Suzi Vandersteen

Owner / Designer

I always knew I wanted to be a designer. As a little girl I was obsessed with furniture stores, art, bathrooms, houses, PEOPLE, and how they interacted with their environments. I re arranged my room constantly and it never failed to amaze me that a space could feel so different once the arrangement had changed.

In college it was clear that my people skills were an asset I could capitalize on as I pursued a degree in Social Work. In my years as a social worker I observed the poor design and conditions of treatment centers, mental health facilities, senior citizen centers and after school programs for children with special needs. My intuition told me that if we could elevate the design of theses spaces we could elevate the dignity of the clients we served. As therapists and advocates for our clients we talked about and encouraged self-esteem, but what about the concept of place-esteem? Without saying a word our environments speak volumes about what we believe is possible.

In time I was given an opportunity to run my own program. PAL (Pursuing Adventures in Learning) was an after school program for ADHD and Behavior Disordered elementary age children. The space I inherited was dirty, disorganized and filled with shrieking children. I was never happier. I took this opportunity to test my theory of how environments themselves can elevate people. I challenged my new staff to start looking at things from a different perspective. Instead of making classrooms and common spaces bullet proof, we started making them beautiful. I researched the challenges of ADHD, and armed with this information, made specific design changes to our program that helped make the children more successful. For instance, something as simple as removing the closets with hangers and replacing them with wall hooks meant that backpacks and jackets were easily hung up and off the floor. This one design change created one more opportunity a day to tell those children “Good job!” I was starting to observe how design could intersect with mental health and the human condition. We were starting to honor what made these kids different, rather than making them conform to an environment that presented more hurdles in an already hurdle-filled day. And the irony was, it was SIMPLE. Our program was clean and organized. Our organizational systems were accessible, and easy for the kids to use. We reduced visual clutter, and our physical and emotional environment was serene, calm and healing. I knew I was on to something.

There came a time when I was able to leave the field of social work and pursue design full time, I devoured any information I could about interior design, and finally had a house of my own to experiment on (my second full time job!) It also became clear that I was happiest when I was working for myself, and giving back. My heart had a special place for people who worked in and who were served by the nonprofit sector of our community. Through various connections my name came up as someone who might be interested in designing a playhouse for a local Foundation’s annual charity auction. Of course I took this on with my usual zest for life and hand made nearly every item in the little cottage that I had been given to decorate. The proceeds of the charity auction would be used towards building a hospice house. The architect who was designing the hospice house also designed my little cottage playhouse. He noticed and liked my attention to detail, and asked me to do the interiors for the hospice house.

Solvay Hospice House was a success.  The interior design even made the cover of Long Term Living, a magazine devoted to assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. I was later asked by the same architect and foundation to design a mental health day treatment facility, Amberwing. That project was named to the Health Care Architectural Honor Roll in 2013 by the Minnesota Physician Newspaper. I have tested my theory many times throughout the years, elevate the environment, and elevate the people. Self-esteem and place-esteem. It works every time.

This is what I believe…. Raise the vibration, expect the best, treat people incredibly well, make things beautiful, enjoy the process, and bring people and their surroundings to life. Create the environment, everything else will flow from that.

In case you haven’t noticed at no time in my career as a designer did I actually go to Design School. But I’ve done enough projects over the last 18 years that I feel comfortable calling myself a designer. As a leader of ideas, and an adaptable person who wants to capitalize on my unique gift for connecting with people and groups who are interested in my type of healing design, I have learned to surround myself people who are skilled and degreed in the areas that contribute to my brand.

Not all intuition is rational. But my belief that no one should be left behind when it comes to creating beautiful environments is an instinct that I have confidence in.