Boutique Design - April 2018 - 32

INSPIRED & INSPIRING
This year's Boutique 18 honorees share insights on how they get the
creative juices flowing, what's on their can't-wait-to-try list and what
advice they'd offer newbies in the field as well as the bosses.
By Mat thew hall

Being naMed to Boutique Design's Boutique 18 is more than just another

accolade recognizing up-and-coming talent. For many of the honorees, this
prestigious award has been a career game-changer, boosting them to more
senior titles with greater responsibilities either at their existing firms or at the
ones they move to. Now in its 13th year, the program has recognized a total of
234 talented designers for their impact on the hospitality design field at large
and within their own studios.
What factors make each year's 18 the ones to watch? Innovative work on
cutting-edge projects has always been an essential ingredient. But beyond
that, our scope of coverage of the honorees has been evolving to get inside
their heads about more than just a project list, since the design industry is
demanding an ever-broadening set of skills and talents.
To that end, this year we asked the winners two new questions: What
advice do they have for someone just starting out in the design field; and, what
suggestions do they have for those running design firms on how to make the
most of the talent they oversee?
The answers they gave to both are illuminating. For newbies, Studio
11's Greer May notes that "although technology and remote workspaces
foster connectivity from a distance, there's so much knowledge to be had
simply by being in a design office day in and day out. Find a mentor or two
and perpetually pick their brain. Design is such a dynamic and often quirky
industry that can best be navigated by learning from those who have already
blazed the trail."

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boutiquedesign.com april 2018

And there was this from Bar Napkin Productions' Kasia Miklaszewska: "Find
a way to make your mark-it's OK to be unique, to question and to brainstorm.
Yes, it's much easier to replicate trends and styles than it is to come up with
something different. But to stand out from the crowd, you have to exit the
Pinterest page, listen to the wind, talk to people and sip on newly discovered
coffee from Guatemala. Keep finding new ways to experience the world."
Miklaszewska was one of several honorees who also weighed in with
advice for bosses: Her take: "Great leaders electrify people to brilliant
performance. I once read, 'It's not what leaders do to people, but what they
do with them.' So true!"
Offering up a similarly thoughtful response to that question was Hilton's
Stacey Sefcik: "Allow and encourage employees to focus on developing their
strengths. Expect them to know the basics across the board, but if they're
stellar in one area, don't hold them back because they aren't equally as great in
another. People's passions follow their strengths and are what will drive them
forward at your company."
Another intriguing perspective came from ForrestPerkins' Frank Harker,
who asserts that "the old idea of paying your dues is out, and let's face it, was
never really the right way to go. It's about making a custom suit for someone at
this level, and as they put in all their hours of overtime as we all do, ensuring
your company is flexible enough to adapt and fit them."
For more instructive (and sometimes provocative) viewpoints like those,
turn the page.
http://www.boutiquedesign.com
Boutique Design - April 2018

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