Member Spotlight - Train Your Design Eye
By Lindsay Field Penticuff
“If you ask me, what is helpful to creativity is training the eye to notice things, to observe closely and precisely, being careful not to make a muddle of it.” –Ian Graham, Archaeologist and MacArthur Foundation Fellow
According to “Merriam-Webster Dictionary,” training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. It has specific goals of improving one’s capability, capacity, productivity and performance.When we consider our businesses, our skills, and what we bring to the table as designers, odds are it didn’t just happen overnight. Some of us may have attended college and studied design, while others may have worked through a certification program or apprenticed with tenured interior designers.
But being good at our craft—improving our capability, capacity, productivity, and performance—is something we work toward by training ourselves.
“I wanted to be an artist, and I drew a picture of myself painting,” she recalls. “That was always what I wanted to do, and even in high school, I thought maybe I wanted to do graphic design or something like that.”
However, Fordham’s great aunt, a commercial artist and designer for Chanel, convinced her to study business and be the brain behind the operation rather than solely focus on art.
“Those words sent me down an alternative path in business,” she says. “I was in investor relations for a big energy company, and while I was up in New York (April 1999), I stopped to say hey to my great aunt and I told her I had wrecked my life, saying I really should have done design and I asked her what I should do now.”
To this day, Fordham has a handwritten note from her great aunt following that visit framed and hanging on her wall.
“She said, ‘Darling, you have to start training your eye. That’s where we’re going to start. From this point forward, only look at good design and read everything. Always look at books. Make sure you’re very careful about what you absorb in the design world.’”
Fordham purchased stacks of books about design, first homing in an interest in authenticating antiques and valuation.
“That was what started my research into furniture and good design,” she says. “Because of her advice, I knew I needed to be able to recognize good design when I see it—the training of the eye.”
She also took graduate classes in art history and eventually purchased her own interior design franchise. In 2014, Fordham founded Fordham Interiors, which was renamed Pembrook Interiors years later.
“I had a successful career for over 30 years and just kind of dabbled in design on the weekends,” Fordham says. “It went really well, but I just always knew I wanted to do my own thing and have the creative flexibility to build my own business that was suited to the market.”
Learn more about Fordham’s journey and what leads her design direction with her interior design firm today in the Q&A HERE.
To stay updated with Jennifer's latest projects and tips, be sure to follow her on Instagram at @pembrookinteriors. Don’t miss out on the beautiful transformations she continues to create!
