What We’ve Learned…So Far
To say that we are living in unprecedented times would be underselling it at this point. There is no doubt that 2020 has been a strange, challenging, and stressful decade…uh, seven months. At times it feels like years. However, we are using this time to learn and grow. Because as they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Right? The following are some of the things that we at LD & Co have learned so far this year.
Staying Positive and Creative is a Must
Things are changing rapidly. It is impossible to say “this is what we’ve learned and how we are moving forward’ without it being outdated by the time you finish typing the sentence. This blog is more a reflection of where we are now and how we are staying connected, inspired, and creative during this time. As a company we have been focused on the principals that have helped us be successful for the last 25 years: staying positive and creative.
To do so we’ve had to make some adjustments including:
Designing Remotely
One of the first things we had to do as a company was figure out how we could create these designs remotely, from our own home offices. Interior design/model merchandising is all about creating a feeling, or rather, an experience, when one walks into a space. While we have worked for clients across the country and are used to successfully creating effective designs from miles away, we have always collaborated in the office and onsite. Now we had to figure out how to do it all while maintaining social distance.
It’s been challenging.
However, we have risen to the occasion and are proudly continuing to serve our clients with the same professionalism and care we’ve been known to provide. We have had to learn new and different tools. For many of us, we had to upgrade our home laptops, internet speeds, and even home office chairs (shout out to one of our design directors who sat on a folding chair for weeks!).
While we can’t predict how this will all unfold, we are fairly certain that remote work is not going anywhere – no pun intended. More and more of us will be working from home, using video meetings, and sharing screens. We have been proud of our ability to learn and rise to the challenge from designing remotely.
Learning Patience
Learning patience, both with our tools (be it our home laptops or online meeting software), and unpredictable shipping times has also been challenging. However, we have truly learned that patience is indeed a virtue, and we are persevering. Our ultimate goal is to continue the high quality work that our clients, and partners have come to expect from LD & Co with little or no difference in the end product. Actually, we’re finding that we’re developing even better systems and processes than the current ones we are known for, and our clients are loving the changes.
Our designers and purchasing team have been incredibly creative in their overall designs and the subsequent ordering and warehousing of materials. Incorporating a heavy dose of patience in every task has helped us become even more resourceful.
Improving Communication
Perhaps the most important way we have been navigating through this current situation is through increased and improved communication. As an organization we have prided ourselves on our communication skills. On a daily basis we are communicating with architects, builders, vendors, other designers, and more. What we do truly does hinge on our ability to understand how people interact with others.
Since this pandemic has started, we have seen our colleagues go through waves of moods, mindsets, motivation, and just overall attitude. One lesson we’ve learned through it all is: as designers, artists, and observers, you really do get to see the resiliency and humanity of people in times like these. The key is to know how to capture it and design for it.
Being Able to Laugh at Ourselves
Realizing that we are not perfect and being able to laugh at our mistakes is key to keeping our sanity. Many of us are dealing with entertaining small children while at the same time working full-time. Others of us are working with “unruly office mates” (aka our pets) or the constant pull of the fridge. (The struggle is real.)
We look forward to things getting back to as normal as they can be. As a firm we love that human interaction and are admittedly having a bit of withdraw. Collaborating, creating, and working with others is what we do. We can’t wait to get back to it. However, in the meantime we want all our clients to know that we have adjusted, learned a great deal (much of it on the fly), and are rising to the challenge of this current crisis. Even a global pandemic can’t stop LD & Co from creating award-winning interior designs.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see our work in action.
