, strengths and goals. “Interior Design felt like a good fit. It used both sides of my brain,” she says.
CAREER
PRO G R ESSION
FULFILLMENT
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Jackie Nigh, Student IIDA, who spent 20 years as an apparel designer before making the switch to Interior Design. Nigh’s distinguished fashion career included designing for Unionbay Sportswear, ReUnion Menswear and Columbia Sportswear. It was while heading up women’s sportswear at Columbia Sportswear that Nigh began to re-evaluate her career.
PASSION
CHANGE
PRIORITIES
After four months of soul-searching, Nigh enrolled at the Art Institute in Portland. Her decision to go back to school and leave a well-established career was re-confirmed along the way. Midway through her degree program, she received what she thought was her dream job offer to work for 7 For All Mankind in Los Angeles. “It was something I had always wanted to do, so I moved to L.A. and accepted the offer,” she says. “The job only lasted six months; they ended up shutting down the whole department. It was great confirmation that I made the right decision about going back to school.” IIDA.ORG
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“In my legal career, I learned organizational skills and to be very meticulous with correspondence, documenting everything. That’s definitely helped.” Yvette Otterman, Assoc. IIDA, LEED AP
A TRANSFER OF SKILLS
With the right training, when bridging from one design profession to another, a host of skills can directly transfer for the benefit of everyone from firm owners to team members to clients.
THE LONG WAY AROUND For Heather Ploeg, Industry IIDA, the path to Interior Design was by no means a straight one. Working in a bank in Vancouver, one ordinary day changed the course of her career. “A man came in to open a joint account for him and his fiancée,” she says. “He forgot to sign one form, so I mailed him the form with a note saying good luck with the wedding planning. Three weeks later, he phoned and said it was the best customer se r v i ce he had ever gotten.” The client, an investment advisor, offered Ploeg a job as his assistant on the spot. Over the next few years, Ploeg moved up and eventually landed on the trading desk. But as trading increasingly moved online, she missed one of her favorite parts of the job: contact with people. Ploeg turned to The Job of Your Life by Karen Schaffer, a workbook of sorts to assess career changes. The consensus? Interior Design.
She enrolled in the Interior Design program at Ryerson University in Toronto and later found a job as a commercial designer for Kasian Architecture. But the road would take one more giant turn. “One year, Haworth invited me to go to NeoCon with the team. I spent a lot of time with them and had a really good time,” Ploeg says.“Little did I know that the business director, who is now my boss, had met me and said to herself,‘I want this woman to come and work for me.’” At first, Ploeg adamantly refused the opportunity. “I said, ‘I’m not going to sell furniture. I’m a designer. I went back to school for this,’” she says. After extensive research and lots of soul-searching, Ploeg had a change of heart. “My favorite part of Interior Design was the client-facing time,” she says, now Business Development Manager for Haworth in Toronto. “The more I talked to Haworth about the job, I realized 70 percent of the job was presenting to and meeting with clients. “I really feel like all of the experience I obtained business -w i se and des i g n -w i se has culminated in the position I have now.”
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Nigh experienced this firsthand after making the switch from fashion design to Interior Design. While working for Columbia Sportswear, she recognized the importance of functionality in design, whether designing functional cargo shorts or creating shirts with UV protection. She now applies the same concepts as an Interior Designer. Wong first realized the cross-over of graphic design to Interior Design during a freelance job he took prior to going back to school. A planning and architecture firm hired Wong to create presentation materials and vision books. Now an Assistant at Orlando DiazAzcuy Design Associates in San Francisco, Wong taps into his graphic design skills when creating client presentations. “Clients need to be able to see what Interior Designers are trying to conceptualize,” he says. “You're presenting to people who can determine the fate of a building, which will affect so many more people over the course of many years.” DIVERSITY IN DESIGN
Cross-over skills from one design profession to another might be more obvious. But that's not to say skills honed in seemingly unrelated fields can't be put to use in Interior Design.
Yvette Otterman, Assoc. IIDA, LEED AP, spent five years in the legal profession as an administrator before going back to school to earn an associate degree in Interior Design. Now an Interior Designer at SoL Harris/Day Architecture in Canton, Ohio, Otterman taps into the skills she honed in her former profession. “In my legal career, I learned organizational skills and to be very meticulous with correspondence, documenting everything,” she says.“That's def i n i tely helped.”
Erika Thompson, Student IIDA
Otterman's understanding of how attorneys work, and knowledge of the technology they use, should prove to be useful not just in the design of law offices, but any corporate office. As an added bonus, should Otterman ever go into business on her own, her knowledge of contracts and legal issues should prove extremely useful.
Others share similar experiences. For example, it may be difficult to imagine financial skills directly applying to the Interior Design world. On the contrary, says Heather Ploeg, Industry IIDA, who spent several years in investment banking before making the switch to Interior Design. “Being an investment advisor, you have to think on your feet and make decisions quickly based on the information you have in front of you,” she says, adding it's a skill that directly crosses over to Interior Design. IN IT FOR LIFE
Dropping a safe, dependable career to start from scratch is no doubt risky. But it
“As an Interior Designer, you have to listen to clients and really get to know their needs. As a recruiter, that’s exactly what we do.” When Thompson enters the working world of Interior Design this summer as an intern at a commercial design firm in Nashville, she expects several of her recruiting skills to come into play. “As an Interior Designer, you have to listen to clients and really get to know their needs,” she says. “As a recruiter, that's exactly what we do. Recruiters have to listen to clients to find the qualities they want in their next employee — and most of the time, they're very specific.” And later in her career as an Interior Designer? “As a recruiter you learn how to gauge people and their interests, and how they get along with others,” she says. “That experience could help in putting together the right project team.”
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was a risk Otterman was willing to take. “I went to school whenever I could — at night, occasionally during the day. I made up the hours I missed at work during off times,” she says. “I didn’t realize what I was getting into with some of the final projects and some of the late, late nights trying to get everything done.” Between all the ups and downs, the uncertainties and risk, would these Interior Designers do it all over again? The answer is a resounding “Yes.” Adds Wong, “One of my other previous jobs was advising art students. I used to tell them, ‘This is a generation where you shouldn’t expect to have one job your entire career.’ It finally came time for me to practice what I preach.”
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Good interior design creates identity and place. The concept of ‘build for life’ is evident in the breadth of this project. Our icons should be celebrated and restored as properties such as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Historic landmarks celebrate the past, present and future with the romance and nostalgia of yesteryear while embracing what is new. — Lowell Tom
build for life
best of show The IIDA Northern California Chapter 2010 Honor Awards were announced in March and marked the Chapter’s 6th Annual Celebration of Left Coast Design. This year’s “Best of Show” recipient — the Honor winner who stood above the rest — was The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii, designed by Marion Philpotts-Miller, Lowell Tom and Lynn Arriola of the Honolulu-based firm Philpotts & Associates, Inc.
Restoring the historic structure — called the “Pink Hotel” by locals because of its signature color — presented a unique set of challenges to the design tea m , including a tight schedule, a meager furniture budget and the need to satisfy drast i cally different audience types simultaneously.
From this experience, we learned that we, as a company, are resourceful, respectful and agile enough to work closely with a multitude of disciplines, including architects, engineers and clients, while retaining our sense of style. — Marion Philpotts-Miller
resourceful
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But, as evidenced by the luxurious, historically and culturally reverent space, a challenge often breeds success.
integrity
Our first objective was to retain historical old world integrity of the iconic hotel. Secondly, we wanted to update furniture and finishes to meet the needs of the welltraveled clientele in the modern world, yet be mindful of the expectations and nostalgia of the community, and repeat clientele who have been coming to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, sometimes for generations. Lastly, we wanted to give the hotel a sense of place in an area rich in Hawaiian history. — Marion PhilpottsMiller
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The biggest challenge we faced was catering to a number of different audiences: the clientele with Asian sensibilities; the operator with stringent brand standards; the new user group with expectations of what luxury means today; a historic preservation group with nostalgic ties; locals with cultural ideals; and the mainland visitor with romantic visions. — Lynn Arriola
luxury
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We hope that other historic hotels can use the Royal Hawaiian Hotel as an example of successful modern design all while retaining the integrity of place and histo ry of beloved icons for tomorrow. — Lowell Tom
modern design
tradition
‘Modern Classic’ furnishings were se l e c ted to complement the landmark hotel in order to bridge the historic restoration issues while adding contemporary elements. The traditional look of the Koa front desks accommodate the latest in computer technology. The classic Moorish lines of a side table are made fresh with modern lacquer finishes. This attention to detail balances old with new and designed to please a new jet-setting clientele while respecting the tradition of this iconic hotel. — Marion Philpotts-Miller
Addressing the hotel’s signature pink motif and updating furnishings were significant design challenges. Our solution to maintain the oil pink was to reinterpret new versions of the signature color in unexpected and impactful ways through wallcoverings, paint and fabric. The signature pink of the hotel is evident in guestrooms, suites, public areas and down to the staff uniform. — Lynn Arriola
reinterpret
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RESOURCES By Elizabeth Cotner
WEBSITES BLDGBLOG www.bldgblog.blogspot.com BLDGBLOG is the brainchild of Geoff Manaugh, Senior Editor of Dwell magazine, and features dynamic postings on architectural news, urban growth and landscape design. No subject is off-limits for Manaugh: He analyzes a wide range of topics, from historical structures like a Soviet-era biological warfare testing facility; to the hidden tunnels that lie beneath urban areas; to scientific phenomena like lunar landscapes. His posts of ten take on a literary quality, since he writes book reviews and conducts interviews with innovators and scholars of architecture, science and history, among other disciplines. And the photos and diagrams of buildings, monuments, maps, mazes, people and places he incorporates are just as informative as the text that accompanies them. Manaugh never ceases to explore the world’s possibilities — at times, it’s almost as though he blurs the line between fantasy and reality since he
THE PHOTOS AND DIAGRAMS OF BUILDINGS, MONUMENTS, MAPS, MAZES, PEOPLE AND PLACES [MANAUGH] INCORPORATES ARE JUST AS INFORMATIVE AS THE TEXT THAT ACCOMPANIES THEM.
of ten speculates about the forms tomorrow ’s landsca p es could take — even if t h ey seem impossible to co n st r u c t . If you ca n ’t get enough of the site’s extensive co n tent (its archives date back to 20 0 4 ) , check out Manaugh’s The BLDGBLOG Book, a publication that tra n sfe rs his brilliant ideas into print.
Product Wars www.productwars.com The Product Wars site is a battle zone where toilets, sofas, chandeliers and armchairs duke it out for first place. The we bs i te runs like a game: W h e n visitors arrive at the site, t h ey ’ re immed i a tely taken to “The Battlefield,” a sc reen that asks them to choose between two similar household amenities with modern, m i n i m a l i stic des i g n s. By clicking on their image of choice, visitors vo te for the design they prefe r. A small box pops up, displaying the percentage of voters that agree or disa g ree with the choice. It’s incredibly addictive, thanks in part to short, playful messages at the top of the screen that entice you to keep on clicking: “This is way more fun than working. Duh,” and “Click again for a chance to win a date with Brad Pitt.” Check out “The Leaderboard” section to view a list of the winners. The page
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requires out-of-the box thinking, it comes as no surprise that these ideas are often counterintuitive. Berger tells readers to “ask stupid questions,” “jump fences,” and “embrace constraints,” among other ideas. ranks each product according to the number of votes it’s received. Simply click on the featured item to learn more about it and to find a link to the manufacturer’s website.
BOOKS Glimmer By Warren Berger, 352 pages, The Penguin Press, Random House October 2009, $27.95 All it takes is the idea of a possibility — or a glimmer, if you will — to transform the world. Warren Berger’s Glimmer, based on the ideas of legendary designer Bruce Mau, demystifies design thinking, making its principles more accessible to professionals and to anyone who possesses a little creativity and a lot of optimism. For Berger, design is a thought process and a series of actions that reframes problems and discovers viable solutions for them.
Glimmer breaks down design into 10 principles that equip readers to tackle business, social and personal challenges. And since innovative design
Berger also demonstrates these principles in action by highlighting other innovative designers and design thinkers — what he calls, the “Glimmerati.” From an amputee who combined the mechanics of a diving board, a Cheetah and a Chinese sword to create a prosthetic foot, to a thinker who invented laptops for children in developing countries, these luminaries prove that giving form to ideas can often better the world. Berger insists that such des i g n e rs follow a process that “blends art and science, and is fueled by human empathy.” Their relentlessness serves as an engine for progress — despite inevitable missteps, most des i g n e rs have a keen understanding of reality and can imagine the possibilities beyond it. So how can one make that glimmer of possibility real? The “Begin Anywhere” principle tells us to set small, rea sonable goals to transform ideas into reality.
Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture By Paul Goldberger, 320 pages, The Monacelli Press October 2009, $35.00 Building an empire isn’t easy, but the legacy that it leaves could make the effort worthwhile.
Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture is a compilation of essays written by Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger. The 50 pieces provide careful analyses of some of the best — and worst — edifices across the world.
The essays span Goldberger’s tenure at The New Yorker, which began in 1997 and coincides with the building boom of the past decade. It also includes pieces from essays that appeared in Metropolis and The New York Times. Goldberger’s pieces are divided into six sections: modern structures, influential individuals, the landscape of New York, historical monuments, museums and architecture’s influence over the individual with witty, eloquent prose. From the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; to the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium in Beijing; to George Washington’s Mount Vernon; to shopping malls and skyscrapers; Goldberger reflects on how the form and function of these buildings shape our cities and the way we live in and around them — for better or for wo rse. He also pays tribute to the “starchitects,” or famous architects, who built them. The essays place each subject within the framework of its environment: “Architecture is politics, it is sociology, it is money; it is housing and cities and old buildings both crumbling and rev i ve d ,” G o l d b e rger writes in the book’s introduction. In Building Up and Tearing Down, G o l d b e rger not only brings cultural m eaning to the buildings that dot our landsca p es, but he also leaves behind the legacy of his career as an architecture critic.
The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects By Deyan Sudjic, 208 pages W.W. Norton & Company June 2009, $24.95 We’re drowning in objects. At least that’s what Deyan Sudjic, Director of the London Design Museum, asserts in The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects.
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Operating on the premise that nothing satiates our desire to surround ourselves with material items, Sudjic writes witty commentary about the way design influences buying behavior, and the way design innovation fuels it.
The book is a collection of 76 essays written by Interior Des i g n e rs from a wide range of sectors within the industry. T h ese design firm ow n e rs, architects, business professionals, aca d e m i csand other professionals crea te a dialogue about the profession by responding to key challenges and questions facing the profession.
He attempts to define our relationship with our possessions and figure out what it is that fuels our desire to consume. For example, what is it that motivates people to wait in line for hours to get an iPhone? And, why do parents buy their children an excess i ve amount of toys?
The essays tackle 12 issues that are essential to the development of design including design thinking, ethical and legal issues, globalization, diversity, the media and education. By providing the reader with in-depth information about each subject, the book creates a detailed map of the nature of Interior Design today.
For Sudjic, it’s a matter of giving into primal instincts: “Like geese force-fed grain until their livers explode, we’re a generation born to consume,” he writes. Sudjic attempts to explore the issue in greater depth through the book’s five chapters: language; design and archetypes; luxury; fashion; and art. Part of the lure of material objects, of course, is the design of the product. Sudjic analyzes how the attributes of objects persuade people to purchase them, and why designers are so eager to slap a label on their goods. He suggests people collect an excessive amount of things not because they’re functional, but simply because they’re aesthetically pleasing or have nostalgic value. And since our society has adjusted to manufacturers’ constant cycle of innovation, our minds believe that what we have is never good enough. Sudjic closes the book, written in 2008, wondering whether the recession will stifle consumerist greed. Despite the current st a te of the economy, The Language of Things is a book that des i g n e rs will want to get their hands on.
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The State of the Interior Design Profession Edited by Caren S. Martin and Denise A. Guerin, 512 pages, Fairchild Books (a division of Condé Nast Publications) June 2010, $62 The Interior Design profession is at a crossroads. It’s not just about decorating spaces; it’s evolved into so many facets that the designer’s role in society is constantly changing — and the future of the industry remains uncertain. In response to this uncertainty, Caren S. Martin, Ph.D., IIDA, FASID, IDEC, and Denise A. Guerin, Ph.D., IIDA, FASID, FIDEC, both Interior Design professors at the University of Minnesota, attempt to understand the current and future roles of Interior Design and analyze the designer’s value to society in The State of the Interior Design Profession.
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Although the book discusses the state of the industry, Martin and Guerin admit it’s difficult to define the role of the designer. The creative aspect of design makes it so, since designers often create their own identities, values and strategies. The State of the Interior Design Profession serves as a guidepost for designers, inspiring them to contemplate their own role in shaping the future of Interior Design.
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NEXT ISSUE The Fall 2010 issue of Perspective investigates the state of Interior Design education with insight from leading educators, design professionals and current students. We also ask top Interior Design educators to discuss how school programs are evolving to ensure design graduates are prepared to enter the workforce. Other features include an in-depth look at the next generation of healthcare design, and a graphic profile of a recent design competition winner.
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WHAT IS THE POWER OF DESIGN? VIEWPOINTS
TAMARA ROTH, ASSOC. IIDA, LEED AP ID+C, DESIGNER AT STUDIOS ARCHITECTURE, SAN FRANCISCO Design provides meaning, it's an explanation. It's not about creating nice products. Rather, it's the powerful language we speak to create rich experiences, enhance lives and redefine the world.
KRIN KIRIJAS, IIDA VIRGINIA/WEST VIRGINIA CHAPTER PRESIDENT, CID, LEED AP, BASKERVILL, RICHMOND, VA. For most of us, the word “design” invokes thoughts of making things look good through luxurious solutions and keeping with the latest fashion. For me, design is not just creating spaces that are aesthetically pleasing and function well, but it also serves to spark an emotional connection. People come to love the space, and loyalty soon follows along with client attraction, increased employee productivity and retention — benefits that contribute to the bottom line.
MARY BLEDSOE, IIDA, RID, LEED AP, PRINCIPAL AND DESIGN DIRECTOR, LAUCKGROUP, AUSTIN, TEXAS Design is transformative, catalytic, enriching, enlightening. It is a bridge between cultures, ages and genders. The end result of good design is that it can be appreciated in endless ways by an infinite number of viewers with varying perspectives.
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MARY STONAKER, IIDA, NCIDQ, MCCARTY HOLSAPLE MCCARTY, INC., KNOXVILLE, TENN. The power of design is the ability to create an experience within your space through the right combination of materials, finishes, lighting, furniture and accessories — creating a gestalt, similar to the same way a poet uses words to describe a feeling or situation.