All By Design
First 5 pages of my book.
Chapter 1
In a moment of weakness I quickly downed two Cokes and four chocolate chip cookies before class. I could feel them doing a bubbly little jig in my belly as the next student began to put forward her final design presentation to the group.
At the front of the room, Carla, my personal adversary, spoke confidently. Tall and unreasonably thin, her sharp features combined with an olive complexion, green eyes, and long-layered brown hair gave her an exotic and enviable look. She had a tattoo on her left arm, not of a butterfly or a flower, but of a skull and cross bones. Her dresses were short, her heels were high, her makeup was always perfect, and her personality - venomous.
Carla's project, the lobby of a new commercial building downtown, looked sleek and modern with marble and elaborately detailed flooring, leather couches, and polished tables. Light green textured paper decorated the walls along with sparse pieces of abstract artwork. The star of the show, an elaborate chandelier decorated with hundreds of emerald cut glass pieces, hung in the middle of the lobby and seemed to take the shape of a seahorse. A lovely lobby at first glance, but I could easily pick out a handful of things that were wrong or missing from her overall design.
For instance, the lobby in Carla's presentation had no theme, just a bunch of modern and expensive materials thrown together. To make things worse, the elaborate flooring drew the eye down instead of up to the lovely chandelier. We spent plenty of time in the last four years of school going over focal points and environmental psychology. She must have been too busy re-applying her eyeliner to listen in.
Carla sauntered back to her seat flashing me a challenging smile. Out of habit, not spite, I smiled back at her and then instantly regretted it. Damn my small town manners! I thought. I wish I could have just very coolly stared back at her and perhaps raised one eyebrow as if to say . . . "Bite me".
On my turn to present, I tried not to remind myself that all my hopes and dreams rested on this final project. The top student at the end of the program could be offered a position as an apprentice at Professor McNally's infamous studio in the Art and Design District. I took a deep breath and descended the stadium style stairs to the front of the class, where I began quickly mounting my design boards onto the lip of the blackboard. With each board that went up, I could hear whispering from the students at my back. There were five boards in all and with the last one in place I looked down at my shoes in an effort to gain my composure. They were old and scuffed up, but paying for tuition and materials for school didn't leave a lot left over to invest in my wardrobe. My only suit felt a little snug from all the stress-eating over the past year.
Deep breath, I told myself. The room fell silent as I turned around slowly to face my peers. Most of the girls in class seemed to favor the heroin chic look and resembled what my mother would call 'death warmed over'. They were all uniformly leaning forward in their seats, some smirking and others looking slightly more confused than usual. I turned back to look at the presentation boards and my heart sank. They were all upside down! My face flushed red and I instantaneously began to sweat from every pore in my body.
I quickly corrected the boards and once everyone stopped giggling, readdressed my audience. "As you can see this is a design layout for a 4,500 ft beach house. It is located in Malibu, California and is an existing structure. The owners have asked that I update it to make it a space that they can entertain in all year round as well as invite guests to stay and live comfortably for weeks at a time. The owners and their group of friends are in the music industry and enjoy fine dining and elegant parties. They take their health very seriously." The words were flying from my mouth far too quickly as though somebody had pressed a fast forward button in my brain. "They have a permanent chef," I continued. "I collaborated with the chef to come up with a very modern kitchen and incorporated his ideas into the open concept of the main floor living space. The kitchen also serves as a service pickup area for wait staff during parties."
Every aspect of the house had been carefully thought out, right down to my trademark focal wall, consisting of three large sunflowers. In this instance I chose to place them above the fireplace which had a solid wood mantle that sat very low and wide. The flowers, in serene sepia tones, managed to bring all the elements of the house together.
Wrapping up my presentation, I looked up into the faces of my peers. Some looked a bit frightened, Carla looked bored, and in the front row, Professor McNally sat beaming. "I just want to end by saying that to be a good Designer is to be a good listener and to give your clients what they desire. Thank you." A few people clapped their hands at random.
"I would like to speak to you after class," Professor McNally said as we shook hands and traded places at the front of the room. Mine was the final presentation.
Originally from the Caribbean, Madge McNally lived in England most of her adult life before moving to Canada. In her early fifties, her brown skin shone like a twenty year old and her shoulder length black hair was cropped stylishly short. Her wardrobe consisted mainly of leather shoes in an array of colors, designer jeans, and suit jackets. I found the professor's chin to be confidently and permanently set in an upward position.
I slumped in my chair suddenly exhausted, as though coming down from a sugar rush. Some of the girls stopped on the way out to say how they liked my project, and others, like Carla, just brashly flipped her hair at me as she walked by.
I had only one real friend in class, Jade, a literally down-to-earth person, always talking about 'green' and 'natural' materials. Jade had some truly fabulous ideas for the decorating and design industry that would also benefit the environment and would last almost forever. I vowed to work with her one day on absolutely anything that I could. I missed her leaving the classroom, and didn't get to say good-bye.
Still waiting, I couldn't decide whether Madge just wanted to have a chat and say good-bye, or if I were about to be rewarded for all my hard work over the last four years with the internship at her design firm! It had been my obsession since about the age of fifteen, after reading an article celebrating the birth of the agency and it's fabulous, high profile clients. I sat on my hands to stop them from shaking; the opportunity I suffered and sacrificed for finally at my fingertips.
"Ms. Sullivan. Are you lost inside your head again?" asked Professor McNally in a warm voice, returning to the room. She had been in the hall saying good-bye to all of her students and wishing them well.
"I'm here," I said, as I sat up straight in my seat.
"Good. Excellent presentation today, as usual my Dear," the Professor said, setting the tone for our conversation.
"Thanks Madge.'' I freely called her by her first name when there were no other students around.
"I thought I was going to die when I put the boards up that way." I looked down at the floor, slightly embarrassed.
"You recovered well. Clients appreciate it when you don't have a complete meltdown under pressure."
"Clients," I sighed. "Don't remind me that I have to go and live in the real world now that school's over and find clients of my own to pay off my tuition."
"Well my Dear, that's why I wanted to talk to you. You've done a fabulous job servicing the clients that I've had you borrow for your projects," Madge paused thoughtfully, "Far better than anyone else in your class - and in all my years teaching actually. I'd like you to come and work for me, Eve."
"You're giving me the apprenticeship?" A title wave feeling of relief washed over me. I would have been crushed to see the apprenticeship go to somebody else; although I did prepare myself to be a graceful loser, of course, if that were the case.
"No," Madge clarified, "I'd like you to come and work for me and take over some clients of mine. I'm giving the apprenticeship to Carla." It took a minute for her words to make sense.
"You're offering me a job?" The idea of having a job right out of school was beyond belief. Then something else sunk in. "Wait, you're offering Carla the apprenticeship position? So what does that make me?" Besides miserable, I thought.
"You'll be what you are. A Designer," she said soothingly.
"You're kidding me? This is too much, you're messing with me!" I accused, my voice going up an octave with every breath.
"I can tell you for certain, that I am not messing with you. You are the best designer that has come through my class in years. You're a very personable young lady and my clients love you. So where does that leave me? If I take you on as an apprentice, you will lose credibility with them, so I guess I have to hire you instead. So, do you want the job or do you want to be a free agent?"
"I want the job!" I replied, without hesitation. I could no longer contain my excitement and almost jumped into Madge's lap hugging her around the neck.
Madge just laughed. "Now, as you know, it's my partner that runs the studio full-time. You have an appointment to meet with her in two weeks. Here," she said, handing me a business card, "9:00 A.M. sharp at the studio. Enjoy your time off because it's a fast-paced business with deadlines and demanding clients. I suggest you pay a visit to your parents because you won't be seeing them for a while."
"I will Madge. Thank you." My voice cracked as a lump of gratitude formed in my throat.
"Don't let me down, I've vouched for you with Miki and she's seen your work. I need you to live up to your reputation. Now get out of here and go celebrate your graduation."
"Thank you again," I said, getting up from my seat, "I won't let you down." I spun out of the classroom and out the front door of the school skipping three steps at a time down the stairs to the walkway. I stopped there to recap what had just transpired. First, I wasn't even sure if I would be getting the apprenticeship or not, and then suddenly I had a full-fledged job! Thinking of the apprenticeship and knowing it had gone to Carla felt like being handed a bouquet of roses and a slap in the face. That meant that we would be working in the same studio and Carla would be an apprentice to Miki, Madge's business partner and acting president of the company.
I turned around to take in the Design Academy one last time. The building had been designed by Jason Nichols, a local architect, who, with an enormous amount of glass and metal, bent and curved a beautiful structure resembling a silhouette of Marilyn Monroe lying on her side. Being molded into an Interior Designer there had been the best experience of my life...so far.
In a moment of weakness I quickly downed two Cokes and four chocolate chip cookies before class. I could feel them doing a bubbly little jig in my belly as the next student began to put forward her final design presentation to the group.
At the front of the room, Carla, my personal adversary, spoke confidently. Tall and unreasonably thin, her sharp features combined with an olive complexion, green eyes, and long-layered brown hair gave her an exotic and enviable look. She had a tattoo on her left arm, not of a butterfly or a flower, but of a skull and cross bones. Her dresses were short, her heels were high, her makeup was always perfect, and her personality - venomous.
Carla's project, the lobby of a new commercial building downtown, looked sleek and modern with marble and elaborately detailed flooring, leather couches, and polished tables. Light green textured paper decorated the walls along with sparse pieces of abstract artwork. The star of the show, an elaborate chandelier decorated with hundreds of emerald cut glass pieces, hung in the middle of the lobby and seemed to take the shape of a seahorse. A lovely lobby at first glance, but I could easily pick out a handful of things that were wrong or missing from her overall design.
For instance, the lobby in Carla's presentation had no theme, just a bunch of modern and expensive materials thrown together. To make things worse, the elaborate flooring drew the eye down instead of up to the lovely chandelier. We spent plenty of time in the last four years of school going over focal points and environmental psychology. She must have been too busy re-applying her eyeliner to listen in.
Carla sauntered back to her seat flashing me a challenging smile. Out of habit, not spite, I smiled back at her and then instantly regretted it. Damn my small town manners! I thought. I wish I could have just very coolly stared back at her and perhaps raised one eyebrow as if to say . . . "Bite me".
On my turn to present, I tried not to remind myself that all my hopes and dreams rested on this final project. The top student at the end of the program could be offered a position as an apprentice at Professor McNally's infamous studio in the Art and Design District. I took a deep breath and descended the stadium style stairs to the front of the class, where I began quickly mounting my design boards onto the lip of the blackboard. With each board that went up, I could hear whispering from the students at my back. There were five boards in all and with the last one in place I looked down at my shoes in an effort to gain my composure. They were old and scuffed up, but paying for tuition and materials for school didn't leave a lot left over to invest in my wardrobe. My only suit felt a little snug from all the stress-eating over the past year.
Deep breath, I told myself. The room fell silent as I turned around slowly to face my peers. Most of the girls in class seemed to favor the heroin chic look and resembled what my mother would call 'death warmed over'. They were all uniformly leaning forward in their seats, some smirking and others looking slightly more confused than usual. I turned back to look at the presentation boards and my heart sank. They were all upside down! My face flushed red and I instantaneously began to sweat from every pore in my body.
I quickly corrected the boards and once everyone stopped giggling, readdressed my audience. "As you can see this is a design layout for a 4,500 ft beach house. It is located in Malibu, California and is an existing structure. The owners have asked that I update it to make it a space that they can entertain in all year round as well as invite guests to stay and live comfortably for weeks at a time. The owners and their group of friends are in the music industry and enjoy fine dining and elegant parties. They take their health very seriously." The words were flying from my mouth far too quickly as though somebody had pressed a fast forward button in my brain. "They have a permanent chef," I continued. "I collaborated with the chef to come up with a very modern kitchen and incorporated his ideas into the open concept of the main floor living space. The kitchen also serves as a service pickup area for wait staff during parties."
Every aspect of the house had been carefully thought out, right down to my trademark focal wall, consisting of three large sunflowers. In this instance I chose to place them above the fireplace which had a solid wood mantle that sat very low and wide. The flowers, in serene sepia tones, managed to bring all the elements of the house together.
Wrapping up my presentation, I looked up into the faces of my peers. Some looked a bit frightened, Carla looked bored, and in the front row, Professor McNally sat beaming. "I just want to end by saying that to be a good Designer is to be a good listener and to give your clients what they desire. Thank you." A few people clapped their hands at random.
"I would like to speak to you after class," Professor McNally said as we shook hands and traded places at the front of the room. Mine was the final presentation.
Originally from the Caribbean, Madge McNally lived in England most of her adult life before moving to Canada. In her early fifties, her brown skin shone like a twenty year old and her shoulder length black hair was cropped stylishly short. Her wardrobe consisted mainly of leather shoes in an array of colors, designer jeans, and suit jackets. I found the professor's chin to be confidently and permanently set in an upward position.
I slumped in my chair suddenly exhausted, as though coming down from a sugar rush. Some of the girls stopped on the way out to say how they liked my project, and others, like Carla, just brashly flipped her hair at me as she walked by.
I had only one real friend in class, Jade, a literally down-to-earth person, always talking about 'green' and 'natural' materials. Jade had some truly fabulous ideas for the decorating and design industry that would also benefit the environment and would last almost forever. I vowed to work with her one day on absolutely anything that I could. I missed her leaving the classroom, and didn't get to say good-bye.
Still waiting, I couldn't decide whether Madge just wanted to have a chat and say good-bye, or if I were about to be rewarded for all my hard work over the last four years with the internship at her design firm! It had been my obsession since about the age of fifteen, after reading an article celebrating the birth of the agency and it's fabulous, high profile clients. I sat on my hands to stop them from shaking; the opportunity I suffered and sacrificed for finally at my fingertips.
"Ms. Sullivan. Are you lost inside your head again?" asked Professor McNally in a warm voice, returning to the room. She had been in the hall saying good-bye to all of her students and wishing them well.
"I'm here," I said, as I sat up straight in my seat.
"Good. Excellent presentation today, as usual my Dear," the Professor said, setting the tone for our conversation.
"Thanks Madge.'' I freely called her by her first name when there were no other students around.
"I thought I was going to die when I put the boards up that way." I looked down at the floor, slightly embarrassed.
"You recovered well. Clients appreciate it when you don't have a complete meltdown under pressure."
"Clients," I sighed. "Don't remind me that I have to go and live in the real world now that school's over and find clients of my own to pay off my tuition."
"Well my Dear, that's why I wanted to talk to you. You've done a fabulous job servicing the clients that I've had you borrow for your projects," Madge paused thoughtfully, "Far better than anyone else in your class - and in all my years teaching actually. I'd like you to come and work for me, Eve."
"You're giving me the apprenticeship?" A title wave feeling of relief washed over me. I would have been crushed to see the apprenticeship go to somebody else; although I did prepare myself to be a graceful loser, of course, if that were the case.
"No," Madge clarified, "I'd like you to come and work for me and take over some clients of mine. I'm giving the apprenticeship to Carla." It took a minute for her words to make sense.
"You're offering me a job?" The idea of having a job right out of school was beyond belief. Then something else sunk in. "Wait, you're offering Carla the apprenticeship position? So what does that make me?" Besides miserable, I thought.
"You'll be what you are. A Designer," she said soothingly.
"You're kidding me? This is too much, you're messing with me!" I accused, my voice going up an octave with every breath.
"I can tell you for certain, that I am not messing with you. You are the best designer that has come through my class in years. You're a very personable young lady and my clients love you. So where does that leave me? If I take you on as an apprentice, you will lose credibility with them, so I guess I have to hire you instead. So, do you want the job or do you want to be a free agent?"
"I want the job!" I replied, without hesitation. I could no longer contain my excitement and almost jumped into Madge's lap hugging her around the neck.
Madge just laughed. "Now, as you know, it's my partner that runs the studio full-time. You have an appointment to meet with her in two weeks. Here," she said, handing me a business card, "9:00 A.M. sharp at the studio. Enjoy your time off because it's a fast-paced business with deadlines and demanding clients. I suggest you pay a visit to your parents because you won't be seeing them for a while."
"I will Madge. Thank you." My voice cracked as a lump of gratitude formed in my throat.
"Don't let me down, I've vouched for you with Miki and she's seen your work. I need you to live up to your reputation. Now get out of here and go celebrate your graduation."
"Thank you again," I said, getting up from my seat, "I won't let you down." I spun out of the classroom and out the front door of the school skipping three steps at a time down the stairs to the walkway. I stopped there to recap what had just transpired. First, I wasn't even sure if I would be getting the apprenticeship or not, and then suddenly I had a full-fledged job! Thinking of the apprenticeship and knowing it had gone to Carla felt like being handed a bouquet of roses and a slap in the face. That meant that we would be working in the same studio and Carla would be an apprentice to Miki, Madge's business partner and acting president of the company.
I turned around to take in the Design Academy one last time. The building had been designed by Jason Nichols, a local architect, who, with an enormous amount of glass and metal, bent and curved a beautiful structure resembling a silhouette of Marilyn Monroe lying on her side. Being molded into an Interior Designer there had been the best experience of my life...so far.
Post Comment | View Comments
