The Visionary vs. The Enforcer: Why Designers Lose Authority (and How to Get It Back) with Bri Ussery

Vintage as a Revenue Stream: How to Source, Price, and Scale One of a Kind Design with Ashley Montgomery

Season 8 of The Interior Collective Podcast is brought to you by Loloi. [https://www.loloirugs.com?utm_source=idco&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=brand] This episode is brought to you in partnership with Materio. [https://materio.co/interior-collective?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=IG-story&utm_campaign=interior-collective-season8] Today’s guest is someone who needs very little introduction: Ashley Montgomery is the founder and principal of Ashley Montgomery Design, one of Canada’s most publicly recognized interior design studios. Her work is instantly identifiable. Layered, warm, deeply collected, and anchored in vintage pieces that feel storied and intentional rather than trendy. But what I’m especially excited to unpack today is not just the aesthetic. It’s the operational side of building a firm around vintage. Because sourcing one of a kind pieces at scale is not for the faint of heart. It requires systems, relationships, risk management, pricing strategy, and a deep understanding of margin. And doing that from Canada adds an entirely different layer of logistics that many U.S. designers may not fully understand. Ashley has built a studio that doesn’t just use vintage occasionally. It is embedded into her brand identity. And in today’s conversation, we’re pulling back the curtain on how she sources, how she prices, how she protects profitability, and how she has scaled a taste-driven aesthetic across a growing team. We’ll talk about cross-border importing, markup strategy on antiques, client education, and whether vintage actually increases project profitability or simply increases complexity.

What It Really Takes to Launch a Textile or Wallpaper Line with Callie Jenschke

Season 8 of The Interior Collective Podcast is brought to you by Loloi. [https://www.loloirugs.com?utm_source=idco&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=brand] Today’s episode is one I know so many of you have been curious about, because we’re diving into what it actually looks like to step beyond client work and into product development. I’m joined by Callie, founder of SUPPLY Showroom-a boutique fabric and wallpaper showroom-which is the hub of Austin’s design community, and whose reach extends well beyond Texas.  It’s truly one of those spaces that’s worth the trip, whether you’re local or flying in. They’ve also been a longtime partner of Design Camp, generously hosting our campers each year for a welcome breakfast and private tour, and we’ll be back with them again this August. You can learn more at design-camp.co. Callie has a front row seat to what makes a textile or wallpaper collection successful, and just as importantly, where designers tend to get it wrong. We’re talking through the real investment required to launch a line, how to think about memos and distribution, what showrooms actually do behind the scenes, and how to approach this as a long-term business decision, not just a passion project. If you’ve ever considered launching your own textile or wallpaper collection, this episode is going to give you a much clearer picture of what it takes to do it well.

Contract & Scope Missteps Designers Make and How to Prevent Them with Brittany Hakimfar

Season 8 of The Interior Collective Podcast is brought to you by Loloi. [https://www.loloirugs.com?utm_source=idco&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=brand] Hi, and welcome back to The Interior Collective. I’m your host, Anastasia Casey, and today we’re diving into one of the most important, and often overlooked, foundations of a healthy design business: contracts and scope management. I’m joined today by Brittney Hakimfar, founder of Far Studio, a Philadelphia–based interior design studio known for its thoughtful, layered work and highly organized project structure. But beyond the aesthetics, Brittney has built a reputation for running projects with clarity, strong boundaries, and systems that protect both the designer and the client experience. In this episode, we’re talking about the contract and scope missteps that so many designers encounter at some point in their careers. We’ll get into the specific language that helps prevent scope creep and revision overload, why vague deliverables often lead to long-term issues on a project, and how to structure revision rounds, approvals, and change orders clearly from the very beginning. Brittney also shares how Far Studio structures their team, how they approach pricing and project management today, and how those systems have evolved as the studio has grown. If you’ve ever had a project expand far beyond its original scope, or struggled to set clear boundaries with clients, this conversation will give you practical tools to protect your time, your creativity, and ultimately your profitability.

Taking the Leap: Building a Design Business Through Growth, Trust, and Strategic Support with Danielle Rose

Season 8 of The Interior Collective Podcast is brought to you by Loloi. [https://www.loloirugs.com?utm_source=idco&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=brand] This episode is brought to you in partnership with Dezign Assist. [https://dezignassist.com/idco] Today on The Interior Collective, we’re talking about something that every designer eventually faces in their career: the moment when growth requires a leap of faith. Building a successful interior design studio isn’t just about talent or great projects. It’s about mindset. It’s about trusting yourself enough to make big decisions before you feel completely ready. And it’s about recognizing that the strongest businesses are rarely built alone. In this episode, I’m joined by Danielle Chiprut of Danielle Rose Design Co. a designer who has embraced that growth mentality in a meaningful way. We’re talking about what it really looks like to bet on yourself, how to navigate the risks that come with scaling a creative business, and why building a strong support system outside of your internal team can be one of the most powerful decisions you make. From photographers and PR partners to the broader network of collaborators who help bring a designer’s work to life, we’re exploring how those relationships shape not only the visibility of a studio, but its long-term trajectory.

The Visionary vs. The Enforcer: Why Designers Lose Authority (and How to Get It Back) with Bri Ussery

Season 8 of The Interior Collective Podcast is brought to you by Loloi. [https://www.loloirugs.com?utm_source=idco&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=brand] This episode is brought to you in partnership with Dezign Assist. [https://dezignassist.com/idco] Hi, and welcome back to The Interior Collective. I’m your host, Anastasia Casey. Today’s conversation is one I think a lot of interior designers are going to feel deeply seen by. I’m joined by Bri Ussery, and together we’re unpacking a dynamic that quietly shapes almost every design studio: the split between the visionary and the enforcer. Designers are often asked to hold two opposing roles at once. On one hand, you’re expected to be the creative leader. The person with taste, clarity, and vision. On the other, you’re also expected to enforce boundaries, manage approvals, push timelines forward, and uphold fees. When both of those identities live in the same person, something starts to fracture. In this episode, Bri and I explore why that split happens, where it shows up most clearly in real projects, and how it impacts everything from client trust to profitability to a designer’s sense of authority. We also talk through the structural and operational fixes that help protect the principal’s role and keep designers in the visionary posturerole clients believe they’re hiring them for. If you’ve ever felt the tension between leading creatively and enforcing operationally, or noticed moments where your authority starts to blur, this conversation will give language and structure to something you’ve likely been experiencing for years.