After originally thinking about a career in law, David Cohen ultimately found his true passion was in construction. “I’m a non-linear thinker. What I found was really seductive about construction was [its role] at the nexus of being a pleaser, and also someone who had to undertake creative problem solving,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “How do we resolve issues and find ways to marry craft and classical tradition with modern technology or ways to do things faster or better? These were all very exciting, and drew on my academic antecedents.”

Cohen went on to work for the New York–based residential construction company William Crawford, where he was able to collaborate with some of the city’s top design professionals. In 1988, at the age of 27, he went out on his own to found I-Grace Company. Then, two years later, an equestrian accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. “I was going to be completely unaccepting of anything other than leaning into the fight to try to recover. I learned so much about myself, but I also learned about the people who were present [with me],” he says. “In my budding firm, I had a couple of employees who stayed with us. The clients that we were working on stayed with us. There were so many things and people that touched my life in a profound way.” I-Grace continued on, Cohen made a recovery, and over nearly 40 years he has collaborated with design greats like Mark Hampton, Oscar Shamamian and Peter Marino.

Another challenge of the early years was learning how to be confident in his abilities. “I was self-conscious. To use an overused term, it was a bit of imposter syndrome. People would be complimentary and friendly, but I was just like, ‘Thank you, that’s very kind. I’d love to do that next time.’ But at a certain point, I couldn’t not [take the opportunities that came my way] because people were persistent,” he says. “I’m so glad that gradually I was like, ‘Not only do I enjoy this, but these are marvelous people,’ and I really came to not only like and respect some of them, but love and cherish them.”

Elsewhere, he discusses his appreciation for apprenticeships and craft, how New York’s summer schedule changed his business, the importance of maintaining relations and his thoughts on the changing Manhattan skyline.

Crucial insight: Over the course of his decades-long career, Cohen attributes his ability to manage client expectations as a key to his firm’s success. “You have to model scenarios, and not only does the design team, but owners need to understand the trade-offs,” he says. “The danger, as I see it, is that many projects start as either schedule-driven or budget-driven, and ultimately become design-driven. People are mystified about why the schedules have increased at an alarming scale, or the budgets have increased. … Our obligation is not to have sharp elbows, not to be a screamer, but to have a toolbox to explain to people, and that they know that we not only have the experience, but we’ve been through this so many cycles, and we also have the resources, if need be, to intervene.”

Key quote: “The more [industries] you automate and the more you do to limit certain [career] opportunities for professionals, we’re seeing more and more people interested in coming back to craft-based organizations, because you can earn a good living doing this,” he says. “You get something that’s palpable. It’s real. You get to build things and do things. So I’m hoping that other people will see this as an opportunity and we will see more of a migration back to it. People will recognize that absent training people, these skills are going to go away.”

This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Maiden Home. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Thursday Show

Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including a trade war with Canada, Lovesac drama, and whether designers should give away their services. Later, designer Rainey Richardson joins the show to talk about her program for aspiring designers, Project Design Week.

This episode is sponsored by Joon Loloi and Lutron. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.