ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST – DECEMBER 2018
Designers Share Their New Year’s Resolutions
From more sketching to less Instagramming, these are the goals creatives are setting for 2019
By Hadley Keller
December 31, 2018
As we round the corner of 2018 with the promise of a clean slate in 2019, the possibilities for the new year seem infinite. Rather than setting some utterly uninteresting goal, like reorganizing our closets, we’re looking to be inspired by resolutions with a more creative spin. We reached out to a slew of designers to hear what their goals are for 2019. Their answers range from the practical to the philosophical—and everything in between.
Sig Bergamin, Sig Bergamin Architecture & Design
Bergamin, whose lush new book just made its debut, is skewing pragmatic for his 2019 goal: “My New Year’s resolution for 2019 is to discover new ways to hide the power outlets,” the designer tells AD PRO. “People today have too many devices and they are connected all the time. As a result, we have power outlets filled with wires at home. These wires, in one way or another, end up having to be incorporated into the design. It’s time to invent new ways to prevent this from happening. I hope someone has some idea in 2019!”
Nicole Fuller, Nicole Fuller Interiors
Already an expert at selecting art for clients’ homes, Fuller wants to take this process to the next level in the coming year. “I would like to bring the art in as more of a collaborative experience,” she says of her resolution. “Not just how we normally experience art hung on a wall or in a form of sculpture, but how it can become interactive. For example, we are designing a bar in an entertainment room in one of our projects with Ivan Navarro. The bar will serve as a piece of art that will be used by our clients and become a part of their lives, proof that art doesn’t always have to be on a wall.”
Marie Flanigan, Marie Flanigan Interiors
The Houston-based designer doesn’t mince words with her 2019 goal: “Take more risks! I’m really looking forward to so many of the projects on our horizon because I can tell they’re going to pull me out of my comfort zone. This media room serves as a solid past example. We coated the room in a lacquered blue and swapped out oversize, unattractive furnishings for midcentury antiques and treasures from my client’s travels. I’m excited to push more boundaries in 2019!”
Sarah Magness, Sarah Magness Design
“My design resolution is to celebrate my clients’ personalities,” says Magness. “So many interiors from years past have neutral palettes. I plan to encourage my clients to display more accents of color and accessories that reflect their own unique personality. I find it more interesting to design a home that incorporates the fundamentals of good architecture and design but is decorated with layers and textures and objects that showcase the tastes and interests of the owner.” Hear, hear!
Malene Barnett, Malene B Atelier
“I tend not to make New Year’s resolutions but rather a list of goals to accomplish in the New Year,” explains the rug designer turned ceramist and founder of the Black Artists + Designers Guild. “One of my goals is to have a solo show with my ceramic objects and sculpture. I’m confident I can make this happen. I hope you are listening, Universe.”
Mally Skok, Mally Skok Design
“In 2019, I want more seats at the table, less rules, less right or wrong, and more inclusion in the design world,” says the Boston-based designer (who, this year, organized several literal tables for a benefit at the Boston Design Center). “I am really loving that the rules of design are going out the window and that everyone has a seat at the table. No one is right or wrong, and also the voices of young people in design are beginning to be heard—and they are the future, so we need to sit up and pay attention!”
Tamara Eaton, Tamara Eaton Design
If you don’t get any “likes” from Eaton in the next few months, don’t be offended: “My resolution for 2019 is staying inspired, but not from Instagram,” says the designer. “Instagram is tremendously influential in the design community and a wonderful place to be inspired by watching what other designers, makers, and artists are doing. However, I think we have all had a strong urge to be inspired by a singular voice that has a very ‘Instagram’ feel to it. As a designer, I want to make sure that in 2019, I approach design academically, with inspiration from inside and my surroundings. I think I will put the phone down more this year and look at the world around me.”
Cathy Austin, Catherine M. Austin Interior Design
“In the frenzied pace of interior design life, I am searching out more soulful experiences in 2019 that will translate into my design aesthetic,” says the Charlotte, North Carolina–based designer. “I spend so much time looking at thousands of products for clients that some days I feel like I am just a personal shopper. I am looking forward to traveling to new destinations in 2019, pushing myself out of my design comfort zone, allowing more quiet time for ideas to marinate, focusing on the art of observing, and reconnecting to the creativity of my design practice!”
Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason, AphroChic
The husband-wife team behind Brooklyn-based AphroChic has also found inspiration in Morocco. “Our designer resolution for 2019 is to find more inspiration through travel,” says Hays. “So much of our brand is based around the importance of culture and the interaction of cultures in the design, we want to be able to draw as much from first-hand experience as we do from research.” Adds Mason, “In 2018, we had our first opportunity to travel to Africa, spending close to a week in Morocco. It was a life-changing experience. Seeing the beauty of a city nearly 1,000 years old, walking the narrow passages of the medina, and seeing the few remaining pieces of architecture left by the African founder of a city that had so much impact on the histories of Africa and Europe was incredible. And with so much more of the world to see, there’ll be plenty to choose from in 2019.”
Bridgid Coulter, Bridgid Coulter Designs
“I’m not a formal resolution maker, but I do look forward to each new year with intent,” says the California-based creative, principal of her eponymous design- build firm—whose projects may be about to get a lot more art on its walls. “That said,” she continues, “my number-one goal for next year is to attend as many art and design fairs as time and location allow: the big ones, mediums, and independents! Surveying the contemporary work of practicing global artists is one of my favorite ways to stay inspired to do what I do in a different form.”
Janie Molster, Janie Molster Designs
Patience is key for Molster in 2019. “My goal is to realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day,” says the Richmond, Virginia, designer. “Taking my clients on the journey of creating bespoke interiors, I want to celebrate the process of the journey itself, not just the end game.”
Tina Ramchandani, Tina Ramchandani Creative
“My word for 2019 is focus,” the New York designer tells AD PRO. “2018 was an amazing year for me; however, when I look back, I realize that stricter management of my daily schedule could have improved my overall efficiency. Life has a tendency of pulling you in several directions at once, so for 2019 I’m implementing a daily focus strategy in all aspects of my life to gain more balance and ensure that clients and vendors are getting my undivided attention when we’re working together.”
Natalie Kraiem, Natalie Kraiem Interiors
For Brooklyn-based Kraiem, 2019 is about growth—via products. “2019 will be the year for brand partnerships,” explains the designer. “In 2018, we participated in many design events, panels, podcasts, and even TV shows, bringing a voice to our brand. This coming year will be more about using the voice to develop and promote new products!”
Blaze Makoid, Blaze Makoid Architecture
“I have several resolutions for the New Year,” says the Bridgehampton, New York–based architect. “The first is to focus on travel as a way of collecting ideas, cultures, and atmospheres, which I hope to pull from as inspiration. I also want to use travel time as a way to unplug and just focus on the actual travel; not the things that I’m away from when I’m traveling. In the new year I’m also hoping to draw more. I want to rethink how I work during the day, allowing for fewer interruptions to make for longer stretches to allow for deeper thinking. Lastly, I want to delete my personal Facebook account. I haven’t used it in years, but I just can’t seem to pull the cord completely—yet.”
Janice Parker, Janice Parker Landscape Architects
Parker also hopes to pick up the pencil more next year: “I want to make more time for hand sketching,” she says. “This is something I miss, so I’m going to put down the iPad and pick up my pencil! I resolve to go analog: hand-write, -draw, and -sketch as a regular practice. It adds so much tangibility to my day- to-day life. Picasso [is said to have said], ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist’ and it’s so true.”
Amanda Lantz, A Lantz Design
“Our goal for 2019 is to educate our clients to embrace color,” says Lantz, whose work includes decorative paintings, art, and upholstery in a wide palette of hues (just see above). “In the world of interior design, where things can become dull, repetitive, and dreary, I plan to educate clients on the benefit of using bright, clear, and happy colors. Not everything has to be neutral or solid—use a floral print, mix it with a plaid, and layer the space with personality. Take a chance!”