“It’s a compulsion,” says Jordana Maisie, the architect and contemporary furniture designer, when asked about the decision to launch her new Jordana Maisie Design Workshop to compliment her architectural work. The initiative fuses her firm’s architectural precision with a dynamic, hands-on exploration of materials—a nod to her early days in gallery art.
Based in Los Angeles, her dual practice now embraces both a structured design approach and the freeform energy of experimental fabrication, inviting her team to play with more tactile creativity, something, it seems, we are all craving a bit more of these days.
In conversation with DNN, Maisie outlines how the new design workshop functions as a creative laboratory, rekindling her passion for art that transcends the conventional, opening a space for innovation that spans sculptural furniture, lighting and architectural projects.
DNN: Jordana, you’ve bridged architecture and art throughout your career. What inspired you to launch both Jordana Maisie Design Studio and, more recently, the Jordana Maisie Design Workshop? How do they complement each other?
JM: As a friend of mine would say – “it’s a compulsion”. Like many creative practices I think it chooses you. From early on I was intrigued by art that engages the body – immersive in nature, often grappling with the immaterial, the phenomenological.
Pre-Architecture, when I was making art and showing within the gallery context, I found myself wanting to make work that explored the same ideas & issues but were physically integrated into the banal – the everyday – not walled off in the gallery space.
This is what led me to architecture and spatial design, but architecture is not art, it is a Service industry so although we offer something unique and expressive, we are focused on the client’s needs over and above our own interests.
In a way, JMDW is a return to my origin story. We are focused on enabling an expansive approach to design that enables staff at all levels to learn how to move projects from concept to finished product. In this space we are not tied to a Client’s directive, we are making work that although not free of market influences, are based on the curiosities (culturally, materially, and formally) of the JMDS team.
“Making”
DNN: Talk to me about the concept of “clean” and “dirty” spaces — how you refer to your focus on precision and the other on material experimentation — coexist within your design process?
JM: My background is in Fine Art, – specifically, Installation Art – so I could build before I could draw. “Making” has always been integral to my creative process, and for a discipline that ultimately produces a drawn contract (CD Set) for a contractor to build from, it is crazy to me that more Architects / Designers don’t have building / making experience. At JMDS / JMDW, we are looking for ways to bridge that gap – so that everyone in the Studio & Workshop can move fluidly and fluently between both spaces.
DNN: JMDS and JMDW share a unique collaborative dynamic, blending design with fabrication. How does this synergy shape the projects you create, and what are the benefits of this integration for both the final product and the team’s creative experience?
JM: I think my background, and by default the Studio’s philosophy & interests produce a space for our team to learn how to make ideas real. A lot of Architecture is paper based, even if the project is realised, it can often take many years.
My hope is that by prioritizing experimentation and making, there is an additional layer of both authorship, autonomy, and craft, which inspire the team to think outside the box, draw on other disciplines and histories and open their mind to the power of experience when thinking through design of any kind.
Experimentation and play
DNN: The launch of Jordana Maisie Design Workshop marks an exciting new chapter for your practice. What does the workshop represent for you, and how does it expand the reach and ethos of your design studio?
JM: The launch of JMDW is an exciting new chapter indeed! It represents both an expanded ethos of experimentation and play, as well as a continued commitment to detailing and craft. With this next chapter, we have the opportunity to work both as Artist / Artisan, and Architect – this will allow us to continue to push our design thinking – materially, formally, and environmentally – while also servicing our Clients’ needs and interests.
DNN: Your work is deeply material-driven and highly conceptual. What role does physical interaction with materials play in your creative process, and how does it inform both your design decisions and the final aesthetic? How does the tactile experience of creating furniture and objects influence your architectural projects, and what insights from this hands-on process do you bring to larger-scale designs?
JM: We are interested in depth and layering – activating the senses beyond the ocularcentric. From this perspective, both texture / tactility, and porosity / reflectivity, are critical to how we think through space. Materials (and how we choose to implement them) allow us to build a sense of depth in space. I think the relationship between different scales of projects.
Creating without boundaries
DNN: “Thinking, making, and creating without boundaries” is the defining mantra for your practice. How do you cultivate this sense of freedom within your team and ensure that it’s reflected in the work you produce? Do you have a favorite project or product which embodies this or one you found particularly rewarding?
JM: Ironically, it is a deep level of knowledge, skill, and rigor that produces this sense of freedom. We work hard to continuously push our thinking and craft in an effort to produce dynamic furniture, objects, interiors, and buildings.
I think early on, the NYC West Village Feit retail space – Volume & Void – was a milestone project – both in its design / build complexity, as well as in getting Client buy-in on a conceptual design approach. Ground up – Haku House – a new residential project in Malibu is going to be gorgeous, and embodies the Studio’s design philosophies.
Regarding furniture – The Bar – synthesises a clear socio-cultural position and a unique formal and material exploration. The Inverse Chair (not yet released) is also a milestone project too. It showcases immense craft and is the first in a broader collection.
DNN: Finally, when people interact with your designs — whether it’s a space, a piece of furniture, or an object — what do you hope they take away from the experience, emotionally or intellectually?
JM: Great question! We hope that both the spaces and the furniture pieces instigate a small shift in perspective – whether reacting to the use of mirror to reflect, fold, and expand their understanding of a space’s physical boundary, or contemplating the reciprocal exchange between
