IIDA SoCal Honors 2018 Calibre Design Awards Winners

TheCalibre Design Awards, held annually by IIDA SoCal, the Southern California Chapter of the International Interior Designers Association (IIDA), celebrates design and recognizes the importance of collaboration and teamwork to realize successful projects across multiple typologies.

The 30th edition of the gala event took place on Friday, May 18, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. It honored teams behind winning projects (listed below) as well as stand-out student members and this year’s Circle of Excellence Honorees. Exemplifying outstanding dedication to the interior design profession through passion for excellence in design, quality and innovation as well as leadership and mentoring qualities, this year’s Circle of Excellence Honorees are Stanley Felderman and Nancy Keatinge, partners at Felderman Keatinge & Associatesbased in Culver City, California.

With design careers spanning three decades, the husband-and-wife duo are industry pioneers and creative icons who elevate the quality of the built environment. Their portfolio encompasses commercial, hospitality and museum interiors, as well as industrial, textile and furniture designs. Felderman and Keatinge were recently named Design Legends at the 37thannual Interiors Awards presented by Contract magazine.

“Stanley’s and my journey here has been a collaboration in work and in life, and we have grown together to cultivate our shared passion for creativity, imagination, design and aesthetic,” Ms. Keatinge said. “And we feel very privileged to have been on the precipice of an era that’s changed the way people think about design and how it impacts our lives. Our industry is growing and evolving at a rapid speed, and today it is as diverse as our ideas and as creative as our wildest dreams will carry us.

“Often times, clients say they don’t know exactly what they want, so we talk to them, we dig deeper, and we find the subtext,” Keatinge continued. “We then take those broad strokes, refine them, and translate them into inspired spaces that make them say, ‘That’s it, that’s exactly what I didn’t know I wanted!’ That epiphany is what we strive for. It’s what makes it all worth it. Because when we transform the spirit of a place, we honor and inspire those that ultimately dwell in it.”

“Today, design and creativity are the currency of the future –they come together because good design inspires,” Felderman concurred. “I think Felderman Keating & Associates started when Nancy and I met. We not only fell in love with each other, but we also had a common passion for design and changing the environment…The core of who we are is that we take a very holistic approach to design: When you affect the mind and the body, there’s a third aspect when it comes together seamlessly or in a very poetic way, and you touch the soul.

“At the end of the day, I think what inspires both of us is that we affect the way people work, live and how they feel at the end of the day. That’s the intangible part: How does design influence people and change their lives?”

Future design leaders were also honored at the Calibre Awards gala. Each year IIDA SoCal invites student members to participate in portfolio and charrette competitions organized by the IIDA SoCal Board of Directors. An esteemed panel of professionals serves as jurors for each program, and the chapter provides monetary awards in recognition of outstanding student work. Top students received sponsored tickets to the gala, where they were presented with their awards.

Last November, 30 students from interior design programs in schools throughout Southern California gathered in Costa Mesa for the 2017 IIDA Southern California Student Design Charette, hosted by Pivot Interiors. Students were grouped into six teams and allotted only 4.5 hours to design a multiuse concept combining a spa, yoga studio, beauty salon, retail, and a restaurant set within the The Bloc, a new open-air shopping center in downtown Los Angeles.

The winning team was awarded $10,000 and honored at the gala. Team members include Rachel Escobedo (Art Institute of California – San Diego), Amanda Ortiz (Chaffey College), Joshua Chang (Otis College or Art + Design), Kacie Thomas (Interior Designers Institute), and Tsz Yan Leung (Mt. San Antonio College). This team went on to represent IIDA SoCal and compete in the Western Region Student Design Charette held in Portland.

Additionally, 13 student members from six Southern California schools participated in a portfolio competition. A total of $16,000 was divided between scholarship award winners. The winners include Melissa Yip (California State University Long Beach) in the Social Relevance Category, Melissa Nguyen (Art Center College of Design) in the Innovation Category, and Afshin Homayoonmehr (San Diego Mesa College) as an Honorable Mention.

Keatinge summarized the spirit of the gala event and the shift toward inclusion in the interior design profession at large with this statement: “As a woman in this business, I have often been the only ‘girl’ in the room with clients and at project meetings. It has taken me time to find my voice, but trust me, I’ve found it. And in this time of inclusion and diversity, I encourage all of you to find your voice to know that your opinions, your perspective and your vision have great value in any room…As designers, we have a responsibility to raise the bar by educating, informing and inspiring.”