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| featured Interior Designer Tracey Overbeck Stead continued |
| resource: Tracey Overbeck Stead 1408 Enfield Rd Austin TX 78703 www.traceyoverbeckstead.com. |
| What would you consider your greatest strength? I can listen and work with clients well. I've been doing this for fifteen years and I've had hundreds of clients and they're all dear friends of mine still. I think that's probably one of my greatest strengths – just being very tangible with my clients, I don't really have an ego – we have levels of respect and love for one another. They're truly my family. I relate to my clients well and take care of them. Another strength is my ability to achieve and curate my client's vision. It's very easy to walk into a space and do what I would do if I lived there – that's easy interior design. My strength is to walk into a space and say "What's my client's vision? How can I make this space perfect for my client?" so it doesn't look like a decorator came in and placed every single piece. For example, one client wanted me to do her library. I told her, "You have homework first. You have to go and tell me what your hobbies are and then I'll go out and buy your books." Some designers will just buy beautiful sets of books, but I want the soul to be there. They've got to mean something to you. You're going to have to tell me what is important to you. |
| What's the most challenging sort of project, in your opinion? I think the most challenging sort of project is one with a team of people (either a professional team working together or multiple clients sharing a space) that do not share the same vision with each other. To me, that's the most challenging because no matter what the team is, if they're not on the same page, I'm the middle man. They're both my clients and I don't want to upset anyone! The design always works out and it's always beautiful, but it's very stressful. Sometimes couples really need that neutrality. I can take conflicting styles and make it beautiful, easy, but the emotional challenge is there. On your website, you list three very dissimilar stylistic influences: High Modernism, Japanese Pop-Art, and French Antiques. How do you reconcile these? I live that way daily. My house is full of antique clocks next to high modern pieces. For me, it's very natural that they all coexist. How I reconcile them is that both Modernism and French antiques have very high attention to detail: one is expressed through minimalism, one through ornamentation. To me, it's one and the same. Design-wise, attention to detail is so important – that's how I choose pieces. To me, it's how it moves me, moreso than budget. I don't think good design depends on how much things cost, but I think it comes from how it moves you. I don't really have one particular style, I just love good design – pieces and objects and spaces that are really well designed. They can all work together. Bill Barbee, my professor at UT, always said, "Good design is good design is good design." I understand what he means now – it doesn't really matter what a piece's style or period is, if it's good design, it all works well and it's all pleasing. Why do so many people worry about something like a vase in the middle of a dining table when the you touch door handles ten times a day and you don't care what that looks like? Clients will tell me, "I don't care what kind of toilet you put in my house, put in any kind of toilet" and I make the point that you sit on it more than a car seat. Don't you want it to be a kind you like? You should care. It's your toilet. I think that about light switches. I want that to feel good. I want that to look good. I look at that all the time; why should that be insignificant? |
| Who/what are your favorite manufacturers and product designers? Product designers - Droog Design (all types of products, lighting and funky stuff). Yoshitomo Nara (I like his accessories). Ingo Maurer (lighting). Martin Baas (furniture and lighting). Manufacturers – Kid Robot (Japanese-inspired toys, pop art toys). Established & Sons (accessories and furniture). Hudson International (furniture and lighting). Slos (lighting). Moooi. Ralph Pucci International (I love their furniture. So beautiful. They're awesome). Where do you see modern design heading in the future? I see it becoming accessible to all at every price point. It's just popping up everywhere. Before, only the rich and famous could afford it. Now you can go to West Elm and find modern design. You might not like it, but it's modern design. You can still go to high-end showrooms, or you can go to IKEA for pennies on a dollar. I can walk into IKEA and I can guarantee you I'll have a cart full by the time I'm out the door. People are like "You're a designer, Tracey, you don't go to IKEA," but I do! For me it's not budget-driven, it's what speaks to you. Even high- end designers are designing for budget audiences at IKEA, or fashion lines at Target. Modern design is becoming more accessible to everybody. And it's also heading into this no-fuss, no-waste, reuse, sustainability thing. I think it's – I don't want to use the "green" buzzword – but it's really about reuse and sustained materials. Everyone now is really getting into reuse and recycle. Taking an existing piece, refinishing it, and turning it into something else. Moving into a house and instead of redoing the kitchen, just keeping the guts and only changing the doors. But mostly I think accessibility is the next big trend. |
| What are a few of your favorite projects? I really don't have one particular project that stands out as being my favorite. I think my favorites are just the ones that allow playfulness and that impact my clients the most. Sometimes I get a call years later saying "I still love my house, thank you." That means the world to me. |