In modern interior design, incorporating sentimental elements offers a unique opportunity to blend the contemporary with the nostalgic. Imagine a sleek, modern living space where each line and texture speaks of the now, yet elements of personal history find their place within this framework. Artfully restored and refreshed, a vintage piece becomes a focal point,...

Where did 2023 go? Design-centric gifts transcend the barriers of age, profession, and personal preferences, making them an excellent choice for everyone on your gift list. Whether it’s the aesthetics that evoke emotions, the functionality that marries beauty with purpose, or the sheer novelty of owning something thoughtfully crafted, such presents are bound to leave a...

In architecture and design, AI has transitioned from ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘AlwaysIterating,’ swiftly mastering the balance between form and function. But let’s not betoo quick to trade in our drafting tables for digital dominance. After all, while AImight impeccably design a space with optimal sunlight and the least windresistance, only human architects would think to...

For design and travel aficionados: Meet Jason Claire, former Interior Matter co-founder, now the Chief Traveler behind Upon Return. Upon Return is a different kind of travel guide. It’s a curated collection of global gems handpicked by Jason after dedicating years to exploring 65 countries, numerous hotels, and countless restaurants. Think of it as accessing...

Back-to-school season used to be about fresh notebooks and sharpened pencils, but modern school design is reshuffling the curriculum. These days, the school building itself feels like an advanced physics problem. Between navigating green rooftops instead of schoolyards, and bike racks that resemble a modern art installation, we’re just a city ordinance away from having...

Our inbox is currently bursting at the seams like a filibusterer’s speech transcript, all thanks to your burning questions on interior design. We’re talking space planning, design teams, and design misconceptions – I mean, who knew there could be this many inquiries about shiplap? The volume of emails might be intimidating to a lesser team but to...

Salone del Mobile, the largest furniture fair in the world, returned to its Spring dates in April for the first time in three years, post-pandemic. One month later, the largest American furniture fair gathered in High Point, NC. Architecture, art, photography, lighting, and other design disciplines were brought together. This interdisciplinary approach fostered collaboration among creators and buyers...

Interior designers are like architects of ambiance, sculptors of style, and masters of materials. They know how to mix and match colors, textures, and patterns to create visual harmony. They take their clients’ ideas and turn them into something tangible. They bring their clients’ dreams to life, like magicians conjuring up a spell. Some might say that interior designers...

Arches have been used in architecture and design for a few thousand years. Originally developed to build underground structures, an arch transfers weight and load to allow for large open spaces. Eventually arches were used to celebrate war victories and also to create domes for some of the most extraordinary churches, mosques, and other buildings in the world from Greece to Rome to Turkey to India. Arches...

Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is home to famous architecture of the Catalan Modernisme movement. The movement began at the end of the 19th Century during the industrial revolution when people were moving back to the city from the countryside in search of employment. To make the city more attractive and to accommodate for the population increase, urban...

During the depths of winter, looking longingly at some aspirational waterfront homes may provide some psychological relief from the cold. This month, What Matters features two homes on the American East Coast and two homes abroad. This global perspective opens our eyes and minds to what is possible. Barring any cosmic cyclones, rivers, or the sad melting of...

Happy New Year! We hope your December holidays were joyous and relaxing. At Interior Matter, it takes a collaborative team with varying skills and experiences to create a home that is comfortable, layered, complete, and relaxing. We just finished the project shown above. In this living room, we delivered on the client’s design brief requesting...

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! Interior Matter gives thanks to its friends, families, team members, and clients. This month is all about how in four projects Interior Matter has transformed bathrooms and kitchens into spaces where its clients cook, entertain, eat, and “do their bathroom things”. It’s about understanding how human beings interact with built spaces....

The Fall 2022 movie season is off to a great start.  TÁR is triumphant, Bros is hysterical, and Official Competition is next gen Pedro Almodóvar.  The documentary Moonage Daydream is a cinematic odyssey that explores David Bowie’s music, spirituality, art, and overall creative journey.  The film is sticking with us.  It is visual maximalism.  It is a film for now.  It took Bowie...

We’re not talking 1970s avocado green appliances (though colorful appliances are now edging out stainless steel). We’re talking sustainability. For the first time since before the pandemic, the IFA electronics trade show convened in Berlin in September. Sustainability was at the forefront in the development and release of small electronics up to large home appliances. Appliances? Those necessary household kitchen and...

Owning real estate was the difference between the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts (spoiler alert – Cornelius Vanderbilt’s wealth was gone in 50 years). Most American real estate owners think of their house or condo as their home; their place to relax and entertain. Also, real estate accounts for one half of total household wealth in the USA; so...

Is it hot enough for you? We are experiencing what may be considered the hottest northern hemisphere summer on record. The UK has recorded its highest temperatures ever which have in part caused raging forest fires across Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and the UK. Here in the US, Lake Mead, which provides water to 25 million people, is drying up. And, at the time of...

It’s baaaack. Salone del Mobile is the largest design and furniture fair in the world. It celebrated its 60th year only a few weeks ago at its home in Milan, Italy. The Rho Fairgrounds has 3.7M square feet of indoor exhibition space and 650K sq ft of exterior space making it one of the largest exhibition campuses...

For the first time since 2019, Interior Matter made it to New York for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. We also scoured the city’s furniture showrooms for trends and pieces for our clients both current and future. Finally in this issue, What Mattersreturns to making travel recommendations. The pandemic isn’t over and neither is our curiosity...

A Frame for Life. This is the tagline of Interior Matter’s new website which we have proudly and recently launched. We articulate our design philosophy which is rooted in a home’s personality. That personality is imbued by our clients. And we are nothing without a strong and collaborative relationship with our clients. Chemistry is essential in our work....

Casa Perfect is a popup by NYC-based design retailer Future Perfect.  It is housed within a 1971 Beverly Hills 5,000 sq ft home designed by local architect Raul F. Garduno. The residence possesses a seductive low-rise silhouette with long curving hallways and floor to ceiling windows that afford panoramic views of the LA basin. The...

On Sunday, March 27 at 8pm ET, the 94th Academy Awards will be presented at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The nominees may be found here. Among the prestigious categories is the one for best cinematography. Cinematography includes lighting, framing, composition, camera motion, camera angles, film selection, lens choices, depth of field, zoom, focus, color,...

In 1982, Missing Persons had it right. No one walks in LA! Welcome to the West Coast edition of What Matters. Our Chief Strategy Officer, Jason, is in LA for the winter looking at opportunities for expansion and driving to the many design studios to source beautiful furniture and accessories for our clients in metro DC. From...

Happy new year! May this year be a little more in-person than 2021. We feel very lucky and fortunate at Interior Matter. Despite the pandemic, we have been able to grow as a company by adding fabulous new projects to our pipeline and portfolio. We have also added amazingly talented people to our team.  We...

Walnut, oak, maple, mahogany, cherry, bamboo, birch, pine, rosewood, chestnut, ebony, ash, zebrano, sycamore, teak, ipe, holly, hickory. Rift cut, quarter sewn, plain, live edge. Veneer and solid. Tongue and groove, biscuit joint, butt joints, dovetail, mortise and tendon, pocket joint. Green harvesting and deforestation. The world of trees and wood for construction and furniture...

We’ve all experienced various effects from the much discussed supply chain problems. Pent up product demand, lockdowns leading to raw material and product shortages, shipping container shortages, port labor shortages, truck driver labor shortages, and shrinking warehouse capacity are all weak links in the chain. Pivoting to interior design and recognizing that people want to spend...

The theme of this year’s Met Gala was American Independence. Many people criticized the vague theme, but fashion designers with their celebrity clients and muses interpreted the theme in fierce and fabulous ways. This month, we thought it would be fun to illustrate a Met Gala x Interior Design mashup. Which came first – trends in haute couture...

September means back to school, the end of summer, the pandemic variants, and an uncertain future. We want to entertain you this month with some very funny design-related Instagram accounts we suggest following. My grandmother used to tell me that laughter is the best medicine. Let’s hope this old adage (and vaccines with boosters) helps...

The High Point Furniture Market in North Carolina finally returned for designers to attend in June of this year. Our principal designer, Sarita Simpson and senior designer, Hannah Goldberg were excited to attend to meet with vendors, see new furniture releases, shop for our clients, and feel generally “normal” for the first time in 18...

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live on the set of The Jetsons, Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Mad Max, or Star Wars? Have you been reading about the resurgence of UFO stories in the news? It seems that alien architecture is making its way down to Earth. Is this architecture attracting UFOs?...

We know it seems like 17 years since we were able to travel, but just like the cicadas, we’re beginning to emerge from the pandemic. As the globe slowly opens to vaccinated travelers, we thought we would return to highlighting what’s new in design and tourism around the world. If you’re planning trips or still...

Who remembers a big box of continuous fold paper with perforated pin-fed sides that sat underneath your dot matrix printer which sounded like a chain saw when printing? We thought it was a miracle to print from our word processors and early PCs! No graphics to speak of, one font, and you could bold and...

If you pause and focus on every visual message that you see during the day then you’re acknowledging the impact of graphic design. How does a message get communicated through the use of font, color, imagery, and other graphic elements? From street signs to corporate logos to wayfinding signage to Ikea assembly instructions, typography and graphic...

Mise-en-scène refers to everything that appears before a camera in a film. The set design, lighting, space, composition, costumes, hair and makeup, acting, etc. We often think about interior design in similar terms. How will a space be developed? How will people engage with the space? There is an interesting intersection between mise-en-scène and interior design discussed in this...

On January 20, we entered a new era in American history and were blown away by Amanda Gorman’s poem The Hill We Climb that she wrote for the inauguration. “We seek harm to none and harmony for all.” Gorman spoke. At the same time, we’re facing what we hope to be the last uphill climb during the...

Let’s use a 53-year-old song by The Rolling Stones in order to look back at 2020 and forward to 2021.  “She comes in colours,” says the song.  We’re beginning to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.  We see optimism, kindness, and color. We also want to highlight some of the good stories...

As we look back on 2020 through the lens of Interior Matter, we’re thankful and grateful to our clients and supporters who continued their projects, hired us during the pandemic, and trusted us to design their dream homes.  And to those who featured us in the press and who follow us on Instagram, thank you.  We...

Elections matter. Our democratic right to vote matters, and your individual vote counts. Please go vote Nov 3, and we’ll check back in with you in December. In the meantime, please enjoy a few stories about the convergence of design and democracy. Design for Democracy Design for Democracy is based on the premise that good design makes your choices...

While our subject is a reference to the 1973 movie of the same name, we’re observing that during the pandemic people are still chasing down toilet paper and paper towels. In a way it’s odd to think of this time as a chase at all. To us, it seems that time has really slowed down....

Curves are stealing the show in 21st Century architecture and design.  Their roots are found in ancient Rome with the circular and domed Pantheon built in 126 AD and the oval and arcaded Colosseum built in 80 AD.  In the mid-20th Century Frank Lloyd Wright designed the circular Guggenheim Museum in New York (@guggenheim). In...

We’re still here like you working from home, wearing masks, and trying to enjoy Summer. If you’re like us and like to have a trip on your calendar even if you end up canceling it because of the pandemic, then you probably noticed that there are only 30 countries allowing American tourists right now (of the 193...

We have a special edition of What Matters this month.  This is a bit of an escapist issue where we are going to show you the inside of a spectacular modernist home in the DC-metro area that happens to be for sale.  Designed by world renowned architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen in 1971, The Jacobsen House like many of Jacobsen’s architectural works...

Are you working from a home office or the dining room? Are you finding that your desk is an appropriate size, or are you at the breakfast table? How about your chair? Is it comfortable, or are you sitting on a barstool? And those walls behind your Zoom calls? Are they bare or filled with...

Hi there, It was only a month ago that we sent an email about our Design During Distancing process.  We weren’t sure if anyone would be ready to work with us during this pandemic, but some of you did, and we thank you!  And thanks for forwarding our emails. We have a fun present: a couple...

This month Interior Matter chatted with Lauren Laitin, Founder and Principal of DC-based Parachute Coaching, a leadership coaching practice, about ways we might carve up our space to focus our time. “Work-life boundaries are always a work in progress,” Laitin said. “Now we’ve turned up the volume big time on those challenges by trying to do...

It’s mid-Winter. We’re way past the holidays and even past Presidents’ Day Weekend.  The days are getting longer, but it feels like a long stretch to get to Spring let alone Summer.  Students may need a little push and encouragement to keep their heads down and press on with their hard work until Spring Break....

Super Bowl LIV is on Sunday at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Some of you will be quite passionate about the winner between the Chiefs and 49ers. Others will want to know the winner of the J-Lo and Shakira half-time concert. And still others will pay attention to the TV only when the commercials...

Happy 2020 from Interior Matter! Governments from around the world have been recently building and renovating their diplomatic buildings and campuses to house their diplomatic missions. They are literally building diplomacy. We are going to take a look at two such projects. Cheerio The US embassy in the UK has finally moved and reopened in...

It is also the largest city on the Mediterranean.  Yes, it’s Barcelona.  This month we look at two world renowned architectural masterpieces both of which are in Barcelona.  We also look at Barcelona’s culinary design and some of our own design at Interior Matter.  Finally please support a fabulous benefit for the holidays from our...

Press Matters Interior Matter is honored to be included in the 2019 Home & Design’s Hot Talent issue. We would like to thank Sharon Dan and her team at Home & Design as well as our clients and colleagues for their business and support. We look forward to your referrals and future projects. In 1979, AC/DC...

Knoll is one of the most iconic American furniture manufacturers and this year celebrated 80 years in business. Knoll is the only authorized producer of the lines of furniture originally designed by Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Marcel Breuer, and Warren Platner just to name a few. Their headquarters and...

With the recent news that the glacier on top of Mont Blanc is melting so much that it may cause an ice avalanche, architects and designers are more aggressively looking for ways to recycle and reduce the carbon footprints of buildings.  This month we bring you two stories about the convergence of environment and design....

Our September issue focuses on two European architectural and design powerhouses; Vienna and Amsterdam.  Our readers are currently planning their Winter and Spring trips to Europe, so we thought this would be a good time to discuss a few highlights in each of these cities. Selfie Help At a time when many people miss a...