Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Lloyd Forrest.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Deborah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
The earliest part of my career was designing homes, mainly in the Park Cities, working with a wonderful mentor, Robert Preston Henry. During my time working for and with Robert, I achieved my professional credentials by passing the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualifications) and became a professional member of ASID (The American Society of Interior Designers). I began my hotel design focus when asked to design the Eola Hotel in Natchez, Mississippi and from there, focused exclusively on designing hotels, first on my own and then working for Joyce K. Wynn.
In 1986, I founded Deborah Lloyd Forrest Associates and parlayed my experience renovating luxury hotels and my love of historic buildings to a many year association with Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, initially restoring The Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia and then The Royal York in Toronto, The Hotel Vancouver, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess and The Fairmont Lake Louise. Fairmont has continued as a client and brand with which we work often, most recently completing the renovation of the public areas of The Fairmont Washington, DC.
In 1998, I co-founded ForrestPerkins and became its sole owner in 2013. Then in 2016, my company merged with international architectural firm, Perkins Eastman. The ForrestPerkins brand continues as a distinct studio of Perkins Eastman. As a result of the merger, I am a Principal of Perkins Eastman and a member of its Board of Directors as well as Managing Principal of the Dallas office.
I have been fortunate that during my career I have had the opportunity to mentor numerous young designers and architects, both as employees and through the larger platform that my leadership in ASID and the design profession has afforded me. Professional honors include election to Fellowship in the ASID and being selected its Designer of Distinction in 2004, Also in 2004, Hospitality Design magazine designated me as a member of its Platinum Circle of noted hospitality industry leaders and I am proud that ForrestPerkins has been among the firms counted in Interior Design Magazine’s Hospitality Design Giants list for many years.
My firm’s success is built on a strong focus on storytelling through design, strong creative teams of designers and architects who are passionate about designing places where people can experience places that spark their imaginations, helping them to understand and connect with a city, region or country through having stayed in a hotel or resort we designed.
Great, 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?
A particular challenge was that I started Deborah Lloyd Forrest Associates in 1986, just before the Texas oil crisis, and almost immediately opportunities for design of any kind dwindled precipitously. Having signed an office lease and hired several people, I had to look farther than Dallas or Texas to find opportunities. This turned out to the best thing that could have happened. I wrote letters and set up meetings as far away as Canada with companies I knew owned landmark historic hotels. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to bid on and was ultimately selected to design the Empress Hotel’s comprehensive restoration, which started my new firm on the road to establishing our credentials on the international stage, leading to designing a hotel in Vienna, Austria and more Canadian Pacific hotels across Canada.
Of course, there were other recessions and crises along the way, most recently the Great Recession, which saw many design firms close their doors. I have still not recovered emotionally from having to let virtually half of my staff go in 2008 and 09. But knowing that I had faced a regional recession that could have devastated my fledgling company almost immediately after its founding and come out of it successfully gave me the confidence to meet each subsequent challenge and continue to grow.
Please tell us about ForrestPerkins.
ForrestPerkins specializes in the design of luxury hotels, resorts and multi-residential properties worldwide. We offer interior design, interior architecture, historic restoration, branding and graphics and have offices in Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC. Perkins Eastman has fifteen offices in the US and internationally, including China, Dubai, India and Ecuador.
I am most proud of the creative people who have chosen to work at ForrestPerkins over the years. Their contributions to our projects have made a difference in large and small ways to the reputation and recognition we have achieved. I am also proud to have sustained and grown the company over the past thirty years in good and challenging economies to provide an opportunity for young design professionals to begin their careers participating in exciting projects and for many of them to decide to make their professional home at ForrestPerkins.
What sets us apart as a company is passion for design and focus on the details that make our projects resonate with guests and residents who chose to visit or live in the properties we design. Over the life of my career I have seen design elevated in the minds of consumers to be a critical driver of their buying decisions. This is especially true for hotels, where design is now one of the most important criteria for choosing a hotel experience. The same is true of choosing an apartment or condominium. Today’s renters and buyers are looking for the amenities and the design sensibility of stylish or luxury hotels, making our job critical to the financial success of our clients’ projects.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
From an early age, my family took long road trips to visit important places in the US and Canada. So my memories of those trips sparked my love of travel and ultimately contributed to designing my company to look for opportunities in other places and other countries. I love learning about other cultures, researching and incorporating local design elements and different ways of achieving a design vision based on local materials, methods and codes. This adds layers of complexity but also of discovery.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3131 Turtle Creek Boulevard,
Suite 700, Dallas, TX 75219 - Website: www.forrestperkins.com
- Phone: 214-953-2210
- Email: dforrest@forrestperkins.com
Image Credit:
Jefferson DC Skylight and Gates: Photograph @Stirling Elmendorf
Westin Dallas Downtown: Photograph by Mark Silverstein
Fairmont San Francisco King Room Final: Photograph by Jeff Zaruba
Fairmont Washington, DC Front Desk: Photograph by VRXStudios
Fairmont Washington, DC Lobby: Photograph by VRXStudios
St. Anthony Hotel Peacock Alley (3): Photograph by Mark Silverstein, Silverstein Photography
St. Anthony Hotel Peacock Alley (1): Photograph by Mark Silverstein, Silverstein Photography
Deborah Lloyd Forrest Portrait: Courtesy of ForrestPerkins
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