Here we go! I am very excited about this. I have watched my friends and family write very witty blogs over the past few months and have decided to give it a try. My objective will be to give you a blog about design related things and keep it very honest.
I will try my best to not mispell everything-as I am known to type too fast thus, misspelling everything and creating an unreadable text.
I want to start by giving you a little background about my professional experience. Most of you who know me know, that I am a big goof ball, very rarely serious about anything and always willing to help out anyone with really anything. Well, I am actually a trained professional and have been know to quote a movie/commercial and say "Don't try this at home" or "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV", so please, try to remember I am really serious!! just kidding.
I went to Drexel University, in Philadelphia, PA and when I wasn't busy working as a waitress(making boat loads of money) I was actually working really hard at getting my Interior Design Degree. Drexel is a coop school so at some point in your Junior year you have to take 6 months and get a job in your profession. I got a job at an Architectural firm called Burt Hill. I loved this job and it solidified my future in the design community.
I loved everything about it, the design library - just like a library but filled with fabrics, paint samples, wallcoverings, flooring samples etc. I loved drawing on the computer in Autocad-lets face it, I can't draw for shit, so drawing with a computer really allowed me to express what I was thinking and designing without having to do another comic strip looking drawing.
After my coop was up, I stayed on partime and stayed at Burt Hill until graduation. By this time I was married, I know, I got married very early, that's another long story...maybe even a different Blog! Anyway we moved back to Jersey and I got a job at Gensler in New York.
This is what I really wanted. Gensler is THE BEST architectural/design/engineering firm in THE WORLD!! They have been on the top 100 list every year for as long as I can remember. I loved being in the city, I even loved the commute, I loved working in a fast paced studio environment with tons of creative people everywhere. It was thrilling and incredible.
If you haven't figured it out yet, there are different types of designers. There are the ones who go to school and get a 2 year associates degree...not me. There are those who go to a college and get a 4 year bachelors...me... and then there are some who get a Masters too...not me...
There are also those who pass themselves off as Decorators-now these you can split into a few categories. The people who have taken classes and maybe have some type of certificate and know the basic...I have to say I am not even sure that really exists. And those woman who think they have a knack and call themselves a decorator but really have no training whatsoever!
Anyway, a short segway there, but now back to me!
Shortly after starting at Gensler, I got pregnant...yes, I was young, 24 to be exact, but really why wait! Anyway, I had a high risk pregnancy and my doctor didn't want me so far from home and ordered me on "home rest"!? Who even knew that existed. I did actually see her at the mall one day and she really reamed me a new one for being out.
Anyway, That next day, I went to the office and asked my boss if he would let me work form home so I could abide by my doctors orders, he said no and basically told me I had no rights because I had only been there for 5 months so I had no recourse and after the baby is born I can reapply. I think I cried from that moment on until I got home. My dream job out the window!!
A long story short-the man who initially hired me-Jay Lebow one of the VP's at Gensler, had recently left and gone over to GHK and called and said, I am sending a techie to your house, you can work for me as a consultant and that started my career as an interior design consultant.
There is a lot more history, but this is the long boring basics of how it all began!! I promise to write again, and make it more fun and interesting...good and bad storied of design.
I leave you with one last piece of advise. If you hire a designer to come into your home or office and give you design advise...and it is truly a trained professional (see above), when they tell you something looks like shit, then it most likely looks like shit and you should let them help you do something about it. Do not be offended, it is what you hired them to help you with!
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