Meet the designer….

Emily Lippitt sat down with one of her clients and shared more about how her background and creative process drives her interior design vision.

Q: Emily, it's great to connect. Tell me a bit about your background. How did you get into design?

A: Looking back now, I realized I have always been in design. As a kid, I would rather build houses, forts, train tracks, and chalk house designs than play with dolls or other toys.   During my freshman year of college, I serendipitously met a woman working for a local handbag company, that just so happened to be looking for a little help with market weeks. That chance meeting led to a decade long career in the fashion industry, specifically merchandising and sales, in New York City. Along the way, friends kept asking for my help when it came to decorating and design. It was one friend in particular that really told me to go for it. He asked for my feedback on some plans that his very esteemed design firm had proposed. I asked him how honest he wanted me to be, and told me to go for it.   After receipt of my revisions, he called me and told me to quit my job immediately and go into design. A couple of years later, I finally went for it full time. I financed my long term interior design projects with set design and prop styling for ad campaigns, video shoots, and commercial projects.

Q: What was your very first project? Tell us  the raw version.

A: My very first “project,” was on a very hungover Saturday morning in Lower East Side Manhattan. My best friend, Miles, had moved into his own studio and asked me to help him get it looking good, feeling good, and ready for date nights. I brought a tape measurer and graph paper. The design choices flowed out surprisingly easily and I was hooked. I was honestly surprised at how well it all came together, and still love the feeling when I go and see that apartment.

Q: How did your San Diego roots inspire your interior designs?

A: First thing I think of is my family. My mom and nana always had beautiful homes- and in the most inviting way. My grandpa was an engineer and had the most incredible, well thought out, and unique home I have ever seen. My aunts are both multi-talented and inventive artists. My maternal grandpa had a construction company, and my dad flipped homes intermittently throughout my life. The last projects he and my step-mom created were really, really beautiful. I was so jealous when one of my step sister’s got to be a semi-project manager. I would call and ask for every detail, and I still call them way too often to ask for advice and resource suggestions. 

Q: What is one of the most memorable, favorite spaces you’ve designed?

A: 100 Sullivan St, #2D. It was our Soho apartment, where we had weekly dinner parties that always lasted until the early morning hours, and had way too many house guests. It was a magical place where it was cozy when it was just the two of us, and somehow big enough for when everyone wanted to come over. 

Commercially, I worked on an installation at the Nike NYC headquarters for an influencer activation. I was creating an air studio, to premiere a new Air sneaker. We fabricated enormous floating clouds through the loft, and had played with large shapes in chrome materials to bounce the shadows and light, as well as digital displays. It looked pretty epic. The Alexander Wang event at the former Henri Bendel buildling was very impressive. We built an 80’s style department store and had Rick Ross perform for their new handbag launch. Looking back now, I realize how big of an effort we pulled off! It’s hard to notice when you’re going crazy to get everything done. No matter how much planning, something always happens unexpectedly. A sense of humor is very helpful in times like those.

Q: What does your creative process look like?

A: First, I take in information. I seek out all relevant details that could help guide the flow of my designs. After I feel like I have absorbed all that I need to,  I just let it sit for a minute.  Then naturally, images or ideas start popping into my brain. I’m lucky that we travel frequently and I am constantly seeing new inspiration.  

Q: When we worked together I felt connected to you because of your free spirit, energy and the way you listened to my interests. How do you translate what people like into a space?

A: Through textures and color. I am always aiming to portray one of my client’s favorite vacation spots through subliminal messages.  

Q: I know you have a background in both trade and residential, will you continue to design for these categories? Or other?

A: Sure, would love to!

It was great to dive in deep. Can’t wait to see what you’ll work on next.