In Ask an Influencer, Business of Home explores the creator economy. This week, we spoke with Los Angeles designer Dani Dazey.
In the online design world, it’s hard to venture too far into the realm of maximalism without stumbling upon Dani Dazey, whose feed—filled with bold, saturated colors and pattern-on-pattern galore—seems to bring the interior style to its fullest expression. It comes as no surprise, then, that her distinctive style has been a lifetime in the making, starting with redesigning her childhood bedroom in Los Angeles, remodeling houses in The Sims and sewing clothes for her dolls.
Growing up torn between interiors and fashion, she chose the latter when it came time for college, specializing in apparel graphics and print design. Her education paved the way for a successful career in fashion, which took her through corporate gigs at Urban Outfitters and Macy’s, before she started her own clothing line, Dazey LA, centered on colorful graphic tees. “Amid all of that, I was sharing my small-business journey as an entrepreneur and a designer [on social media], and really being very transparent about my design process and bringing my audience in,” says Dazey. “That’s where I started to build a fan base.”
The vibrant use of color and prints she employed in her apparel translated to her interior design projects, including the remodel of her house in Palm Springs and her office space in downtown L.A. With her growing following, it wasn’t long before publications like Dwell and Domino took notice, bringing in a pipeline of prospective clients that was so full, it prompted Dazey to turn her attention to design full-time.
Social media has opened up a world of completely new career opportunities for her, including a featured role as the titular property’s designer on the reality show Trixie Motel; and her first book, The Maximalist, which hit shelves earlier this year. Meanwhile, her online presence remains a constant tool for her design business, with an audience of 185,000 on Instagram and 221,200 on TikTok cultivating an active pool of new clients and brand deals—inside the industry and beyond.
Ahead, the designer shares how vulnerability on social media has deepened her audience connection, why her online aesthetic mirrors her design style, and what it took to catch the eye of book publishers and casting directors.
Getting Candid On Camera
When Dazey launched her clothing line in 2016, Instagram was still all about grid posts. Then, Stories came along—and the designer saw an opportunity to infuse her social media presence and e-commerce site with a newly transparent approach to her fans and potential customers.
“When Stories launched, I embraced talking to camera and sharing [what it was like] running a small business day-to-day,” says Dazey. “People don’t want just the polished finished product every time. I’ll show them when we [messed] up—like when our contractor didn’t prep the cabinets, like, ‘Look, it’s just peeling off.’ Then I’ll show us having to fix that. Being really real and sharing both the beautiful final result but also the real stuff in between makes it more relatable and forges a stronger bond with your audience.”
Controlled Chaos
As playful as Dazey’s work can be, there’s a strong sense of structure—an aesthetic principle that’s also reflected in her online content, which retains a sense of cohesion that carries through from the way she edits her posts to the content that makes it onto her page.
“I really like to establish a very clear visual brand and be very consistent with my content, and have it feel very uniform and on-brand for me—so, very colorful, full of personality and fun,” she says. “I think that goes from how I share and present the content, to the content and spaces themselves.”
For Dazey, it’s an approach that performs best when it comes to engagement—but of course, there are exceptions to the rule. She stresses the need to leave room for experimentation—otherwise, too strict of a content strategy can hinder the creative flow.
“That gives people this paralysis,” she explains. “I’ve had friends who also do social media get stuck overthinking everything, and it makes the process miserable for them, and it also makes them burn out and not want to post anymore. There’s a little bit of a balance between following your gut on what you think is going to do well, but also not letting it control you.”
Off the Beaten Path
Instagram has proven to be an invaluable tool for Dazey’s marketing: The majority of her inquiries come in from clients who discover her work on social platforms. Over time, her social media following has also provided a valuable alternate revenue stream through brand partnerships, which reflect not just her design content, but the full breadth of her online identity.
“Since I treat my Instagram so personal and I share other things, like our life and outfits that I’m wearing, it’s very easy for me to find ways to promote different types of brands. It doesn’t always have to be a home thing—sometimes it has to do with small business. I partner with QuickBooks a lot, or I’ll do a fashion collaboration, things like that. I’ve really diversified the type of content I share in a way where I have a lot of different possible partnership opportunities.”
Cultivating an online presence that platforms her work and her personality has brought opportunities that had previously been pipe dreams, including her TV role and the opportunity to write her design book. The latter came to Dazey’s attention after the publisher reached out via Instagram—and better yet, when it came to the content of the book itself, the designer was given leeway to bring her personal story and voice into play, just as she has successfully done on social media.
“I got to write a whole book about design, and they also let me be really personal and really real in my book, because that’s like what I put out online. … I was able to take that same transparency to my book and share the journey,” says Dazey. “By just focusing on what was right in front of me, and sharing that on social media, those things came to me.”
