Judy Fox, Allied Member ASID, keeps the Valley covered with her lush interior designs.
For three decades, the Scottsdale interior designer has created residential and commercial interiors that are client-driven: “Each job is personal,” says Fox, a Boston native who attended the New York School of Design and Harvard University. “Each job has its gestation and must be taken at its own pace.”
Her work has been featured in many magazines and coffee-table books, and she and her design team have been regularly awarded by the local Arizona North Chapter of ASID, including its prestigious “Best of Show.”
“An exquisite home is not driven by price,” Fox says. “It is driven by the sensitive and tasteful use of good design, fine products and professional project management.” A sense of humor helps, too: “Home design is stressful, so we always design a little whimsy, fun and joy into the process.”
With a positive, goal-oriented relationship between the client, designer, architect, builder and the trades, excellence is always possible: “Excellence happens when any event occurs in a way that is better than ever before,” Fox explains. “We ask, ‘What will it take to make this home a win/win?’ We ask, ‘Have we done all that we can do?’”
Today, as throughout her career, Fox continues to enjoy elegant, ordered space that incorporates subtle layers of detail: complexity juxtaposed with simplicity, patterns against solids, textured surfaces bordered by smooth surfaces. Glass meets wood set against metals; the old and the recycled rubs against the new.
There are many combinations, she explains—and one desired response: “To turn a corner and be delighted, to have the eye surprised: This is good design. This is an environment that nourishes its people—and expands their lives.”
Recently, I spoke with Judy about the current market for interior design:
How has the recession affected your industry?
In the same way it has affected all of the building trades. If you can’t sell your home to buy or build a new one, then the dominoes start to fall. The architect doesn’t get the client, the builder doesn’t build, so the interior designer doesn’t design. All of the subcontractors connected with building lose out also. The banks are not helping homeowners to buy a new home, which completes the negative cycle.
How have you met the challenge of the economy?
We operate in a lean and mean fashion. Necessities. Do we want it or do we need it?
What are some of the recent trends in design that you are incorporating?
I’m more conscious of green choices. Value reigns supreme because clients are also asking the want versus need question. Quality, classics in design, materials and craftsmanship. A simplifying of styles. An uncluttering.
You recently traveled to Peru. Can you tell us a little about that trip?
Lima, Peru was fascinating. Seeing the old architecture in sharp contrast with the new. But I was there for stone, and stone they do have. I toured a factory that had stone brought in from their quarry for me to see. I was able to select pieces that I might not have seen if I hadn’t made that trip. My client will reap the benefits.
What do you tell the young designer-to-be?
The young designer has to be business savvy. He or she should have the ability to CAD and hand draft. Also, have a marketing plan and invest in excellent photography. Most importantly: Listen, listen, listen, to what your clients are saying — and what they are not saying.
