Trade Tales: How Luis Fernandez Structured His Firm to Foster Creativity

Podcast: Trade Tales
Host: Kaitlin Petersen, Business of Home
Guest: Luis Fernandez, Interior Designer/Architect
Date: September 10, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode of Trade Tales, host Kaitlin Petersen sits down with the innovative designer Luis Fernandez. With a unique trajectory from architecture to fashion and back to design, Fernandez shares how his creative journey shaped his approach to running a firm focused on both creativity and efficient structure. He opens up about crafting his firm’s financial backbone, managing clients’ growing expectations, setting boundaries, and exploring the Metaverse as a new design frontier. The conversation is a robust look at how balancing creativity with business systems can foster success, happiness, and growth in the interior design industry.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Inspirations and Career Pivots

• Childhood Spark (02:58): Fernandez recalls a formative school assignment where he drew his house plan and developed a fascination with floor plans from real estate magazines.

  • Quote: “I would sit there and study the floor plans with the pictures and try to correlate those two. And it kind of awoke in me this idea that you could depict spaces in this two dimensional floor plan.” (02:58)

• Fashion Foray and Architecture (04:11):
  His career in fashion started as a hobby but evolved into a major business, giving him unexpected opportunities to flex his architectural skills in store and show design.

2. Starting A Firm After Magazine Recognition

• Launching into Interiors (05:45):
  After restoring a mid-century home in LA, the project’s feature on the cover of ELLE Decor propelled Fernandez back into the design world and led him to officially open his firm.

3. Adapting to Residential Work

• Transition from Large-Scale to Personal Projects (08:45):

  • The shift from major commercial projects to intimate residential design demanded adaptation – emotionally and procedurally.
  • Quote: “Your job ends up becoming more of...like a symphony director, where I’m hearing you, I see what you’re thinking, but I need to make sure that it fits into the full part of the project.” (09:55)

• Emotional Labor and Client Boundaries (11:21):

  • Fernandez discusses the unexpected emotional demands of residential work, including his natural tendency to want to please clients – sometimes to his own detriment.
  • He draws clear lines for himself after a client expected near-constant companionship: “At some point you’re like, I’m a professional. I can’t be here all day long to like have multiple discussions about a lampshade for four days.” (12:12)

4. Selecting Projects and Clients

• Red Flags and Saying No (13:05):
  • Fernandez now prioritizes client energy over just the project scope, declining clients who undervalue design or see their designer merely as a cog in a profit-driven flip.

5. Firm Financial Structure & Billing Experiments

• Billing Models Explored (14:30 - 18:20):

  • He describes challenges with hourly billing, flat fees, and percentage-of-budget structures, currently experimenting with pricing per square foot for clarity and fairness.
  • Quote: “Hourly…because a client never fully understands how much time goes into something. And then there’s also…how do you build the non tangible?” (16:13)

• Retainers and Phased Payments (20:07):

  • Implements a 20% upfront, non-refundable retainer due to the heavy investment early in projects; the rest of the fee is split into project phases, adapting billing to project timelines.
  • Addresses the idea of adding “time expire” clauses if projects linger beyond a set duration.

• Project Management & Contractor Involvement (23:53):

  • Now bills project management hours beyond a set threshold, encouraging clients to hire quality contractors, candidly noting how cheaper contractors often lead to more work for him.

6. Managing Procurement and Limiting Liability

• Streamlining Purchases (25:09):
  Fernandez avoids direct purchasing to sidestep liability and bookkeeping headaches, having clients pay vendors directly and use fulfillment services that inspect deliveries.

  • Quote: “The bigger piece for me that’s always a driver is what is the cost of liability?” (25:43)

• Quality Control Concerns (27:05):
  Reports a significant share of items arriving damaged, changing vendor loyalty based on how issues are resolved.

7. Client Relations and Communication

• Boundary-Setting in Communications (28:53):
  He confronts challenges with clients who want to be deeply involved, sometimes overwhelming themselves (and him) with details via group texts and multiple communication channels, advocating ultimately for streamlined, email-based documentation.

• Budget Education (32:39):

  • Fernandez strives to help clients understand where to invest, sharing stories like a client’s desire for marble bedroom floors over higher-quality plumbing fixtures.

8. Organizational Systems and Structure

• Borrowing from Architecture (36:31):
  Fernandez’s architecture background shapes his love for systems:

  • Quote: “The design process is messy and kind of non linear. So if all your other processes around that can be very rigid, then I think you’re sort of set up for success.” (37:14 & 00:02)

• Collaboration with Other Architects (37:56):
  Prefers a mix—some projects are full-architecture/interiors by his team, others involve working with an architect of record or layering onto an existing architect’s work.

9. Expanding into the Metaverse

• Digital Design During the Pandemic (40:02):

  • During the NFT craze, he was commissioned to design a house for the Metaverse, finding creative freedom in the absence of physical constraints.

  • Quote: “You could build without materiality, you could build without physics. So how could that be a different expression of creativity that doesn’t have to mimic the real world but without becoming kooky and outlandish and weird?” (42:32)

  • Humorously recalls a client's unexpected request: “Okay, fine, no bedroom, but we’re going to need a sex room. ...This Metaverse thing is going to be huge.” (43:16)

10. Growth, Staffing, and Vision for the Firm

• Staying Lean and Concierge (48:43):
  He prefers working alone or with a few freelancers, embracing the ability to offer personalized, principal-led service. Growth isn’t about scaling to a team of 40, but maybe to 10—maintaining balance and client experience.

• Industry Peer Pressure (50:23):

  • While peers’ stories about running large firms seem “painful,” he values balance and the “slower, but better” path.

• Product Collaborations and Side Projects (51:05):

  • He envisions more product lines, installations, and non-client-driven “special projects” in addition to traditional design work.

11. Defining Success

• Personal Measures of Success (52:34):
  • “It sounds so cheesy...happy mind, happy life. ...the less worrying and the more you’re able to create and build beautiful things, I think that’s success.”
  • He admits his approach isn’t profit-first, but is confident that when you stick with doing the right work, profit eventually follows.

Memorable Quotes

• On Residential Design vs. Commercial Work
  “You get those texts at 6am on a Saturday.” (09:53, Luis Fernandez)

• On Client Boundaries
  “At some point you’re like, ‘I’m a professional. I can’t be here all day long to like have multiple discussions about a lampshade for four days.’” (12:12, Luis Fernandez)

• On the Value of a Thank-You Note
  “There’s no price in the world that can beat that.” (06:24, Luis Fernandez)

• On Billing Models
  “Hourly...because a client never fully understands how much time goes into something.” (16:13, Luis Fernandez)

• On Procurement and Liability
  “What is the cost of liability?” (25:43, Luis Fernandez)

• On Process and Creativity
  “The design process is messy and kind of non linear. So if all your other processes around that can be very rigid, then I think you’re sort of set up for success…” (00:02 & 37:14, Luis Fernandez)

Important Timestamps

• Career Origin & Real Estate Obsession: 02:58 – 04:45
• LA Move & Mid-Century Project: 04:55 – 05:45
• Residential Versus Commercial Design: 08:45 – 12:12
• Project & Client Selection: 13:05 – 14:20
• Billing Models & Processes: 14:30 – 18:20
• Retainers & Billing Phases: 20:07 – 21:56
• Buying Direct & Outsourcing Liability: 25:09 – 26:58
• Vendor Loyalty After Quality Issues: 27:05 – 28:04
• Managing Credentials, Threads, and Communications: 28:53 – 32:29
• Budget & Value Discussions with Clients: 32:39 – 35:51
• Process, Organization, & Collaboration: 36:31 – 39:55
• Metaverse and Digital Design: 40:02 – 44:56
• Hiring and Firm Growth Philosophy: 48:43 – 51:01
• Product Collaborations & Non-Client Work: 51:05 – 52:34
• Defining Success: 52:34 – 53:49

Episode Tone and Style

The conversation is candid, spirited, and insightful, with a genuine tone—balancing open reflections on the challenges of design entrepreneurship with a palpable love for creative exploration. Fernandez combines self-deprecation with practical wisdom, frequently highlighting both the messiness of creativity and the necessity for structure.

This summary captures the main ideas, insights, and memorable moments from Luis Fernandez’s episode, offering designers and creative entrepreneurs an inside look at building a practice that both supports and unleashes creative potential.