Steven Volpe on what 'formal' means today

Summary

Business of Home Podcast – Steven Volpe on What 'Formal' Means Today
Release Date: June 8, 2026
Host: Dennis Scully
Guest: Steven Volpe, Interior Designer

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dennis Scully sits down with acclaimed San Francisco-based interior designer Steven Volpe to discuss his career journey, the evolution of interior design as both a craft and a business, and how notions of formality in the home are changing in the modern era. Volpe shares insights on building his firm, adapting to changing client demographics and expectations, the nuanced use of technology in design, and his philosophy around taste, tradition, and collaboration.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Influences & Career Formation

• Fashion Roots and Youthful Confidence

  • Volpe began in fashion, studying in San Francisco before moving into interior design after working with Tony Machado. He describes the "arrogance of youth" as pivotal in propelling him into opportunities early on.
  • Quote: “The one thing that is why I'm sitting where I'm sitting is the arrogance of youth. …I really didn't know what I was doing then, but felt like I had a certain taste level.” — Stephen Volpe (09:00)

• Mentorship and Affirmation

  • Early affirmation from industry giants like Michael Taylor was a powerful boost. “You've got it, kid,” Taylor told a young Volpe as he worked on a showroom floor (09:52).

• International Experience Shaping Vision

  • Volpe emphasizes the impact of spending years in Paris, working with architects connected to Raymond Loewy, which significantly broadened his aesthetic sensibility (12:33).

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Building a Practice: Growth, Structure & Challenges

• Firm Evolution

  • Volpe's firm gradually grew out of necessity when faced with a large project at age 28, expanding from a few helpers to a 20-person team ("It wasn't just a conscious decision to, this is the firm I want. This is the firm I got.” — 13:46).

• Business Practices in Transition

  • Reminiscing about his mentors’ small, tight-knit offices and the formal, client-centric dynamic, Volpe notes how design is now “a much bigger business with bigger budgets and more people involved” (03:06).

• Office Culture & Scaling

  • He maintains a preference for smaller teams but acknowledges that demand required growth, especially as managing multiple complex projects concurrently became routine (18:21, 20:41).

• Hiring & Team Building

  • Finding great staff is a challenge, particularly in San Francisco, while New York offers a larger talent pool (19:37).

• Delegation & Designer Involvement

  • Despite a larger staff, Volpe remains deeply involved in each project:
    • Quote: “I think I am quite involved in most of our projects...I’m not going to lie. I’m involved with almost every project.” (21:52)

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Changing Client Dynamics & Project Complexity

• Increasing Layers on the Client Side

  • Larger projects now often include multiple client representatives (assistants, owner's reps, etc.), creating more logistical complexity.
  • Initially skeptical of owner's reps, Volpe now sees their value:
    • Quote: “Very quickly I realized that...these added layers of management were ones that really helped us and helped the project.” (24:28)

• Benefits of Owner’s Reps

  • They facilitate smoother communication, streamline contract and fee negotiations, and help reduce misunderstandings among contractors and clients (25:09).

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Evolving Notions of Formality, Taste & Space

• Shift from Overt Formality

  • Volpe draws comparisons between past and present, noting that homes once built primarily for formal entertaining must now serve a greater variety of functions and feel less rigid (26:20).
  • Quote: “Houses have to function in a multitude of ways...it’s really hyper-tailored to a specific family.” (26:20)

• Repetition, Customization & Signature Style

  • While rejecting “trends,” Volpe acknowledges there’s a certain look people associate with his work:
    • Quote: “I stay away from trends as much as I can. ...I really do want to create spaces that are hard to define, that are special, that when you’re in them...they evoke something that is not of a period.” (29:40)

• On the Dining Room and Entertaining

  • Despite speculation, he asserts the dining room still has a place:
    • “Absolutely not. I think it's what you do in the dining room and how you entertain and how you guide your guests to have a modern, elegant evening.” (44:12)

• Renderings & Client Expectations

  • Renders can both aid visualization and create sometimes unrealistic expectations, but Volpe says in practice, their executed rooms do generally reflect the renders (31:45).

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Technology & the Role of AI (33:33)

• Current Use of AI in Design Practice

  • While AI is emerging as a tool for preliminary renderings (“it acts as a tool that can make what we do more efficient” — 35:17), Volpe is skeptical of its creative capabilities:
    • “AI can do certain things but it can't create what is in my mind and how I think because I’m always challenging myself to grow and to do something different and it can’t know what I’m thinking.” (34:03)

• Adoption Within the Firm

  • Teams vary in AI adoption; Volpe chooses not to mandate specific technologies as each team works differently (35:49).

• Client Confidentiality

  • He underscores strict privacy, noting that almost all clients require NDAs, and internal systems are coded to maintain confidentiality (36:51).

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Staff Development & Education

• Hiring Philosophy

  • Volpe looks for talent and a willingness to learn, not “another me” (37:43).

• On Unlearning and Design History

  • Critiques design school for not teaching enough about real-world studio work and design history; Volpe is passionate about mentoring staff to look beyond photo ops and social media for inspiration (38:40).

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Taste, Formality, and Societal Shifts

• Taste: Timeless but Evolving

  • Volpe sees good taste as both cyclical and evolving, shaped by societal changes yet grounded in enduring principles (42:04):
    • “We reference the past, but we have to make it relevant for today. …How do I weave that all together to make something that feels respectful to the tenets of what good tastes are but feel comfortable to where we are, where humanity is today?” (43:28)

• Modern Sophistication and Entertaining

  • Formality in entertaining has softened, but sophistication and thoughtful design remain central (44:16). Volpe thoughtfully explores how to create rooms that are “relaxed, compelling, conducive to good conversation, and comfortable” (44:37).

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Advice for Young Designers

• Persistence and Passion
  • The industry is challenging but rich with opportunity for those who persist:
    • Quote: “If you’re passionate about design, then by all means, try to find a place within our industry where you can flourish and explore your dreams. …Persevere, and that it is not instantaneous. …If you persevere, you will get somewhere.” (46:34)

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On Early Confidence: “The one thing that is why I'm sitting where I'm sitting is the arrogance of youth.” (09:00)
• On Design vs. Decoration: “There was a hierarchy to the rooms… kitchens and other rooms did not have the importance that they do for now.” (03:06)
• On Firm Growth: “It wasn't just a conscious decision to, this is the firm I want. This is the firm I got.” (13:46)
• On Owner's Reps: “[These] added layers of management were ones that really helped us and helped the project.” (24:28)
• On Taste and Timelessness: “I stay away from trends as much as I can… I really do want to create spaces that are hard to define, that are special, that when you’re in them…they evoke something that is not of a period.” (29:40)
• On Formality’s Evolution: “Formality has changed and how a room needs to respond and how a room needs to feel relevant.” (43:28)
• Encouragement for Young Designers: “If you’re passionate about design…persevere…if you persevere, you will get somewhere.” (46:34)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:06] Evolution of the design profession & changing priorities in homes
• [09:00] Volpe on early confidence and affirmation
• [12:33] Paris years and their influence
• [14:25] How the firm got started after returning to California
• [18:21] Deciding on firm size and structure
• [21:52] Designer involvement in projects as firm scales
• [24:20] Owner’s reps and added layers in client relationships
• [26:20] Shifts in how homes are used; tailoring to families
• [29:40] Volpe’s thoughts on trends, taste, and signature style
• [33:47] AI’s role in design teamwork
• [36:51] Client confidentiality and internal policy
• [38:40] Views on design education and importance of design history
• [42:04] Cycles of taste & societal shifts
• [44:12] The changing meaning of the dining room/formal entertaining
• [46:34] Advice to young designers

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Memorable Moments

• Michael Taylor’s simple but powerful affirmation: "You've got it, kid." (09:52)
• Volpe’s humility in reflecting on his early years: “I really didn't know what I was doing then…” (09:00)
• The evolution from staff lunches served on sterling silver to “10 minutes at my desk” (07:10)
• The debate over how much designers contribute to projects as teams grow and how to maintain a personal touch (21:32)
• A pointed critique of current design education: “…the other thing I think students probably lack the most today is design history...” (39:55)

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Closing Tone

The conversation is candid, reflective, and thoughtful, offering both practical business wisdom and philosophical insight into the evolution of interior design. Volpe’s approach marries respect for tradition with a commitment to relevance and rigor. His encouragement to young designers is straightforward and sincere: passion, persistence, and a willingness to evolve are the keys to a lasting design career.

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Transcript

[Dennis Scully]

This is Business of Home. I'm your host, Dennis Scully. Every week I'll be speaking with leaders and innovators from all corners of the home industry. My guest this week is interior designer Stephen Volpe.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Stephen is based in San Francisco, but

[Dennis Scully]

his work has an international sensibility shaped

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

in part by the four years he

[Dennis Scully]

spent in Paris as a young man absorbing the city's architecture and design. Today, he runs a team of 20 and takes on projects around the world. His serene, timeless work is widely published and he's a regular presence on the AD100. I spoke with Stephen about how youthful confidence helped him build his career, why he likes having owner's reps on the job site, and how formality has changed but not disappeared from the home. This podcast is sponsored by Ernesta. Every designer has a rug story. The one that arrived two inches too short or the one that arrived way too late. Ernesta was built to fix exactly that. With rugs cut to your client's exact dimensions and delivered in as little as two weeks, Ernesta helps everything run smoothly

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

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[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

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[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

One of the things that has stayed with me, Steven, since our last conversation is you said to me this isn't an easy career to navigate and that you really have to be incredibly passionate to succeed is what you said to me. And I wonder, I want to hear a little bit about how you have navigated it and where you got an early sense of where this all might take you. Because I know fashion and earlier interests were where you were focused first.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, during the course of my career, the craft itself has changed how interior design is looked at, how offices are run. And it was at the onset of my career, you know, a looser thing. It was still a serious business, but it just. If I were going to liken it to stylistically, how houses have evolved, where the decorators that I started to work for, who started their careers decades and decades before, a house was a different animal, and it was really more about decoration. And, you know, there was a hierarchy to the rooms in which were being done, whether it was the living room or, you know, the primary bedroom. But kitchens and other rooms did not have the importance that they. They do for now, for example. And it's. It's the same, I think, you know, it's a. It's a much bigger business with bigger budgets and more people invol. And so there's a lot more to track. And I've learned over the course of my career how to deal with that and how to put teams together that make sense for me and for my clients, as I think a lot of other firms have. I think I might have seen more than some other firms because I started earlier. But I would say that that's really given me the ability to look at the challenges and contemplate how each project was gonna evolve and differentiate itself from another project, which I think is invaluable.

[Dennis Scully]

Well, that's so interesting.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And I hadn't thought of looking through the lens of even just how the priorities of the house itself have changed so much over the. It sounds as if you also feel as if some of the decorators that you worked with early on and who had a tremendous impact on you, and I want to talk about them, it sounds like they ran a very different kind of business beyond just sort of stylistically perhaps, it sounds like. And I don't know if things just felt looser or if early day decorators had more control than they. Than they do today or how you perceive it. But tell me how you think about it.

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, I mean, when I started, one of my mentors who I really respected a lot, Tony Hale, when I worked for him, had a small office above his garage on Green street in San Francisco that was maybe 250 square feet with baskets of samples and four desks. And, you know, his partner, Chuck Posey, did most of the accounting. And there were two assistants, including myself. And, you know, Tony would come in late morning in a coat and tie and, you know, kind of direct, and it was just a different animal. I think decorators in the day had more. More power over their clients.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

More power over their clients.

[Stephen Volpe]

Their clients? Yes, I think so. I think it was a much more opaque profession. And then Tony's houseman would bring, for example, at lunch, a tray laid with sterling and beautiful China with, with shrimp toast. One of his favorite dishes to, to eat. And you know, that's just not the way of the world anymore.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

That's not the staff lunch anymore.

[Stephen Volpe]

Wait, no, no, no, it's definitely not. I eat, you know, in, in 10

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

minutes often at your desk and it's always.

[Stephen Volpe]

Most, most often, most often at my. 90% of the time at my desk.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And no sterling silver platter is being brought out? No, but, but I wonder. Take me back to the, to the early days for you and help me. Part of what I want to understand is both the formation of your taste and eye and how you began to see the world. And I don't know what the most meaningful early influences were for you. I know you've shared with me you had a very stylish mother who was reading W and Vogue and certainly had a style that clearly you must have picked up on. But, but tell me.

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, I think that's true. I mean, you know, I, as I've said before, fashion was where my interest really was at that at the time. And you know, I decided to study fashion and started my, my classes in San Francisco and was also intrigued by, by interiors at a certain point, maybe two years into school, opportunity to work with a well known designer in San Francisco called Tony Machado. And I was working in his office and really was taken with, with the craft of interior design and very quickly decided that I was good at it or at least I, I thought I was good. I will go back and say, you know, the, the one thing that is why I'm sitting where I'm sitting is the arrogance of youth. And if, you know, because I really didn't know what I was doing then, but felt like I had a certain taste level and very quickly other designers asked if I would work with them.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So you got real affirmation from.

[Stephen Volpe]

I got real affirmation at one point. I remember doing a decorator showcase. I was working with a decorator called Eleanor Ford at the time. I was kind of working with a few of them part time, but we were doing a decorator showcase and I was on my hands and knees painting a sisal rug and looked over my shoulder and Michael Taylor was just looking at me, looking at the room and kind of engaged me and just kind of said, you've got it, kid.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Wow. And you knew who he was and you knew how much that meant at the time.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, I did.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So that's a pretty great feeling. So that only led to further arrogance, I'm assuming, you know,

[Stephen Volpe]

a bit a Bit right. You know, I was very proud of the room I had just done. So.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And what was the room you had done? What was this?

[Stephen Volpe]

It was sort of a morning room. And I was very passionate and worked very hard on it. And it kind of had a new spirit I felt than what I thought other decorators were doing. And Eleanor was very kind and let me kind of explore my vision. And I remember, you know, after days of doing installation and we had gotten everything right the day of the opening, she brought a few accessories in and laid one down, and I think it was a South American kind of doll, and put it on the cocktail table. And I was horrified. And I said, I don't like that there. I said, it doesn't belong there. And she said, just. Just leave it. I've given you full reign, and the room needs something to throw it off. And she left to go get changed, and I came back in hours later. I had my mother on my arm. It was the opening event, and Eleanor was sitting in one of the chairs by the fireplace talking to someone. And she kind of called me over with her finger, just with a big smile on her face. And I bent down and she was like, you were so right, but so wrong.

[Dennis Scully]

Really.

[Stephen Volpe]

She did. She did. She was just giving me a bad time, but it was just kind of a moment that I will never forget. It gave me pause with my arrogance.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So in other words, she was acknowledging the design choice.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Right.

[Stephen Volpe]

She was acknowledging, yes.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But also she felt like, who were you to tell her?

[Stephen Volpe]

Somewhat.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Yes. Interesting. Well, and so it sounds like that was meaningful. And you.

[Stephen Volpe]

It was. I mean, you know. Yeah, it was. It was part of my. My learning curve, for sure.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Well, so tell me. Tell me more about your. About your learning curve and what informed you and where you went from there.

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, I, at that point, started to take on a few clients. And after that, or toward the tail end of it, I had the opportunity to go to Paris for a period of time and chose to do that rather than continuing to work in. In San Francisco. And when I arrived in Paris, I. I met an architect who had been sent to Paris by Raymond Lowy. And that was really an education that I could not have bought. It was definitely eye opening. After three years of doing that and then coming back to California and very quickly got another project, I had a new look on my craft and what design was.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But it sounds as if it helped to plant the seed for what you wanted or perhaps imagined your future firm to look like. Is that accurate?

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, absolutely. And, you know, the irony is that, you know, the future firm, the one that I have now, didn't just happen. It wasn't just a conscious decision to, this is the firm I want. This is the firm I got. It took years of working to actually get the firm that I really wanted, that I have today.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And let's talk about that. So let's talk about at what point, first of all, at what point do you decide to really go off on your own and start a firm? And was there something that prompted that?

[Stephen Volpe]

For me, it was simply that I was given a large project upon my return to California that I had to quickly cobble together a few people to help me. And before I knew it, I had a small office. I was very, very lucky at an early age to be given a project of that scale.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And how old were you at the time when all of this was starting to happen for you?

[Stephen Volpe]

28.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

28. So you're young.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, yes.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So I imagine even though you might have thought you thought it through, there was so much.

[Stephen Volpe]

No, I didn't. I really. I really. I really. I really did.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay.

[Stephen Volpe]

I look back on it, and it's a project I was. I was proud of when I completed it. And what was it, exactly?

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

What was the project?

[Stephen Volpe]

It was. It was. It was a large apartment in a building here in San Francisco called the Brockle Bank. Okay. And it was a storied building, and it was a couple who were well known in San Francisco and had gone through several major decorators at the time. I remember being very nervous and going in and taking a tour of the apartments and getting to know them, and we went to lunch and we went back to their apartments, and they said, okay, we'd like to hire you. How much are you going to charge? And I remember, you know, just being on the spot and thinking of a number, and so I said that number. Not knowing where I got it, not

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

knowing where that came from or anything,

[Stephen Volpe]

where it came from. And, you know, they said, excuse us. And I'm sure they went into the hallway and just laughed at how low that number was.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

They thought, this is great. We've just saved so much money.

[Stephen Volpe]

We've just saved so much money

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

hiring this young Stephen.

[Stephen Volpe]

Right, right. So I don't think they were out of the room for five minutes before they came back in and said, you're hired.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Well, so it sounds like it was a learning experience on so many levels

[Stephen Volpe]

for all of us, but it was. It really was. It really was. And I honor it. I mean, I look back with fond memories of those times.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But you end up with this amazing, no doubt, project that you're wildly proud of and I assume came off terribly well and leads to good things in the future. And you think, I really need to reprice and figure out how.

[Stephen Volpe]

I very quickly recalibrated, recalculated my fee structure. And the next project was. Yes.

[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

At what point, I guess I'm wondering, did you. If there was a point where you thought about the real structure that you wanted to create for your firm and the number of people you wanted to have or how you wanted to manage it?

[Stephen Volpe]

I think early on I really wanted to keep the business small and still kind of try to keep it on the smaller side just for my own comfort.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But your notion of how big a firm you wanted to have changed quite a bit, too, because it did.

[Stephen Volpe]

I mean, you know, it had to. Just because of the number of projects that I was doing, it was not plausible to. To stay as small as I once was.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And how big is the firm today? Roughly how many?

[Stephen Volpe]

Today we're about 20.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay. And you wish it was a little bit more?

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, we're hiring right now.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay.

[Stephen Volpe]

And it's challenging to find and put together teams where everyone who's being hired is actually fulfilling what it is that needs to be done and what they've been brought on to do. And so it's difficult finding those people. And especially here in San Francisco. I have a small office in New York where it seems to be easier to find people in New York. And. And we're. We're in real time thinking about growing the office in New York.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Interesting. Okay. And in part because it's easier to hire there, actually.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, yes, yes. Okay. And it's the work that we do on the east coast and then in Europe, and it's. It's almost a better home base.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Yeah. So the number of people on staff grew. Grew quite a bit, in part, I sense, because I get the feeling that you like to have a certain number of projects going at any given time.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, absolutely. And you're going to ask me what that number is? No, no, no.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

I mean, you can tell me what number that is. I mean, I just. I'm so curious because it's interesting to me that you went from. And as one often does in the early days, not knowing for certain when the projects would come in or if they would. And I get the sense that at some point, your success, your reputation, whatever it was, all of that probably led to a fairly steady stream of projects for you where you could start to say, okay, now I know I want to do. And again, you fill in the number. Do I want to do five projects a year? 10 projects a year? How many do you juggle over there, Stephen?

[Stephen Volpe]

Right. It's between 5 and 10.

[Dennis Scully]

Okay.

[Stephen Volpe]

Exactly. Exactly. Depending on the scale, the size, the location, the complexity, you know, that sort of dictates the number of projects that we are able to take on and

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

the desire to have that many going at any given time. What is that about for you?

[Stephen Volpe]

It's challenging. And again, it's about having created really strong teams. You know, they're one. They're very serious projects. And location can be difficult. So it's kind of keeping track of how those systems work, how the teams are working, and navigating all of that in real time. And usually projects are in different places at different times.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Was there a moment that you were able to let go of more yourself? I mean, I'm wondering about the level of involvement and the level of engagement that you want to have in every project. I'm wondering how deep it goes now that you have quite a team.

[Stephen Volpe]

Right. I think that I am quite involved in most of our projects, so I hope I'm not a micromanager. I think I probably am a bit, but I try, and I really do have a great team. But I am involved. I'm not going to lie. I'm involved with almost every project. Project. I'm sure some projects get a little bit more of me, but all projects get me.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And is that an expectation that clients still have today?

[Stephen Volpe]

Yes, I think so.

[Dennis Scully]

Yes.

[Stephen Volpe]

At least my clients do. I'm not sure that that's the same for every firm, but it is with my clients.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And earlier you mentioned that one of the things that feels very different today is the. That's the number of people involved in a project, and especially on the client side. At an event recently, a big contractor in New York came up to me and said, you need to be talking more about client offices and about all the different layers of people that have gotten involved in projects and the new complexity that that seems to bring to the process. And I'm wondering how that has shown up in your world. You have quite well to do clients, and so I'm imagining they have lots of representatives and.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yeah, I mean, you know, to find yourself at a presentation with clients and having, you know, two or three assistants or their rep, and just the number of people you're presenting to or trying to move information through is daunting sometimes.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So, so that's a, that's a new challenge that you, that you may or may not be liking a great deal.

[Stephen Volpe]

No, I mean, it doesn'. It doesn't really bother me. I mean, I feel pretty confident in how we make our presentations and what we're presenting, that it's okay, there's nothing to hide. It sometimes helps with the process because, you know, a client can be very busy and it may be really hard for them to keep track of everything that's being spoken about or presented that their assistants or whatever teams that they've assembled. It, it just, it helps us and we can move through things faster. It just, it depends. 10 or 15 years ago, when clients really started wanting a rep, owner's reps, it was something that I kind of frowned upon or I didn't really know how that process would work or felt like it was, you know, we weren't being trusted or what have you. But, but very quickly, very quickly I realized that, that these kind of added layers of, of management were, were ones that really helped us and helped the project. So I, I started to, when I would get these bigger projects, request that there was a client's rep, knowing that it would help the process.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Interesting.

[Dennis Scully]

So what turned out to be helpful?

[Stephen Volpe]

Just fee, structures, management of the entirety of the teams, contracts, just not always having to be the one that had to explain everything to a client, but had an independent third party who could manage the contractor or manage other subs better than we were able to. And so it made the process flow in a way that it was better for everyone involved and at the end everyone was happy and less finger pointing.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay, so it's not all bad. It's just another level of complexity. Tell me about the. You started the conversation by talking about how some of the priorities around the house itself have changed. What are the priorities with your clients today that you feel have shifted since the early days of your career and even when you were working with others?

[Dennis Scully]

What's different?

[Stephen Volpe]

I think how houses are used are different. Perhaps at the onset of my careers, houses were built for entertaining and, you know, a very specific kind of more formal entertainment. Where today I think houses have to function in a multitude of ways that they still have to be for entertaining, but different usage for the family itself. You know, for kids. Playrooms are, I think, perhaps different than they. They might have been 30 years ago. Just the kind of rooms that people give more importance to. Often houses too, are for specific periods of time where there's summer houses or they're winter houses or they're, you know, so. So they have to take on that kind of, you know, whether it's for skiing or whether it's for beach or whether it's, you know, pied a terre in a city, it's just they're more specific. And that's part of the pleasure of what I do. It's really hyper tailored to a specific family. And we really try to get to know who they are, what their likes, dislikes, how they entertain, who they entertain. And, you know, that's part of what I thrive on, is creating something that's unique. And it's hard because to do that is really time consuming. And then, you know, it's sort of having to learn what is okay to repeat and what's not okay to repeat and what's worthy of further exploration. Because obviously I can't create a really amazing upholstery design for every project. There's so much that goes into the development of a piece of upholstery. Getting it to sit just right, getting all of the details impossible. So it's kind of, how many times can we use this sofa before we kind of put it to bed or give it a rest or, you know, it's that kind of thing that I'm constantly trying to, in my mind, work out so that it feels like it's growing, it's evolving. Yet I'm not making myself entirely crazy.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But very much. There's not a. There's not a look. There's not, oh, I'm going to Stephen Volt because I know he's gonna give me this kind of living room look or this kind of feel.

[Stephen Volpe]

You know, I might disagree a little bit because I think people might go into a room I've done and say, did Stephen Wolfley do this?

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay, and what do you think the giveaways would be for them? What do you think that they would observe that would tell them it was you, that you had been there?

[Stephen Volpe]

I stay away from trends as much as I can. I'm never slavish to. These are the colors of this year. This is, you know, it's like. And if I do see it, I Go in an opposite direction. Because I really do want to create spaces that are hard to define, that are special, that when you're in them, they evoke something that is not of a period. But there's clearly something there that's intriguing and compelling. But it's not because it's followed any specific trends.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And does the client set that pace? Do clients come to you and say, I need this to your earlier reference, I need this summer house to be ready for next summer? Or I mean, what do clients.

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, usually it's not next summer. Usually you have a few summers because it takes a few years at least. So the sooner we're brought on to work in a project and most of the time we're there from the onset. So we start somewhere and there's something that helps define a room that is acquired. First we do renderings, of course, of what we think we want the room to look like. And oftentimes the renderings are good. And then the clients get their heart set on, well, where's that? You drew this and it's like, well, we can't find that. We found this or we found this. And it's just a weaving back and forth.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And is that part of the double edged sword of working with rendering sometimes is that clients take them very literally and wonder why in the end it doesn't look exactly like it did in the rendering you might have shared?

[Stephen Volpe]

Yeah, I mean, surprisingly, the rooms do look kind of like the renderings they do. And that is kind of an amazing thing that our vision does come to fruition. There are tweaks and sure, one chair may not be exactly like what we've started off, or one, it'll, there'll be deviations, but yet the overarching aesthetic that we envision comes to fruition, which is, is exciting.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Yeah, so, so you've gotten it, you've gotten it down to a pretty good science, it sounds like.

[Stephen Volpe]

And we have. Yeah, you know, and, and, and it's more like quantum computing, I think, where it's like, you know, it's, there's chaos that is part of the equation.

[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

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[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

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[Dennis Scully]

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[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So speaking of technology, as we, as we are, is artificial intelligence showing up in a meaningful way at the office and are people keen to use it? Are some people not keen to use it in your office?

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, I mean, you know, it's funny, you can go to Claude or you can ask it to put together a studio open room and you're going to get something that is very much something that we might have done, but it's, it's flat in, in that it can only extrapolate what it sees online and where it's pulling from. And it does put something together, but it's, it's not the way that I would do it. So that's the paradox is, is that AI can do certain things, but it can't create what is in my mind and how I think because I'm always challenging myself to grow and to do something different and it can't know what I'm thinking. So that's what it can't do. But what I do see people in my office, various teams doing, is they're using AI to help do preliminary renderings where you can feed into it certain things and give it certain prompts and certain materials. And it can help do renderings more quickly because it can take out a few steps and then it goes to someone who can really fine tune a rendering or correct with me. That's not right. And we need to change this. That's not what I was thinking. But it does act as a tool that can make what we do more efficient.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And is it widely embraced within your office? I mean, are people eager?

[Stephen Volpe]

Not everyone, not every team, but some teams are doing it and other teams aren't, so.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Oh, interesting. Okay. And do you, have you said anything broadly to the staff about, oh, I want you?

[Stephen Volpe]

No, because different teams work differently and I honor that. And it's kind of an organic thing and certain people have certain habits and stylistically work one way and other teams might work another way. We still get to the same place, but they don't all do the same thing.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

We were talking about AI usage recently, partially in the context of some of the sensitivities that we imagine are going to begin to arise more and more with not sharing proprietary information or not sharing floor plans of clients homes in a detailed way that might reveal something about them. I imagine, I imagine Many more issues are going to come up around privacy. And I'm sure many of your clients already require NDAs to be signed. And I'm guessing absolutely most of your clients.

[Stephen Volpe]

Probably almost all of our clients. Almost all of our clients, yes. And we internally, though, go to great lengths to kind of make sure that nothing leaves the office, that any subcontractor or any. Anyone who shouldn't know who the client is or where the project is, that that information does not get out. We. We put codes on things, and so it would be. It's almost impossible to. To. To figure out where a project is or who it's for.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So what. What do you look for when you are hiring? Do you want. Do you want to see a young step, a confident, thinking, he knows everything kind of figure, or what do you look for? What do you want?

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, it sort of depends because, again, there are team managers or senior designers or directors who help run those teams, and they have very specific wants when hiring someone. So, you know, am I looking for another me? Not necessarily. You know, I love finding good employees who are really talented, and I think we tried to find those people and help them flourish within the company.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

I know that in the past you've said to me, sometimes you want people to sort of unlearn perhaps some of what they've learned already about design. I wonder if you can expand on.

[Stephen Volpe]

I remember us having this conversation, and at the end of it, you saying, you wish I could be a little softer. With my answer. And, you know, I went back and thought about that quite a bit, and, you know, I think what I was trying to say is that I think sometimes with schools, they sometimes fail to really teach students what it is really like in the real world, in a real design office, and how they really work. And so when I was saying that I have to untrain students, sometimes, it's really in that how a design office really works is not a school project. It's really more complicated, and the process isn't so linear always, and that my office is different than someone else's office. So every studio, I would imagine, would have almost a similar comment that they're having to train people to work within the parameters of what they've created, what their office needs. And the other thing I think students probably lack the most today is design history, where they don't really know how our craft developed and who great designers or great furniture makers of the 20th century were. And that's something that I'm passionate about and try to help teach my employees or I'M asking them, do you know who this was? Do you know anything about? And often it's no. And I find that that is something that kids today, for better or worse, it's what they're attracted to or what they see is really on social media, or it's in design magazines that we have today, which were very different than the ones that used to exist. And they're really more about photo ops than they are about curation or really what's important that's gone into creating these spaces. And so I try to help my staff navigate that and learn and be inspired by things that I've been inspired by.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

But I think also one of the things that you talked about that stayed

[Dennis Scully]

with me was also this notion of

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

understanding how tastes shift and why and how. And I'm eager to understand that.

[Dennis Scully]

I'm hoping you'll teach me about that, Stephen.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So what is your perception of how tastes shift?

[Stephen Volpe]

I think we live in a fast moving world. And when I look back at when I started and what taste was, and it was a completely different thing than what taste is today, yet there's an overarching component of good taste and then the evolution of that good taste and how it moves from decade to decade and how there's a cyclical thing as well, where, you know, we, we reference the past, but we have to make it relevant for, for today. And that's one of the things that I am fascinated by, is what I think good taste is and, and, and what those parameters are and how I see societal changes happening, how we entertain. Things are clearly not as formal as they once were. But yet, you know, different circles approach entertaining differently. And, you know, I guess I could use like, do people wear ties to go to dinner these days when they're going to someone's house? No. No, they don't. It's a different thing that. So formality has changed and how a room needs to respond and how a room needs to feel relevant. And so what is sophistication today? What is formality today? How do I weave that all together to make something that feels respectful to the tenets of what good tastes are, but feel comfortable to where we are, where humanity is today, how people move and navigate.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

And is the dining room just done for? I mean, is all of that to

[Stephen Volpe]

say, no, I don't. No, absolutely not.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Okay, good.

[Stephen Volpe]

Absolutely not. I think it's what you do in the dining room and how you entertain and how you guide your guests to have a modern, elegant evening and what that means. It's It's. It's not the same thing as it once was. Conversations are different. I. I find it utterly fascinating how, How. How to create a space that people want to be in and, and how they want to. Giving them the tools to have a. An elegant evening, but one that's relaxed and compelling and, you know, conducive to good conversation and comfortable and, you know, all.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

So, so it just means something very different today. But it's still a central place where people gather and entertain and even, hopefully families come together and share meals and experiences there. Just in a very different way, perhaps.

[Stephen Volpe]

Yeah, well, it is different. I mean, you know, it's not as rigid. It doesn't have the same kind of staff. People don't want to have that rigid kind of entertainment that once was.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Yeah, no, no, it makes sense. And I wonder, finally, as we wrap up, Steven, getting back to how we started the conversation, this not being an easy career to navigate, I wonder, looking back both on your own career and some of the choices that you made, and if you were giving advice to design students just. Just coming out of school or people who were thinking about this industry, are there other kinds of jobs that people should think about that might inform their later work in design that they should consider? Are there other paths that aren't quite as direct as just coming to work for a firm that you would recommend? Or what advice.

[Dennis Scully]

What advice would you give people? I don't want to put words in your mouth, Stephen.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

What would you tell people based on

[Dennis Scully]

what you've learned and experienced?

[Stephen Volpe]

I would say that if you're passionate about design, then by all means, try to find a place within our industry where you can flourish and explore your dreams. It's. It's a craft that I don't see going anywhere for a while yet, and we need talented people, always. And to persevere, and that it is not instantaneous. It's not. It's not easy, but that usually if you persevere, you. You will get somewhere. You will. You will. Will truly get somewhere.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

Steven, it's an incredible privilege to get to speak with you, and I'm so grateful for your time and I thank you.

[Stephen Volpe]

Well, I want to thank you for having me. I'm really honored to be on your show, and thank you.

[Dennis Scully]

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to keep up with

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

the latest design industry news, visit us

[Dennis Scully]

[e-mail] where you can sign up for our newsletter, browse job listings and. And join our BoH Insider community for access to online workshops. A free print, subscription and much more.

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

If you have a note for the

[Dennis Scully]

podcast, drop us a [e-mail] if you're

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

enjoying these conversations, please leave us a

[Dennis Scully]

review on Apple Podcasts. It helps others to discover the show. This show was produced by Fred Nicholas

[Interviewer (possibly a co-host or producer)]

and edited by Michael Castaneda. I'm Dennis Scully.

[Dennis Scully]

Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.