In each episode, Play matchespodcast hosted by UpSpring CEO Tiffany Rafii offers insightful advice from designers and industry experts — on everything from how to focus craftsmanship to how good design can positively impact health. It redefines what is possible at the intersection of creativity and business. Here are some lessons we’ve taken away from season one:
Avi Rojagopal, its editor Metropolisdescribes how he and his team navigate, report and evaluate the ever-changing world of sustainable design. With new products and materials regularly introduced that make compelling claims to be the greenest solution yet, it is often difficult to ascertain what is scientifically sound versus greenwashing. And as a magazine focused on providing perspective and critical insight into green architecture, the stakes are high.
A big conundrum: What to do about vinyl? “In the last two or three years, we’ve had a lot of different solutions come to market around vinyl or PVC,” explains Rojapopal. “We have on the one hand a very vocal sustainability leadership that says we need to phase out PVC completely in the built environment. On the other hand, we have manufacturers trying to develop what they believe to be more responsible versions of PVC. And often when we push one of those more responsible versions, even Metropolis is sometimes accused of whitewashing. It continues to be defined and defined by the designers who belong to the groups of people who tell us we shouldn’t specify it.
The investment in craftsmanship is worth it
Cuff Studio, the Los Angeles outfit founded by Kristi Bender and Wendy Schwartz, started out in interior design, but has been creating custom furniture and lighting for other interior professionals since 2018. “We said, let’s create a collection, put it out into the world, and see what happens,” the duo explains. And it started with the right instinct: To connect with local artisans, from ceramicists to glass artists who can cover their products. “All of the construction, our first gallery and showroom on our turf and being very up top, like with the clientele, with the artisans, learning, listening, asking questions. It was extremely important to success.”
They aim to make everything they do personal, accessible and authentic, constantly asking what the industry is missing to provide real solutions. “When we talk to our client now, who is an interior designer, we understand where they’re coming from. We understand the pressures and the stress they can go through sometimes. I think that’s really informed how we do business, how we communicate, how we take care of each of our clients.” In the end, customers have pieces that look very different and feel special compared to mass-produced retail pieces. They endure because they are made with care — and because they have built-in meaning. “You can see the hand, the love, the thoughtfulness.”
Design affects health — and can save lives
Architecture is not neutral — it affects real outcomes, especially when it comes to health. Amie Shao, Principal and Senior Director at Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS), takes listeners on her maternal health journey through her personal and professional experiences. When she was pregnant with twins, Shao had complications that led to hospitalization and premature birth. She spent the first weeks of her babies’ lives reaching through the holes in the plastic incubator that held them. “Then, years later in Malawi, I was assessing a health facility when I heard this sob and saw a mother collapse on the floor,” she recounts. “Her baby had just died from the same condition that mine had survived, and the hospital didn’t have the equipment to deal with that really preventable death. The reason they didn’t have that equipment was because they didn’t have a designated space or the right space for newborn care.”
Shao’s work on maternal newborn health is driven by her need to do something about the hospital spaces—often cold and inhospitable—that many mothers-to-be try to avoid altogether in Malawi. MASS’s Maternity Waiting Village is the answer: It takes them to the hospital before the birth and provides them and their partners with a dignified place to wait for the birth. In a country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates, being in the hospital when the time comes is one of the most important factors in survival and well-being. MWV features small residential groups clustered around courtyards and full of training, gathering and cooking areas. After it opened, MASS conducted a survey of 600 women about their experiences there, in terms of privacy, hygiene, safety and comfort, and found that the new improved design scored much higher in every area than its predecessor.
Inclusion must be intentional, from the outset
“It’s always been exciting to know that you can create something where people have these unique experiences, and how you do that could affect whether it’s a good experience or a bad experience,” explains Adaeze Cadet, head of design at HOK. “It really starts with a good start to the project and understanding that every building we build, regardless of type, affects the community around it, and it also affects the ecosystem we’re building for.”
Cadet emphasizes an engagement-driven process that focuses on the multiplicity of perspectives at play. Who are we designing for — and what are their aspirations? “Some architects get very excited to just go and start proposing these ideas, but you really have to slow down and understand the problem and the challenges, and who it’s affecting. And from there create some creative solutions that really start to celebrate the community we’re building for and within. It’s a lot of research at the beginning. They’ll work and then understand the design challenges they’re trying to solve for and be open to suggesting those that maybe our customers haven’t even thought about it.”
Be yourself: The staff is professional
If you have a truly unique style, especially one that favors eclecticism and vibrancy over the safe, neutral tones and shapes that seem ubiquitous in interior design, how do you attract customers? This episode with Pallavi Dean of Dubai Roar studio has a lot of inspiration. If you’ve encountered Roar’s colorful, multi-layered spaces in person or on Instagram, you can see the personality shine through. The DNA of the studio, according to Dean, combines three axes: an unapologetic point of view, a research-based process and a clear sense of entrepreneurship. “It’s a three-legged stool: If one leg is missing, you fall,” says Dean. “We’re not run of the mill. Sometimes that view goes against the trends of the time. But it keeps out people who don’t want to work with and creates synergy with the people I want to work with.” And it’s not just cheesy, boring design: it’s rooted in Dean’s research-based approach.
“I have a research-driven approach, but how do I make sure that every project or every client gets that when they sign up with us? We’ve developed something called UXD, User Experience Design. It’s a 25-step process that every designer at Roar has to go through before submitting a project. Simple things like, does the space have a great story? Is the space going to have a great story? Will they be done, has it hit the function?”
