In this week’s edition of Disruptive Design, we sat down with designer Nicole Roe of the Central Florida-based firm R. Nickson Interiors to discuss building a design firm and cultivating a design community in a small town. We also discuss how her ADHD has been a super power as an interior designer, making her highly sensitive to her surroundings, leading her to launch a podcast discussing creative sensitivities with fellow designers. Click play on the video below to watch our discussion or read on for the highlights:
Highly sensitive to her surroundings
Servicing a small town, Roe says, often requires educating both clients and contractors about the value of full-service design. In markets where design isn’t as deeply embedded in the culture, being highly sensitive means understanding what people expect and what they don’t yet know to ask for.
But this shouldn’t be overstated – the same can be said of just about everywhere to some degree. There are few markets where the clients write blank checks and give the designer unbridled reign over their homes.
In that regard, one of the big design myths she hopes to dispel through her work is that just because you are in a small town doesn’t mean your design dreams have to be kept to scale. Thanks to the internet and ease of travel, small town designers can now dream bigger and be competitive with larger firms in major metropolitan coastal cities.
R. Nickson views their flexibility as a competitive advantage
R. Nickson offers a wide range of services, from turn-key renovations to light consulting for more DIY-inclined clients, rather than only offering full-service design. This level of adaptability, especially in smaller or less-saturated markets, like hers in Central Florida, allows her firm to meet clients where they are and, she says, gives her firm a competitive edge.
It also reflects a larger cultural shift toward hybrid services and personalization, which we see in how people work, how people consume their television shows, and, now, their design services too. If you’re starting out, being open to varied scopes of work can help build your portfolio and reputation, especially if you plan to niche down later, it’s a way of testing out what you are best at and can do sustainably.
On turnover rates and team-building
One of the on-going difficulties Roe finds in running a small-town firm is retaining talent, especially when high-level creatives want to branch out on their own, niche down or move out of state entirely. Managing turnover is never easy, but anticipating it can help. If you’re starting your own studio or planning to grow a team, Roe cautions to be mindful of what your team needs to feel fulfilled and how you might accommodate specialization, even within a small staff and to just be prepared to go back to the drawing board with new hires.
Roe’s experience shows that creativity, adaptability and emotional intelligence can thrive outside major design hubs. Her work is a reminder that great design isn’t limited by geography and that disruption often begins in the most unexpected places.
To see more of R. Nickson’s work, visit Nicole Roe online and be sure to tune into her podcast, Highly Sensitive to Her Surroundings.
