Designer Crush: Paige Loczi
Author:Michelle Konstantinovsky1. Who is your biggest role model?
I have quite a few role models. My father taught me the grace of integrity, my dance company director taught me to hold steadfast to an enduring work ethic, my colleague, Catrina Cooper shows what straight-talk looks like.
2. Which movie or play do you wish you could have designed the set for?
The Rite of Spring’s debut in 1913 in Paris. The combination of working with Stravinsky, Nijinsky, and Diaghilev would have been quite an adventure!
3. What is the best way to gauge a client’s personality before starting a project?
I always ask them to show me their favorite items from their closet. The way people express themselves through their clothing (or not) and the way that they keep their closets tells me a great deal about them.
4. What new design elements are you excited to integrate into your work?
We’ve been working with Neolith on a few projects lately. I love the versatility and styles of the material. I also really love the wallpaper line that Hygge & West designed for Heath Tile Company. I think Christiana is so very talented.
6. How do you completely unwind?
Yoga is a meditation and reset for me. I do my best work when centered and balanced. I live across the street from Glen Park Canyon. I take my dog and the kids and visit the trees. Seeing things from the ground always shifts my perspective.
7. If you hadn’t become a designer, which career would you have pursued?
I would have been a florist. I love the architecture and joy contained within flowers.
8. What’s the worst pre-designer job you’ve ever had and why?
I sold computers for a company in Brisbane. We had to be there at 7:30AM and the owner would sit at the front desk and greet everyone. If we were late, our director’d reprimand us later in the day. The company had this quasi-genius UNIX programmer who would slow down the ordering system if he were not paid on time. It made inputting orders time-consuming and frustrating. I really learned a lot about what NOT to create when starting my own company!
9. What’s your favorite recipe?
I love making salads and using seasonal foods. Here’s one that is a crowd-pleaser:
- Butter lettuce or Arugula
- Strawberries (or grapefruit if in winter)
- Parmesan Cheese
- Avocado
- Toasted Pine nuts
- (No meat; chicken, or if using grapefruit, try crab)
- Champagne Dressings from Girard’s
10. Create your perfect playlist for us.
- For working and thinking or cleaning the house: Ben Howard’s “I Forget Where we were” slays me. http://store.benhowardmusic.co.uk/*/Music/I-FORGET-WHERE-WE-WERE-Standard-CD/4EOK04V3000
- I listen to a lot of electronic music. I am really into Milo Hafliger’s incorporation of Latin American and Eastern music. https://soundcloud.com/miloh-fliger
- Music for airports: Milo Hafliger https://soundcloud.com/miloh-fliger/milo-hafliger-live-at-elevation-002-orbit-continues-06052016
- Music for Sunday in the Sun: Eduardo Castillo https://soundcloud.com/robot-heart/eduardo-castillo-robot-heart-burning-man-2014 Or LoboMan https://soundcloud.com/loboman/lightningstage2016
- For dancing in the living room: Pumpkin & Tina Dico https://soundcloud.com/pumpkin/count-to-ten-pumpkin-remix
- For childhood: Anything by Fleetwood Mac or Dan Fogelberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePrQFaB50w0
- For wobbling: https://soundcloud.com/dropwest/dropwest-wednesday-house-mix-3-dj-loczi
Who is your designer crush?
Patricia Urquiola tireless ability to create inspires me.
Lightning round!
11. Would you rather shop new or vintage?
Like most, I am a mid-century junkie. I love going through STUFF on Valencia but whenever I’m in need of inspiration, I head to COUP d’état- Darin’s selection of new and vintage furnishings, art and curiosities always leaves me in awe.
12. First celebrity crush?
Shawn Cassidy.
13. What’s your hidden talent?
Preparing delicious vegetables.
14. Best restaurant in your area? Where is it?
Glen Park has a ton of really good restaurants among them, Manzoni’s. They serve the best ravioli in a light cream sauce that’s super delicious
15. SF or LA?
SF.
