Designer Crush: Jude Fulton
Author:Michelle Konstantinovsky
1. When did you first become interested in architecture and how did you get your start in the business?
I took architecture and art history classes as an undergrad at Yale and fell in love. My husband and I also worked on a renovation project for a multi-family home, and we really enjoyed the process of learning about the design process from scratch, and I really wanted to be able to design and stamp my own drawings. When I went to the Harvard Graduate School of Design to study architecture, the goal initially was to have a small practice and teach on the side.
2. What was the motivation to start Mosss?
While at Harvard, I was asked to design apps and websites, and before I knew it I had learned a lot about UI/UX design for digital products, and loved the fast, collaborative process. I started looking around me and wondering why architects weren’t making digital tools for designers. After graduate school I realized that the design tools out there for non-architects could be so much better, and that technology is getting to a place where it can be leveraged to create smart tools for all.
3. Tell us about your collaboration with Cliff Fong and Bjarke Ingels.
Bjarke Ingels, (star architect of Hyperloop, Google HQ and World Trade Center 2) joined our project early on, after we had pitched our vision for design intelligence as being both about great content and tools. He and his firm BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group,) have both been really supportive and great to collaborate with. I had met him briefly at the Harvard Graduate School of Design when I was an architecture student, but it was great to reconnect about technology. We wanted to produce a series of workshops with Bjarke that felt as if you had grabbed a cup of coffee with him in the cafeteria of the Graduate School of Design and asked him about his design process, philosophy and greatest achievements. It’s a really inspirational workshop.
Cliff Fong is a really talented interior designer based in Los Angeles and a judge on HGTV’s Ellen’s Design Challenge. I really admire his work, taste, and how he thinks about his clients with the utmost respect and empathy. It is so rare to find two creatives who are both incredibly talented and so great on camera! We wanted to work with them immediately.
4. You’re a New York native – what do you miss about East Coast life and what do you appreciate most about life in San Francisco?
San Francisco culture is more conducive to the type of work I do. While I miss the fast-paced energy and cultural icons of New York, San Francisco’s vibrant technology and art scene is a big source of inspiration to me. Not to mention the the weather and proximity to amazing hikes and nature.
5. How do you define “California style”?
California style is unfussy, relaxed, and down to earth. When I moved here I immediately noticed and felt that the light had a very different quality to the light I had grown up with in New York or New England. The northern European painters in 15th and 16th century Europe wrote about ‘northern light,’ but I think the colors in California have a different quality altogether than that of Europe or even New York. We can capitalize on materials and color palettes here that respond and work with the Californian climate.
6. Describe one of your most memorable projects.
Right now I’m working on Mosss, (mosss.com) and designing a digital project as opposed to a physical one. But I find that my design process is very similar. I think about the flow of a website the way I used to think about circulation in a building, and I find myself using analogies to the construction process when we’re in development mode.
7. Which musical album has been most influential in your life and why?
Hmm it’s hard to pick one, as I’m a musical omnivore. A sentimental favorite is any album of U2. I have lots of fond memories of family, friends, sleepovers and dance parties. Their PopMart tour was the first concert I ever went to.
Lightning round!
8. Hardcover or paperback?
Paperback.
9. Solids or stripes?
Stripes.
10. Oreos or Chips Ahoy?
Oreos. Unless you have chewy Chips Ahoy and milk. Then I’d have to re-evaluate.
11. Sci-fi or rom-com?
Rom-com sci-fi’s. Why is this not a thing? But if forced to choose, rom-com.
12. Camping or glamping?
I’ve never gone glamping, but it definitely sounds more my speed!
