Behind the Scenes: The Rules are...There are No Rules

Maybe you have already read this story in the November issue of Interior Design magazine, but in case you missed it here’s the link:

My husband, Jaime, and I had a lot of fun in September when we went to La Grange, Georgia with a team of other designers, architects, our fearless leader Cindy Allen and managing editor Helene Oberman.  We were all asked to design an installation that would be exhibited in empty alcoves in InterfaceFLOR’s Awarehouse. Our directions were minimal, or to be more accurate there were none. We could basically use anything associated with the manufacturing or recycling of this environmentally conscious carpet tile.

Mmm, anything?! No parameters?! I started thinking while on bike rides, on the treadmill, even in the shower, and came up with some exciting ideas that kept on spinning around in my brain, but nothing was setting in.  Finally I looked at spools of thread and thought that, like any creative process we go through, the little string is really the start of any design story. It starts with a thread and then through exploration, manipulation, and collaboration that thread gets spooled and spun and woven into the final product. So that is what our installation was all about and it tells the simple story of an idea being woven and resulting in something magical.

We spent a couple of months working on the project and with the help of InterfaceFLOR’s incredible team (and I mean it, they really were incredible) we were able to make it all happen. Karina Dharmazi, an intern in my office, worked tirelessly to help mold the project by bringing in great ideas and a refreshing attitude (thank you, Karina!). Jaime guided us through the graphic portions of the project and it was fun  collaborating with him on this (thank you, Jaime!). We were thrilled to work with Alice Lam, who is a brilliant textile and print designer, but who also—and this is just my own theory—could have been born with knitting or crochet needles in her hands, sort of like a female Edward Scissorhands. Alice crocheted gorgeous elongated teardrop bags that each held a clear sphere which we lit with bulbs.  She was an absolute pleasure to work with and I look forward to collaborating with her in the future (thank you, Alice!).

Cindy brought together a fun, creative team of designers and architects to work on the project. It was great seeing old friends: Larry Weinberg, Jayne & Joan Michaels, and D.B. Kim, as well as make new friends like James & Hayes Slade of Slade Architecture, Antonio Di Oronzo of Bluarch Architecture, David Lewis and Perla Dis Kristinsdottir of Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis.  Thank you also to Russ Ramage, Molly Paulo McDermott, Joyce Lavalle, and all the countless others at Interface who worked so hard and put so much creative effort and love into making the event such a success!