LUCY CONDOLORA

Lucy Condolora, 29 years old, and interior designer.

What is it about being an interior designer that makes you want to design? 

I believe that everyone deserves to live amongst beauty. I love a lot about decorating and design…but I think what really pulls me in is history. I have always loved history. I love tattered, worn, neglected pieces that people collect over the years. It could be a rock collection from your childhood beach, it could be a dresser that you found when you were 18 when you moved into college and you kept it with you from apartment to apartment or house to house, and that is what excites me – it makes me feel connected to a home, to project; it’s the personal history. 

Also, the geographic and architectural history really informs everything I do and is my jumping off point. We spend so much time in our homes, especially in a post pandemic, work from home world - if you are going to spend 9 - 5 and then 5 - 9 in your home, then you need it to be functional. But it also has to be personal, You need it to be beautiful. You deserve that, all people deserve that. That is my focus as a designer, connecting personal history, geographical and architectural history, and function. 

Where do you get your faith to keep creating? 

I think it is a mixture of a lot of things. I have never not created, and I think a lot of people say that. I think that is what makes an artist an artist, when it is no longer an option to not be creating. I have worked in other industries and I found that I needed to fill the gaping hole of creating and designing. 

I think when you have the ‘storing spools of fabric under your bed’ and “flipping furniture for fun”, that’s when you know you are a designer– you are always finding a way to create.

I also think in regards to being an artist, it always felt like an accessible choice for me. I feel really grateful because my parents made such an intention to make sure we lived amongst beauty and sought art in every form. My art education was incredible. Because of that I felt very empowered to be an artist, to have my own business and to translate art for people who may not know. The faith that keeps me creating is about my upbringing and my exposure to art. It's not a choice for me, it's a lifestyle. If I could choose another career I would have, but I feel that I am an artist and I always keep coming back to it. 

What has your process been as a creative? 

My process always starts with the people that I am working with. A Lot of designers never meet their clients. But for me it starts with people. I love people, always have. I really love to dig deep. So one of the things that I do when I meet a new client is I send them a design questionnaire. I want to know what colors bring you joy, if you are barefoot in the kitchen, do you like a bath or a shower, how much sunlight do you need when you wake up? I love to know these things. So I really work with people before I work with design. That is really the meat and potatoes of my process of getting to know the person before the design. Because I don't ever want to design a beautiful home rid of function…that would just be a museum. 

I am also pretty old fashioned. Of course I spend a lot of time on instagram and pinterest but I also look at a lot of design books. I collect a lot of design books. I love looking back at old designs, especially in the 80’s or 90’s seeing what stood the test of time. When you see something dated I like to run in the other direction. For example, the color green is really hot right now in design. I don’t think that green is a fad though, it will always be a very strong vocal point in my portfolio. I think about how this will look in 50 years. On the whole, my process is understanding the people and then doing the research. 

What advice would you give your younger self? 

To work at a big firm for a long time. I didn't and I think if I could go back I would say, you have a lot to learn. Where I am at in my career, I am very grateful, I did jump off the deep in very quickly and it did serve me well but there are definitely moments where I feel myself-taughtness and I wish that I spent time at a big firm observing other business practices. 

Another thing that I would recommend to my younger self is to really listen to your taste. I have a friend who is a designer who is completely offline. It is not that she hates social media, but instead that she wants to be unclouded. I think that spending time with yourself and your taste will make you tremendously successful because people will hire you for your taste. They are not going to hire you for your responsiveness to trends but instead for your eye. The more refined your taste is the more clients you are going to get. Earlier in my career, I was really modling my taste based on what the clients wanted, which is part of the job, but I think honing in on your eye is the best way to move forward. 

Why don’t you quit? 

I want to quit when I am isolated. I want to throw in the towel when I have had a long few weeks of accounting, or when I haven’t visited my projects, haven’t had face time. Instantly when I am on a job site and meet with a client, meet with a contractor, meet with a vendor – I am invigorated. I am like this is what I am supposed to be doing. I love working with people, I love making a house a home. That realignment of this is what my actual job is, makes it impossible to quit. I am a part of a team and even though I am mostly alone I couldn't do my job without my painter, wallpaper installer, etc…

I am a part of a great team and when I connect with those people I feel very aligned and it makes it impossible to quit. I adore them and I respect them and I respect their trade. I feel very lucky to be a part of a team. That’s why I don’t quit, I love the community aspect. You can’t design alone. Even though my company is small right now, I am a part of a bigger network who love what they do. 

What do you hope to create that will continue to repeat? 

I always hope to continue to work with clients who see me as this invisible hand that helps them achieve their dreams and what they have worked really hard to do. I think buying a home, especially when you are really young is a great intersection of like – I did it, but now what? I want to work with clients who see me as a translator. I hope to create and repeat client relationships that are rooted in the community. 

I would also one day love to have a store that is cozy and warm and a pillar of community. I think about stores I pass by and I know I can always get a lamp that is not Ikea that is pretty and has a lot of history. That is a long way away because I want to be in a neighborhood that I feel really present in. I hope to create a community where design and homeware feels like people can walk by and pick up a few things. I hope to continue to create this connection between textiles, art and architecture and people through my work. 

What are you on the verge of? 

I am on the verge of this big intersection in owning my own business where I am really 100 percent invested. The first two years of owning a business is a wash, you are struggling to figure out your process, how to meet new clients and struggle with income insecurity and taking on a lot of odd jobs. 

Now I am in a place where I am having to say no to small jobs, to things that otherwise sustained me in my early twenties. But I am saying no to the small jobs so I can accept the bigger jobs. All of my clients deserve 100 percent of me.. It makes me uncomfortable because I am a yes person - but I am on the verge of saying no and trusting the growth.