Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Occupation: Interior designer and environmental health and wellness expert.
Instagram: @wllw.eco
Studio Location: Fairfield, Connecticut
Describe what you make: I design homes through the lens of environmental health, focusing on the often invisible conditions that shape how a space feels.
Air, water, light, materials, and spatial relationships influence how we live inside our homes. Through WLLW, that perspective extends beyond design into an editorial journal that shares research and expert insight on how our homes influence wellbeing, along with a curated shop highlighting thoughtfully made objects that support healthier living.
More broadly, WLLW is an effort to reframe how we think about the home itself. The environments we live in every day shape our health, attention, and sense of ease, yet those relationships are not typically part of residential design conversations.
I believe our homes influence how we feel, live, and heal.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: My own home. It became a kind of living laboratory after my son developed severe respiratory problems and we began looking closely at how indoor environments affect health. That experience reshaped how I think about design and ultimately led to the creation of WLLW. It also changed my understanding of what a home can be, not just a place of comfort but an environment that can actively support our health.
Describe the problem your work solves: Many of the conditions that shape health and comfort in a home are invisible once construction is complete. Air and water quality, light, materials, and acoustics influence daily life, yet they are rarely part of early design conversations. My work focuses on bringing those factors into the design process from the beginning so wellbeing becomes part of the architecture itself rather than something addressed after a home is built.
Share the project you are working on now: Right now I’m part of the design team for a project that has not yet been announced, a 60,000-square-foot residential space designed to support children undergoing medical treatment and their families. The work feels deeply personal and is a reminder that design can support people when they need it most.
At the same time, we are continuing to build WLLW as an online resource that offers guidance on healthier homes, along with a carefully considered selection of objects and furnishings that reflect those principles. In a marketplace where claims around health and sustainability can be difficult to navigate, we hope to offer a trusted point of reference.
We are also developing a series of wellness-focused talks with a residential developer, exploring how the home itself can support residents’ health and everyday wellbeing.
What you absolutely have to have in your studio: Natural light and quiet. I do my best thinking when a space is calm and uninterrupted. I like a large table where drawings, books, and materials can remain spread out for days. Design often begins there, in the slow process of looking, rearranging, and seeing relationships emerge. I have never been good at rushing that part.
What you do when you’re not working: You will usually find me in the garden with my family. I am a farm girl at heart and happiest outside, around animals, the land, and a little dirt under my nails. It is where I reset and where many ideas quietly take shape.
Sources of creative envy (dead or alive): Axel Vervoordt for the serenity of his spaces, Sheila Hicks for the way she works with textiles, and the creativity of a child. I am always struck by the joy and curiosity in the way children discover the world. It is something I try to hold onto in my own work.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Negativity. Creative work requires an open mind, and negativity has a way of closing it.
Concrete or marble? Marble. It only gets better with time.
High-Rise Or Townhouse? Townhouse. I like homes where the front door opens directly into the rhythm of a neighborhood.
Remember Or Forget? Both. Remember what matters and forget what doesn’t.
Aliens Or Ghosts? Ghosts. I have spent enough time in old houses to believe they have a memory.
Dark Or Light? Light. It changes everything.
