Rising Stars: Meet Orie Prince of Venice

Today we’d like to introduce you to Orie Prince

Hi Orie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had a passion for design. It started in fashion. While on my way to becoming a pro soccer player, I found myself spending hours making jewelry in college. That began a jewelry line called 925L.A which sold at H.Lorenzo and Fred Segal. I then made my way into celebrity wardrobe styling and costume design for TV and commercials. I found that my love for beautiful things translated to designing and building homes. When I began to work with interior design clients, I cared deeply about finding out what challenges, desires, interests, and needs my clients had to inform their space. I became certified as a Feng Shui Practitioner which led to developing my process I call INTERNAL ARCHITECTURE. Now, I work with clients to design beautiful spaces that also serve their deep emotional, psychological, and relational needs.

Today, I work with clients who are passionate about their inner journey. They want their home to be a nest of healing while also being beautiful to the eye. I take the client and each family member through a thorough assessment period which I then synthesize to inform every aspect of design – textures, materials, colors, layouts, etc. When my clients and their guests walk into their homes, they immediately feel the safety and nurturing that has been poured into every single detail.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The creative road is rarely smooth. My journey has been one of choosing the integrity of the work I feel I am on this earth to do, verse running after what will make me the most economically abundant. I am grateful to have chosen the more difficult road because it has led me to find my calling. I continue to see that I can have both purpose and success. Doing something “different” comes with the risk of not feeling understood and that has been a deep struggle for me since childhood.

One main challenge was my shift from being a builder (GC) to a designer. All the imposter stuff came up. I compared myself to the uber successful designers I had worked with as a GC. I thought, “Who am I to now be a designer? I don’t know what I am doing.” Those voices where so familiar to me. They’ve been rattling in my head my entire life. But I did the work, got the support I needed through coaching and therapy, outed my fears to close friends and ultimately took the risk to begin claiming what I truly wanted to do.

What I found was, no one knows what they are doing! And that is what makes creativity daunting and thrilling. We are on the edge of exploration. I wanted deeply to find “my way” of doing design. Combining my deep interest in personal growth and healing with interior design was a concept that struck me like lightning.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Amidst LA burning, you become increasingly aware of the sacred value of your home. When you lose it or fear losing it, it dawns on you how easy it is to take your space for granted. Design often does the same thing. It creates a beautiful container but can lack the intentions around energy flow, care for the individuals, and psychological safety, which, from my purview, are non-negotiable necessities of creating space. Often, design is like making a tupperware but not making the sandwich. The shell can be beautiful but it can lack the very energy that the shell is built to hold.

There is so much unseen intelligence to be tapped into when building and designing a home.

I am a feeler. Naturally, deeply connected to this Universe and Nature and the needs of others. And so, I approach my design process with the soul and heart of a family in mind. Every texture, color, and element is chosen to serve a greater purpose for my client’s self-love and discovery.

This is just how I am as a person. I took my natural interest and turned it into a process called Internal Architecture – a combination of ancient wisdom from Feng Shui and a modern understanding of Human Psychology.

It is this process that serves to set my work apart from others and it is exciting to live in a time when my clients are searching for deeper ways to understand and express their inner world. My hope with each client is that we not only create a stunning home for them, but they also feel more in touch with themselves and their families as a result of our process together.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
Chanah, M.A., Ph.D. was the first person to hear my passion for Internal Architecture and point me in the direction of Feng Shui. Chanah has a Masters in Counseling Psychology, a doctorate in Depth Psychology, and is a Feng Shui Expert.

Sylvia, my Feng Shui Mentor guided me through my training with excellence. When I approached her with a client challenge, she guided me to come back to my own intuition and knowledge of the ancient wisdom to find the best solution.

My husband, Ryan. He is a Spiritual Coach and has pushed me to embrace the depth that he has always seen inside me. Watching Ryan help others heal inspired me to do the same thing through design.

My family for supporting my inner artist and encouraging me to learn real estate and development. I am forever grateful for them.

My clients inspire me more than I could imagine. Their vulnerability to let me into their family space and intimate lives feels like a privilege and a blessing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.princedesignstudio.com
• Instagram: @orieprince

Image Credits
Michael Clifford, John Ellis