Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Brownell.
Emily, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been interested in Interior Design and my mother wanted to be a designer actually so I did lots of antiquing as a child. However, I ended up studying film in college. I moved to NYC after and my first job was actually in the Art Department of a TV show so I got to see a lot of what went into building the sets. While also trying to make ends meet a few years later pursuing acting and writing, I took a job doing window dressing for a company called Housing Works that used all donated items in the window displays. I learned SO MUCH there because this were donated from every style and era you could imagine by many of NYC’s elite and we spent lots of time researching each piece to market it for auction. Years later feeling burned out from the “industry” on a whim I helped some friends design their nurseries and then turned that into my career. I have been learning on my feet ever since and after battling infertility I had my boys with the goal to have a full-time workload by the time they both start school.
Has it been a smooth road?
No, not at all. And I am still struggling to get on my feet right now. I have had some tough clients over the past year or two that really made me question if what I was doing and ding my self-esteem pretty bad. It’s made me much more careful of the kinds of people I work with and really try to vet them. Clients do so much research on you, reading reviews, looking at your website, etc. that we rarely get to do the same for them and often we need the jobs. But some people are never going to be happy with what you offer them because they don’t know what they want and thrive on being in control. While I love my work to be a collaboration with my clients, I don’t need to surround myself with people who are difficult just because they have been brought up in a way that makes them feel they are better than anyone else. I want my boys to see me as a woman of integrity and honor above all else. Currently trying to find a way to land clients who have that same kind of style of give and take with out bringing too much of their baggage. Talk to any interior designer and they will tell you that somehow their second job has become a therapists to clients, and I love how personal this job but it’s a fine line you have to walk.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I really treat my work as a collaboration. Many designers bulldoze a clients ideas for their own, I don’t do that. I take yours into consideration and layout options. I also don’t do cookie cutter. I try to layer styles so that it feels unique to the people who live there vs just a recreation of a Pinterest image. I also will go out of my way to source vintage, small shop and one of kind, whereas some people sort of stick to tried and true big brands, I’m constantly looking for new artisans.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Thats tough. There is so much talent here it’s insane. So really the competition is tough. But Angelenos also have a great sense of style and really care about the way their homes feel and look so probably more opportunity as well. I would probably say start where you are. This is a business that can be done anywhere and we need more designers in far to reach places, so if you come here, come for the weather 😉
Pricing:
- Rates start at $95 an hour for design & styling
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gildedhearth.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @gildedhearth
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/gilded-hearth-los-angeles
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/gilded-hearth-pfvwus-pf~1669985178
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