More Than a Design Firm: How Kimberly Gettenberg Is Building a Lifestyle Brand

Interior designer Kimberly Gettenberg has been redefining her career, and so it’s fitting that she is now the owner of Redefine Home, an interior design firm and retail store in an upscale area of Atlanta known for shopping and historic sites.

“I knew I wanted more than just a design firm,” Gettenberg says, who has led the business for two years. “I want an actual brand, a lifestyle brand. Interiors is my background and my passion, but my passion is also in travel and in fashion. That’s where I get all my inspiration from, so I want to have the opportunity to expand into other areas.”

The path to Atlanta

Gettenberg grew up in New York City, in a family focused on finance and Wall Street, but that world never appealed to her. “I really had more of a passion for psychology and creativity,” she says. So, she followed those interests, earning an undergraduate degree in psychology and beginning her early career in both interior and jewelry design.

In 2017, she undertook the next refinement of her career, leaving an interior design firm in Naples, Florida, to continue her education and, in 2000, she earned an MFA in luxury and brand management from Savannah College of Art and Design.

“I was kind of fascinated by the luxury industry and the psychology behind the branding. … Rather than get my master’s in interiors, I really wanted to understand how a brand works and the story behind it,” she says.

After graduating, Gettenberg took on a project management role at an art and graphics firm and, later, a creative project management post at a marketing, packaging and printing company.
“I realized that wasn’t the right thing for me,” she says of those corporate stints. “I wanted to develop my own business, brand and interiors” and she knew her SCAD education would help her do that.

So, two years ago, Gettenberg bought an established home furnishings retail space in Atlanta.
Then came more redefinition: The store, then called Redefined Home Boutique, became Redefine Home, a simpler but broader moniker. Redefine Home is now the umbrella brand for the retail space, design studio and interior design firm.

The design firm

The design side of the business specializes in new construction and renovations (about a 40%/60% split right now) but also takes on smaller-scale projects helping homeowners update furniture and accessories. Most of the firm’s projects are in Georgia, but Gettenberg has ventured into other states including Florida, Maine and North Carolina.

The firm is known for neutral palettes and dichotomies: old and new, masculine and feminine, light and dark.

“We’re definitely modern mixed with cultural influences,” she says of the firm’s aesthetic. “I lived in Prague for a little while, so I have the modern New York side of me and then I have the old world Prague side of me. … I definitely work in more muted colors and then add in a lot of texture and cultural influences in my designs. As a kid, I traveled a lot. I was all over Europe … I think that’s really what’s inspired most of my design work.” She still makes a point to travel internationally — at least once or twice a year to scout brands, recharge and get new ideas.

Redefine Home has a staff of three and Gettenberg has developed a close partnership with a local construction company that she says essentially triples the size of her team when collaborating.
“When I started my business, they reached out to me to help furnish one of their projects. They’d built a 6,000-square-foot house in Brookhaven (an Atlanta suburb) … and we worked really, really well together,” she says. “They had a good construction team on the back end, and I took the initiative to partner with them on all our future construction projects.”

The retail space

Gettenberg wanted the Redefine Home retail space to help diversify her revenue streams and give Atlanta-area residents an easy way to get to know Redefine Home’s interior design capabilities and style.

“You can sit and touch and feel things. The retail side of it really allows people to come in and see some of the furnishings and what you can do from an accessory point of view and lends itself to retaining design clients,” she says.

More redefinition: Gettenberg moved the retail space from its original location in Brookhaven, Georgia, to the village of Vinings and a busy shopping area called Vinings Jubilee where Redefine Home sits among upscale dining spots and a host of apparel, home, wellness and other specialty stores. As part of the relocation, Gettenberg tightened the store’s footprint from 6,000 square feet to 1,800 square feet to focus on accessories and samples for upholstery and other custom orders. (Some of the excess furniture from the downsizing went to creating a meditative space called the Zen Den at a local school. “With my background in psychology, it was a cool project to donate to, to create this atmosphere where kids can escape and regroup — a place for peace and quiet,” she says.)

Gettenberg is making good use of the smaller Redefine Home retail space. The store carries products from more than 30 brands, include home furnishings vendors like Berhardt, Lee Industries, Four Hands, Arteriors, Sagebrook Home, Currey & Company, Hudson Valley Lighting and Jaipur, as well as accessories like Libeco pillows, Cereria Molla candles, Culti Milano home fragrance items, Sferra throws and towels, and Pom Pom at Home bedding. In keeping with Gettenberg’s own love of fashion, the store also carries jewelry and handbags from companies including Uno de 50 and Alienina.

Another store draw: store greeter Ozzie, a black lab and pointer mix Gettenberg adopted from the Atlanta Humane Society in 2018. Ozzie likes to welcome store customers and design clients with a ball, hoping to engage them in a game of fetch and then will settle down to let everyone browse. His compensation structure is different from other team members: He gets paid in treats and tennis balls.
includingLooking ahead, Gettenberg plans to continue to redefine and refine. With the store relocation and makeover behind her, she’s concentrating on growing the design side of the business and considering options for developing her own product lines.

“It’s all about business development right now,” she says. Well, business development and travel.
A year or two from now, Gettenberg says she would love to be “traveling the world” to source products for the store and design projects.