Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Conserva.
Hi Drew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I am Drew Conserva, an American born in the markets of Central Thailand and grew up in the Northern city of Chiang Mai. My life consisted of terminals and gates before my arrival into the United States – the transient travel between distant continents, spanning seas – outlining countries with my fingertips on the glass of 747s.
My aspiration to become a designer grew in me when I was studying Engineering Statics and Dynamics at the Technische Universität Berlin in Germany. I spent most of my days in Berlin wandering the streets, getting lost in the weaves of its urban fabric. In the following months, I moved to Rome, Italy, and found myself renting a small loft tucked away into what was seemingly ancient ruins with storied pasts. There I found myself in search of something greater than what an Engineering degree could bring me, my arms outstretched, hands finding the grooves of masonry blocks of street-level buildings.
Soon my aspirations were exploited. I felt my feet sink into the soft marble of Platform 18’s ascending staircase into the hall of Grand Central Terminal. My head was down – I was alone, not knowing what I would find in Manhattan or where its gridded avenues would lead me – it was my first time in the big city. I found my gem in the expansive volume, standing among her monumental pillars. My world had become frozen in time to the scene situated on 89 East and 42nd Street. I felt miniscule, almost inhuman under its olive-splashed ceilings.
In this void, before the road to my architectural aspirations had even begun to be paved, I found a single reason that stood everclear against ironclad giants. That reason, refracted in the glass, spelled out as to why I would be not merely an architect, but a maker to inform and change the way people may think; a sculpture, using my hands to build and my feet to discover.
The almost infinite volume of Grand Central Terminal changed my life that day. As I looked up into its never-ending ceiling, I grasped the power that architecture could have on a person, to inspire feeling within and plant thoughts that had never previously been dug up. I remember that day, putting one foot in front of the other, my shoulders grazing the bodies of other commuters while my eyes were fixed upon the expanse around me. I felt as if I was a player in an old black-and-white film, no music and no voices, just the pantomiming gestures of speckled and grainy frames.
I recognized the influence that Grand Central Terminal had had on me – a provocation and teasing of ideas in my mind. That was the moment I decided that I needed to be a designer.
I hope to instill a sense of the awe I felt in Grand Central Terminal into the lives of people, to inspire and bring about change through architectural practice. I want to create a space – a precious stone to be set in a silver sea – that could influence and give birth to something different, something new.
I have the capability of dreaming space, of becoming that craftsman, of shaping land, and helping others through meticulous thought and handiwork. I want to change the way someone thinks, to change the pattern of which their heartbeats, to strike awe so that one day I too can be the proprietor of someone’s happenstance.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I failed often. I started out as a Mechanical Engineering Major at Calvin College. I remember feeling a sense of dark in my decision to ‘become an engineer,’ but perhaps it was the drawn-out winters or my classes that took place below grade. There was never that brilliant light – a driving passion to want to continue in my selected field.
This sense of failure was derived from an intrinsically Thai sensibility that I was only put on this earth to discover success and in turn make my parents proud of the success that I had accomplished, not the man that I was or had become: status over character. I needed a change, a rebellion: some sense of hope.
My first-time visiting New York City sparked that hope. I went against everything in me that said to stay on my path and “just make my parents proud.” I instead started over. I transferred schools the following semester, moving from Michigan to Massachusetts. To me, this was failure, I had not set out to accomplish the goals that my parents and I laid the foundations for. I took my own turn, but around the corner, there was no dark, there was that brilliant light. I soon learned that my failure to fulfill my duty as an engineer was quickly replaced with my desire to become a designer, a home builder, and a craftsman.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Conserva&studio?
Conserva&studio is a small boutique design firm, specializing in custom homes and interiors. We are selective with the projects we take, in part because we are small and wish to remain small but also, we really strive to design those niche projects that can showcase our ability to problem solve and build beautiful things along the way.
We strive to provide a service to our clients that is not like that of other design firms in that we believe the importance of understanding our clients beyond a client-facing level. We aspire to dig deep into what it means to bear the name of that client, the way they raise their kids, the function behind their everyday lives, even those small details such as “who sleeps on what side of the bed” and how those answers dictate our design.
A narrative that I developed early on with our projects was to “design as if the lights are off.” This expression correlates with the client walking into their house at night without flipping their lights on and only using a flashlight, guiding themselves through their home. A flashlight only highlights small areas at a time. Those small areas, those are the places that we hope to inspire – we desire that every illuminated moment can be a special moment, revealing details and well throughout craftsmanship. It’s the culmination of those small moments that create a whole project.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We love to have conversations with people, whether it is about design, a future project, or how busy US 75 has gotten lately, there is no limit to the joy we have with just talking with folks. These are the conversations that always lead to more work and future collaborations as well as repeat clients. We hold firm to a “always pick up the phone” policy and strive to answer clients or potential clients’ questions within that day.
Contact Info:
- Email: drew@conserva.studio
- Website: conserva.studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conserva.studio/
Image Credits
Grant Daniels
