Owner Marinette Kozlow and her Mom, Mouna, in front of Inspired Buffalo's Blackrock studio ({Photo: Jennifer Santora). Part of the defining vision of Design Synergies was to, well, create synergies with other creative entrepreneurs and small businesses. DSA started as a home-based business, then grew into a tiny office shared with another home-based business, Allieway … Continue reading Inspired Buffalo
Tag: design
Rethinking space: the #notsotinyoffice
How will you design differently? Like a lot of Architects and Designers, we've been asking that question. As we wait for some of our design projects to restart, we have been revisiting the different types of projects that our firm designs - especially those that bring people together. What might they look like if we … Continue reading Rethinking space: the #notsotinyoffice
The challenges of post-quarantine design
What will buildings and public spaces look like “after” Covid-19? There are a lot of ideas and opinions, ranging from “nothing will change” to “everything will change” - and every possible angle in between.
Happy 5th birthday!
Design Synergies is celebrating its 5th birthday this month! The 5-year mark is a big milestone for us, as it is for a lot of small businesses. In 2012, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reported - based on research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics - that about 2/3 of small businesses make it to the 2-year … Continue reading Happy 5th birthday!
Lessons learned, and learned again
I met a former client at a social event last year, and he introduced me as "his Designer" who had worked on his store, "...but actually I designed it. She just helped". About a year after finishing that project, along came another client with very definite ideas and his very own 3D model. The General Contractor balked at anything … Continue reading Lessons learned, and learned again
Know your value
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Warren Buffett Two things happened in the past month that have me questioning the value of our work as Architects. To be specific - the value of my work. The first was a client telling me he expected my fee to be about half of what I proposed. … Continue reading Know your value
Old buildings
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings." - Jane Jacobs, The Death & Life of Great American Cities
Monday morning inspiration
"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan." - Eliel Saarinen, Architect
