Senior Interior Designer
Floss Barber, Philadelphia
What’s top of mind for you? As society becomes more culturally diverse, it’s important that children see themselves within the designs that surround them. We must go beyond the surface and approach projects like a cultural anthropologist, historian, and curator. We have an obligation to be storytellers through design.
What’s on your boards? A 138-room hotel with conferencing space, restaurant, and bar in a historic art deco building featuring period designs by female textile designers of color, as well as contemporary street art. It’s very 1920 meets 2020, a jazz versus hip-hop decade mash-up!
Who’s got your eye right now? Ovolo Hotels and Cyril Aouizerate [Mob Hotels]. They are equally future-forward independent brands that have their finger on the pulse.
Tell us about your greatest mentors before joining Floss Barber. Graduating from Sarah Lawrence with a BA in liberal arts, I had zero technical training. Terry Bagley, a former knitwear designer, and I were kindred spirts. She gave me my start in her Sag Harbor storefront. We traveled a lot for buying trips, and she taught me about metal plating and true French and farmhouse antiques. Sophie Prévost is also one of my greatest mentors. She and Robert Cole are the husband and wife duo of Washington, DC-based interior and architecture firm ColePrévost. Having a background in art restoration and corporate interiors, she has the most elegant sense of color, balance, and shape. From Sophie, I learned how to not design so seriously—to allow room for a little whimsy.
Camden, New Jersey
Photos: Floss Barber
