Designer Crush: Heidi Richardson
Author:Michelle Konstantinovsky1. Who is your biggest role model?
Julia Morgan. Not only was she the first woman to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris but also the first woman architect to be licensed in California. She designed institutions which served women such as the Berkeley YWCA.
2. Which movie or play do you wish you could have designed the set for?
I love great film and don’t think i could ever do better than the experts. Designing houses for people to live in is a very different discipline i think. With that being said, i think the set design for any Akira Kurosawa movie is brilliant.
3, What is the best way to gauge a client’s personality before starting a project?
We are blessed with wonderful clients who usually come to us by referral. I think the best clients understand that design is a process and a process in which they choose to engage.
4. What new design trends are you excited to integrate into your work?
We do not really focus on trends. We are interested in any new product or method that saves energy or that is recycled.
5 How do you completely unwind?
I hike on Mount Tam. The mountain that marks my hometown, Mill Valley. I go very early so i have the trails to myself and can really hear the wind and the wildlife. It is a kind if meditation.
6. If you hadn’t become a designer, which career would you have pursued?
Believe it or not, an economist.
7. What’s the worst pre-designer job you’ve ever had and why?
I have never worked outside of the profession except as a tennis instructor in high school at a family resort on Squam Lake in NH. I liked that as well.
8 What’s your favorite recipe?
A dry martini or granola that I make for breakfast, but I don’t have them together. I also am a big fan of any recipe in an Ottolenghi cookbook.
9. Create your perfect playlist for us.
I do not make playlists anymore. I spend my time in the car or when I am cooking or going to sleep listening to books on Audible. I have read so many titles this way. Many of the books I select relate to a trip I am planning. When i listen to music, it is usually opera or Anything from Windham Hill.
Lightning round!
10. Would you rather shop new or vintage?
New.
11. First celebrity crush?
Beach Boys at age 12.
12. What’s your hidden talent?
I am a good cook although I don’t always have the time.
13. Best restaurant in your area? Where is it?
My husband and I go to Bungalow 44 in Mill Valley most Friday nights before or after a film. The staff us very friendly and the dining room is comfortable. Food us simple and good.
14. SF or LA?
SF
