Episodes
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In this episode, Deke Rogers shares the thoughtful philosophy and hands-on approach that have made him one of the Southâs most respected voices in antiques, interiors, and timeless design. As the founder of Collected for the Home, his celebrated brick-and-mortar retail studiosânow with locations in both Birmingham, Alabama, and New Orleansâserve as living expressions of his belief that every object carries a story worth preserving.
Throughout the conversation, Deke explains why true character should never be sacrificed in the pursuit of perfection. He challenges the growing trend of aggressively restoring antique furnishings, cautioning that excessive bleaching and refinishing often erase the very history that gives a piece its value, beauty, and soul. Rather than attempting to make antiques look new, he champions preserving their authentic patina as a testament to generations of craftsmanship and use.
Deke also reveals how he creates interiors that feel collected rather than decorated. His process centers on balance, proportion, and personalityâthoughtfully blending 18th- and 19th-century antiques with clean Mid-Century and contemporary pieces to produce spaces that are layered, dynamic, and deeply personal. Every composition is driven by the homeownerâs story rather than adherence to a single historical period or design style.
For collectors, designers, and homeowners alike, Deke offers practical insights into mixing wood tones, textures, finishes, and eras without sacrificing harmony. His perspective transforms decorating into an exercise in storytelling, demonstrating that the most compelling interiors are those that embrace history, celebrate craftsmanship, and reflect the lives of the people who inhabit them. Whether through his design work or the carefully curated collections found inside Collected for the Home, Deke Rogers reminds us that timeless interiors are built through authenticity, thoughtful curation, and an appreciation for the beauty that only time can create.
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Kari Bennettâs professional evolution is a compelling story of shifting from purely creative instincts to high-level systemic mastery. In the earlier chapters of her career, she identified strictly as a traditional interior designer, focusing heavily on aesthetics, material curation, and spatial beauty. However, as she navigated the complex execution of major commercial and residential projects, she recognized that exceptional design could not exist without bulletproof operational structures. This realization marked a major turning point, pushing her to study the underlying mechanics of business efficiency.
This evolutionary shift ultimately led to the founding and scaling of Edge Design, widely known as EdgeID. Rather than letting her business be dictated by the chaotic, fragmented workflows common in the design trade, Kari intentionally built a studio defined by clear parameters, reliable execution pathways, and ironclad operational precision. She transitioned her internal identity from a singular creative individual to a master strategist, building an ecosystem where ideas are never left as abstract sketches but are systematically Karid all the way through to physical reality.
Today, Kari stands as a celebrated firm leader who successfully balances a busy professional career with a vibrant, grounding family life that includes her husband, three children, and the family dog. She candidly acknowledges that her passion for her craft is what fuels her drive every single morning, making her genuinely look forward to stepping into the car and tackling new design challenges. Her journey serves as an inspiring blueprint for creative entrepreneurs, proving that true professional fulfillment comes from marrying artistic talent with a passion for building lasting people and systems.
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Missing episodes?
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In this episode, Vern Yip shares the exact tactical methods, operational frameworks, and professional philosophies that define his approach to spatial creation. He challenges the standard, clinical view of home remodeling by establishing a definitive design baseline: exceptional design is never simply about superficial aesthetics. Instead, his methodical approach prioritizes creating highly intentional environments that celebrate a homeowner's unique story and actively reflect their core personal values.
Tactically, Vern treats space planning like a meticulous narrative puzzle. His discovery process focuses heavily on understanding a client's specific daily behaviors, routines, and underlying psychological needs before any material selections or floor plans are drafted. He argues that this deep operational layer cannot simply be taught in a standard classroom; rather, it requires a designer to cultivate a fine tuned instinct for reading human behavior and translating daily habits into highly optimized circulation pathways and functional zones.
For listeners looking to refine their own living environments or execute complex renovations, Vern's philosophy offers a clear roadmap. He emphasizes the tactical balance between high performance and visual comfort, steering clients away from fleeting, over-hyped internet trends that quickly lose their value. By focusing on structural integrity, proper scale, and purposeful detail, his studio constructs enduring backdrops that simplify daily living and allow a physical structure to gracefully adapt over a multi-generational lifecycle.
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Lauren Thomsenâs profound connection to architectural environments began with a deeply formative childhood event when she was just seven years old. After her family made the decision to relocate, a young Lauren found herself sitting in the back of her mother's realtor's car, completely mesmerized as they toured a wide array of houses. Walking through those highly varied layouts, she experienced an architectural epiphany, intensely imagining the entirely different types of lives she might live within each distinct boundary. This early realization that spatial layout directly dictates the quality of human life established a permanent lane that she would follow into her adult career.
Before gaining the confidence to launch her own independent firm, Lauren pursued a rigorous academic path and built a strong foundation inside prestigious, high-stakes design studios. She describes her years spent working under established mentors as an invaluable phase where she learned the complex operational realities of translating abstract blueprints into physical structures. However, as she sharpened her technical skills, she increasingly felt a strong internal push to express her own unique, holistic design languageâone that favored soulful intention and longevity over fast-paced corporate execution.
This desire for creative alignment ultimately led to the founding of Philadelphia-based Lauren Thomsen Design. For Lauren, stepping into entrepreneurship was not driven by individual vanity, but by a necessity to craft a practice that could seamlessly blend rigorous architectural discipline with an empathetic understanding of her clients' personal narratives. Her journey stands as a powerful masterclass for emerging designers, illustrating how a pure childhood fascination with spatial possibilities can mature into a celebrated, forward-looking architectural studio.
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Scott Hudsonâs creative lineage is deeply rooted in American craftsmanship, carrying the name of his grandfather, Henry, who was originally a farmer turned carpenter-builder. Growing up on a piece of land that had been split across generations of his family, Scott was raised by his mother and his grandfather just five miles down the road. Beginning at the young age of twelve, Scott spent his summers laboring alongside his grandfatherâdoing everything from repairing weathered barn roofs and building fences to laying structural concrete foundations.
This early immersion in the trade instilled in Scott a foundational understanding of raw materials and spatial geometry, effectively embedding a passion for building into his DNA. Alongside this technical training was a rich domestic culture anchored by a massive two-acre garden, cattle, and a grandmother who was an exceptional cook. This environment taught Scott to view the kitchen not as an isolated showroom, but as a hard-working, vibrant extension of agricultural life and family sustenance, a perspective that would later shape his corporate trajectory.
After transitioning through diverse intellectual pursuitsâincluding studying creative writing, working in literature, and entering the fast-paced corporate tech sector during the dot-com boomâScott returned to his foundational roots. In 2001, he combined his grandfather's legacy of rigorous manual execution with his own refined corporate insights to launch Henrybuilt. From its humble origins, the company has grown into a major force in high-end design, proving that a deep-seated respect for ancestral utility can revolutionize modern luxury living.
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Laura Tribbettâs evolutionary path into interior design had a remarkably early and structured beginning in the public school system of suburban Twin Cities, Minnesota. In the mid-1990s, a fourth-grade school assignment requiring graph paper and a scaled cardboard model house sparked a lifelong fascination with space planning. Growing up in a household with a one-story layout, a young Laura designed a two-story miniature cabin with a dramatic opening overlooking the main floorâan architectural element that represented the ultimate luxury in her eyes. This formative cardboard project established a clear lane that she would eagerly follow into adulthood.
As the youngest of three siblings, Laura enjoyed a high degree of creative autonomy within her home. Her parents, who balanced careers as musicians and language and math teachers, gave her free rein to experiment, allowing her to constantly rearrange her furniture and explore 1990s trends like sponge painting and wallpaper borders. This self-directed exploration was heavily supplemented by consuming shelter magazines and racing home from school to absorb the transformativeâand sometimes wildly chaoticâepisodes of early home improvement television programs like TLC's Trading Spaces.
While she pursued interior design as her core major in college, Laura candidly acknowledges that her real education only truly commenced upon stepping into professional high-stakes work environments. She sharpened her skills across the industry before taking the leap to launch her own firm. Intentionally naming the venture "Outline Interiors" rather than utilizing her own name, she aimed to establish a highly collaborative environment focused on collective, beautiful execution rather than individual vanity. Her path highlights how a blend of early public educational opportunities and a passion for spatial puzzle-solving can build a lasting legacy.
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Marcel Wanders' journey into the world of creation began long before he or the world around him even had a word for "design". Growing up in the Netherlands, where his parents ran a local shop, a young Marcel found his sanctuary in a backroom filled with broken items. Armed with just a hammer and a few screwdrivers at three or four years old, he would enthusiastically unscrew objects to study how they were made. He began gluing these pieces together to craft little sculptural fidgets as gifts for visiting aunts, discovering early on the intoxicating power of extracting a joyous, emotional reaction through handmade objects.
This early instinct evolved into a deeply personal design philosophy centered on the concept of the "ultimate gift". Marcel realized that a truly great creation must feel intimately customized for the recipient while remaining unmistakably reflective of the giver's unique identity. This guiding principle ultimately anchored his professional life, driving him to view every commercial product and immersive interior space as a medium to celebrate and deepen the relationship between himself and his audience.
The trajectory of his career changed forever with the 1996 debut of the iconic Knotted Chair, a piece that seamlessly fused handcrafted magic with technical innovation. Shortly thereafter, Marcel co-founded the globally renowned design brand Moooi alongside Casper Vissers, transforming a local Amsterdam lampshade venture into a premier launchpad for vanguard design talent. Today, having famously closed his massive powerhouse studio three years ago to embark on a solo path of rediscovery, Marcel looks back at his decades of work not as a series of shifting styles, but as a singular, organically growing philosophy.
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Michelle Morgan Harrisonâs creative trajectory began not in design studios, but in the fast-paced world of 1990s print fashion journalism. An intersectional internship between her junior and senior years of college at Elle magazine introduced her to legendary industry giants like Marion McEvoy and Rona Berg. After completing her degree in magazine journalism at Syracuse University, she transitioned into a full-time career in the fashion capitol ecosystem.
Her early professional years were defined by old-school curation, starting as the wardrobe manager for Mirabella magazine under the iconic Grace Mirabella. Working in the fashion closets handling couture dresses and traveling across Europe to cover runway shows alongside visionary creative directors, Michelle developed a keen instinct for predicting cultural shifts. During the height of the mid-90s "British Invasion," she was running up five flights of stairs in London to help spot and support emerging talents like Alexander McQueen.
The transition into interior architecture happened organically as Michelle rose to become the fashion director at Mirabella, where she began managing holistic home and lifestyle photo shoots. After a brief stint directing corporate editorial work for Saks, her passion for historical home restoration took center stage. Shortly after relocating to Connecticut and giving birth to her second child, neighbors began knocking on her door to ask about her exterior paint colors and light fixturesâa sign that inspired her to officially launch her own design firm Morgan Harrison Home in 2006.
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Susan Weissâs career is a masterclass in how early environments shape creative destinies. Growing up the daughter of Harold Baileyâan architect, avid collector, and adventurerâSusan was immersed in a world where design was not just a profession, but a lifestyle. She describes this early exposure as "intravenous," suggesting that while she didn't realize she was being shaped at the time, the appreciation for craftsmanship and the stories behind objects became part of her DNA.
Her fatherâs approach to collecting was never about the mere possession of "things"; it was about the journey, the people met along the way, and the process of refurbishing and sharing those pieces. This foundational philosophy led Susan into the world of luxury curation, eventually leading her to play a pivotal role in the development of Net-a-Porterâs furniture and home divisions. She learned early on that a piece of furniture is a living history, carrying the fingerprints of those who created it and those who lived with it before.
Today, Susan reflects on her journey from a curious child watching her father refurbish antiques to becoming a leading voice in high-end curation. She discusses how her background in art history and her inherent "processor" personality allowed her to bridge the gap between architectural structure and the fluid beauty of interior objects. Her story is a testament to the power of observation and the importance of honoring one's creative lineage while forging a unique professional path.
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Britany Simonâs path to interior design was paved early on, influenced by her fatherâs career as a residential developer. As a child, she was constantly building and decorating homes for her Legos and Polly Pockets, showing clear signs of her future career. Though she briefly considered architecture and fashion in high school, she ultimately returned to her primary passion of interior design.
Her early professional years were spent on the construction side of residential development, where she assisted clients in picking finishes for new builds. However, she found herself yearning for more creative fulfillment, as she rarely saw these projects through to completion. This desire led her to audition for HGTVâs Design Star on a whim, a move that proved to be her "first big break".
Appearing on television was a pivotal moment that transformed her business. After the show aired, she began receiving calls from clients she didn't know, allowing her to transition from working with friends and family to taking her company to a professional level. Since 2004, she has built a career defined by transformation and a deep love for textiles and creativity.
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Jamie Drake describes his aesthetic in a single sentence as "urbane, sophisticated, energetic, visually intriguing, and always has a touch of wit". His professional philosophy is driven by a balance between his creative and entrepreneurial sides, ensuring he remains a "chameleon" who can adapt to changing trendsâfrom the vibrant, saturated colors he was first known for to the more neutral, gray palettes favored by clients in the last decade.
Tactically, Jamie designs rooms to include "visual exclamation points". He believes that when entering a space, your eye should immediately land on a strong, bold, or tall piece at the far end. From there, the composition should guide the eye to discover additional interesting elements throughout the room, creating an experiential narrative. He emphasizes that spaces need "room to breathe," and he carefully guides clients in selecting art with composition and balance in mind.
This process extends beyond interiors and into product design for furniture, lighting, and carpets. Jamie explains that while product design is simpler in focusâcreating a single objectâit comes with unique manufacturing limitations and high setup costs compared to interior decoration. Whether he is designing a bathroom faucet for THG or a sprawling oceanfront property, his work is guided by core principles of scale, texture, and program.
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Paloma Contreras did not begin her professional life in a design studio; instead, she spent four and a half years teaching foreign languages at the high school level. Her transition into the creative world was sparked by a deep-seated love for culture, art, and architecture, which eventually led her to start a design blog in 2007. Originally intended as a creative outlet and a way to document decorating her first home on a budget, the blog served as her "entree" into the design world as it gained unexpected traction.
Despite her success, Contreras candidly discusses the "imposter syndrome" she felt for years because she did not attend design school. She reflects on her childhood bedroomâa product of the 1980s filled with wicker and Laura Ashley beddingâas an early, unrecognized influence on her path. Her story is one of evolution, showing how professional skills from one field, such as teaching, can translate effectively into running a successful interior design firm.
Today, Paloma is a celebrated designer with two books, a retail store, and multiple product lines. Looking back, she believes her younger self would be proud of her accomplishments and the courage it took to follow a creative path. This version of the show notes highlights the grit and passion required to pivot from a stable career into the competitive world of interior design.
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Patrick Cunningham always keeps a sketchpad within reach. Not because a client asked â because the ideas donât wait.
The co-founder of C & C Partners has spent four decades translating the personalities, dreams, and budgets of Southern Californiaâs most discerning homeowners into architecture that feels inevitable. In this conversation, Patrick walks us through what that actually looks like: pools cantilevered off sheer cliffs, underground tunnels connecting guest houses to main residences, and a glass cube engineered to float beside an Antoine Predock landmark in Manhattan Beach. He talks about learning to read a client â whether theyâre a fireplace-and-a-book person or a home theater and rooftop infinity pool person â and then finding the architecture that fits that life.
He also opens up about what drives him: a sketchpad always within reach, a library full of architecture books, and a biannual tour of high-end custom homes across the country with a network of elite design-build peers. With nearly 30 projects currently on the board spanning seven distinct architectural styles, this episode is a masterclass in creative range without creative compromise.
If this episode gave you something to think about, leave us a rating â itâs the single best way to help another architecture lover find the show.
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Patrick Cunningham is the co-founder and principal architect of CNC Partners, a fully integrated design-build firm based in Southern California. Since co-founding the firm with his brother Michael in 1987, Patrick has led the design of some of the region's most distinctive custom homes â from cliffside estates in Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades to award-worthy reimaginings of architectural landmarks in Manhattan Beach and beyond.
A lifelong student of architecture, Patrick trained alongside builders from the start, believing that great design and skilled construction are inseparable. Today, CNC Partners operates with 22 professionals and has nearly 30 active projects on the board â spanning Scandinavian, modern French, mountain modern, Japanese-Craftsman, and European styles. Patrick's daughter Brianna and his nephew have recently joined the firm as part-owners, ensuring the next chapter of CNC Partners stays in the family.
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Lindsie Davis, the creative force behind Blueberry Jones Design, joins the show to share her unique journey from a background in art and textile studies to becoming one of Austinâs top interior designers. She details how her early education in fashion design and printmaking at Texas Tech provided a foundation for her current work, particularly in the way she layers colors and patterns. Lindsie credits her grandmother, an avid decorator and antique collector, for instilling a natural appreciation for rich, cultured environments that eventually led her to this career path.
The conversation dives into the entrepreneurial leap Lindsie took to start her own firm, spurred by a "what do you have to lose" push from her husband. She explains the sentimental origin of her company's nameâBlueberry being her daughterâs nicknameâand discusses the first project that truly felt like a reflection of her own style: the home she built and designed from the ground up. This personal connection to design remains at the heart of her firm, where she aims to create spaces that are both refined and deeply personal.
Lindsie also sheds light on her specific design philosophy, which balances playfulness with restraint. She emphasizes the importance of curation over time, arguing that a home should never feel like a showroom but rather an evolving collection of items that spark joy. Looking toward the future, she reveals exciting new ventures, including a boutique guest experience in Wimberley, Texas, and her continued commitment to helping clients embrace bold, joyful design.
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In this episode of Beyond the Design, we sit down with Light and Dwell founder Aymee Kuhlman and design principal Katie Cunninghamâtwo creative powerhouses who believe a home should be more than a backdrop. They share how a farm childhood in Oregon, grandmothers who collected antiques, and a mother who painted murals in the eighties quietly shaped their design eyes and set them on a path toward interiors that feel deeply personal and lived in. From early guinea-pig projects for friends to full-scale renovations, Aymee and Katie trace how curiosity and courage slowly turned a side passion into a nationally recognized studio.
Together, Aymee and Katie unpack their client-focused, designer-led philosophy and what it really takes to translate a familyâs stories, habits, and hopes into spaces they can grow old in. They explain why theyâre just as interested in how a room will be used on an ordinary Tuesday as how it will photograph, and why they intentionally break certain âdesign rulesâ to make homes truly livable. You will hear how they educate clients in the age of Pinterest and fast furniture, set realistic expectations around timelines, and use intuition and trust-building as some of their strongest design tools.
We also go behind the scenes of some of Light and Dwellâs most memorable projectsâfrom a sprawling compound in Mexico to a cozy lake house in Montana and a Victorian in New Yorkâand talk about what it means to be named one of Architectural Digestâs New American Voices. Aymee and Katie get candid about running a remote boutique studio, balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship, and the legacy they hope to leave in the homes they touch. If youâve ever wondered what it really means to design a home that holds your whole lifeâhighs, lows, and everything in betweenâthis conversation will stay with you long after you listen.
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In this episode of Beyond the Design, we sit down with Calgary-based interior designer Stephanie Martin, founder of Stephanie Martin Interior Design, to explore how she built a career around creating deeply personal, timeless homes that truly reflect the people who live in them. From a childhood spent wandering show homes, hunting at garage sales, and redesigning her bedroom every year, Stephanie always had an instinct for spacesâeven if she didnât initially see it as a viable career path.
She shares how a detour into business school and a plan to follow her parents into law unexpectedly redirected her toward design when an art history elective lit her up in a way nothing else did. With her familyâs encouragement, she switched programs, found her fit in design school, and graduated straight into a brutal recession in Calgary that left almost no traditional jobs available.
Instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity, Stephanie created oneâpounding the pavement with homemade flyers, door knocking, and offering consultations through a furniture store to slowly build her portfolio, reputation, and confidence. In this conversation, she reflects on those scrappy early days and how they shaped the resilient, client-centered practice she leads today.
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Brad Ramsey has built a remarkable career defined by integrity, creativity, and an uncompromising eye for detail. From his roots in Georgia to becoming one of Nashville's most sought-after interior designers, Brad shares how his artistic background and early wanderings through construction sites shaped his instinctual design philosophy. Starting his firm in 2013 from his basement and growing it into a boutique team of highly skilled creatives, Brad discusses the pivotal momentsâfrom his first solo project to hiring his first employeeâthat taught him the true meaning of commitment and quality.
In this episode, Brad reveals his core design philosophy: "Listen with intent and design with intuition." He explains how this approach requires more than hearing clientsâit demands truly listening, asking poignant questions, and absorbing their lifestyle and personality before moving into the design process. Featured in House Beautiful's 2024 Emerging Designers and recently named to the Lux Gold List of 2026, Brad discusses how Nashville's growth and vibrant design culture have elevated not just his work, but the entire industry. His projects, which span two to three years, combine his signature aesthetic of elegance and comfortâproving that beautiful design doesn't require endless budgets, just thoughtfulness and intention.
Brad emphasizes the importance of leading with kindness, both within his team and with clients, builders, and industry partners. He believes that design's future lies not in replacing human connection with technology, but in using smart tools to enhance personalized, human-centered work. As Nashville continues to evolve into a major design hub, Brad's approach to collaborative, client-inspired design serves as a model for the industry. He's creating spaces that are more than beautifulâthey're healing environments where people can find peace and comfort amidst life's chaos.
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In this inspiring episode of Beyond the Design, we welcome Summer Jensen, founder of Hawk and Company, whose design philosophy merges luxurious minimalism with deep Hawaiian values and a profound connection to nature. Growing up in Hawaii climbing waterfalls and spending afternoons at the beach, Summer wasn't exposed to traditional architecture the way mainland children might beâbut that absence became her greatest strength. When she arrived at school on the mainland, she discovered a whole world of design that had been waiting for her, and she's spent her career capturing "moments of awesomeness"âspaces that evoke the serenity of walking through a rainforest or sitting peacefully on a beach, bringing those emotional experiences into the built environment.
Summer shares the meaning behind her firm's name Hawk and Company, explaining the Hawaiian concept of aumakua (spirit protectors) and how she was named after the hawkâKamali'i Hokua Ka'iolani, meaning "the royal star child of the heavenly hawk." She discusses how working on ultra-luxury projects in London and Monaco exposed her to the environmental cost of high-end design, inspiring her shift toward sustainability without compromising beauty or quality. During COVID, when hundreds of ships backed up at the Port of Long Beach, Summer made a pivotal decision: rather than wait for imported stone, she visited local yards and sourced hundreds of slabs that had been discardedâcracked in transmission or considered imperfectâand transformed them into tiles and finishes that elevated craft over material cost. This project recently earned her the DNA Paris Award for Sustainability, her first sustainable design recognition.
The conversation explores Summer's philosophy that luxury isn't a commodity but an experienceâit's not about the cow skin of a handbag, but the farmhand who raised unmarred calves, the tannery worker who created supple texture, and the maker's craft that brings it all together. She discusses her approach to biophilic design (going beyond obvious greenery to integrate nature through circulation patterns, seasonal light, and even room placement that follows sunrise to sunset), her commitment to asking vendors hard questions about sourcing and sustainability, and why she believes designers have a duty to consider health and safety in homes where people spend 90% of their lives. With insights into her background as a professional hula dancer who traveled the world before discovering design, her pre-dawn work sessions where she draws every single detail herself, and her next frontier of developing sustainable housing with integrated food systems and net-zero energy, this episode offers wisdom about creating spaces that honor both people and planet.
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What does it take to build a successful textile brand when you're competing against legacy companies with household names? Otis Weis answers that question by sharing his decade-long journey of growing Otis Textiles from a 20-fabric startup to a 260-SKU collection that serves hundreds of high-end design firms across the United States and internationally. After leaving investment banking due to health issues, Otis discovered his passion for textiles while helping his mother Catherine Ireland streamline her fabric business, ultimately deciding to create his own line focused on woven fabrics with a contemporary, California-inspired aesthetic.
Otis reveals the unconventional strategies that fueled his success, particularly his decision to abandon the traditional showroom model in favor of selling directly to designers. By sending branded boxes containing his entire collection to nearly 3,000 design firms, maintaining exceptional inventory levels, and offering fast turnaround on custom orders through integrated relationships with Italian mills, Otis created a competitive advantage based on service and accessibility rather than marketing spend. He discusses the importance of listening to customersânoting how simultaneous requests for similar colors or textures reveal emerging trendsâand his philosophy of creating timeless fabrics that remain relevant season after season.
The episode also explores the practical challenges of running a textile business, from navigating complex tariff regulations to deciding whether to expand into new categories like wallcoverings or furniture. Otis shares his perspective on pricing integrity during economic uncertainty, the value of working with small artisan mills where generations of expertise create irreplaceable quality, and why he chose to launch outdoor fabrics despite initially wanting to focus solely on natural fibers. His approachâorganic growth, relationship-building, and refusing to compromise quality for scaleâoffers a refreshing alternative to the rapid-exit startup mentality and demonstrates how staying true to your vision can build both profitability and legacy.
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In this episode, we sit down with Steven Cooper, principal designer of Cooper Pacific Kitchens and Cabinet Los Angeles, to explore the intersection of art and functionality in kitchen design. As Cooper Pacific Kitchens approaches its 40th anniversary, Steven shares insights from nearly four decades of creating bespoke kitchens for clients around the worldâfrom Tokyo to Palm Beach's iconic Tiffany's building. He discusses his collaboration with British brand Cabinet, his work on the Le Cornue global design council, and how Los Angeles' diverse architectural landscape continues to inspire his creative vision.
Steven takes us through his design philosophy, emphasizing the critical balance between form and function, the importance of listening deeply to clients, and how beauty can transform everyday rituals into meaningful moments. He shares the lessons learned from his father and grandfatherâboth builders who instilled in him the value of meticulous craftsmanship and the mantra "measure twice, cut once." From mixing materials in unexpected ways to appreciating the patina that natural stone develops over time, Steven reveals what makes a kitchen not just functional, but soulful.
Whether you're a design enthusiast, a homeowner dreaming of your perfect kitchen, or simply someone who appreciates the artistry of well-crafted spaces, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a designer who sees kitchens as more than just roomsâthey're stages where life's most authentic moments unfold. Join us as Steven Cooper shares his journey, his passion for natural materials, and his vision for the future of personalized, intentional design.
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