Last Saturday, we attended Seattle Design Center‘s consumer event, Eye on Design, and sat down with designer and TV personality Vern Yip to get his thoughts on a few of our burning design questions. After gaining his initial fame on TLC’s Trading Spaces, Yip is currently the host of Deserving Design on HGTV. The Atlanta-based designer is best known for his clean, contemporary spaces, accented with eclectic statement pieces.
What is the best way for design to stay relevant when good design seems like an "extra" to a lot of people?
One of the most important things you can do, as a designer, is educate your clients. You need to make sure that people understand why you’re saying something, or it becomes easy to trivialize it. If you recommend it, you have to say why—break it down. For a sofa, if you are suggesting hardwood and eight-way hand-tied, it’s because it will last a lifetime. If people understand the relevance, they are going to be more accepting. Times aren’t great, but people still want to have great experiences at home. People are eating out less and spending more time at home with family and friends. What they don’t want to do is spend money unnecessarily—like on something that is just a brand name or regarded as a luxury—they want to spend money because it’s going to benefit their lives.
With extreme consumerism as the new villain in the media, how do you think this affects the design world? Are things changing?
It’s being affected. Instead of placing an emphasis on consumerism, people are placing it on quality of life. It’s having a less humongous house and more about having the house you’re in be highly functioning and of high quality. Opulence is going to be gone for a while—we designers have an opportunity to show why we’re relevant and how we can make people’s lives better.
What are some of the alternative ways you see people finding furniture?
I love Craigslist! I’ve also heard about people getting together and everyone brings accessories that they’re not using. It doesn’t cost money and you’re getting rid of things while gaining access to cool stuff that just isn’t working in other people’s homes. Also, there are some incredible buying opportunities out there right now. I am a big fan of asking questions at the stores: "When are you changing out your floor?", "When is the next sale?" I have no problem buying a floor model.
Being on HGTV, you must be familiar with the DIY movement. What are some things you would advise against doing yourself?
Anything to do with safety, like plumbing or electrical work. Upholstery is another good thing to have professionally done because sometimes doing it yourself can actually shorten the life span of your piece. Be a smart consumer and understand your limits. It’s so important to know what you’re good at and embrace that, while leaving the rest to the professionals!
Check back later this week for the rest of Stacy’s interview with Vern Yip!
[...] Stacy Kendall’s Seattle Homes and Lifestyles interview – Part 1 [...]