“Clients don't know what they want.” It’s a cliche of the profession that’s half true. Clients generally know what they want, but rarely do they know why. Solving that particular puzzle is key to these two designers’ psychology-driven approaches.

The Facilitator

“When I have a new client, I’ll listen to what they’re looking for and ask them about themselves. In that conversation, I tell them, ‘I am the facilitator for the client’s discovery of their own self-expression within their own environment.’ That’s the sentence I’ve been saying, and it’s very important to what I do. Some clients are coming to me because they have a very specific aesthetic in mind—they want the end result to look like a specific project I’ve done. But I tell them that if they flip through my work, every project is different because every client is different. I explain that it’s a collaborative effort—I say, ‘I’m here to help you get there, but you have to help me get there, too. It’s not a one-way street.’ Having these conversations builds the very beginning of the trust. And at the end of it, they have a beautiful home that they’re proud of. It’s elevated, because I did the first part, but it’s still very much them. That makes me walk away feeling so good.”
—Peti Lau, Los Angeles