5 Questions For: Heidi Helgeson, H2D Architecture + Design

Name: Heidi Helgeson

Title: Principal

Company: H2D Architecture + Design

Location: Edmonds, WA

Which of your designs or projects are you most excited about right now?

We have such a wide range of projects right now, it is difficult to pick just one! Day-to-day we get to jump between a small restaurant project, a unique six-house development in Duvall, a high end residential remodel on Lake Sammamish, and several challenging small-space projects on urban lots in Seattle. 

Tell us three words that embody your design philosophy.

Listen. Sustainable. Detail.

What's your favorite place in the Pacific Northwest?

The outdoors—beaches, mountains, simple jogs around my neighborhood looking at homes. You really cannot go wrong outdoors in the Pacific Northwest. I enjoy it year-round.

Who or what are you inspired by right now?

I’m inspired by the restoration of my own midcentury home. We purchased it several years ago and are slowly remodeling the property and designing the interior with period furniture.

What do you think of the color gray?

Although Seattle is gray much of the year, I really do love the color for both interiors and exteriors—usually with a pop of color to set it off.

5 Questions For: Jessica Helgerson, Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

Name: Jessica Helgerson

Title: Founder, interior designer

Company: Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

Location: Portland

Which of your designs or projects are you most excited about right now?

We have a lot of exciting work happening right now. We’re working on a hotel just around the corner from our office, as well as a gorgeous limestone (like a brownstone but fancier) in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, a pizza place in San Francisco, a thorough renovation of a beautiful and historic Tudor house in Portland, and a beach house in the Hamptons. I love variety in our work, both in terms of geography and typology, so I’m happiest when we have diversity in the office, which we have in spades right now.  

I’m also very excited about two projects we have in the works:

We are creating a gallery in the front of our new office, called Front of House, which will be a space for one artist at a time to create site-specific installations. I’ve been inspired for many years by Suyama Space in Seattle and am excited to create something similar in Portland.  

We’re also putting together a proposal for a book that will be an in-depth look at JHID’s work process and our collaborations with artists and artisans.

Tell us three words that embody your design philosophy.

Thoughtful. Playful. Beautiful.

What's your favorite place in the Pacific Northwest? Why?

Wild Goose Farm on Sauvie Island! My husband and I fell in love with Sauvie Island just months after moving to Portland. The small scale of the agriculture there reminded me of the countryside in France where I spent all of my childhood summers. We started looking for a place to buy nearly a decade ago, and after a few years found a five-acre parcel with two decrepit houses, two barns, lots of gorgeous old oak trees, and a million projects. My son Max came up with the name Wild Goose Farm, and it stuck.  

We first fixed up one of the little houses, and our family of four lived in that tiny, 540-square foot house for four years. Over the last two years we’ve been building a larger farmhouse where we now live. During all of these years we have been working the fields, getting the soil healthier, planting fruit trees, flowers, berries, and lots of vegetables. It has been a huge undertaking, but it finally feels close to ‘done’. It is a beautiful, happy place where friends are always welcome. I love, love, love to be home.

Tiny House on Sauvie Island. Image by Lincoln Barbour.

Who or what are you inspired by right now?

I really love British designer Ilse Crawford. She can do no wrong in my book. I’m also continuously inspired by the designers in my office. They have wonderful ideas, and do beautiful work. We work together in a positive, symbiotic, inspiring way. JHID is a lot more than Jessica Helgerson!

What do you think of the color gray?

I love it! I love dark green-grays, pale beige-grays, soft blue-grays, warm yellow-grays. What’s not to love? The color gray is subtle, intriguing, beautiful. I even love gray weather! 

Image Courtesy of Parker Fitzgerald.

5 Questions For: Trey Jones, Trey Jones Studio

Image Courtesy of Jennifer Chong.

Name: Trey Jones

Title: Founder, designer

Company: Trey Jones Studio

Location: Seattle 

Which of your designs or projects are you most excited about right now? Right now I am most excited about the launch of my planter collections. For the past 8 years, Trey Jones Studio has focused on designing furniture for manufacturers, as well as custom furniture and interiors. Changing directions to focus on a product line has been a very personal and exciting venture.

Tell us three words that embody your design philosophy.

Thoughtfully detailed simplicity.

What's your favorite place in the Pacific Northwest? Why?

The Seattle Arboretum is one of my favorite places. My wife and I go on the weekends to walk around and clear our minds or talk about design.

Who or what are you inspired by right now?

Right now I am most inspired by plants.

What do you think of the color gray?

I would like to stay neutral on this topic, no comment.

Photography by Andrew Waits and styling by Theresa Crim

5 Questions For: Alison Kent + Cindy Yu, Joue Design

Cindy Yu and Alison Kent of Vancouver's Joue Design

Names: Alison Kent + Cindy Yu

Title: Co-Owners/Lead Designers, Joue Design

Company: Joue Design, Inc.

Which of your projects are you most excited about right now?

AK: Oh, so many! I'm thrilled with our latest Summer Capsule Collection of printed silk watercolor pillows with hand-painted accents, but I am also very excited about the various collaborations we are working on for the coming seasons—both in our ongoing throw pillow collections and in expanding our lines. We are looking into bedroom and kitchen textiles, and hope to have new product out in the next year or two. As for specific details, you'll have to wait and see! We work on our upcoming designs about a year in advance, so our heads are all over the place; it’s a very exciting time for Joue Design.

CY: I love the direction we're headed creatively, and I’m proud of the steps we've taken so far with our latest collections. There's so much we're excited about for the fall and next spring that those seasons can't come soon enough. 

Tell us three words that embody your design philosophy.

CY:  Original. Art. Textiles.

What is your favorite place in the Pacific Northwest? Why?

AK: The beaches! I've always loved the beaches up and down our beautiful coasts. There’s something about the colors, waves, and clean, fresh air–even the sand is interesting! We're incredibly lucky to live here in the Pacific Northwest.

Who or what are you inspired by right now?

AK: Cindy and I were fortunate enough to take another "Joue Partner Trip" to Paris this past spring during Fashion Week. We've always loved France— Paris especially, so it's great to enjoy it together while being inspired and making time to plan our year ahead. Personally, I've just returned from a family trip to Amsterdam and Greece, which was beautiful. I was especially inspired by the history and stories behind everything. In future "Northwest" collections, I see this trip inspiring me to layer elements and ideas. I also took time during my trip to sit and paint. Sometimes, time away means time to work on stretching my artwork abilities.

CY: The environment around me always inspires me, and luckily, we live in one of the most beautiful corners of the planet. There's a catharsis in observing life around you –the colors and textures of nature and all forms of wildlife. It always brings me back to the most fundamental thing–feeling and embracing life as a human being.

What do you think of the color gray?

AK: It's very west coast! Grays, greens and blues are prevalent colors in the natural environments around us, and I love them. This will always be my home.

CY: It is a color that is abundant in my own home. Most often, I don't see life as black or white–rather, in various shades of gray. My decor is a reflection of that: a gentle, softer perspective on life. I also find that it's the color that's easiest to match with most hues –especially since every hue has a gray version.

Image Courtesy of Joue Design.