I’m often asked “Do you have a design style?” I find that a tough question to answer, as my work is project specific and stylistically varied. As an architect, illustrator and designer, my goal is to convey a message, evoke a feeling, and most often, paint a portrait of my client. Few people hire a custom designer to create a project that looks just like their neighbor’s.
Whether designing a home, a room or a restaurant, my first objective is to get to know my client and understand his or her vision. I send clients off from initial meetings with a homework assignment. Our programming worksheets ask the clients a number of questions about the project in question. Digital or tactile clippings files of inspirational images are requested so that clients can graphically communicate their tastes and preferences.
On the designer side of the equation, I like to take research field trips. I will often schedule to visit my clients’ homes or explore similar program type precedents. (I recently visited a couple in New Jersey to better understand their personal tastes as I prepared to design their Vermont home. And a tour of New York brasseries armed me with a vocabulary to pursue a recent restaurant project.)
In the end, every project I design should be a clear reflection of the owner. Infused in its fiber, needs to be a DNA as unique as a fingerprint. That core thesis in turn, informs every decision about the project, such that each detail supports the whole, creating an end product that is about its built, temporal and personal context.
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