a site of all possibility
I've walked into homes, where the layout of furniture is fine. The pleasantries of accessories abound, but the interior looks more like a magazine, rather than someones life. A new customer might ask, "What can I do?" I imagine the best advice might be taking a walk and sincerely looking at what you find.
If we look like our parents house, we are still there.
If we look like our kids own the joint, then we might as well be our kids.
If we look like the department store, then the sales lady did her job.
If we look like our designer's portfolio, we better start praying.
When I put my work boots on, and crawl over rubble, looking at an interior wall frame that will someday be a vision I have, I'm not me, I'm you. My client. (being presumptuous here, for the sake of my point)
But when I go home, and I put a flower stem into a glass, light my incense, put my music on and change my table cloth, I am me. This may seem like a simple fact, but this isn't as simple as it sounds. Sometimes we get stuck into the patterns of our life or the arrangement of our furniture and we forget we have choices.
I put up this image of the Granada Building because I think it is awful. I could be far more tactile in my descriptions, but let's not waste time, ok? This building is in San Francisco and it houses between 350 to 450 retired residents. My first impression upon seeing it, was: "This building looks like a tombstone Carolyn. The people inside must feel encased. They might as well be dead already! If I lived there I would rally the troops, make colorful flags and march the halls, send a continuous stream of huge envelopes to the owner with bright reflecting confetti that will fall upon his desk with a hand painted notes: GIVE US COLOR!. I would hang banners out the windows of every willing resident, plan watercolor classes in the recreation room and make arrangements in the lobby from overgrown tree branches. These people need you Carolyn....to wake up!"
If we can't feel passion about something, then our life has taken on what I call a 'grey tone'. Black and white is good. When you walk your home or business and for any reason ask yourself whether you need a designer or not, let me suggest the following:
First make an empty space. The bigger the better. Then begin to look around you, on the street, in the lobby of an office building you are waiting in, on a park bench, in a friends living room. Ask yourself what you know of the inhabitants, and whether this means something to you.....to discover who's there.
When you do this, just as a designer would do for you, before setting a pencil to paper; then the space will look different. You will search for clues.
Your empty space is a potential clue. It is like the point of all you live for. It might look grey , then notice the various shades. You will see how this emptiness starts us thinking. When we begin to see the shadows, we're on our way towards the black and white.
Carolyn
