Boutique Design - January/February 2019 - 72

TEAMWORKER
Karin Harrington, principal, Studio Partnership, has
made an award-winning career out of balancing
blue-sky aesthetic goals with thoughtful, collaborative
strategies to make each project's vision a reality.
BY ORIANA LERNER

HARRINGTON ISN'T A solitary genius. In her view, success truly
happens when each person on the project is enthusiastically involved.
Design dreams, budgets, brand guidelines and deadlines all have to be
satisfied. Managing multiple perspectives doesn't faze Harrington. Her
firm has developed lasting working relationships with industry giants that
span multiple brands. She and her team have picked up a shelf of awards
from those clients that attest to their skill in shepherding projects from
inspiration to ribbon-cutting. Here's how her pre-design life prepared her
for this career, her best practices for smooth communication between
designer and client, and some thoughts on how to encourage each design
team member's individual strengths within a cohesive whole.

HOW DO YOU ALSO CHAMPION THE GUEST'S NEEDS THROUGHOUT THE
DESIGN PROCESS?

We try to impart what is forward thinking but mostly focus on classic good
design. There is always a program that must be met, but that shouldn't
negatively impact the ability to make it usable and pleasing. We try to
design all spaces that encourage real use (24-48 hours or more of stay/use)
to feel residential. To us, that means comfortable to the demographic of
that particular piece of real estate.

YOU'VE SAID YOUR FIRST LOVE AND FIRST DEGREE WAS IN

PSYCHOLOGY. HOW DID YOU GET FROM THERE TO INTERIOR DESIGN?

NOT ALL BRILLIANT MINDS WORK ALIKE. HOW DO YOU MAXIMIZE THE

After graduation, my plan was to head back to Philadelphia from Baltimore
to begin fine art studies with the goal of becoming a museum curator. I had
worked in an art gallery during my college work-study at Drexel University. The economy had fallen apart, and the A&D community had no employment needs. I love art and storytelling, so it seemed like a great fit. Then, I
met Rebecca Jones, founder and principal of RD Jones & Associates. She
would change my path and shape my design career. I love her for all of it!

CREATIVE POWER OF EACH TEAM MEMBER?

WHAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THE HOSPITALITY DESIGN INDUSTRY?

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PROJECTS ON YOUR BOARDS?

As far as design goes, it's all big. It's aspirational. It's a departure from the
everyday. It's not just the work; the people in the hospitality business are
so incredible. The list of qualities is long, but not to mention them would
make my statement less important. They are smart, ambitious, exciting,
inclusive, proud, fun and so much more.

The design team at Sheraton/Marriott has done a beautiful job coming up
with some new concepts. The Sheraton relaunch is very usable, too. We are
just getting started on a few, and our team is excited about the collaboration. We are also fortunate enough to have projects in most sectors,
including luxury residences and country clubs.

HOW DO YOU KEEP COSTS IN LINE WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE PIECES

HOW HAS YOUR WORK IN OTHER SECTORS DIRECTED THE FIRM'S

OF THE DESIGN YOU VALUE MOST?

EVOLUTION?

We begin the design process with a "big" vision, then design it into the
budget during the DD phase. By participating in the budgeting of at least the
FF&E, you have a better chance at holding onto the line items that matter to
you and "the vision." Our mantra is that "the vision" is a team objective, and
by team I mean the owner then on down the line. It can't be just ours as
designers or the value engineering exercise does seem like a battle.

Each sector has different needs. For instance, retail is permit-driven and
branding-driven. It's hard to be in that world without in-house services.
Full-service renovations dictate the need for in-house architecture which
we now have in place. It gives us a capability that adds value and agility to
our process, and ultimately benefits the client. Our clients are very happy
that we now have both design and architecture in house! 

boutiquedesign.com JANUARY + FEBRUARY 2019

C O U R T E S Y O F S T U D I O PA R T N E R S H I P

The creative process is so much fun and quite different for everyone. Revit
models, 3D hand sketches, Bumwad, Bristol markers and Sharpies are
wildly used in our office. To make that practical, the SP team aligns the
design process as closely to our phasing template as possible on a cloudbased PM software, so the flow and access of all information at every phase
is easy to follow and at the fingertips of all project team members 24/7.

http://www.boutiquedesign.com

Boutique Design - January/February 2019

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