Author Archives: Amanda Hansen

Sponsor Spotlight: Absolute Resource

Company Name: Absolute Resource
Your Name: Jayson Gates
Local Rep’s Position/Years?: Owner / Principle 14 years
IIDA member since: 2005

At Absolute Resource, our mission is to build enduring relationships with design professionals and the most creative, innovative brands in the world. Based in the Pacific Northwest and celebrating over 10-years in operation, we are an internationally recognized firm collaborating and servicing clients in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. Our team is dedicated to your success. As an independent agent/representative Absolute Resource offers a full range of support, including detailed product presentations, brand expertise & advocacy, product sustainability, and sampling on behalf of our trusted partners.
Additionally, we provide resources on durability and budget, along with specialized design scope and material sourcing for sophisticated specifications. We are here to support and assist as you build your professional legacy through partnerships with prestige, innovative brands including: RBW lighting, Naughtone, Turf, Spacestor, Leland, Montisa, Miran Spaces and TextileMania. Our passion lies in working with creative, fun and interesting people who are changing the world through the transformative power of interior design. Thank you IIDA Oregon.

What is your favorite IIDA event and why?
The annual celebration as it’s a great event celebrating the creativity and commitment of our design community and IIDA members. What is your favorite product/service offered by your company and why?: Brand advocacy that includes domestic and international travel. We love exploring our brands and introducing the unique culture of our partners to the community in the PNW. We love to travel!

What aspect of your company are you most proud of and why?
We are proud that the design community in the Pacific Northwest has allowed us to thrive and work as partners on such memorable and creative projects through the years. 

What value do you see in being an IIDA Oregon Chapter Annual Sponsor?
IIDA has been part of our journey in the design community since the start of our career. We are proud to support an organization that supports the professionalism of interior Design and our community. 

What impact do you see the IIDA Oregon Chapter having on the A&D community in Oregon?
We see IIDA Oregon continuing to provide community and support to emerging and seasoned designers and firms. To provide a place for designers to thrive, grow, and to be inspired to create projects that are Innovative, healthy, safe, and transformative. 

What is your personal mantra?
What you seek is what you find. 

What gets you excited about design?
The intersection of digital and real life in the creative process. More human, less commodity. 

Favorite design magazine/blog?
Alcova.xyz (check it out and thank me later) 

Interesting fact?
I recently traveled to Sumba Indonesia and visited a Marapu village. I was gifted and accepted an offering of betal nut to prevent a “war” between our families. Disaster averted; you can call me “Indiana Jayson” now!

Sponsor Spotlight: LRS Architects

Company Name: LRS Architects
Services: Architecture, Interior Design and Master Planning
Number of years in business: 47
Involved on the IIDA Oregon Chapter Board?
Britney Hale, Director of Membership 2023-2024
Amalia Mohr, President 2011-2012

LRS Architects is an award-winning practice driven by a passion for good design that goes beyond aesthetics to create vibrant communities and spaces that support he well-being of those who inhabit them. Our 139-person firm is the largest majority woman-owned architecture and interior design firm in the Pacific Northwest, with offices in Portland and Bend, Oregon. We work throughout the United States and internationally in China, Canada, and Nicaragua. LRS projects have been recognized with dozens of awards and featured in hundreds of publications, including Architect, Fast Company, ENR, and Office Snapshots, among others.

What is your favorite IIDA event and why?
Our favorite event is the IIDA Design Excellence Awards Ceremony, celebrating our accomplishments in the industry with our design peers. It always promises an invigorating evening full of interesting conversation, inspiration, and excitement for the future of design. 

What is your favorite product/service offered by your company and why?
Collaboration is the most important service we offer at LRS. We love to collaborate with our clients, working together to find the best design solutions for their needs. It is a privilege to earn clients’ trust and learn from them about what inspires their community so that the design we generate together can unite their community in a way that is unique to them. 

What aspect of your company are you most proud of and why?
Happy designers make happy projects! Our firm culture is one of a kind, deeply rooted in the belief that empathy and creativity go hand in hand. We are proud to have built a firm differentiated by remarkable people who care deeply about their colleagues’ aspirations and hopes for the future.

What value do you see in being an IIDA Oregon Chapter Annual Sponsor?
Even though it is a group of competitors both within architecture and interior design firms or products, you would never know it when you attend an event or come together as a team.

The resources and support that the IIDA Oregon Chapter provides to our local interior design community is immensely valuable and elevates everyone’s work. It is so refreshing to see a tight-knit, engaging group of designers and product vendors from competing firms come together to build community around a shared passion for great design.

What impact do you see the IIDA Oregon Chapter having on the A&D community in Oregon?
Our membership benefits our community of designers and industry partners by providing opportunities for professional development, networking, and positions in leadership. The IIDA Oregon Chapter also offers great support to designers studying for the NCIDQ exam, which has benefitted many interior designers at LRS who have taken their exams. Ultimately, the health, safety, and welfare of the greater community is impacted by Interior Design Legislation, and IIDA’s leadership and advocacy in these efforts is widely recognized.

What is your personal mantra?
The LRS Interior Design Team understands that each of our clients’ stories are unique and deserving of a space that reflects that story. While we stay aware of what’s new and trending in the design world, we know that there is more to creating a space than simply following the latest trends. Our team prides ourselves on being a creative and collaborative group. We work closely with our clients to gain an understanding of their story, their needs, and their vision. By approaching each project with a balance of creativity and collaboration, we’re able to create solutions that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but functional as well.

Interesting fact?
We believe in breaking the status quo by celebrating diversity. Our passion for creating spaces that serve our users best through empathy and understanding of different perspectives stems from our majority women ownership. As a result, we bring fresh, innovative design solutions to every project we undertake. 

We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional service, and that is reflected in our repeat clients. In fact, 80 percent of our business comes from satisfied clients who return to us for their next project. We understand that each client is unique and has their own vision, and we are committed to bringing that vision to life through creative design solutions.

Featured Blog Post: President Spotlight

Hello! My name is Emily Wright and I am happy to introduce myself as your new IIDA Oregon Chapter President for the 2023-2024 board year! Thank you again to everyone who was able to join us at the Color Block Party Annual Celebration. It was such a fun and inspiring night for us to celebrate the chapter’s achievements and look forward to our progress for the next year. I could not have asked for a better way to kick off my presidency!

I am stepping into this role after seven and a half years serving on the IIDA OR Board of Directors, previously having served on the Sponsorship team as the Director of Annual Sponsorship and the Advocacy team as both a Director and Vice President of Advocacy. I am passionate about the profession of commercial interior design and am thankful everyday for the opportunity to work alongside so many other passionate members of our profession. 

Community
As your 2023-2024 IIDA Oregon Chapter President, my theme for this year is community. In an industry known for its ups and downs, it can be hard to look to the future with any certainty, but that does not mean the future is out of our control. I firmly believe that by continuing to focus our energy into cultivating meaningful connections, we can foster a strong and welcoming community. This also includes commitment to our ongoing work with social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion and as well as continuing to build on our efforts for outreach to students in K-12. 

Community and connection also does not end just with our members. There are many opportunities for us to be collaborating within Portland and Oregon with other organizations and I look forward to finding ways for us to connect to share resources, build our networks, and work towards a more resilient community that everyone feels they are a part of.

Advocacy
In the spring of this year, IIDA, ASID, and CIDQ came together to form the Consortium for Interior Design. I am so encouraged by the momentum that we are already seeing behind this effort. We have already started meeting monthly with representatives from each group at both the national and local level and the power that that collaboration is going to be able to bring to this effort is already apparent. That, coupled with the work that our advocacy team has been doing in education and advocate building, along with the changing of attitudes within AIA, it really feels like we are on the precipice of something big.

Pushing forward on this initiative means continuing to work to advance our strategic plan, which outlines the steps that will need to be taken in order to pursue legislation. The effort may feel daunting at times, but we have an incredibly passionate and hard working advocacy team and I look forward to continuing to be involved in their efforts as we keep pushing forward.

Upcoming Events
We have a full calendar of programming and we can’t wait to see you there! Looking ahead into August, we will be hosting our first SOCIAL for the board year. In addition to your chance to meet and mingle with members of the A&D community, there will also be a photographer on site to take new professional headshots!

Also in August, we will begin our call for submissions for the 2023  Design Excellence Awards, as well as nominations for the 2023 Industry Award. This year’s awards will be held at the Melody Event Center on October 19, so we are excited to be bringing this event to a new venue to celebrate the amazing and inspiring interior design from Oregon. Our call for submissions will be opening at the end of August, so keep your eyes peeled for that and we hope you will join us.

You can find our full calendar of events on our website and I  look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events this year!

Lastly, I’d like to thank my firm, SRG Partnership, for their support of my involvement in IIDA over many years and now especially as I step into this new role. SRG continues to be an advocate for Commercial Interior Design and IIDA, not only supporting my involvement and presidency, but also the current President of the IIDA Northern Pacific Chapter, Sarah Larson. Thank you again to SRG and my colleagues for your support, I could not be here without you!

In addition to SRG, many firms and companies commit time and resources to the Chapter by supporting Board members. Our 34 member board is a diverse group of individuals who come from different design backgrounds, but who are all passionate about community engagement and Commercial Interior Design.

Board members and IIDA Oregon Chapter members, I look forward to collaborating with you this year, and I am honored to serve as your 2023-2024 IIDA Oregon Chapter President.