Author Archives: SLHinkel

I am currently working with The Psychology Clinic, Inc. to plan their celebration of 30 and 10 years in Madison, Sauk Prairie and Baraboo. Along with a splendid array of hors d’oeuvres, the event will feature live music from Mal-O-Dua:

I can’t think of a better group of people to celebrate. The work they do is phenomenal of course, and they also ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to doing the work of being happy and healthy people. Accept no substitutions; a great practitioner of any type models the change they wish to see in the world. When the desired change involves a culture of psychological well-being, that’s a tall order. I am very pleased to help make this event a special moment of recognition and appreciation for all of the good people there.

Following all of the news developments of this historic moment for our nation has me reflecting a lot, especially today on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. Recurring in my mind is the memory of a critical moment that struck me like a lightning bolt years ago. It was during my early weeks of law school in 2008. I was seated in the University of Wisconsin Law Library’s Quarles & Brady Reading Room, cite checking for the Wisconsin Law Review. Stark in my memory is the image I included that comes from that room. My personal moment took place while looking at the mural, almost precisely as it is pictured here, seated at one of the tables shown in the foreground. The mural is “Freeing of the Slaves” by John Steuart Curry.

First, it’s important to know there’s a story of “Freeing of the Slaves,” as noted by the University on its 75th Anniversary. [O]riginally intended for the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington DC, [the mural] was refused due to the “racial implications of the subject matter…” However, the design caught the attention of then-Law School dean Lloyd Garrison, grandson of famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison…writing “Here is one of the great events in our constitutional history, an event fashioned in the midst of a national crisis by a great lawyer-president. The mural not only symbolizes that event but proclaims in a noble and patriotic setting the dignity and freedom of all persons, however humble, in a democracy whose ideals of liberty are summed up and protected by the constitution.”

Many years before attending law school, I had the incredibly good fortune of meeting Representative John Lewis. He is a U.S. Congressman from Georgia, and former chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who worked closely with Dr. King. A most dignified and gentle man, he had taken the time to speak to a bunch of midwestern, mostly white and very naive college students about his passion for justice and something he called ‘good trouble.’ In his words during a speech years later, “History will not be kind to us. So you have a moral obligation, a mission and a mandate, to speak up, speak out and get in good trouble…You can do it. You must do it. Not just for yourselves but for generations yet unborn.”

Indeed, history will continue to judge ‘We the People’ and all self-professed protectors of the constitution, both past and present. As demonstrated by the story of Freeing of the Slaves; there will be a totality of circumstances by which our commitment to freedom and justice was tested; and the lines of continuity and culpability will be drawn.

Before going back to school for interior design, I first went to law school in the spirit of embracing ‘good trouble’ and finding myself on the right side of history. I looked to the halls of justice to help me fulfill my mission. Like most 1Ls, I was ecstatic and partly terrified to be in law school. I attributed my increasing dissatisfaction to getting familiar with the realities of being a law student. That ‘thunderbolt moment’ I mentioned however was very different. Better understood today, it was the creator/artist who hammered a warning into my heart. She told me that while it was a noble goal for many, practicing law to defeat injustice was not going to be my path to changing anything but myself–and not in a good way.

Looking back, I know it was good trouble that had already put me on the path to law school in the first place. I was not looking to find good trouble in becoming a lawyer; I was trying to protect myself from it. As someone who would always speak the often very ugly truth to power throughout my life, trouble had no problem finding me. It was the artist and the creator in me who would always seek the truth and had the courage to speak it. It was the artist that I learned to fear through the pain of personal sacrifice and tried to defeat by becoming a lawyer. By going to law school I was in the process of litigating my own choices in life and I was on the path to permanently incarcerate the artist within me. She was the one who simultaneously demanded and deserved justice; I needed to protect her instead of trying to ‘lock her up.’

The rest of this story is my own history in the making. I am happy to finally be whole and to be free; with an ever-fervent desire that freedom and justice come to all. I hope the spirit of this very important holiday brings you an opportunity to reflect as well.

It’s hardly the topic one might expect to encounter in an interior designer’s blog, but since I finished the book “From Here to Eternity” by Caitlin Doughty I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It’s also because death has surrounded me quite closely this past year, approaching one year since my mother’s passing and 6 months since the tragic loss of a brother-in-law whose birthday is this month.

It was quite by accident and incredibly serendipitous that Caitlin Doughty’s books would literally land in front of me at this time in my life. I’m not willing to go so far as to say there are no accidents, but I do wonder if we aren’t constantly presented with new and perfect opportunities to make meaning out of our lives…while they last and perhaps one step beyond.

My mother’s passing and the events that followed (which included my planning her burial service and Celebration of Life) literally gave life to my new career path as an independent designer and event planner. Before I read Caitlin’s books, I thought that too morbid a subject to share with people. That made me sad to think no one else would hear this part of my story. The story is about using my gifts to honor my mother and finding the love we shared, that I poured into her service, returned to me an incredible gift to pursue my dreams on a new level. Why should I feel uncomfortable sharing that with anyone? Caitlin’s books explore this topic and in an incredibly smart, funny, graphic and yet surprisingly reverent fashion.

Instead of talking about death, too many people pour unspeakable amounts of money into the death industry; out of fear and anxiety that comes from not being prepared for death. Perhaps too, dreading any reflection on our own mortality is a significant factor in the lack of preparation, as Doughty suggests. We don’t know when our time is coming but we do have ample notice of death in our future. Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of fielding a last-minute sales pitch in preparation for your body’s final disposition, your loved ones took care of you in the way YOU think you deserve and also eases their pain and suffering? How can we make that happen?

I’ve written a lot of posts from my perspective as an interior designer. As an event planner, I encourage talking about death even though we find it uncomfortable to talk about. Because I had the heartfelt talk with my mother, I was sad to lose her but I was glad to plan her service. I knew what to do for her and knew it would bring her joy. It was a gift in ways I could not have imagined when we had the talk. Death is not the enemy of life, it’s the inevitable conclusion of one life, hopefully remembered as one well-lived and full of blessings for new life. If planning your (or a loved one’s) remembrance event is something you would like to explore and especially if you are thinking ‘outside the box,’ I assure you it will not be a taboo subject for me.

One of my new joys is volunteering as Curator for the Ballweg Gallery at the Goodman Community Center. This lovely venue provides a wonderful opportunity for breaking and seasoned artists alike to share their work in a welcoming and supportive space.

The way I’ve chosen to build my business helps me appreciate what life is like for independent artists. Interior designers are considered artists of course, but the economics of doing the work is much different for most designers who can be employed to do their work or who can generate their income selling other people’s products as part of their design work. Interior designers have been the more fortunate among artists for this reason.

There are changes afoot for interior designers that other artists have been confronting for years. The proliferation of HGTV and online resources has made interior design seem more like a commodity than something for which one should pay a professional. It’s a big problem – if purchasing a haute design is perceived to be as easy as buying a television, interior designers seem irrelevant and unnecessary. Of course that’s wrong – nonetheless this gross misconception combined with the disappearance of traditional retail has threatened the economic position of interior designers everywhere.

To counter this problem, there is movement afoot to rebrand the interior design profession in ways that will make it more exclusive and inaccessible. Of course, the economic interest of interior designers is to be better understood as architects rather than salespeople when it comes to compensation. There are other good reasons too – but lets be real here. By limiting the supply of designers along these lines, the obvious outcome is that more demand for fewer designers preserves economic opportunity for those fewer designers. That is, opportunity for those already economically privileged enough to pursue the additional credentials required for consideration. If interior designers are truly artists, that way of thinking does not ensure opportunities for the most talented among us.

Every art form requires extensive preparation as well as technical knowledge and ability (when was the last time you improvised a blues saxophone solo within a minor pentatonic chord progression?) but there remain multiple ways to become an artist. Musicians don’t stop being called musicians if they fail to attend Julliard and no one is trying to make the case for that to happen. Closing off pathways to the profession is the survival strategy for interior designers who want to keep a steady paycheck for what they do – and of course they deserve one. They are not the only ones.

Interior designers are increasingly having to face the same difficult choices that other artists have always had to face. It’s unfortunate that ANY artist has to sacrifice the security of knowing how to pay the bills in order to fulfill their purpose on this planet. However I don’t think the solution is EVER to make it impossible for someone to pursue their purpose for lack of privilege to pursue it. My little home is filled with original artwork and I chose an unpaid opportunity to support other artists. It’s a small step in advancing my belief that our collective work in the arts has value and improves our world. Therefore we as interior designers should not abandon our message as artists in order to convince others of that fact.

It has been a pleasure to start the holiday season as a newly independent designer, business owner and longtime volunteer. I am grateful to all of those who continue to support my work and my path of discovery in life.

As we all celebrate the season in a multitude of meaningful ways, it’s important to remember and (very importantly) value our contentment and balance. For our own health and in supporting the health of our loved ones, it’s important to remember. Even the most well-intended holiday bustle can obscure the season’s message of peace and joy. I hope to keep all that is precious to me just a bit closer to my heart this season; by slowing down just a bit where I can.

I am especially grateful for the love of my life who has brought this incredible opportunity, contentment and balance to my existence. May you and yours celebrate the season with a similar abundance of peace and love.

For all of us fortunate to see color, we know that the amazing spectrum of color we see in the world is truly a gift. We experience combinations of colors in different ways, influenced by such factors as culture and personal experiences. Through invention, technical innovation and creative expression, color can now be fully utilized both indoors and out. We can be intentional in creating spaces that evoke a whole landscape of emotion and interaction with one another.

How wonderful it is that we continue to find new ways to design with color and then watch how design evolves in so many exciting ways. Perhaps there are some parallels we can draw; that having the freedom to innovate and evolve is broadly essential to maintain our beautiful, colorful world. We may not have the same reaction to what we see at any given moment based on such factors as culture and personal experience. Nonetheless our freedom to innovate and create is to be cherished as the one thing that can yield something colorful and beautiful; for all of us fortunate enough to see it.

Within the last couple of months, I have had a similar conversation on multiple occasions. When I mention I am an interior designer, the listener describes the process of merging households. It goes something like “Wow, we could use a designer to help us….” What follows is a description of merging two different design styles, or two very established lives that are now sharing one household.

This type of situation is a terrific opportunity to work with a designer. Negotiating a shared space can be challenging at any age, but it gets more difficult with age. We all tend to grow more fondness for our own habits and preferences over time – our objects and their relationship to our space become integrated with our identity.

It’s unlikely (if not impossible) we are going to find someone just like ourselves with whom we would like to cohabit a space. So it’s important to appreciate when folks are negotiating their shared space, that no matter how much the discussion may be about objects – the real subject is individual identity.

An interior designer can be a source of insight and compassion for individuals experiencing the challenge of merging households. Possessing a background in human development and counseling as well as interior design, I know it’s not enough just to weigh aesthetics. Creating a shared story is not a process of eliminating the unsightly. Rather, the focus should be on curating elements that best tell a story of each person. From there – knowing the story did not end there – arrange elements to make room for more telling of a life together.

The New York Times is now dedicating a webpage and newsletter to ‘Smarter Living;’ offering stories, tips and advice that are all geared toward living a better, more fulfilling life. One article stood out to me as offering a great introduction to their definition of self-care in this context. I’m looking forward to seeing more and you might as well. See https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/smarter-living/self-care-routines-that-actually-help.html?

I strongly identify my life-work with the message of this article. The themes align with those of my own research and writing interests as of late. I hope to move the understanding of my work as a designer away from the realm of pure self-indulgence toward a deeper understanding of the purpose of design.

Designers can develop specific solutions for you and those can be very valuable solutions. I think we have to be careful however that we do not claim that pursuing design in itself leads to a better life. In some cases, it doesn’t. I think design is better understood as the metaphor for, or the reflection of, your life. A design solution can improve your life when it’s properly identified, timely and achievable in addressing the problem. Done well, it will amplify all of the good in your life that you bring to the process. If design is being pursued as a ‘solution’ to a deeper problem, it will only amplify that problem. Good intentions will be easily overshadowed by the starkness of an ill-fitting design solution.

Here’s a couple of examples: a new design is a great solution for the happy couple that decides together they want to invest in spending more quality time at home. It is not the best solution if one partner thinks the new design is going to improve or help one cope with a difficult relationship. Attempting to force a change and reallocating resources to that change may cause even more friction in the relationship. Similarly, investing heavily in a flashy new office design to perk up employees who are feeling under-valued and under-compensated is not likely to improve their morale and productivity; it may in fact build more resentment. It could also attract new employees, the addition of whom could only deepen the problems affecting current workers.

I don’t want to be the designer that doesn’t care about whether your life (or someone else’s life) is going to be better as a result of what we do together. It would not be appropriate for me to propose solutions for you beyond what I can offer, but I can step back and help you consider whether what I can offer is going to achieve your intended result. Having the judgment-free space I can provide to discuss your design objectives will yield an outcome that can indeed improve your life. Together we can create a design that will reflect the deepest care for you and the life you share.

Ah, it appears we are off to the races for a long snowy winter ahead. We’re often too busy curling up under blankets with a good book to worry about the evolution of our interior spaces during the winter months. I am contemplating some additional time writing this winter myself, but I may squeeze in a couple of painting projects as well if I can crack some windows.

Continually evolving as a creative person and entrepreneur, I am excited to see where all of this is going for me. The opportunity to reflect is also welcome this winter. I see parallels between my own life and that of my design work. My approach is the same -it’s important to create the framework for new ideas to emerge. It’s also important that framework allow you the energy to pursue those new ideas with gusto when they do emerge. I just finished a terrific book entitled “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. The whole book is geared toward helping creatives heal from a world that tells them they are not allowed to behave in ways that actually facilitate creativity. It also outlines the process of rebuilding and claiming your creative life for yourself.

There’s a big difference between a creative occupation and a life of being creative. When the boundaries of 9-5 or whatever is assigned to your creative pursuits dissolve away and true creativity flows into your whole person-hood, something amazing happens. It fundamentally shifts everything; including and especially how you think about your occupation. Once you cross over into that life-space, you can’t think about your life or the occupation of your time the same way.

I think that fear is a fundamental reason why so many people resist the true creative impulse throughout their life – the implications can be scary and it can be messy. I can say with confidence that being truly creative doesn’t have to be either of those things. If you have courage and resolve to build something different – something that allows creativity to keep flowing through you – it’s joyful. Indeed it’s the building that is the hardest part, because you will never stop this building process if it’s working. It can and will take you places you never anticipated.

Is this starting to sound like a design project? It does to me – we feel the same trepidation toward any actions that change our environment or the way we relate to people. When we change our spaces or create meaningful experiences that shift our thinking; we can change the trajectory of our lives. It can be frightening and it can also be illuminating. What we do with what we see in a new light is our choice. Resisting the impulse to change out of fear is the only way we can really fail.

It may be subject to some curiosity…what does an interior designer know about event planning? Answer, not much – unless it’s something that put her on the path to eventually becoming an interior designer. My first career in higher education began working in the student union coordinating a variety of activities, special events and concerts. Even before that, I started out playing music and banging gear for an all-female rock band while trying (unsuccessfully) to master an audio mixing board. Finding creative ways to bring people together has always been my go-to methodology to overcome my tendency toward introversion. Stated simply, if I find ways to get everyone connecting and talking with each other, I don’t have to talk so much myself!

It’s my natural instinct to observe more so than to engage socially. Don’t get me wrong – I love people. I just find the hostess role exhausting. That explains my early career observing and bringing people together behind the scenes. Years and years into it, I find this to be my greatest gift in creating a variety of environments that inspire others. It’s a seemingly ambidextrous approach. On the one hand, I can help create a cozy retreat for someone who wants respite from the daily grind. On the other, I can create environments that make it easier to start a conversation or linger at a gathering just a bit longer. By far, I’m the most challenging person I know when it comes to accomplishing either one of these objectives.

With years of experience with event planning and management as a foundation, I am thrilled to put all my attributes together to serve others. I’m particularly interested in working with non-profits, helping with fundraisers and/or facilitating meaningful connections among people with shared interests. If this applies to you and/or something you’re considering for the future – get in touch. You can’t start planning too early!