Marigold Home

When I earned my Interior Design MFA, I was sure I would work in the world of interiors, and for awhile I did. One of the first places I cut my teeth in interior design was at the awesome, small, women-owned Marigold Home. I spent three years (2013-2015) here as an assistant designer.

Working with an accomplished interior designer, I was exposed to more complicated facets of interior design than I had dreamed in school. I absorbed so much experience here. From sourcing furniture and fixtures to measuring and installing window treatments, I really enjoyed a lot of the work I was doing. But over time, the clients kind of wore me out. I sat in the retail store instead and proceeded to give the company a visual brand makeover. I redesigned the outdated logo, and created marketing materials and even internal organizational documents that were all under this new unified brand.

I remember a design job where a client was considering a purchase of a custom, 3-story light fixture in their central stairway. They couldn’t picture what the fixture would look like in the space, so we were tasked with building a full-scale mock-up of the fixture to install in the space so they could make up their mind. What a task! I used 3d models of the fixture provided by the manufacturer and built a folded paper mock-up of the sculptural piece. It was hundreds of individual geometric shapes, arranged and attached in a very specific way. I created the mock-up in 4 sections, and we went to the site and installed it for them to see. They loved it and ended up purchasing the fixture.

I learned so much from Marigold Home, from punch lists and product specs to digital file types for printing on bags, cards, stickers, clothing, embroidery, even vehicle wraps! I feel so grateful that I had this experience. I still enjoy designing interiors and conceptualizing new spaces, and I’ve never stopped designing graphics for small businesses.