Here’s my Valentine to you, Clever listeners. This episode is all about love and how to intentionally design and build the long-lasting, mutually fulfilling, loving relationships you desire. Dr. Sara Nasserzadeh, author of Love By Design: 6 Ingredients to Build a Lifetime of Love unpacks her paradigm-shifting model of Emergent Love, and helps us with exercises and epiphany-inducing re-defines of attraction, respect, trust, compassion, shared vision, and loving behaviors. Along the way we learn to spot and avoid the common misfires and disconnects, and how this new way of thinking and behaving serves to benefit ALL of your relationships. When we’re intentional with our creative agency in our relationships, it ripples out to benefit all of humanity. *swoon

Legendary visual artist Cey Adams grew up in NYC immersed in the excitement and danger of graffiti, embellishing buildings and tagging “Cey City” on subway cars. From there, he began selling in galleries along with contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, and designing merch, logos and singles for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J. As founding Creative Director of Def Jam he designed cover art for Slick Rick, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, etc., toured with his good friends the Beastie Boys, and asked Method Man for parenting advice - all in a day at the office. 40+ years into his prolific career as a celebrated commercial and fine artist, he’s recognized as a defining visionary of hip-hop culture.

Lighting Designer John Sorensen-Jolink grew up in Portland, filling his days with soccer, youth symphony, horseback riding, and taking cabs between schools to train for a future as a pro dancer. After 10 years of performing with the best of the best (think Twyla Tharp et al) he answered an urge to learn how to design and make objects grounded in human connection. Now Coil + Drift is celebrated for its material forward honesty and graceful gesture with light and space. I guess you can take the designer out of dance, but you can’t take the dancer out of the design.

Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten fell in love at first sight when they met in the office of Razorfish in the 90’s. But before then, Josh grew up straddling Miami and Vermont, where he gained experience navigating different worlds and perspectives. While Evan, growing up in Minneapolis, was bursting with curiosity, learning languages, and pushing to travel as often as possible. Their chemistry and compatibility ultimately led to the founding of COOL HUNTING. Now after 20 years, they are still exploring the edges of art, design, cars, craft, tech and travel, while also leading the charge (custom project with Ferrari blending traditional craft with high-tech luxury) and the conversation (new podcast, Design Tangents) on the design of a meaningful and beautiful future.

On this Clever Extra, Amy Devers sits down with Kari Pei, Interface VP of Global Product Design; David Oakey, founder of David Oakey Designs; and Bill Browning, founding partner of Terrapin Bright Green and co-author of Nature Inside: A Biophilic Design Guide. Together, they unpack the science, practical applications, and ROI of creating happier places with biophilic design. They dive into how diversity can inspire fabric patterns, how “evidence-based design” can improve cardiac patients' health, and the ‘psychoacoustics’ of moving water. Kari, David, and Bill discuss their favorite patterns, the power of biophilic design to create a better world, and how design and technology can continue to draw from the world around us to create happier places.

For our very special 200th episode, we’re joined by world-renowned architect and designer Patricia Urquiola. While she’s now known internationally, growing up in Spain as the middle child she was often forgotten. She found a certain joy in this freedom of being “in between”. Declaring she’d be an architect at age 13, she went on to study with the pioneers of the time, growing her roots in systemic thinking and Magic Rationalism. Now, Studio Urquiola is a powerhouse of international design. Having already made an indelible mark on the built world, Patricia continues to be a trailblazer of the “in between” – transforming how architecture, design, art, virtual space and AI all interact today, and how we think about the future. 

Sound Designer Dallas Taylor picked up the trumpet in grade school and a whole new world opened up. After a debilitating chapter, he needed to find a new way to translate his love of sound into a profession. He went from music to recording, and into post-production for TV and film. Now he’s the creative director of his leading sound design studio, Defacto Sound, and the host of a lovingly crafted (and very popular) podcast, Twenty Thousand Hertz, about the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Designer and 2x4 co-founder Georgianna Stout lived in Paris before the bumpy transition to the US for elementary school.  Unhappy at school, she graduated early and tried on Pratt for fashion design, but it wasn’t the right fit. At RISD, she found her people. The next few years were filled with deep connections, growth, and joy; eventually leading to a fruitful collaboration with her co-founders and the formalization of 2x4. Now 30 years in, 2x4 has grown to a team of 50 and has earned a stellar reputation supporting prestigious brands from Prada to MoMa. Georgie’s unique ability to build the right team for each project is one key to her magic. 

Bradley L. Bowers spent his youth hanging in the basement with Grandma Dorothy while she upholstered furniture. Always outspoken, in high school he found that only the art teachers embraced his questioning of the status quo. A fruitful spell at SCAD earned him Industrial & Furniture Design degrees + loads of skills, but it’s by tuning his antenna to the ‘little Yodas everywhere’ that he gathers his wisdom.

Only child Cheryl Durst grew up with a tribe of imaginary friends at her side. Her scientist mom and professor dad encouraged this, since it helped with her stutter and soothed her loneliness. A deep love of learning and art pulled her to the Smithsonian museums to work as an educator, before joining IIDA over 25 years ago! At the helm of IIDA, she’s moved interior design forward, as a profession and as a value to society.