For Sustainable Designers, Competition is Friendly
By Jillian Sederholm
It’s a Tuesday night in Manhattan, and about 40 prospective homebuilders have just assembled at the Midtown headquarters of the Horticultural Society of New York to hear a pitch on environmentally sustainable design. A potential client is speaking with interior designer Kati Curtis, who plucks her business card from one of two stacks on the check-in table and presents it to him. She then reaches down and takes a card from the second stack saying, “Here, take Carolyn’s card as well,” referring to Carolyn Tierney, her co-presenter.
Curtis and Tierney are the owners of two separate New York City interior residential design firms, both vying for customers in the same high-end field. But you wouldn’t think of them as competitors by seeing them operate.
Even though each woman’s firm offers essentially the same services, Curtis, Founder and Principal of Nirmada Interior Design, and Tierney, Founder and Principal of ECOterior Solutions, don’t consider each other competition. “Carolyn and I are buds. We’re partners in crime,” Curtis says. “We have a bit of a different style; I’m definitely more contemporary and she’s a little more traditional, so we don’t feel like we’re competing.”
Tierney agrees. “My competition is any sustainable interior designer, but I don’t think of it as competition. It’s a stylized process; clients can’t find my style from other designers.”
The "Green Girls," Carolyn Tierney, left, and Kati Curtis, after their first talk about sustainable interior design on Oct. 11, 2011 at the Horticultural Society of New York. (photo: Jillian Sederholm/NYC Green News)
Together, Curtis and Tierney call themselves the “Green Girls” to co-present talks on sustainable interior design. This sense of cooperation between competitors, or “co-opetition” as it is referred to in some circles, benefits both businesses. Curtis and Tierney share a desire to promote sustainable design to a still skeptical society.
Sustainable design can refer to many elements, including energy-efficient appliances, low-impact construction and materials, reused or repurposed resources, and non-toxic finishes. Such techniques often have less impact on natural resources and lower energy costs. According to Energy Star, replacing basic household appliances with high-efficiency counterparts can lead to savings of up to 30 percent. Rebates and tax credits can make it more viable.
Since Curtis and Tierney both cater to high-end clients, these savings don’t offer as much appeal. Although both women have extensive backgrounds in sustainable design, they find that most of their clients do not come to them for this expertise; rather clients seek them out based on interest in their design aesthetics. “People hire me because of a certain look; the fact that it’s also sustainable is an added benefit,” says Curtis.
When clients hire Curtis, she asks them how important sustainability is to them. Their interest levels vary. For clients who are not as interested, Curtis finds a way to relate it to their life style, from the importance of toxic-free paint for families with children, to window treatments and appliances that offer tax. “Even if they’re not really there in terms of sustainability, at some point they become into it and it becomes important.”
Curtis recalls a gut renovation of a Central Park West apartment she worked on four years ago. When she asked her standard sustainability question, the homeowners said they recycle and that’s about it. During the course of the renovation, the mother became pregnant, and the baby arrived early. Because Curtis used all non-toxic materials – including paint and carpeting that was free of compounds like formaldehyde – the baby was able to come sleep in the nursery that had been painted the day before. “To see someone who didn’t even care about it say ‘It makes sense to me now’ is so rewarding,” says Curtis.
Curtis and Tierney agree that, although there are now green vendors and manufacturers that didn’t exist five years ago, the sustainable movement still faces a lot of barriers. “It still has this sort of 1960s hippie stigma attached to it,” says Curtis.
By speaking as the Green Girls, the two are trying to build momentum for their industry. Tuesday's talk -- in conjunction with Blu Homes, a company that designs and manufactures innovative energy efficient and sustainable prefabricated houses – was the first of what they are hoping to be many presentations on the subject throughout the country.
Ed Krug, New York sales representative for Blu Homes, says he noticed some disconnect between the notion of sustainability in exterior and interior design. “People understand how to build a green house better than they understand the interior.” He says he felt he should bring someone in to talk about the interior design element. Tierney attended one of Krug’s presentations and had a similar concept. She asked Curtis to join her, and the Green Girls were born.
Tierney says they intend to aim their presentation to green real-estate agents. “A lot of the larger luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan now are being built green. (People) are moving into these luxury eco-friendly environments and they’re putting in too many lamps that are creating a warm space, and they’re bringing in flame-retardant carpets,” she explains. “You’re screwing up what they worked so hard to give you.”
While giving their first Green Girls presentation, both Tierney and Curtis sprinkled in tips and names of retailers that clients could access on their own. “Because we have separate interior design businesses, we wanted to make sure that it was more of a discussion” she says.
This form of indirectly marketing a company by directly marketing an industry may seem a surprising tactic during an economic downturn. According to Curtis, the economy has affected design and architecture firms significantly, but her four-person team has been doing pretty well. Given that many of their clients spend upwards of $200,000 on projects ranging from a room redesign to complete renovation, neither has been as adversely affected by the downturn. But both have noticed differences. Tierney says she sees more committed clients. “Business has slowed down, but the people who are contacting me are ready. There is less shopping around, but there are also less calls.”
Curtis has also noticed a difference in her clients’ behavior. “Before it would be a total gut of a new apartment, now it’s taking care to make sure their existing space is the way they want it. From a sustainable standpoint, that’s better.”
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