Renowned interior designer speaks to Utah State students
Interior design majors were breathing a sigh of relief Wednesday.
The past few weeks, they have been working night and day on a project to present to visiting interior designer Jamie Drake.
As part of the Visiting Designer Series made possible by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, Drake was invited to come help interior design students get real-life experience. The students were given the opportunity to present a project as if they were applying for a job with him.
Liz Rich, a junior majoring in interior design, said the project was for an actual client Drake is working for. They were to make designs for a double-height grand salon in Paris.
“The point was to see how we could do and how we could adapt to our clients’ needs,” Rich said.
Because she has been working on her project, Rich said she hasn’t slept in weeks.
The students were able to present their projects and get Drake’s feedback on Tuesday morning. Wednesday, Drake showed the students the work he has actually done on the room in Paris.
“He is a very prestigious designer. We were honored that he would come and give us a project that he was working on and give us some of his very valuable time,” Rich said.
Kasey Golightly, a junior in interior design and the president elect of the Interior Design Student Association, said he had a lot of fun presenting to Drake.
“It’s been a great learning experience, if anything,” Golightly said. “The last couple of weeks we’ve busted really hard to get everything done to make sure we had rocking projects.”
In the Manon Caine Russell and Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall Wednesday evening, an attentive crowd listened to the keynote address by Drake. He spoke about his own work and his book, “Jamie Drake’s New American Glamour.” The book is the textbook for a class in the interior design department.
Drake is a designer from New York and he has done work for Madonna and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Drake, who was inducted in 2003 to the Interior Design Hall of Fame, said there are five elements that he uses in his work. They are luster, texture, color, the curve and the mix.
Focusing on each aspect by displaying several rooms that he has personally decorated, Drake taught the students the importance of each.
Drake said he will often take elements that aren’t really perfect and mash them together and make them work.
“I’m fearless when it comes to color,” Drake said.
His father was in the printing business and his mother was a painter for a while, so he said his love for color was in his genes.
Drake said his first interior design project was a fort he made out of boxes from his father’s printing press. His second was when he was 13 and he said he helped his mother redecorate their house.
One of Drake’s most prestigious projects was Gracy Mansion in New York, he said. Every New York City mayor has lived there. His friend, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, got him the job, he said.
Drake described his own style, which he also calls “New American Glamour,” as “bold, polished, confident, intelligent and hopefully smiley and witty.”
“I believe in breaking the rules,” Drake said.
-hollyadams@cc.usu.edu