Collaboration

An exceptional result is achieved when client, architect, interior designer and lighting designer collaborate from the beginning of the project. This approach allows for seamless interface between the various layers of the project and lets us make necessary changes while the project is still on paper. It is also cost- effective, as it is always easier to erase a line than to move a built wall. It is always essential that the right hand know what the left is doing.

As interior designer, I vet each floor plan to determine possible furniture layouts, verifying that pathways will not interfere with conversation and ensuring that visual access to focal points like fireplaces, video screens and wonderful views won’t be interrupted.

After studying the available space, I help select kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures. Once these choices are made, we can be certain that enough square footage is allocated to each area, and determine the ideal layout to accommodate them. Making early choices of tile, stone, flooring, hardware, allows more time to make creative use of materials and to address details of installation. Closets and built-ins should also be addressed at this juncture, when everything is still flexible and appropriate space can easily be allotted to accommodate requirements for storage and display.

Where this early exchange of ideas occurs, the design team is able to accommodate each other’s needs, resulting in a space that is more efficient, more flexible and more dramatic.

Once the basic design has been agreed upon, the second phase of collaboration begins. Working with trades, artisans, artists, cabinetmakers; all of my specialist resources, who bring their unique talents to the project.

Here are a few examples of successful collaborations with various trades and artisans:

This custom carpet was designed as a picasso-esque guitar. Tuning pegs make an interesting design in the foyer. Strings and frets lead the eye into the music room from the front door. The seating area is defined by the sound hole of the instrument. Black and white fabric on the chairs is reminiscent of piano keys. A snare drum becomes the coffee table. The design was stitched and glued together from a selection of broadloom carpet pieces by Larry Stickle of Rug Makers. He then stretched it and fit it in the room. All the family's children practice their music in this room adjacent to the kitchen so mom can keep an eye and ear on them while she fixes dinner.

Detail of trompe l'oeil shelf with artifacts by Penumbra Studios.

Designers often collaborate with kitchen cabinet manufacturers. This is a Bulthop kitchen where materials were coordinated between designer, client and Bulthop.

For the children's bath backsplash which wraps around the room into the shower/tub enclosure we selected a Michelle Griffoul tile border of elephants and palm trees. A complementary field tile was chosen to cover the floor and walls up to the decorative tile border. Above, Penumbra Studios graced the wall with this delightful mural of jungle and monkeys.

Detail of mural by Penumbra Studios.

Though I am a lighting designer and prefer to conceptualize the lighting in my projects myself, I often call in another lighting professional to collaborate with for equipment specifications and creative input. This is cost effective, as lighting equipment performance is better known by someone who works with it every day. Collaboration here was with Ben White of White Light Design. In this cavernous space with 18'+arched ceiling Ben was extremely helpful in insuring that both aesthetic and functional lighting concerns were addressed.

Collaboration with drapery workrooms to actualize my vision is essential.

This sculpture wall (or one like it) by world class artist Donald Lipski once hung in MOMA in New York. The multiple shadows are an essential element of the work. Our collaboration ensured that the lighting would be effective.

This entire niche was a major collaboration. The project architects designed the built-in bench. The table was my design. It required cooperation between wood, steel, glass and laminate fabricators. Everyone signed off on my drawings and built specifically to them to ensure that the assemblage would install perfectly once all the pieces were on site.

The table by Morlen Sinoway needed to conform to a specific size, be heavy and water-resistant enough to withstand any weather conditions in this beach-front screened porch.

I found the prototype for this chair in a junk shop. Brusic Rose Upholstery made the two look-alikes.

Botti Glass in Evanston fabricated these leaded and stained glass door panels. We worked as a team drawing on full size paper templates to resolve the design.