Interior Designer Kathleen Walsh Talks Everyday Luxury [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW]

The born New Englander turned Brooklynite, Kathleen Walsh of Kathleen Walsh Interiors, reveals she didn't begin her education in interior design and she also never had the intention of starting her own firm.

Yet with years spent working full-time, freelancing, earning her MBA, falling in love and now, raising two girls, her insatiable drive to overcome challenges prove you can in fact, do it all. Today, after 11 years in the interior design industry, she continues to thrive in the pressured, competitive and ever-evolving city of New York.

Walsh shares with us that "listening to your gut" may in fact be the best tool you've got and for those young and full of dreams, she believes it is important to take quality time and find out just what it is you want to bring into this world.

When designing, Walsh has an unparalleled knack for identifying what will make her clients happiest, through her guidance, design education and ability to listen closely, has ultimately forged individuals to put their own stamp on the places they call home. Passionately and humbly, she reiterates the importance of consistently growing and making sure that each new project is that much better than the one before. 

Walsh is an all-in or all-out kind of power woman and has instilled in her firm that no matter the challenge, there is a solution. 

 

 

MB: Tell us a bit about who Kathleen Walsh is as an individual and as a designer.

KW: I am a city girl, I am a Brooklynite. I came to Brooklyn to attend Pratt in 1991 and haven't really left. I really, really love Brooklyn. But at heart, I am a New Englander, a Yankee! I grew up in a small town, somewhere deep inside is this New England mom with a city flair.

I am a working Mom, which means a lot to me and I have two young girls who are three and six and I've always, always wanted to work while being a Mom. My hope is that I can show them that you can in fact be both, although it may not always work perfectly, but it absolutely can work.

I am a thinker, I am a problem solver and I really love figuring out a 100 ways to solve a problem. But at the end of the day, I am a feeler. One of the things that makes me a really good designer is that I am always looking for my clients' intuitive reactions to things, things that they cannot control. I am always paying close attention to their responses and am introducing them to ideas they may not have realized could be options for them.

If I can evoke those reactions, then I know we are on the right path and I know they will ultimately love what myself and my team can do for them.

MB: Were you always intrigued by design as a child? What was your childhood like?

KW: Well, I definitely experienced a strange moment when I was five years old and I believed I was going to become a lawyer. I really have no clue why I wanted to be a lawyer, but I did. It wasn't until 7^th grade when I became really interested in fashion design and when you grow up in a small town and you see everyone wearing the same thing, you begin to think of different possibilities.

When I was growing up, interior design wasn't household knowledge, it was only for a certain part of society. Yes, everyone wanted their homes to look pretty and everyone had their pineapple door knocker, but it wasn't really the environment where you know, that interior design could actually become a career path.

Luckily, I went to a high school that had such a wonderful art program and I had such a fabulous teacher that worked with me and helped me fine-tune what direction of art and design I wanted to go into. I am forever grateful for her and I honestly don't know if I would be where I am today without that guidance.

I remember always rearranging furniture and my mother enjoyed decorating as well, we loved to go to open houses in the neighborhood and see how others put their homes together.

 

 

 

MB: You went to college for fashion, correct? When did you experience that ah-ha moment where you knew you wanted to make a career move?

KW: I realized I didn't want to be in fashion after one semester in it at Pratt Institute. My fingers are simply not that nimble and when I was up every night at 3 a.m. desperately attempting to do embroidery, I knew it just wasn't in the cards, ha!

No, but I inherently knew my personality wasn't cut out for the competitive fashion industry, I experienced signs again and again that I work best in a collaborative setting and enjoy working with other minds to achieve one solid, great goal. I love sculpture, I love working in 3-dimensional, I love color, textures and materials, this all really came together for me in interiors.

MB: Could you describe your aesthetic?

KW: Comfort is key! My team and I really strive to work in a lot of different aesthetics at the same time. The reason for this is because we are able to focus one project in one particular direction, but also take a piece of that and throw it towards another project. Why that works for me is because there are no rules, everything is open. Everything is up for grabs!

We end up mixing colors, textures and things that the average person just wouldn't put together and we make it fantastic. At the end of the day, for me, it is not just about a room. You need to have a room where the client can insert themselves, where they are able to create their own memories, collect their own special things and we try to develop a space for them that will grow over time.

A room should adapt to change and as families and individuals evolve, we aim to give them a space that evolves along with them.

 

 

 

MB: What is you creative process like? Where do you begin and is your approach different in terms of each individual client or do you have a specific routine?

KW: We actually have a very specific routine. It has changed over the years, but the core has remained the same. One of the first things we do after walking through the house and getting the lay of the land, we invite only individuals who are of the final decision markers into a meeting. We do not invite friends, we do not invite their cousin with a good eye, there is no grandmother and there is simply myself, my team and our client. We present them with a range of different styles, even if they come to me and present a 1,000 Pinterest pictures, we still go through this exercise.

Primarily because most clients have not allowed themselves the time to really think about what they want their home to say about them. Until we explore every option, we're not doing a lot of talking, we're guiding them and educating them, but we're not telling them that we like anything in particular or for a particular room, because what I am looking for is their reaction to things.

Secondly, we grab all of the working parts of the foundation and spend an hour asking them what their typical day is like, we like to understand what their lifestyle includes.

The third thing we do is a quick and dirty color exercise, we throw about 30-40 groupings of swatches, from fabrics to materials, down on our big conference table and we allow them to pull their favorites and only give them about 2 minutes to do so. We begin to decipher where their tastes overlap, we're having them think outside the box and we are gauging their gut reactions to specific colors.

The main goal is to make sure I understand their desires loud and clear, so then I can formalize my decision making skills on what would be the best suitable option for our client. It is their home, they will be the ones living in it, my job is to simply edit and tailor, making their space beautiful and far better than what they could have ever imagined doing on their own and through all this, we give them exactly what they didn't realize they wanted. 

MB: How would you describe your clients? Is there a repetitive client-type you work with?

KW: They are usually individuals who have lived in New York for many years, but who have come here from somewhere else. They are self-made, very, very successful, usually business owners and entrepreneurs. Their time is valuable and we make sure that the time we do spend with them is well-used and they actually in fact, appreciate the time we put in for them.

They are individuals that desire a comfortable, livable environment with no specific Kathleen Walsh Interiors stamp, because at the end of the day it is their stamp they put on it.

They are usually coming to us because they've been to a home or an apartment that we have completed, they want to hire an expert to do the work that they typically cannot do or don't have the time for, but they desire for their visions to be heard also.

 

 

 

MB: Would you say the majority of your clients have come to you through word of mouth?

KW: Absolutely! Yes.

MB: I understand you had quite an extensive resume before starting your own firm, could you talk a little bit about your previous experience and is there a particular person who became a role model or mentor for you?

KW: Before I started Kathleen Walsh Interiors I was working on many projects that ranged internationally to just down the street from me, but the last firm I worked for before going out on my own was the offices of Thierry Despont. He was simply wonderful, the quality level is just unsurpassed and it was just the highest level of experience I could've ever gotten in my career. There were no limits at all.

It was incredible to see that you could do anything and everything, anywhere. That kind of expertise, attention to design detail, the crafts people and artisans that are alive and well because of firms like his, is inspiring. I may not be there yet, but I love that today I am able to turn to those artisans and have them in my circle to provide my clients with remarkable pieces, however it may not be the scale of Theirry, but I am proud to just have them in my network.

The biggest lesson I learned from him was really that the term "perfectly imperfect" has much truth to it, it definitely has come up far too often lately, but it is about teaching clients that the things that are made by hand are not perfect, but they can be perfect within a space to bring that environment to an entirely new level.

It was a very hard decision to walk away from that firm, my upcoming lifestyle in having a family and what I wanted to do personally wasn't going to mix for me at that time, but I am grateful for the exposure and level of learning I received. Theirry taught me how to bring that "hand" into every room, to make a room complete, even in the smallest of gestures, true craft matters.

MB: You mentioned having a family created a need for a career change, but did you have a specific sign that propelled you to build your own brand?

KW: My career move was definitely due to family changes, however I never intended on leaving the firm, I wanted to make it all work. But at the time I was doing way too many things, somehow I managed it for some time. I was working, I was getting married, I was getting my MBA at night, I was freelancing and I also had a bedding collection on the side. I just didn't sleep for a few years I guess, I don't know how I did all of that! But it just sort of happened when this client I had previously worked with asked me to work on a small project, I said yes and just jumped in!

I had finally reached that point where I had the confidence to do it on my own, I had been working on projects on the side for so long and I was ready to put my name on something and do it entirely myself. You know, at the very least I thought, what is the worst thing that could happen? I could work on it for a year, make mistakes, but what is the worst thing? A client gets a gorgeous house and I may have to get another job.

But after that, the jobs kept coming and my clientele grew, even after 11 years I still have a lot of the same clients.

 

 

 

MB: Doesn't that just reaffirm that you are in the right career and you're doing something right, especially when you have generated that loyal following?

KW: Yes. When a client comes back to you four times over with different houses and different challenges, I am doing something right! We are working the right way, we're not giving the same product over and over again, we are making people happy. And that is a great feeling.

MB: Perhaps it is your core developmental and creative process that you walk your clients through, but what would you say is that "thing" that drives these clients to you and what can they rely on you for?

KW: They can rely on me to do the heavy part of every process of the project, I do not hand it off. I want to do better on every single project, I want the next project to be better than the one before. That means we are bringing in new resources, we are challenging ourselves to do more than the design solution we did yesterday and my clients are benefiting from these things over and over again.

At the core, they know that when they sit in their living room, their sofa is going to fit them perfectly. They know that when they invite guests over, that person is going to relax and be themselves, conversations will start and they won't stop. People will stay longer, they won't be itching to leave my clients' homes, their family can grow there, their relatives can hang out and people can be themselves in that space.

We are always trying to stretch our clients' wings a little bit, we want them to explore sides of themselves that they haven't taken the time do so on their own. They know all of the pieces we pick will be at a quality level that we do not go down or below from, but I truly think they come back to us because it is a conversation. It is a constant conversation between myself, my team and them, it may be over an email or even a quick text, but I work with them around the clock.

They know my efforts are worth their time, it is a mutual investment.

MB: Would you say that it may simply be the time of yours you give to them that is precious and you're respectful of their precious time also?

KW: Yes, it really is the time. I am all in for every detail, my team and I work so hard and we are constantly on the same page, we are constantly feeding more ideas into the project every single week. We want to make everything better, from the throw pillow, the fabric, down to the last floral that goes into the vase. We're all in. We're making every single decision with them in mind and there is no quick go-to list of stuff that we always throw into everyone's home.

Every client is different, everything is thought out, no one candle scent is even the same.

MB: Where would you say that you and your team seek new inspiration? Where are their ideas generating from? Are you traveling?

KW: Well, with two young girls it has been a challenge to take off and leave the country. But we're planning for this next year to begin traveling more and thankfully, a lot comes to New York. We're constantly talking to our vendors and inviting new people in. We're open to have people show us the best of the best and there is something really lovely about products being made right here.

As international as New York is, there is something so nice about rooting for the home team as well and there are such fabulous people making innovative things right here in New York, right here in the United States. I am very much delighted when we are able to bring a local or a solid US vendor to the table and introduce what fabulous new designs they are creating. That doesn't mean we shut out goods from other countries, and currently I am very much inspired by the work that is coming out of South America right now. But I am able to stay in touch with my international network of inspired individuals which allows me to see inside their worlds at my very own doorstep, I am so grateful for that and it has been infinitely valuable.

KW: Before Pottery Barn Kids, it was my goal to manufacture and sell my bedding line to specialty retail stores locally, it was certainly the most expensive way I could have possibly handled this, so I know what it's like to be a small business owner. I applaud those vendors that are making it work and this industry has drastically changed since 20-25 years ago, it is still changing and if we can support the little man, those are things that are going to push our city forward.

 

 

 

MB: Since you work closely with manufacturers and vendors to design products for specific clients and you designed a bedding collection all on your own, have you considered designing product again?

KW: Absolutely! I cannot wait. I am so excited that now my children are becoming less dependent on me and I've allowed myself to have that prime time to spend with them, but now I am really eager to jump back in it. A lot of things are currently in process now actually and I definitely want to get back into bedding as it has always been a first love and I don't want that to go away.

I foresee furniture and especially lighting, lighting means everything to me, whether it is natural lighting, morning light, the twilight hours, the feeling of light is indescribable and I want to recreate that feeling light gives you within an actual object. Ah, that is what I strive for. I'd say in the next 2-3 years, you will definitely see product from Kathleen Walsh Interiors!

MB: Other than designing product, is there something you see yourself dabbling into in the near future? Perhaps less of something or more of another?

KW: Well, I think every designer has their bucket list. From an interior standpoint, I'd love to work on a multi-generational family home. I had worked on one ages ago and it was just a fabulous experience to work with grandparents to kids, I would love do that again! Even small boutique hotels and how furniture designs play into the roles of those spaces, would be ideal.

MB: Have you worked on commercial projects before?

KW: No, not really. I worked on a few many years ago, but it was just not my cup of tea. I tend to think more within the minds of families and individuals and how a room can be a place for them to spend their down time in and with others. Designing a space that will ultimately provide rejuvenation for people, those are the projects and/or problems I want to work on and find solutions for.

MB: What has been the best career advice you've ever received?

KW: Well, I think there is a point in everyone's career where you don't have all of the answers, you may not know what you're supposed to do next. You don't know what path you should go down and you really cannot have anyone else answer those questions for you.

You can ask a million people, but you are the only one with the answer. I think it is more of allowing yourself time, give yourself time to figure it out. Whether that means going away, spending a weekend without your phone, going to a park in the afternoon, whatever it is, take time to get yourself to that head space where you can relax and embrace percolation.

Eventually the right thing comes about, but it usually only does when you learn to listen to yourself.

MB: What else would you impart on others entering the field?

KW: Just be really, really open. I think when you are starting out in the industry and you're beginning to get your feet wet, try as many things as you can and be very open. The beginning time is the time to open your eyes and explore all the different ways you can solve one problem. When creating an environment, you will realize there is no one right answer. If a product were never designed, you'd have to come up with something else and what would that something be?

What would you design? Is it better than what is currently out there? Maybe or maybe not. You've got to take the time to figure out what "that" is and if it is not out there, maybe it is actually already in you.

Today the whole industry is changing, everyone wants to create a brand. What most people are missing is that it really takes a long time to figure out what your brand is, you need to take the time to develop your voice, really and truly. I think your voice comes with experience, what resonates with you from the minute you wake up to the minute you go to sleep, you can only find what that is for you with time. So when you're young, don't worry about it, get out there and try it all.

 

 

 

MB: What would say is your brand? What is Kathleen Walsh Interiors?

KW: My brand is about everyday luxury. It is about the home being a place of refuge, it is the place where nothing else matters other than the things that are important to YOU.

A home is your haven away from all of the pressure, all of the stresses, all of the challenges you put on yourself and all of that should diminish the minute you walk into your door. The world is extremely pressured today and people are pulled in so many directions and at home you should be able to unwind, be yourself and have a space that allows you to dream and imagine, clearly.

You also need to pamper yourself, to take care of yourself. At the end of the day, you should have pieces of you within your home that reaffirm that you deserve "this", that you are great enough for "this." "This" should be rejuvenating, relaxing and be something that reminds you to appreciate your surroundings and the people that live within the place you call home — whatever "this" is, is entirely up to you.