Designer Noz Nozawa makes a convincing case for dispensing with the mystery surrounding industry pricing—and with the notion that design is a zero-sum game.

The interior design industry has long been comfortable with a certain degree of opacity, keeping the particulars of the trade—notably, price tags—hazy in the minds of the general public. There are good reasons for that, ranging from inertia (It’s always been this way!) to the fact that talking explicitly about money risks cheapening the magic of the process, and more broadly, the fact that Americans are typically shy about discussing the cost of luxury goods. But what if instead of protecting the profession, all the mystery is stunting its growth?

A growing number of young designers are starting to wonder if that might just be the case. Noz Nozawa, founder and principal of San Francisco–based Noz Design, is one of them. Prior to founding her firm in 2014, Nozawa worked in marketing at Houzz—an experience that opened her eyes to the dearth of information available to homeowners about the cost of interior design.