Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Irsaneous.
Katie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Well, if I am being honest, I was that weird child that had a bit of OCD when it came to arranging my belongings. You wouldn’t know that from sifting through old photographs of my childhood bedroom, you would probably assume I was a hoarder and you would have been right – back then at least. My mom has always been a “collector” so I took that trait on at an early age. It was through my nearly eight years of living in New York that helped me to become a much more “less is more” kind of girl.
I grew up in a house with a mother that would literally rip out the hall bathroom down to the 2 x 4’s while we were at school and a father with an entrepreneurial spirit that started his own business as an electrical contractor. My parents were far from Ivy Leaguers and more from the School of Hardknox. It’s fair to say that I am most proud of them for never settling and always striving to give us everything they could with a bit of tough love and hard work.
It wasn’t until I finished college, at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, when I made a split decision to move to the Big Apple where I would set forth on my path to all things interior design. I had never been to New York and straight up took an internship with the one and only Ralph Lauren in the summer of 2009. This was back when interns weren’t paid *GASP*. Here I was, all in, three months committed to RL with no pay, no promise of a job, several people telling me I was making a mistake, even more people cheering me on and no fear strangely enough. I just knew I would regret not taking the risk of a lifetime if I didn’t go. Turning down paid internships? No problem, let’s do this! All I knew then is what I live by now, no matter when I fail, there will always be people who love me and have a place to take me in if it came down to it.
I could probably fill an entire novel with my New York experiences but I’ll spare you for now. With a degree in Fashion Merchandising, I had to complete an internship in the field so I spent my first three months in New York working alongside the buying team for the now-defunct RL brand, Rugby. My degree had started in Fashion Design and quickly shifted to Fashion Merchandising mostly for the business aspect of things and it made the most sense at the time. I gained a ton of insight from design and merchandising so I am thankful for that path. My internship was incredible, to say the least! I learned every aspect of retail and the entire product life cycle while being in the mecca of fashion. The best thing I learned was that buying, although seeming glamorous, was not for me personally. My gut said that was not my path and to keep looking. At the end of summer in 2009, I took a position in guest services at the famous Ralph Lauren Mansion Flagship store on Madison Avenue. I was that girl asking if you wanted still or sparkling water or if you needed that gift wrapped. Yup, I was her at 26 years old!
I spent the next 7ish months trying to find what it is I came for. Did I make a mistake? How am I going to pay my rent next month? Should I call the whole thing off, order a pizza and just move back? That’s when it happened, I volunteered for a Home Collection seasonal changeover and fell in love instantly. I could let my OCD run rampant, it was finally encouraged! I would pay money to see a photo of that first beach towel wall I ever merchandised. Everyone was at lunch and I just did it without thinking. I’m sure that picture is out there somewhere in the Common Drive at RL! Being in the flagship I had all the talent of RL right there in the same room as me! “How in the world did I get this lucky?” I would constantly ask myself. It makes me smile remembering the world as I saw it in that moment.
Weeks went by after that install and I sent a creepy amount of emails to the two heads of Home Collection begging to hire me. I knew what I wanted so I just stayed persistent – something my Mister probably loves and hates about me ha! Finally, the reply came after a few months of patience, a new position had opened and they wanted to interview me! I was elated and nervous but mostly just shocked that my stalking techniques worked. The position was working alongside the Head of Creative for Retail. Basically, in laymans terms, this division of took inspiration from the idyllic RL Home showroom (which had a very generous budget) and reworked it into each unique (by unique I mean smaller budgets so they call it creative for a reason) retail environments across the RL Home stores. I was so incredibly lucky to land this job. It truly changed my life. The people, the talent, the long hours, none of which bothered my eager eyes… all of it. I found it, that thing you wish your mentor would just give you all the answers to. I found my thing.
The year flew by and I loved every second. I learned so many things, oh so many things! On the more serious side, I learned about the design process as a whole, production, color stories, mood boards, researching, layering, lighting, textiles, furniture styles, you name it! I had the best teachers all along the way. I also learned to never speak when Alfredo speaks (little joke for my RL peeps), always make sure your candle colors AND light bulbs match, and that RL really has two lifestyles they love – Nautical AND Tartan Party. Just typing this gives me all the feels because it truly was such a fun time in my life that helped shape me into the person I am today. I was like an alien from a “where’s that” university in Texas, suddenly immersed into the New England culture. Talk about a fish out of water but I couldn’t have loved it more!
Soon enough, I was summoned to the other side of Creative that worked with a product presentation. I had a new position where I dealt with stores directly helping to set the seasonal mood with their product. For all your retail nerds like me – this is the directive side that deals with planograms and layout. Again I found myself completely obsessed with the people and the process. It was hard work and the hours were long but I was able to really round out my entire product lifecycle knowledge. I worked with the Marketing team, Designers, Buyers and continued my partnership with the Creative side I had just come from. Time went on and I eventually took the reigns from my mentor/boss/lifelong friend and finished my tenure at RL heading up Home Presentation.
In time, I started feeling a desire to go out on my own so I began consulting as a side hustle where I had a few clients that I took on and worked with on a regular basis. These were mostly retail-driven but soon started expanding into residential. Fast forward to the birth of my first kiddo, which pushed me willingly into exploring my own gig full time. Mister and I finally decided to make the move to Texas – my home state – and designed and built our first home. I fell even more in love with the design, the process and all that it encompasses.
Once we settled back in Texas in December 2016, I was fortunate to land even more clients than I planned in my first year. I dipped my toe in multi-family commercial design, starting with small updates to leasing areas, community centers and such. I was literally doing this by myself. Busting my tail day and night with any free time I had. Again, makes me smile how lucky I felt and couldn’t believe people actually loved what I was doing! Me?! I was always thinking, “I could have done this better,” “Next time I’ll do it this way” – you know that voice? Or probably I’m just crazy! Anyway, after seeing a surge in business and realizing that I couldn’t keep at it alone, Brie Stierwalt fell into my life at a friend’s party and we instantly clicked. She had it, that fire I have deep down. That drive that forces you to push it to the limit. We sunk our heels right in and I began sharing all my love and quirks for design. She soaked it in like a sponge and we became a duo. We were cranking out amazing residential designs and our commercial projects kept soaring. We quickly realized this love for commercial that we didn’t realize we loved so much all along. After completing an astounding 14 commercial projects combined in three years we knew we found our niche. While we love residential we really have honed in on our love for commercial and have so many exciting projects in the works for 2020.
Our projects started small and have quickly been building our knowledge, passion and appreciation for this specialty field. We have had nothing but the best clients supporting our ideas along the way and spouses who continue to be our biggest cheerleaders and coaches! This past year we gained another killer woman to the team, Hannah Davis Ryon, to head up our marketing and social media (among many other hats.) Fun fact: I babysat Hannah in college so roots run deep and I am so grateful she believed in what Brie and I bring to the commercial design game!
Has it been a smooth road?
There were days I have felt so overwhelmed I wanted to quit. There were people along the way telling me reasons I couldn’t or shouldn’t persevere. There were doors closed in my face and failed attempts. But for each of those moments of doubt, God lit the way. For every naysayer, there was someone beside me cheering me along telling me to keep going. Each door closed redirected my path to where I stand. I’m still trucking along and all of these things are still ever-present in my life. Every day brings its own challenges but every moment has its gifts.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Irsaneous Interiors – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
We are a bespoke design firm specializing in commercial design, focusing on multi-family and hospitality. We have scaled back taking on residential projects and are focusing on our love for commercial design. I am most proud of my team and how we are diving headfirst into something we weren’t “formally” trained in. There was a day when I was ashamed to say I didn’t go to school for interior design. But Oprah Winfrey and Steve Jobs paved their way by following the same recipe we have. My daddy gave it to me I was a little girl, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the small-town vibes of Fort Worth and how a family comes first. Life is slower but I probably need more of that! I love how close I am to Dallas and all of the fantastic sources at my fingertips!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.irsaneousinteriors.com
- Email: katie@irsaneousinteriors.com
- Instagram: irsaneousinteriors
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irsaneousinteriors/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/irsaneousinteriors/
Image Credit:
Hannah Davis Ryon, Michaela Andrade
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