A residence by Andee Hess and Osmose Design (Wallpaper)
BY BRIAN LIBBY
Last March, I began hosting a bi-monthly interview series in partnership with one of Portland Architecture's sponsors, Ceilume, called Designer Spotlight. As we prepare for the fifth installment in the series tonight, featuring interior designer Garrison Hullinger (whom The Oregonian's Janet Eastman interviewed recently for her "5 Things" series), I'd like to share some video recaps of interviews past.
Originally the series was called PDX Interior Designer Spotlight, and the idea was to focus primarily on interviewing interior designers, simply because I knew fewer in that profession than I know architects. I write about interior designers' work all the time for various home magazines, but usually they're in other cities.
To begin our Designer Spotlight series, therefore, I sent out an invitation to my favorite interior designer in town: Andee Hess of Osmose Design. Whether it's for residential work or for commercial and retail/restaurant clients like Salt & Straw or Ava Gene's, Andee has a brilliant eye for color and texture, and she's also a superb curator and collaborator when it comes to incorporating the work of local artists and artisans. Andee not only made a great first Designer Spotlight interview, but she also designed our first set. We'd wanted to put the stage near Ceilume's storefront windows, but Andee knew it was better to reverse it, so late walk-ins wouldn't become the cameos of our production. We'd planned to put a screen behind us for images, but Andee convinced us to make the conversation the attraction, not the Powerpoint.
Our second installment, held in May of last year, featured interior designer Jim Staicoff of Staicoff Design Company. Jim has been working in Portland since 1992 (after relocating from St. Louis), first as interior design director for Soderstrom Architects and since then with two companies, Corso Staicoff and now his eponymous firm.
I got interested in talking with Jim not only because I'd been a fan of his work for well over a decade, but especially because of his firm's focus on hospitality, be it hotels or restaurants. Most recently, his projects have included renovations of Seattle's Hotel Roosevelt as well as Portland's Hotel Westin and Hotel Lucia. Previously his work has been seen locally at Hotel Modera, in Seattle at Hotel Max, and in a range of projects from Denver to Tacoma to India.
Next up was a trio of designers leading Fieldwork Design & Architecture who represent cross-disciplinary collaboration in multiple ways: interior designer Tonia Hein and architects Cornell Anderson and Timothy Fouch.
Not only do interior designers and architects work closely at Fieldwork, on projects ranging from a tractor shed to high-end residences to retail and food & drink outlets for the likes of Tender Loving Empire and Upper Left Roasters, but they also combine design and fabrication in a way that seems to represent a new kind of firm. When I visit Fieldwork's offices, I always enjoy talking with Tonia, Tim and Cornell, but it's all too easy to move from their offices to their workshop, where the smell of fresh-cut wood is in the air and the firm is always at work on the physical manifestations of their ideas. And particularly since the recession, I think Fieldwork's experience speaks to a lot of architects who faced adversity as the commissions at big firms dried up but then used that as an opportunity to make their own way.
Our fourth Designer Spotlight interview was with Jean-Pierre Veillet is a Portland-based artist, designer, and developer who founded the local design-build firm Siteworks. I first encountered Veillet several years ago when he was remodeling Genoa restaurant, and we crossed paths again when he was building the EcoFlats on North Williams Avenue.
Veillet has a background in site-specific art, and somewhere along the way he began to realize that design and construction was not that unlike an art installation: a creative challenge mixed with construction know-how. Over the years Siteworks has now developed and built a number of compelling projects around town from the Hopworks brewpub to the upcoming Pine Street Market.
Tonight's installment, featuring Garrison Hullinger, is both a story of great design and a successful business, but also of following one's passion. Hullinger may be one of Portland's most coveted interior designers today, but it wasn't his first career. It took a near-death experience to show Hullinger that life was too short not to do what you love. Doors open at Ceilume (1225 SE Grand) at 5PM and the talk begins at 6.
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