Where Do I Start?

It’s important to ask questions.

For those new to the industries, it seems most common practice to look to your owners, directors, senior designers, or client standards for materials needed for each material application. More often than not, we start our careers helping manage the materials libraries to some degree. While this could seem either daunting and/or basic, it is a very important job and let me tell you why.

Designs start with programming, then we get into space planning, and then comes the fun part for interiors - we start looking at finishes. There is a range of finish materials to consider and a series of questions to answer. What is the pattern or color that matches the intent? How large is the format of the material? Is it locally sourced or what is the lead time? How is this installed and what are the required parameters? Sometimes the default is to use something previously successfully installed and then sometimes we get the chance to feature a new product. That is where the materials library is crucial to learn about new products, return to for references, and help set up for presentations.

A note for those who are just starting out - being the expert in materials will actually go a long way in this industry. Understanding usability, applications, and installation details help the technical and design side of the projects. Plus, having a good relationship with the material representatives is a great resource for information.

You can consider this website sort of a materials and vendor library as an introductory glance at who provides what because we tried to do the research so you don’t have to. But if you want some more detailed information or some help in designing your next project, send us a note. We can provide more insight into our successful installations and lessons learned to help your next project achieve its design goals.