Photo by Nicole Martyn
At the very beginning of her design career and education, she says, “one of my professors had us take the basic color wheel and come up with 2,000 different colors. Because of years of training and practice, I can tell you how to produce variations of colors and hues and how they can be manipulated to create illusions of size, height, and various moods in interior spaces.”
St. Clair is a past president of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), and as an interior designer, she places heavy emphasis on space planning, custom design elements, and color coordination. The design projects that she and her firm have undertaken are varied in both style and type. The renovation and redesign of such award winning projects as the Baltimore City Hall, the Netherland Plaza Hotel in Cincinnati, and the ongoing redesign of the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago are only a few of her notable projects.
As a columnist for Tribune Media Services syndicate, her column on domestic interiors, “Design Line,” is syndicated and published nationwide.
How did you get started as an interior designer? After I graduated from University of Iowa with an art history degree, my husband and I moved to Washington, DC. We arrived there in the 1950s, and I decided to answer an advertisement for an interior decorator at R.C.M. Burton & Sons, a large interior decorating firm that had its own workrooms. It was an incomparable learning experience not only about decorating, but it also taught me how drapery, upholstery, and cabinetry were produced.
What do you love most about your job? What I love most about my job is the opportunity to conceptualize. I enjoy meeting the client, seeing the project, understanding the parameters, and coming up with a concept that works best for the space and the client. There is never one answer; it is really an art form in which you have to use all of your capabilities.
If you could change one thing about your industry what would it be? I think it’s important for the interior design industry to look at itself and consequently evaluate the educational standards that guide our profession. There are too many designers today that do not have the basic knowledge to perform as professionals. Today’s professionals must not only have the necessary design skills, but they must also know the various health and environmental codes that have been legislated for the protection of the public. In many states and in Washington, DC this has led to licensing of the profession, and hopefully, it will also happen in Maryland.
What accomplishment of yours makes you the most proud? I am very pleased that I have been able to balance my personal and professional accomplishments. I am very proud of my daughter, Diane St. Clair and my grandchildren, Liam and Alexandra. They are good people. I also pride myself in believing that making money is not my goal in my work. It’s what you do, how you do it, and if you are lucky to make financial rewards, it’s how you spend it. That’s what makes me happy.
Who in your life was most instrumental in helping you get started with your career? Early in my career, my accountant at the time, Gunther Borris, told me that I shouldn’t be embarrassed to be financially remunerated for my services because that is the only way I could do the work. That advice was like saying ‘open sesame’ to my career.
What was the biggest challenge you had to face to get to where you are today? How have you managed to overcome them? Dividing my time is a challenge. I have been very happily together with my husband for 21 years, but he lives in Europe for half the year. My daughter and my grandchildren live in Vermont and New York and my business for the most part is in Maryland. I overcome these challenges by staying positive, traveling a lot, and realizing how enriching my life is for having all that I do.
What did you want to be when you were five? I think I really wanted to be a dress designer. I remember drawing dresses all the time for my paper dolls.
If you could do anything other than what you are doing, what would it be? I would really like to be an art historian and be able to research how color was used historically. Color has symbolic meaning, and it would be so interesting to write a book about why and how color was used throughout history.
What advice can you offer someone wanting to get started in your field? Education is first. Like everything else you research and learn everything you can about the profession. Then go to work. Work for a design studio that you admire and don’t give up. Bug them if you have to and learn.
Jennifer K. Dansicker is the Special Projects Editor for ChesapeakeHome.
Contact:
ritastclair.com or 410-752-1313
