FINDING BEAUTY
THE ART OF LISTENING
5 May 2026
I’m often asked how we, as interior designers, come up with design solutions that feel so “right” for so many different architectural styles and clients—each with distinct tastes, lifestyles, and life experiences. The answer is short: we listen. The longer answer is that our experience in luxury residential design is both extensive and deeply rooted in collaboration. Fueled by a love of people and their stories, and a reverence for architecture, we’ve developed the ability to step into both our clients’ visions for how they want to live and our architects’ visions for how a home can take shape. Our role is to hold both—discerning what each sees in their mind’s eye and translating it into what is possible. We are in the business of what is possible.
A key component is absorbing the information the architect has gathered, studying their goals for the design until they become entwined with our own. As designers, we sit at the crossroads of the client’s and the architect’s vision, as well as the general contractor’s goals. From this vantage point, we can look in numerous directions, imagining a range of outcomes and working in a variety of stylistic languages. Like translators, we speak more than one language—our lives, and practice, are richer for it.
It is through this lens of listening and translation that the process becomes deeply personal. The client intake process is one of my favorite parts of our design practice, deeply rooted in active listening and care. Our clients share their hopes and dreams for how their lives will unfold in their homes. They share the life experiences that have formed them, the memories they hold close, their likes and dislikes, and their outlook on the world.
As these stories take shape, they begin to anchor themselves in place. Absolutely nothing replaces walking through the site—or if the project is a renovation, through the existing house—to understand its framework. Through this process, we start to hone in on the elements of the program that will determine the flow. The alchemy lies in the combination: spending time in-person with all the stakeholders studying the architecture, we can extract high-level programming and create the vision for how our clients will live in their new home.
An essential part of this process is what we like to call “vision casting.” We use vision casting as a tool to create and communicate a compelling range of possibilities for a desired outcome—shaping a clear direction while creating moments of beauty and surprise that allow the client to truly see the potential of their space.
We are—literally—casting our ideas out into the circle of discussion and possibility, covering ground to make sure that we are all speaking the same language. In design, vision casting enables us to create a visual presentation of our client’s dreams, interpreting and translating their vision into a design direction. Using what we’ve learned, we pull together “dream boards” and a magic mix of inspiring materials. The images, together with the materials, begin to define the direction. Images are a vital tool in translating vision to reality, helping refine inspiration into something tangible.
Vision casting can even be helpful before the team is fully formed, helping clients see how different firms gain the insights that form their design decisions and bringing to light the effectiveness of their communications. It becomes an exercise in speaking the same language.
As interior designers, we are interpreters. The ability to speak in many languages offers us the opportunity to work within many different styles, flexing our creative muscles as we do—ultimately allowing us to shape spaces that feel deeply aligned, both with the people who live in them and the architecture that holds them.
Warmly,
Paulina