Will Meyer and Gray Davis were college classmates and longtime friends, but they never considered going into business together until a former Auburn University professor suggested it. “We didn’t know if it was a good idea or not, but we just did it,” says Meyer, who had been working at legendary firm Gwathmey Siegel while Davis was at Aero Studios. “We’re like, ‘Why didn’t we think of this?’ and started working toward it, and about a year later we opened up our own studio down in SoHo, where we are to this day,” says Davis.

After more than 25 years, the founders of award-winning New York design firm Meyer Davis have cultivated a diverse client roster that spans iconic hospitality brands such as the Four Seasons and Oscar de la Renta, and tastemakers like Jenna Lyons. The pair attribute much of their success to welcoming opportunities of every size from a variety of sources, whether a tiny West Village restaurant, a boutique South Beach hotel or a small residence in upstate New York. “As much as you want to have a vision about exactly where to go and which projects to do, the best advice is to let that path open up for you,” says Meyer. “By not mapping it out too distinctly, it allowed us to grow into the kind of design firm that we really wanted.”

Elsewhere in the episode, they discuss the lessons learned from early projects, their new book, The Language of Home, and how they scaled their business into a global design practice.

Crucial insight: Many designers chase large-scale commercial projects for the promise of bigger budgets, more freedom and greater recognition, but Meyer and Davis caution designers against thinking the grass is always greener. “What we’ve learned along the way is [that] hospitality is very difficult,” says Meyer. “The scale of the projects is vast, the timelines can be very tight. There’s a myriad of things that can go wrong.” Over time, the partners found a sweet spot that allowed them to pour the creativity of hospitality into home, and vice versa. “Our experience has been finding that overlap and that Venn diagram between hospitality and home,” he explains. “We started designing homes for people and willed ourselves into the world of hospitality, [where] the same design [principles] are true: You’re designing spaces that make people feel comfortable, that make people feel like they’re at home. With us, making those qualities within a hospitality environment were things that people responded to. In a home, you have to think about the theatrics of hospitality: How do you bring that extra quality to someone’s home to elevate that?”

Key quote: “We like to think of ourselves as adaptive creatives,” explains Davis. “We’re good listeners. We spend a lot of time thinking about place, about the way people live, any unique features. We don’t have a specific look. We spend a lot of time on developing a narrative, and we use that as a guide. It makes it tougher because we don’t have this knowledge [to fall back on]—but it really creates something specific to that particular project.”

This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Resource Furniture. 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 Ethan Allen drama, why Designers Guild is eyeing bankruptcy, and a viral debate over client privacy. Later, Shea McGee joins the show to discuss her company’s big push into retail.

This episode is sponsored by Chelsea House and Hickory Chair. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.