Kimberly Barr has been a professional interior designer since 2001, but she’s been passionate about design since childhood. After graduating from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Kimberly has enjoyed an award-winning career and plenty of satisfied clients.
Besides her artistic eye, Kimberly owes much of her success to her strong people skills and her ability to create designs that are both beautiful and welcoming. She is especially adept at understanding each client’s personal style and creating a design that reflects their taste. I had the pleasure of interviewing Kimberly to learn about her work ethic and her tricks for keeping the creativity flowing.
LAUREN: Besides design expertise, what qualities make you more effective at designing for clients?
KIMBERLY: I’m a very social people person, and I listen very well to my clients. I think that’s one of the things I hear the most from them. They’ve worked with designers who just decide to create their own vision without listening to the client really wants. A designer needs to listen, not just create what they have in their head.
L: What are some of your favorite places to draw design inspiration from?
K: I like trade shows and visiting showrooms. I feel that’s where I’m going to get the most up to date trends and what’s new and hot out there. I like Pinterest of course, but I feel more inspired by pieces I’ve never seen before in Design Trade showrooms.
L: Do you have any habits or rituals that help you to keep your creativity flowing?
K: I do! Going to tradeshows and showrooms gets me very excited. I love seeing new products and fabrics. It can be stressful sometimes trying to be creative all day long, and of course you get creative blocks. I’m very big into making sure I’m hiking and taking a “brain break” of being outside and being in the world. Between this and the creative inspiration, there’s a balance. Taking a full break from everything and then being fully immersed is how I keep a good creative balance.
L: What would you say is the driving motivation behind the work that you do?
K: I guess that could be a lot of things. I’m completely obsessed with design – I have been since I was really little. My grandmother was a decorator. I come from a whole family of artists, so I’ve always been around the arts. I was born to do this – I never wanted to be anything else. Everything inspires me from paintings, to architecture, to poems. To me, creating the design [for each home] is like creating a piece of art.
Comments are closed.