24 – Garrison Hullinger: Successful Portland Interior Designer
Bio: Garrison Hullinger is an interior designer with a passion for creating interior environments that are as warm and beautiful as they are comfortable and functional. He brings a deep understanding of color, form and construction to all of the firm’s work, and insists that each client’s style be faithfully yet surprisingly interpreted in every aspect of their project. Widely quoted in the industry, perhaps his greatest asset is the ability to instantly see the potential in any space and to artfully facilitate every detail from start to finish.
This week we head to Portland to talk with Garrison Hullinger. After a traumatic accident that left Garrison with a brain injury, he was inspired to make a major life change, and he found himself in the interior design world after moving away from San Francisco. He has built an impressive design firm with about 17 staff that works from coast to coast. Not bad for a firm that is only about five years old and started with him and two part-timers.
We talked about all the fun business topics we normally do, but some things Garrison shared:
- How did you start taking on commercial work?
- How do you hire staff?
- How did you get your first project?
- How do you charge for your services?
- What do you want to be remembered for?
Garrison and his team know what they are good at, and they stick to their core. Now that they are larger and have more staff, they are able to spread the workload and value to the client between junior designers, design assistants, and the lead designers. Along with this, they try to use their buying power to bring more value to their clients.