Why Great Design Starts Long Before the Aesthetic
By Rachel Fasciani
The first time I met Cathy Purple Cherry was dreamy.
In an industry shaped by aesthetics, the experience underscored a more enduring truth—the beauty that exists beyond the surface. I knew she was “my people”.
She had just finished designing an ethereal staircase for Kipps Bay NYC Showhouse, and I sat on that stairwell and took her in. The glossy blonde curls set against her stories. The challenges designers face with showhouses. Her experiences as a parent. Her interactions with other designers on the floor, the way she understood the ancient and tiny elevator, and the fact that she knew where essential pieces such as toilet paper and hammers existed. She was unapologetically herself.
That was the beginning of learning that in an industry often driven by visuals, Cathy Purple Cherry is focused on something less visible—focused on something far more consequential than aesthetics: how a home actually works.
As both an architect and interior designer, Purple Cherry operates at the intersection of structure and story, where early decisions shape not just the look of a space, but how it lives over time. It’s a perspective that challenges a common industry misconception—that design begins with aesthetics.
“I would say, from my perspective… that clients don’t always understand the journey,” she said. “And that’s probably the biggest thing.”
For Purple Cherry, that disconnect is where many projects begin. Clients need to be guided through the process—communication gaps are eliminated so that clients do not fill in the blanks themselves with anxiety over cost, timing, and value. “What I have always found is that the transparency helps align the client,” she said. “You don’t want them to get to a place of, ‘I’m spending a bunch of money, and I don’t know what I’m doing.’”
The solution, she believes, is radical transparency—even when it comes with risk.
Designing a Business, Not Just a Space
That emphasis on communication extends beyond client relationships and into how designers structure their businesses.
Purple Cherry is candid about a tension she sees across the industry: designers who define a rigid aesthetic point of view without first building the operational discipline to support it, and the processes and values to sustain it.
“It takes a very long time… to get to that place,” she said. “Your goal is to build your portfolio. Your goal is to get work. Your goal is to build your team.”
Listening, in that context, becomes a business strategy as much as a creative one.
Purple Cherry notes, “I don’t judge. I don’t judge the project type… or the project scale… or the project budget. What I judge is making sure in the conversation with a client that we can work together to get to where we agree that “Okay, we can do this.”
Alex Epstein, director of interior design for Purple Cherry Architecture and Interiors, echoed that point: “They’re the ones that are going to be living in their home and using it. And if it doesn’t work for them, then it’s a poor design.”
A Reality Check on Budgets
If communication is one blind spot, cost is another.
Purple Cherry believes the industry is overdue for a recalibration.
“Right now, the industry should be… [focused on] budgets, expenses, costs,” she said. “The world has gotten a bit out of control… this roller coaster is not gonna keep going.” It’s a perspective that runs counter to an industry still largely driven by aspiration—and increasingly disconnected from economic reality.
Even at the highest levels, she notes, the idea of limitless spending is largely a myth.
“Everybody… has a budget,” she said, “We all want the client that doesn’t limit anything. Even for the ultra wealthy, that is not the norm.”
That reality underscores a broader responsibility designers carry—not just to create, but to guide.
“I …think we as designers have an obligation, not only to provide our design, but also to understand what is our client’s need? Many people, in the design profession … don’t talk dollars, they don’t talk numbers, they don’t talk construction costs.”
This is where Purple Cherry differs from other firms. Her approach addresses that head-on, beginning with unusually long initial consultations that prioritize education and alignment before a project even begins.
“That’s the thing that makes us different. I always have that conversation on the very 1st Zoom. My Zooms aren’t half an hour. My Zooms are two-and-a-half hours, with a potential budget. I can already see and know what the challenges might be to make sure that I communicate. And then when I ask about budget, I immediately know if it doesn’t align.”
That alignment is key in establishing a relationship built on trust.
Why Integration Matters
A defining aspect of Purple Cherry’s practice is the integration of architecture and interiors—something she believes changes outcomes fundamentally.
Many designers, she says, are brought into projects too late, after key structural decisions have already been made. The result is a reactive process, where design must adapt to constraints rather than inform them. She provided a very illustrative example.
“We had a project where the light fixtures, the sconces, were located in the field. The heights were dimensioned and marked. Some of those got moved, six times after they had installed it. Six times. How does your client feel? When you’ve just spent x dollars moving it six times. And that is integration. Our team happens to understand that, because they sit amongst all the architects.”
Her team works collaboratively from the outset, addressing details that might otherwise be overlooked—everything from lighting placement to structural framing.
“You’ve got to coordinate all that framing. We, as architects, have done this long enough that we know we’re hitting our centers. We’re going to coordinate our choices. But that frequently doesn’t work at all in the field, because it starts with the framework. Just stop and think about that.”
It’s a costly disconnect—one that Purple Cherry believes is entirely avoidable.
Designing for Real Life
If integration defines the process, human behavior defines the outcome.
Purple Cherry’s work is rooted in understanding how people actually live—not how they aspire to. And the most important design decisions? They’re rarely visual – they’re behavioral.
“You are always learning… the patterns and habits of individuals,” she said. “Who sleeps on what side of the bed? Do you get up six times in the middle of the night? Are you a person who leaves your laundry on the countertop? If you’re that kind of a person, our solution becomes a door that closes.”
These insights inform decisions that are often invisible, but deeply impactful—from concealed storage to spatial organization.
“I can improve the way a client lives in a space… but I can’t change that human behavior,” she said. “And I don’t try to.”
That philosophy extends across life stages as well, from young families to empty nesters, each with distinct needs that shape how a home functions.
Inside Out, Not Outside In
At its core, Purple Cherry’s approach is guided by a simple but often overlooked principle.
“I design from the inside out,” she said. “I don’t design from the outside in.”
For her, a well-functioning plan is the foundation of everything that follows. Aesthetic beauty, she argues, can always be achieved—but functionality is far less forgiving.
“Any plan can be made beautiful,” she said. “But a plan doesn’t always happen in the right way.”
What matters most is how a space feels before it’s even fully understood.
“When they come in and they go, ‘This is so comfortable’,” she said. “That’s what I care about.”
It’s a reminder that great design isn’t about perfection—it’s about alignment.
Between structure and interiors.
Between vision and reality.
And between a home and the people who live in it.
