Interior designer Caleb Anderson recently found himself unwell, burned out and frustrated by the growing dissonance between his values and work.
He doesn’t think he’s alone.
“As I’m going through this wellness journey, I’m simultaneously hearing from so many of my colleagues … how they, too, are burned out, stressed, not doing well,” said Anderson, co-founder of New York-based design firm Drake/Anderson. “I came to understand this is really an issue in our collective. This isn’t just me over here, losing my mind and having panic attacks. This is an industry issue.”
There may be many reasons for designers’ stress and burnout, but Anderson believes it is, at least in part, linked to the lack of a sustainability ethos.
He noted the tons of virgin materials dug out of the Earth every year, the only tiny fraction of chemicals that are regulated, the amount of carbon embodied in buildings, the risk of labor exploitation in construction.
“I believe that there is a correlation with some of the challenges that we’re personally and collectively dealing with as design professionals and some of the challenges that we’re having to navigate in terms of what we do and our impact on the world,” said Anderson, who recently became sole principal of his firm.
The designer shared his thoughts last month in a “Design With Purpose” talk at the “Designing Wellbeing: Neuroaesthetics, Biophilia and the Healing Power of Beauty” symposium in High Point hosted by Science in Design and High Point x Design.
Through his wellness journey, Anderson found a sense of purpose and began an evolution of his work. “In that shift, I came to see that beauty must be rooted in integrity for our health, our planet and the systems that sustain us,” he said.
As part of that shift, Anderson is rebranding Drake/Anderson to /And. The firm will continue to create the sophisticated, luxurious interiors it is known for but also will emphasize sustainability, wellness and collaboration. (You can read more about how Anderson is rebranding his firm here.)
Moving the community forward
Anderson believes the entire design community would benefit by moving “into more of a wellness model, (where) we focus on slow design, centering mental health, where we have supportive design networks and communities, inclusivity, pay equity.”
“We’re very busy trying to check boxes and get accreditations and all of those things that matter, but our hearts actually aren’t connected to why it matters in the first place,” Anderson said. “If you go through a process and understand the importance of why your heart should be connected to this work, you have a new point of motivation. That’s the shift that I have had, and that’s the shift I would love to see more of in our industry.”
Anderson explained how designers might re-imagine their roles and goals in healthier ways:
* The myth of the “solo genius” designer can become design as a we, not a me.
* The pressure to monetize every creative idea can evolve to a commitment to protect sacred space for creative play.
* The race to be published can shift as designers redefine what visibility means.
* The disconnection from the supply chain can be fixed by knowing the lineage of what you source.
* The silence around mental health in a studio culture can be combatted by fostering a culture of care and honesty.
* The competition for exclusivity over community can be eliminated by shifting from a mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance.
* The expectation to constantly produce and reveal can be mitigated by designing slowly and honoring rest.
* The performance of perfection for Instagram can be overcome by sharing your process instead of perfect images and reconnecting to storytelling.
“This is an invitation to return to our gifts, our essence, the reason we were drawn to design in the first place,” Anderson said “Reconnecting to these inner truths isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity, because the world we want to build won’t come from the same systems that are breaking us.”
He suggested a few questions designers can use to start their own reflection:
1. What natural system or process resonates with how you want to work, lead or collaborate (e.g., the collaboration of a forest, the resilience of a river, the quiet efficiency of fungi)?
2. In what ways does nature mirror your personal or professional values — and where might there be a disconnect?
3. Where is there an overlap in the answers to these questions: What replenishes you or brings you joy? What are you good at? What needs doing? (Imagine a Venn diagram of your answers and then focus on those commonalities.)
Designers, he said, should be empowered by the fact that the changes they make in their own lives will ripple out to their employees, their vendors, their contractors, their clients and beyond.
“As designers, we have 40 times the buying power of an average consumer and 140 times if you work at a top 200 design firm,” Anderson said. “… So, we are direct agents of change in moving the needle forward. That is power.”
“When we begin to align our inner values with how we work, that integrity naturally ripples outward,” he continued. “… Purpose becomes contagious, and when enough of us make that shift, it doesn’t just impact individual projects, it becomes a movement that can reshape the culture of design itself.”
