Richard Anuszkiewicz has always been ahead of the game. While his middle-school friends in Pittsburgh were asking their parents for the newest PlayStation consoles, he was requesting the latest drafting software. By high school, he was attending an architectural course at nearby Carnegie Mellon University on the weekends.
“Design truly has been a part of me ever since I was young,” Anuszkiewicz (pronounced “anna-SKEV'-ich”) tells host Kaitlin Petersen on the latest episode of the Trade Tales podcast. “It was something about interiors and homes that always stuck with me.”
Later, when attending Virginia Tech, he joined the student chapter of the National Kitchen & Bath Association—an experience that made him fall in love with that side of the design industry; then, while working at his first postgrad position at a design-build firm, he earned a spot in the NKBA’s inaugural Thirty Under 30 program in 2013. Riding the wave of that recognition, he went on to join the Design Galleria Kitchen and Bath Studio team in 2019, launching and leading the company’s Nashville outpost in the city’s growing design district. In between it all, has also taken on the role of creative director for GE’s luxury kitchen appliance brand, Monogram.
Now, Anuszkiewicz is ready for his next chapter as the head of his own firm, Raith Design Studio. Inspired by his varied interests, he plans to go beyond interior design, with an added focus on the multifaceted opportunities that drive him, from yacht and automobile design to product design. In the process, he’s taking time to reflect on the business-building experiences he has acquired throughout his career, and how those lessons will inform his firm as it comes to life in the year ahead.
Elsewhere in the episode, he shares how he approaches his role as creative director at Monogram, why he wants to be a chameleon for each client’s style, and why he frequently assesses his professional goals.
Crucial insight: Early on, a mentor advised Anuszkiewicz to evaluate his career and goals every six months. The strategy not only kept him accountable for his long-term dreams, but prevented him from jumping too quickly into starting his own firm without first understanding the processes and structure it would take to launch the business from a place of stability. “I often find that while some people have large ambitions or goals, they don’t necessarily have a vision totally honed,” he says. “I would encourage people [to] have a very clear idea of that firm or that goal, and realize that there are a lot of different ways to get there.”
Key quote: “I love the energy and synergy of a creative environment when you’re working with other talents. I jokingly have referenced the idea of The Avengers—when you can sit down at a table and everyone is bringing their own superpower, magic can really happen.”
This episode was sponsored by Joon Loloi and Universal Furniture. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
