“Making space” for a living feels like a privilege, and I’ve come to realize that getting to do the thing which fulfils you creatively as your profession is actually quite rare.
Building can be challenging and unpredictable, but it’s also an incredibly rewarding and multifaceted adventure. I didn’t realize in my early years that I didn’t have to choose between being an architect or an interior designer and that I could craft the journey that worked for me.
Approaching every brief as an individual problem to be solved through design means that each day is different and every solution unique. Be curious, ask questions, go to site as often as you can, and never stop looking around you.
Sometimes the solution comes quickly and sometimes it takes a long time.
I find it fascinating how the answer reveals itself through the simple act of drawing by hand. Iteratively, putting pen to paper again and again and again reveals an evolution that eventually leads to the solution.
When it’s not working, reframe your view: stop, take a walk and do something else. I frequently find that the right approach presents itself away from the desk: cycling the streets or in the pool.
Be careful about how much design is experienced through images, look around you and absorb it with all of your senses, in every aspect of life, through other creative disciplines and by taking in the built environment around you.
The best advice I received: be passionate and enjoy the process, not just the outcomes.
