Episode 304 with Kimiya Khezri

This episodes’ designer, Kimiya Khezri, resides in Vancouver, BC. We will talk about her schooling and work life as an Interior Designer in Canada, her journey as a residential designer and what drives her designs.

Note: My sound is not great this episode, I was still working through some mic issues when this was recorded. I sound tin-can-y, sometimes you will hear me typing (why is this keyboard so loud?!), and clicking my mouse (why is this loud too?!!), or moving in my creaky ass chair (why are chairs so loud!?!) in the background while I am speaking. I did my best to remove it, but my editing skills are still those of someone learning so bear with me!

Timestamps:

Welcome: 00:10

First non- drink related question: 01:57

Schooling: 08:12

Internships & Work Experience: 23:41

The Big Questions: 39:44

The Fun Stuff: 1:09:12

Show Notes:

Show notes from this episode can be found on our website.

Thanks for listening!

Design Over Drinks is Hosted, and Edited by Kendra Shea

Produced by Kendra Shea and Simon Shea

Season 3 Graphics and Cover Art by Tano Design

Season 3 Music is by Qreepz

Email: DesignOverDrinksPod@gmail.com

Socials/ Patreon: @DesignOverDrinksPod

BlueSky: @DesignOverDrinks

Chapters

• 0:10 Welcome
• 1:57 First non-drink related question
• 8:12 Schooling & Internships
• 23:41 Work Experience
• 39:44 The Big Questions
• 1:09:12 The Fun Stuff
• 1:26:59 Outro

Transcript

Episode 304 - Kimiya Khezri
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[00:00:00] 


[00:00:10] Welcome
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Kendra Shea: Hey everyone, welcome to Design Over Drinks. This is a podcast where we discuss what the hell interior designers actually do. I'm your host, Kendra Shea, a certified interior designer with 10 plus years working in residential and commercial design. 


[00:00:22] Interview Start
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Kendra Shea: Today we are talking to interior designer Kimiya Khezri. Hi Kimiya.

Hi Kendra. How are you?

I'm great. I'm so excited you're here today. Um, I'm really excited because for a few reasons. Um, you're living in Canada and so you have a very different perspective than a lot of the other people I talk to about what it's like to be an interior designer.

So I'm really stoked to hear about your background and your kind of, your experience, um, in the design world. 'cause I think it'll be very different than a lot of the other people I've talked to over the past [00:01:00] few years. So I'm very excited. Um, so to start, first question I always ask, what are you drinking today?

Kimiya Khezri: Well, um, right now I'm having my iced, , tea with cold foam milk and cinnamon. It's very full.

Kendra Shea: I love it. That is, sounds really good. Did you make it at home?

Kimiya Khezri: Yes, I did. I love making my teas at home.

Kendra Shea: Nice. Do you, it's like a regular thing to do that for

you to make your own little afternoon tea. I love that. I often make tea. Not that fancy. It is just like boiled water in a bag, so I love that. Yours has the cold foam milk. Um, real fancy.

I'm actually drinking local cider today. 

So we went to Vashon Island, which is local to us in Seattle. It's one of the islands. So we went to their cider fest and I'm drinking, not hard, but regular apple cider. So

yeah, that's my, it's my 

treat today. I'm very excited about it. Awesome. All right, let's get into the design questions then.




[00:01:57] First non-drink related question
---

[00:02:00] 

Kendra Shea: So first, what inspired you to become an interior designer?

Kimiya Khezri: Well, actually, I had this question asked, um, to my current, from my current, uh, employer, and I was thinking about it, um, a while ago, like what really inspired me to become a designer, and I think growing up in a household and a family, that everyone came from a very creative background and. All I know, um, is design.

I think that's what really inspired me to wanna approach becoming a designer. Um, I don't think that I have really explored or know anything better than becoming a designer. Um, but I've always been surrounded by a creative mom, a creative dad. My sister's also like in the, in a creative field as well. So I've always been, uh, occupied and surrounded by all that creativity, which really [00:03:00] directed me into wanting to also be in that field.

Kendra Shea: That's awesome. Um. So it sounds like your, your kind of creative family really inspired to something, a creative profession for you. There. There was no like law or doctor any sense of

like, 

it was like no creativity.

Um, and I do feel like interior design is one of the few that it is a creative profession, but it is also a business, right? Like there is very much a very intense business side to it. Um, unlike some of the other creative professions out there.

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Um, one thing that was really challenging though, I remember when I, so I, I did go to my parents, I'm like, I wanna be a designer. And they're like, okay, there's a thousand different types of designers. What kinda designer do you wanna be? And I'm like, interior design and back home interior design is not very common.

Uh, people are either architects or engineers or fashion [00:04:00] designers. Interior design is not very common where I come from. So it was really challenging. Um. Wanting to explain that to them, that I wanna be able to do what I see every day around me architecture. And I do come from a very architectural city.

So, um, seeing all that, but inside the house where people live, where people, you know, get to feel and spend most of the day, more, most of their time in, I wanna be able to create that space, happy space for them, rather than the exterior. Um, so it wasn't, it wasn't easy convincing them. Um, but yeah, they definitely, one thing that we grew up with was you don't have to become an engineer or a doctor to be happy, but you can become a, you can become your creative self.

You can do whatever you want. Just make sure you're making the right decision.

Kendra Shea: I love that. Uh, can you, where are you from? Can we talk about that a little bit? Just for a little bit of context [00:05:00] for

Kimiya Khezri: Yes, of course. So, um, my background is Persian. I, uh, did grow up with Persian, uh, family, but I was born and raised in Dubai, so I spent all my life in Dubai. I recently moved to, yes. Yeah. So moving to Vancouver was a big change, but I've been in Vancouver for like seven years now, so it's been really nice.

Kendra Shea: Awesome. And we're gonna talk a little bit more about your design experience, um, in Vancouver. But before we get to that, I think you touched on it a little bit, but can we talk more about your general philosophy on design and kind of like what your design sensibilities are?

Kimiya Khezri: Hmm. I, I don't wanna say that I do have a particular philosophy of design, um, but I. Always have been in love with making people feel like they don't want to leave a certain space or if they're in their home that they wanna be super [00:06:00] comfortable and super happy and they would always wanna have everyone around them and have people over and make that space feel really warm and nice.

So my design philosophy, I wanna say, is, um, that I really love creating spaces that would, you know, make someone want to spend hours and hours of their time in there. And I am into, in the residential field. So I focus only on people's homes.

Kendra Shea: But I think that's important, right? Like you, it is important for your home to be comfortable. And I think as a, uh, uh, residential designer, it is very important that the, the, it is a client based, right? It is truly end user and client. 'cause they're often the same, which is different in commercial design.

Um, so I love that. I think that is a great way to explain what drives you. It's, it's the comfort of the client and what makes them comfortable, not necessarily a style.

Kimiya Khezri: for [00:07:00] sure, yeah. And being a designer can be easy, as in like, designing stuff can be easy, but designing what would actually make sense, the practicality of it and the functionality of it is not easy. That's something I feel like a lot of designers, um, they oversee it. So, um. It's not easy to, you know, create a space that's both, um, aesthetically pleasing and beautiful at the same time.

Very functional, very practical. Um, especially if it's something that's is very personal to, you know, the client.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Yeah. I think that is the big thing about residential. It is very personal. It is their space and they need to be comfortable in it. It is their home. Um, and I think that's, you're, you do really important things with that.

'cause I can't, I have tried residential that way, and it is not for me. It takes a specific type of designer. Yeah. and I, I, you [00:08:00] have that sense of what can I do to make this space work for you? And I think that's, that's wonderful and important way to approach design. So I love that. 


[00:08:12] Schooling
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Kendra Shea: Uh, let's talk a little bit more about your schooling. In 2022. You graduated from LaSalle College in Vancouver, BC with your Bachelor's of Design. What was that program like for you? 

Kimiya Khezri: So I went into the program completely, um, clueless about what I'm gonna be offered. I remember that when I came to, uh, Vancouver, I initially, so I knew that I wanted to do interior design, but there weren't enough options for me available. And I knew my only option was to go to Vancouver 'cause that's where my parents approved of going abroad is only Vancouver and nowhere else.

Um, so I, I came into Vancouver and I initially went to SFU Simon Fraser University and I did interactive arts and technology thinking that it was very close [00:09:00] to, um, interior design and um, arts. But then I realized that what I'm doing is website design and it's nothing to do with interior design. Yeah.

Kendra Shea: Very different.

Kimiya Khezri: yes.

So I had to, uh, transfer into the only school that I could find for interior design that were, was offered to international students. Um, and that was LaSalle College Vancouver. And initially it was like a lot of arts and drawing and drafting. And I was so in love with what I signed up for, um, that I couldn't wait to achieve more from it.

And it just made me. Like what the program offered me made me so happy with the decision that I made to switch schools and, um, go through the program. They offered a lot of hands-on experience as well. [00:10:00] So we did do internships. We, um, worked with instructors that were within the industry, currently working in the industry as well.

Uh, that made it very helpful for us to, especially for our experience, because we knew what's going on right at the moment in the industry rather than, um, just studying or reading textbooks or doing our own research on Google, which is not always accurate. And there's only so much you can learn in school.

Right.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. , how else do you think they prepared you for kind of working in the field?

Kimiya Khezri: Um. I really enjoyed the internships that I was offered, uh, while I was in school, which opened my eyes up to what's going on actually out there. 


Um, other than the internships, I think what was really good is that the projects that they gave us, or the assignments that we were given were very, um, realistic.

They were actually, [00:11:00] I wanna say they, they're realistic, uh. Areas, buildings or like, um, a specific address that we had to go, like do our research on and then, um, talk with the city regarding standards, BC building codes. They made all the projects very, uh, realistic, industry based for us, rather than just conceptual and creativity.

So that's, I think the reason why, personally, I feel like my stronger, strongest suit in interior design is construction drawings, is because that's what they mainly focused on. Um, because the creativity can come naturally to people. Uh, but that the technical side of it doesn't really come natural.

Kendra Shea: It's, it's a lot of very intense information. Right. Like construction docs are a lot 

we often don't know. that. 

Kimiya Khezri: Especially if you are going in for permits.

Kendra Shea: Permitting is a hot mess. Always is. No matter what you [00:12:00] do, uh, was there, you know, I think no program is perfect and all are very different.

Is there things that you felt you were like less or not quite prepared for once you were in the field that school could have maybe done better?

Kimiya Khezri: yeah, I think what I wasn't, what I feel like could have been better is definitely the, uh, standard side of the industry. Like working with building codes, working with, uh, all the permits and dealing with cities, uh, that is something that designers don't think that they will be, they will have to deal with quite a bit while they're doing a job.

And I think that is something that's so important for a designer to know and, um, to be fluent at. Uh, I think that's something that the school did, um, lack a little bit in to deliver to us. Uh, but I mean, being in the industry for. [00:13:00] Two years now. I think that it's been really good working with a construction company as well.

Uh, knowing all the standards, the building codes, how to deal with the city. That's a very important, important part of the industry.

Kendra Shea: Um, how, how long is the LaSalle program? Like, is it two year, four year? What's the kind of standard timeline? Like It

Kimiya Khezri: It was a three and a half year program. Uh, six months of it was, uh, internship, but while we were doing the internship, we had classes as well. So it was three and a half years of actual studying, including the internship. Um, and I. Did, didn't do the full three and a half because I had a lot of credits transferred from Simon Fraser University, which when I nice. [00:14:00] had initially been, so it was a, for me, it went on pretty, it went on quicker than I expected.

Kendra Shea: Nice. That's very nice. So did you start right after kind of lockdown started, like when, when

Kimiya Khezri: I started, so it was 2019.

Kendra Shea: 19. Okay. So right before, yeah.

Kimiya Khezri: Right before, so I started the first couple semesters I was in person in school and then suddenly everything was just locked down. Shut down online and full of ghosts in your class.

Kendra Shea: That must have been a very weird kind of transition from starting in person to kind of having to do some, a lot of your work

Kimiya Khezri: definitely was. It definitely was. 'cause I loved. Being in person and doing things and physically, uh, having to feel and touch everything that I was doing in class. And then that sudden shift of being online really demotivated [00:15:00] me and wanting to continue. And I'm like, I don't know if I like this anymore. I don't know if I can do this anymore.

I don't like being in a class full of faces that I can't really see, or I don't like being in a class that I have to pick materials online and I can't really feel or touch.

Kendra Shea: such a tactile profession.

Kimiya Khezri: for sure. Yeah.

Kendra Shea: Is there something that switched that, was it like going to an internship? What kind of made you realize, oh no, I do want to do this. In the long run,

Kimiya Khezri: I created a space at home for myself that motivated me to wanna go forward. I went, um. I went to, well, at that, the time I was owned by appointment only, and most of the, um, suppliers were closed. So I ordered a bunch of samples and I went into a few, uh, tile places or fabric, fabric places, and I picked out a bunch of samples for myself just to have it around me to feel like I'm [00:16:00] actually doing design and I'm actually working with materials rather than just doing things online.

So I created that safe space for myself to be comfortable with what is happening. And it wasn't easy, but I was able to push through it. And then, um, the last, I wanna say the last year of university we went back to in-person, That's made it amazing. 

Kendra Shea: really important. Yeah, I think, I think that was really smart of you to create your own kind of way of making it work for you. And that's often what a lot of professionals were doing at that time. They were working from home, having to create their own libraries within their homes. So I think that's you.

You made a really smart move there to keep your love going for it during the one of the weirdest times we've all lived through. Yeah.

Kimiya Khezri: it, it's like a blank space in my brain. Like I try to think, think back like what happened during those years.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Like I did a lot, but I also did nothing. It was very

weird. For [00:17:00] sure. Thank you for talking about kind of your schooling experience during the pandemic or during the lockdown. 'cause it, it was very, it was definitely very weird and I've talked to a few other professionals who kind of schooling around the same time you did.

And it, it there a lot of people lost the love in those moments because it was just all chronically online.

Um, so I think it's wonderful you found a way to push through that. Um, let's, I just wanna chat a little bit more about school and, uh, mentorship. So did you have a mentor in school? Did, is there any sort of mentorship programming that your school provided for you

Kimiya Khezri: It's, it's challenging to say if I had a mentor because I was, um, one of the tutors I was kind of mentoring and tutoring a lot of students. So I never really had, other than my amazing instructors, a very supportive, very helpful instructors that I had. And, um, I still am in [00:18:00] touch with them. I still try to, from time to time, meet with them for a coffee or like, uh, check up on them or like they check in on me as well.

Um, other than. That part of the program that we had amazing instructors. I don't feel like I could have more support because I was the support to a lot of students. And I did, uh, tutor tutoring for most of the, uh, most of my program. So it was a lot of me being, um, available for people or available for the students there and, uh, helping them that I didn't realize, or I didn't notice that if I actually needed help or if I needed that support that I was giving to someone else.

Um, but it, it did work out pretty well. I just, I wish I was more involved [00:19:00] in the student life rather than, um, you know, trying to be there and like, you know, mentor, like tutor.

Kendra Shea: It is a hard balance, I think. I'm sure everyone was appreciative of what you did for them, but it is hard when you're in school 'cause you are trying to balance what you know and supporting the next generation or kind of your classmates and your peers while also getting the support you need.

Um, I, I'm sure you know, I feel like you're not the first that I've talked to that's also talked about really mentorship isn't, is rarely structured in school and it seems to be just kind of what professors you gel with. So I I'm, that's just an interesting thought process for me. I guess kind of just always thinking about how mentorship, 'cause it's something we talk a lot about on the professional side,

um, and it doesn't always seem to be trickling into the student side from just some of the conversations I've had over the last few years.

Kimiya Khezri: I think in like, what, what [00:20:00] LaSalle did really well in was make their, in, make these instructors be available, uh, for us after class as well. So we did have a lot of like one-on-ones or if you wanted to book an appointment with any instructor, they were always there available for us. So that provided a lot of support and help for all of us.

Um, but at the same time, sometimes you feel like you need a mentor that is not your instructor, that is not the person who, you know, is grading you at school or is a grading or assignments. You need someone that is, um, like a, a different perspective. Um, yeah, for sure. And I think that's what most of schools do.

Lack, um. I wish, I wish, you know, the school system here could really improve on that. Um, but I wanna say like, when it comes to our intru, when it came to like our [00:21:00] instructors, uh, we, we did get a lot of support from them, especially because they were working, um, in the industry at the time, and they still are.

So they did know what's going on. They were up to date with everything. Um, and when we had questions or when we had, um, especially like when we were in our, during our internship years, uh, that when we would like come home, Hey, like at work this happened, that happened, what do you think? Like, what would you advise?

What could I do? Like, they would always be there to give us an advice or like help us or mentor us through the internships as well, which was very helpful.

Kendra Shea: great. Yeah. I think. I think you're not wrong, that almost every school could find a better, like really work on this. Especially in interior design. That's third party mentorship and you can get it through programming here in this, right? IIDA kind of all of our professional [00:22:00] organizations give us those opportunities.

But it, I feel you're right, that it should be somehow integrated beyond those third, right? Like that integrated into the school so that you can, 'cause I, you know, I didn't have a mentor the same way I've talked to many students who are just like, yes, my professor, I found one that I jived with. But it isn't maybe the same as having somebody carrying you through school and helping you get into your first job.

So I think that is a really good point you've brought up.

Kimiya Khezri: I had this one instructor. Like I, up to this day, I just cannot, like there isn't enough thanks that I could give her. I'm like so, so grateful for her that she literally would spoonfeed every single student in that class and made sure everyone Yes, I know. And she made sure, like every student had a good internship role.

Every student was with a good company. She checked in with everyone every single [00:23:00] day and I'm like, wow. Like that takes a lot of work. It takes so much work to be so committed to just one class. And imagine how that would be if you had like so many other classes.

Kendra Shea: No, I honestly, I think we live and die a lot of the time as students by those teachers that like kind of are willing to go through the grit with us and put up with our meltdowns and see us at our worst when we are just like, what are we doing? Those are, those are the greatest teachers.

Um, and we really couldn't, I don't think I could, I had a few too that I couldn't have gone through without them being like, you've got this. Like, thank you. I need your, I just need your moral support.

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah.



[00:23:41] Work Experience
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Kendra Shea: Awesome. Well, let's chat a little bit more about your work experience. Uh, you previously worked at Alexandra Interiors in Vancouver, BC

was that an internship or was that just your first job out of school?

Kimiya Khezri: Um, so that was my second internship [00:24:00] actually at school. And then I was like, she was really happy. I was really happy. So I decided that once we, I graduate, I do take on a job with her and I did. Um, so that transitioned from a internship to a junior interior designer, um, which was really nice. It was like, I wanna say one of the greatest.

Experiences that I've had, and I've only been in the industry for two years, so I'm very fresh. But, uh, she did teach me a lot and I learned so much tech, I learned so much from the technical side of the industry as well. Um, 'cause it's not always about the creativity and it's not always about the design.

Sometimes it's about, you know, how things are functional and practical. Um, so she did teach me a lot. I did learn a lot from her. And I was with her for a good two year, um, well [00:25:00] one and a half year after school.


Um, and I was with her. So I was with her, I wanna say a total of two years, including my internship.

Kendra Shea: Yeah.

Kimiya Khezri: Um, which was really nice. And then I, after that, I transitioned into sales for a few months and I think it was a. I don't think, I'm sure it was a mistake. 

Um, you shouldn't do.

yeah. And I thought that it would be nice to get into, uh, furniture and material sales, and I definitely did not like that. And I was not happy.

I was like, one of the toughest few months of my life. It was like, it got to a point that I'm like, what am I doing? Like if I don't get a proper design job or if I [00:26:00] don't do a proper design job, even if I had to do it on my own, like a freelance, I'm quitting this industry. Like, I don't wanna be in this industry.

I don't wanna be in sales. I don't wanna have to sell furniture, uh, to people that, that's just not me. I wanna be able to create a beautiful space, a beautiful design. But just that this sale, um, the rep. Part of it was just not me. It was tough. It was really tough to get out of it, but it's kind of like,

so how I, how I transitioned into it was I got an offer and it seemed really nice and cool, and it looked very, uh, fancy and glittery from the outside.

And then I go into it and it's just everything that I did not expect and want, um, in my career. So I quickly stepped out of it. And right now I'm, I'm so happy working with a construction company. Um, It's [00:27:00] Spruce I've become, yes, Bruce Hill, and I've been working with an amazing team of, uh, builders, uh, project managers and designers.

So it's a lot of in-house, like everything happens in-house. So when something is being built, when my design is being built, I get to see no feel or talk behind how it's going to be built. And it's not just me drawing something or being creative within a space and just handing it off to a builder to build.

You know, it's like I'm very involved in the construction of it. 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. The, the design build world is really wonderful in that way where it's so integrated and I think it really does create some really beautiful designs, which I assume saves money and not, you know, really keeps costs down and a little bit more efficient in a lot of ways.

I think there's some wonderful things. Yeah. No, I think you aren't. Sales is not for everybody. And I think there is a [00:28:00] whole bunch of designers that try it and go, Nope, not for me, not something I'm comfortable with. And I think it's also a good, it's a great way to learn where you can say, oh, I know more about the rep side.

I understand it now, but I don't want to be doing it. 'cause it is, you're right, it's, it's a very different approach to design. 

Kimiya Khezri: it definitely is. And it's not for everyone. It's not for everyone. I know a lot of my, um, classmates who we graduated together have transitioned into sales and they're so happy, but I just, I can't imagine myself in that world.

Kendra Shea: no, I'm, I'm the same. I have a bunch of friends that went straight into sales. I have a bunch that, you know, designed first and then went into sales. And I think it, it truly takes just a specific type of person and a type of design mind that's just not yours, which is wonderful. There's all types of design for all types of people.

It's what makes it great. Uh, let's talk a little bit more about, um, kind of getting your first job [00:29:00] with Alexandra Interiors. What do you think helped find, helped you kind of get that job?


Kimiya Khezri: Um, if I wanna talk about the internship, 'cause I did apply to 50 different companies and I got a res Yes, I know it was so tough 'cause it's not easy wanting to apply to a company that would want to only ha have you in for three months. So we had to do two different internships at three months each, which was a total of six months and made it really challenging 'cause.

No company really wants to spend three months training you for you to leave. Right. Um, so it was a lot of sending, preparing a portfolio. First of all, we had to prepare a lot of our projects or like, um, just fix our projects and make sure it's very presentable. We had a lot of construction drawings, um, which I think helped the most.

Um, in that was one of the, I think one of the main, [00:30:00] main reasons that I was able to land Alexandra Interiors. Um, because she, that's the first thing that she actually asked for was like, I wanna see your construction drawings 'cause you are gonna be working on a lot of permit drawings. You're gonna be working on a lot of construction work.

And, um, I sent her over and she was very, uh, fascinated about the fact that, you know, in school we were doing so much construction work, which is really nice. So. I think that really helped. And once I did an interview with her, we, we do, we did have a class, um, in school that strictly helped us in preparing our portfolio ourselves, our, like, you know, um, social media and preparing us for interviews as well.

Uh, super helpful. Um, so we did a quick interview with her. Uh, it was really nice, uh, and her team as well. Um, and [00:31:00] I think we really clicked like just, it felt right. Um, the first conversation that we had together, just we, felt really comfortable talking to each other and it was very casual. It wasn't anything formal or scary.

Interviews can be nerve wracking. 

Um, then I did that three months internship with her and in those three months I. Really tried to show and give my best and my all. Um, I did more than what the, what my program required. So my program required, required, um, just once a week kind of thing, but I did go in twice a week and I wanted to be more involved in the projects and more involved with the company.

And that's what got me the junior designer offer.

And I just, I thought that, um, in general, and [00:32:00] I am, for me, standard is not enough. I have to go above and beyond. So I, um, did more than what the school required me to. It did take a toll on me. It was challenging. It was very difficult to balance it with my studies, but I really wanted to impress and I wanted to, uh.

Be able to stay with her more than just three months. Um, 

and yeah, that, that commitment, that extra mile that I took did plan me the position as a junior designer.

Kendra Shea: Oh, that's wonderful. I think it's like, take note, educators, uh, construction documents are important and that is they need, I, 'cause I had the same, so I had a portfolio class, but I also had a full set of construction documents that I would bring around with my portfolio. So it was like, here's my artistic sense, but here is my technical sense and what I [00:33:00] am capable of doing in whatever program.

It was Revit at the time, um, was really popular. So I feel like that's really important. Um.

definitely Yes. And it leads me to my kind of next question. You talked about your first tasks when you were working with Alexandra Interiors was, um, construction docs and technical drawings. Um, is there anything besides that that you, you had, you were doing kind of in your first year as a designer,

Kimiya Khezri: Um, other than a lot of, like, lot of elevations, um, yeah. Um, I, although I do, I love, love, love of the technical side of. The, my career, like I just, I can spend hours and hours and hours just doing elevations and drawings. I love that, uh, part of it. But yes, um, I did a lot of sourcing of materials. [00:34:00] So I did go into, um, quite a bit, quite a few, um, supplier stores, and I went into showrooms.

I had to pick up, um, samples and materials, and she did give me this opportunity to pick things. She, she trusted me with, um, with a lot of decisions. And, um, I kinda, I, I'm very grateful for her. Um, so it, I had that freedom to be able to go somewhere, go to a showroom, pick something and bring it and present it to her.

Uh, which really I. Opened up my knowledge towards a lot of materials. Um, it's very easy to not have enough knowledge about materials you work with, uh, in the design field, especially because these days it's just easier to Google something and find it online rather [00:35:00] than go in person and search for things.

Uh, so that really opened up my mind and my eyes on how materials work. Uh, we did quite a few site visits with her as well, and client meetings, which was really nice. Design presentations. Um, love, love the part where, you know, you have to, uh, present to the clients because you get a feel and a taste of what they really feel about the space or how they feel about what you've picked.

And it becomes, you know, in the end it does become personal.

Kendra Shea: Yeah, I love that. Uh, I think that's a really great kind of showcase of what you, you can do when you're first starting out. Like, yes, it's drawings, but there's all these other parts. Um, and it sounds like she really kind of mentored you and, and understanding more and making sure you knew kind of best practices.

Which is really great. [00:36:00] Uh, what surprised you the most about working in the field?

Kimiya Khezri: Um, I think initially going into interior design, I thought all our job required us to do was pick and choose colors and that was it. Um, in school, yes, we did a lot of technical stuff, which was initially weird for me because I'm like, why are we doing all these drawings? Isn't this an architect's job? Or isn't this an engineer's job?

And then slowly, like going into the industry and doing all those, all the internships, I realized that I. No, like this is actually a designer's job. I have to be able to, you know, sketch this up. I have to be able to draw this up. I have to be able to, you know, put this down on AutoCAD or on Revit or whatever it is that, you know, whatever program you're working with. Um, one of the most surprising things for me was that, that technical side, which I always thought that [00:37:00] was not supposed to be a designer's job. Um, and then another thing was, um, this was, this wasn't a surprise, it was more like a learning curve for me is dealing with clients and, um, being able to design a space for them without it being very personal to yourself.

So you're creating this beautiful space for them. It doesn't necessarily have to be your taste, it doesn't have to be your preference. It doesn't have to be what you like, but it can be, but it should be actually what the client loves, wants, and would make him or her happy with a little bit of your taste.

Kendra Shea: Yeah.

Yeah.

Kimiya Khezri: how to incorporate your, how to put your mark onto someone's home, wanna say.

Kendra Shea: Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And I think people often [00:38:00] misunderstand that interior design isn't like putting my style upon someone else, or like what I put in my home is very different than what I would put in a design commercially or residential. Right? Like they're just Yeah, I like that there's like, how do you kind of put your little mark on it without overtaking somebody's comfort and home and place.

Uh, so that's, that's, no, I think that's a, a hard thing to learn or, you know. I'll, uh, you know, people, I'll say to people or my husband sometimes they'll be like, I love this, this thing. And it can be like a very elaborate chandelier that I would never put in my house in a million years. It doesn't make sense.

It doesn't fit with any sense of design that I have, but I love that chandelier. And if I find the right home or project or whatever, I would buy that chandelier for that because that's still putting something that I appreciate as a piece of wonderful design or art into a space. Right. So it's, it's that balance that people don't always understand about what we do

Kimiya Khezri: and it's so [00:39:00] easy to design homes. That are very repetitive. So what do you gotta do as a designer to make a difference from one home to another? Not to, you know, make things look the same. So like if someone looks at your design, if someone looks at this house or the other house that you've designed, they know that that house is designed by Kenya.

But it's different. So like how do you leave that mark on the house that says it's designed by you, but it's not you, it's the client. 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Yeah. That is, that is our biggest task and hardest thing to learn.

So yeah, I think you're right.



[00:39:44] The Big Questions
---

Kendra Shea: Awesome. Well, let's move on. This is the section I call the big questions where we're just gonna talk a little bit more about kind of the larger conversations and things that, that exist in our kind of interior design world.

Uh, so my first question, which you might have [00:40:00] kind of just answered a little bit, is what do you think is the least understood part of being an interior designer?

Kimiya Khezri: I think, well, what I've been facing lately,

Kendra Shea: Mm-hmm.

Kimiya Khezri: um, speaking from my own experience, is what I think that people don't really understand as a career of an interior designer is that we don't, we are not just the, um, we're not just a decorator or like, you know, the lipstick of a space. Um, we somewhat. Have the jobs of being an interior architect as well.

So yes, I am picking and choosing a, uh, paint color, a flooring material, a um, window covering. But at the same time, I am planning the space. I am putting [00:41:00] things together. I am moving walls around. I am moving fixtures around if it's a renovation or I am designing the whole space to make it all a single space.

And I feel like this is something that I struggled a lot with actually back home as well. In Dubai, people see interior designers as someone who would just go pick and choose stuff, decors and material, and just like decorate the space and like let's a, like a lipstick, um, that they. have for the space.

They don't really see what hard work goes in to be able to create that space, which is very unfortunate, unfortunately. Um, but I think, yeah, that's what I feel like that's side is not really appreciated as 

much.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. The technical side, it's, you know, some of the most important stuff we do, but unknown to a lot of people. [00:42:00] Um, how much time we spend in drawings and architecture we move and futz with and all sorts of stuff.

Kimiya Khezri: Definitely. And for some reason our reputation seems to be really notorious when it comes to project managers and building 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. But not the design side. Yeah.

Kimiya Khezri: Not the design side, just for some reason interior designers are to them, to, the builders are not. Like they're not knowledgeable enough to make something come to, you know, life.

Um, and I wonder, I always think, I always think to myself, I'm like, why is that? Like, why is it that a lot of builders don't like dealing with interior designers? Why is it like a lot of builders think that interior designers are not educated or enough, or don't have enough knowledge to know what's, you know, how something is being built.

And I think this plays a big role [00:43:00] in that, like, going back to what we spoke about school, like, is school doing enough to prepare us for how to deal with things onsite? Is school preparing us enough on how to deal with builders or how to deal with trades and all those things? Are the schools or like, are the instructors doing enough because there's only so much the school can offer you?

Um, and these all do come with experience. Definitely, but also I think it's very important to touch on that topic as well.

Kendra Shea: yeah. So the, I think so stateside over here, down here in the United States of America, we are working towards legislation, um, more than state by state. So right now, like I live in Washington state, we don't have legislation, but if you go to, like, this is so bad. I know this. I promise interior design friends, I have been in [00:44:00] this.

But then you go to other states, uh, Illinois just passed. I know like New Mexico has it, uh, Wisconsin. So it's state by state. And what we're struggling with is a lot of the same thing where although we are just as knowledgeable as architects, not necessarily on the building envelope because that's not what we do, but on the interior design and the interior architecture, we are knowledgeable and trying.

So we are trying, we're working to go state by state right now to get legislation, um, so that we are recognized as a profession. So that's our like, struggle down here. I know it's a little bit different up in Canada. Um, what, can you talk a little bit on that and do you think that might affect kind of why, you know, 'cause if you're in, if you have legislation or some sort of kind of regulation

of your profession, I would hope that that would give some sort of sense of like, we have knowledge, right?

[00:45:00] Like,

Kimiya Khezri: Hey, a, I'm a licensed designer I think I know what I'm talking about.

Kendra Shea: So I think that's maybe my, like my roundabout way of asking the question, like, what is, do you think that having legislation up there or having some sort of like, sort of, you know, recognition of your profession is supporting you as an interior designer? 

Kimiya Khezri: I think so of what I know is that if you are an interior designer with a an N-C-I-D-Q, uh, registration or license, 

um, you can definitely land in jobs to do with like commercial or like government projects and, um, all the like bigger dogs. 

But there is no requirement that hey. To be able to design this or to be able to work in my company or to be able to, you know, um, lead this [00:46:00] design.

You need to be N-C-I-D-Q approved. You need to have an N-C-I-D-Q certification. Um, unfortunately that is not really enforced here as much. Um, I I, I was actually looking into it, um, for the US and um, 'cause like my family really loves and is obsessed with San Diego and they were like looking into moving to San Diego and 

um, yeah, I was like looking at how the interior design field and job is down there and, um, a lot of the companies there require you to be N-C-I-D-Q approved to be able to actually work there as an interior 

designer. California. California compared to like California has its own actual special test, which I think they're trying to get rid of, separate from. Like the N-C-I-D-Q to be available to work in California. Um, so yeah, there, that's kind of the baseline right [00:47:00] now is that we're all, if you have your N-C-I-D-Q, you can say I'm a commercial interior designer.

Kendra Shea: Um, but like in my state, it means nothing. It just means that I have it. And hopefully someday when we have legislation, it is also a saying, Hey, we want legislation because there's this many certified, you know, N-C-I-D-Q interior designers in our state, and we should have recognition as an existing profession.

So it sounds like in Canada that's less, it's, it's for residential, at the very least,

Kimiya Khezri: Well, at least in Vancouver, um, with residential, it's like they don't even. Like, a lot of the companies don't even know what an N-C-I-D-Q uh, certification is. Um, but there isn't really a strict or like a pin down rule that says, Hey, like in order to be able to call yourself an interior designer, you need to do this exam or you need to do [00:48:00] this.

Um, there are a lot of programs though, or a lot of courses that you can take, like for building codes and like, um, better design educations like after you've graduated that you could take to help you become a better designer, a better, have more knowledge in, um, what you're doing. But it's not really a requirement.

There isn't much, you know, restrictions on it. Although lately I've noticed that. I've been hearing it more so a lot of people are talking about it more often than they, I would hear it a year ago. So I think it's something that Canada is learning, um, to, or like at least Vancouver is learning, uh, to implement that and make the designers, uh, move the designers more towards, uh, the certification so that they can move back and forth with the US 

and they can take on [00:49:00] more commercial, uh, or government on projects as well.

Kendra Shea: yeah, I can see that. Um, yeah, so we also have things out here like LEED and WELL AP and so those are, are kind of add-on things that aren't required by any means, but often, so does Canada have a lot of the same, or you can get those certifications to kind of just say, I also am Hmm. great at sustainability in design

Kimiya Khezri: Mm-hmm. whatever.

Um, with, so with the residential field, it's completely different. Um, super, super different than, so speaking from a, a residential perspective, um, no. Like, yes, we have all the LEED certification and all that, but no, we don't require it. We don't require it. It's not important. We don't care.

Um, if you wanna be a sustainable designer, by all means be, I don't need a certification, uh, free [00:50:00] to prove that you can be sustainable. that's, that's what their mentality really is here. 

Kendra Shea: Does that also apply? So like we residential designers in the 

states, there's um, NKBA, which are a Nat 

National Kitchen and Bath Association. And so they, they, I think they kind of certify interior, like residential designers 

to be, Yeah.

Do they do that up in Canada as well, or,

Kimiya Khezri: They do. But there is actually a, um, a small industry for it. The, we have a small industry of like the designers, um, that are members of the NKBA. Um, but again, it's the same thing with lead. Same thing with N-C-I-D-Q. It's like, if you're part of it, amazing. You're ex, you're ex you have a lot of exposure to all these projects.

You have a lot of exposure to all these designers, to all these events. But you really needed to be working in my company. That's, unfortunately, I just, [00:51:00] I wish that the industry did, did take a turn, um, on these certifications because I think there is, there is always a reason why these certifications do exist and it would really be nice to, you know, drive the designers more towards, you know, going for these programs. 

Kendra Shea: I think that makes a lot of sense. I just, I am, thank you for kind of. Going through that with me 'cause it is so different than, than what we'd experience here. There's definitely more an expectation to not, excuse me, necessarily, get your N-C-I-D-Q, but to get some sort of CER certification, have those letters behind your name to kind of prove you have that.

My next question is a little bit more about trends and what you're seeing. Um, so kind of what do you think is driving the trends you're seeing in residential right now? Is it post covid stuff? Is it safety? Is it politics? Is it something totally different? I'm not thinking of like, what is driving some of the trends [00:52:00] you're seeing in the work you're doing right now?

Kimiya Khezri: Well post Covid. I think a lot of people they struggled and suffered, uh, in their homes with feeling safe or feeling comfortable or feeling like, you know, they would. They wouldn't mind spending, um, hours and hours and hours in that space. So I think right now the trend that's, that is really driving the industry is how to create a space, um, that is modern, but at the same time it's warm and modern doesn't always necessarily mean that it's like warm to you know yourself or it doesn't feel super comfortable.

Um, but it's more like now I. Okay. Modern farmhouse, modern Scandinavian, modern craftsmanship. You know, it's like [00:53:00] how to, how to create a space that's super nice and modern, but at the same time it feels really warm because if something like covid happened again, and I had to stay at home for like hours, and I wasn't able to leave my space for days, then how can I create a space that would feel nice and clean, functional and practical, but at the same time, cozy and warm.

Um, people do tend to now mix and match a lot of different, uh, design movements together. Um, so I remember before it was just strictly contemporary, modern, traditional, classic,

um. Yes, exactly. But now it's more like, okay, I want a Japandi house. So it's like Scandinavian and Japanese style [00:54:00] 

Kendra Shea: okay, that meshes, I can see that working. That one worked. The clean lines, right?

The. I can see that. I feel like there's some that must be wild to try to like 

Kimiya Khezri: I know. So the, I think one of the most challenging things that I had to deal with, um, recently was this client wanted to do renaissance meets, uh, modern.

Kendra Shea: Oh, wow.

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah. So it's like having all those like moldings and all those crowns and all the renaissance details, but modern, how do you do that?

Kendra Shea: That, that is a challenge actually. I, it sounds fun. I

love the Renaissance 

Kimiya Khezri: feel like lot peop- and I, and I feel like, like these days a lot of people are going back to, um, classic, uh, but they are not super confident with going completely classic.

So they want a touch of classic in their house, but at the same time, they want it to look very elegant and modern as [00:55:00] well. Um, uh, I I've been seeing a lot of, um, past and older styles coming back into trend now, and I think that is, that is more, that comes more from how people feel comfortable, um, within this space.

'cause not a lot of the modern designs that we do or designers do these days feel as comfortable as they should in someone's home.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Um, that I'm just, I'm stuck on the mesh of Renaissance and modern a little bit. I like, as somebody who loves the Renaissance, I just, the thought of making it modern is wild to 

me. My brain is like, but I also

kind 

Kimiya Khezri: you've gotta give it its moment. 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. And like the balance of like furniture to molding right.

And how you, I, I'm fascinated and I'm just gonna

think 

Kimiya Khezri: So some, something, 

Kendra Shea: like, Ooh.

Kimiya Khezri: something interesting [00:56:00] we did there, um, just to take that, you know, weight off of 

your mind 

Kendra Shea: poor brain. That's like,

Kimiya Khezri: is that 

Yeah. So we did, um, we did a lot of moldings in the house, um, like crown moldings and like nice casings, um, around the door and all the baseboards and everything, but. We did very modern fixtures in the house, so modern lighting.

We did modern plumbing fixtures, 

um, and everything. So like when you think Renaissance, you think like, okay, gold, brass. Um, but we did more like, yeah, so we did a lot of titanium finishes 

and, um, the fixtures were like bronze champagne, but also like it was a modern fixture. It wasn't a, a renaissance or like a classical one.

So that's how we tried to incorporate we, the base, the structure, we, we kept it as like, you know, renaissance, but then we incorporated a lot of like modern elements and fixtures 

Kendra Shea: Mm-hmm. [00:57:00] Awesome. That's really cool. I betcha that turned out awesome. I'm gonna

Kimiya Khezri: It's still in the progress. 

Kendra Shea: I can't, I'm, I'll be curious to hear, uh, kind of how that finishes out and, and just what the client thinks. 'cause that's such an interesting combo to want and they really gave you a, a challenge in a good way.

I feel like, like, I think that's why my brain was like, oh, how'd they do that? 'cause I think that's a really neat different approach to something,

Kimiya Khezri: and I love a challenge. Yeah. And, and then the design industry, I think as, as a designer, being challenged and finding a really good solution to that challenge or to that problem is one of the best things that can happen to you in your career. Because that's what's going to build you as a designer, as a problem solver, as a, um, as a designer that people, you know, will come to you and be like, Hey, [00:58:00] listen, like I want this.

And you go like, got it.

Kendra Shea: yeah, yeah. Awesome. Yeah, it's true. Uh, you have to be willing to solve hard problems on the regular. To be a designer like that is the basis of our job is how does this work and how do we make it work? Or if it doesn't work, what do we do instead?

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah.

Kendra Shea: So that's great. Do you think we are doing enough to push sustainability as a profession, especially on the residential side, and how much, I think maybe my follow up to that is how much does that affect what you do?

Do clients often come to you on the residential side and say, I want like a really sustainable 

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah, I think in Vancouver right now, um, they're really, like Vancouver is really trying to go towards sustainable residential builds. But I think one, I wanna say one obstacle is definitely the cost because. Anything that is sustainable [00:59:00] is so much more expensive than having it as non-sustainable. And that's what we're, that's a problem we've been facing.

Like a lot of clients want certain things in their house to be sustainable, but in order to be able to have those, it means that the budget is gonna break the budget somehow. Um, so I think that's one of, like the biggest obstacle and the reason why a lot of people don't like a lot of the industry here doesn't really enforce that much is because they don't wanna drive the client away.

Um, and that, that's really scary actually, because the price of it, um, plays a big role in the decision making of it, obviously. Uh, and the decision making has not been going great. With like all the, like the residential side, because it's so crazy and everything's become so expensive now. Like [01:00:00] renovating and like all the materials have become so expensive because of the whole inflation thing that's happening that it's almost impossible for clients to even think that they want to have something sustainable in their house because they know automatically the word sustainable means that 

it's gonna 

Kendra Shea: more money dollar signs, you know? Yeah, I see that. That makes a lot of sense. And I think it does make it really tough in the residential world because commercially in the commercial world, there's often like incentives. I don't think they give that as much in the residential world.

And you're right. If they're just trying to pay to get something done in their house, they're not thinking, and I want it to be sustainable. Let's add more money.

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah. 

But it's, it's not very common to have a super, super, I wanna say sustainable house and down here in Vancouver, a lot of people do have sustainable elements in their house, but it's very rare to find a house that's completely or fully sustainable.

Kendra Shea: [01:01:00] Yeah, I think it would be the same here. Unless you are uber rich and have the money to spend. So I don't think, I don't think that's odd to see in the residential market at all. Um, and I just, I do think it's interesting 'cause we push it so hard in the commercial market, but less so, and I guess that cost would be, would make sense unfortunately.

So we're not doing enough would be my answer. Like, how do we bring the cost down? How do we make it so it is affordable for homeowners to sustainably build? Right? Like, I don't know what that answer is though.

Kimiya Khezri: I think it should be. It should be one of those topics of conversation that. Hey, I want you guys to be, or like, I want the industry to be more sustainable, so it should be more affordable than doing something regular. But unfortunately that's not the case. Um, yeah, it's just that price. They've [01:02:00] gotta, the industry has gotta do something about it.

Kendra Shea: especially like, you know, it sounds like the city of Vancouver is trying to push sustainability, but if they aren't doing anything to support that on the other end, what are like, what's the point? Right? Yeah. That's, it's a, it's a struggle, but don't worry, I don't intend for us to find answers today to these questions.

Kimiya Khezri: I wish, I wish I 

could. Just like be like this is the answer. No, and that's part of why I ask them is I think we just need to have these conversations and hopefully at some point these conversations can turn into action. 'cause. Most things start with conversations I've discovered. Alrighty. So my, my last kind of big topic here is diversity in design.

Kendra Shea: So my first question is, what does diversity in design mean to you?

Kimiya Khezri: Are we welcoming someone else's culture, someone else's? Um, I wanna, when I think about [01:03:00] diversity, the first thing that comes to my mind is that are we welcoming someone else's cultural design in our industry? Is it okay to have this particular design that comes from, let's say, South Africa or originates from Japan or anywhere else in the world? Is it okay to put something like that within our space?

Or do I want to put something like that in our space? Do I wanna introduce that in, um, the industry? I think it's, are we doing enough of that? Are we welcoming that? Um, that's all, all of the things that come to my head when I think about diversity is, um, do we have enough outside designers? Do we have designers from abroad bringing in their culture, bringing in, um, their traditions?

Uh, I know when I first [01:04:00] started working here, it was very different. It's, it's, it is, Vancouver is very different from, um, how things are in Dubai.

So 

for me, as someone who came from Dubai, as someone who was raised with the um, Arabic. Slash Persian culture and that design of the world, that side of design, I thought to myself like, okay, what can I do?

Or how can I incorporate my culture, my background, what I was raised with into this world, into this side of the industry so that it doesn't scare the clients, it doesn't push them away, or it doesn't overpower it, like blend in. And I think that's, that's where, um, we as the industry are lacking, lack more knowledge of [01:05:00] the cultural background of countries, of design, where things are coming from, where things originate from.

And we don't really learn much about the history of a lot of things. Um, I. Up to this day have no idea what the history behind, um, a, you know, a particular design is. Um, and, you know, it's not always the most, um, interesting thing to like Google and be like, Hey, I wanna know the history behind crown moldings, or I wanna know the history behind, uh, camel shaped, uh, sofa.

Or like, you know, um, I think that's very important to educate our designers on all the like, cultural backgrounds. It's a different backgrounds have even like sending them, like sending or like going or traveling abroad and like experiencing exploring. Not everyone obviously [01:06:00] has the luxury of being able to travel, explore, or go out there and, um.

See or experience the different cultures and bring that in and absorb that and bring that in into the industry here in Vancouver or anywhere else in the world. But I think that's something very eye-opening is to be able to open your eyes or educate yourself more on what's going on behind or like on the other side of the world.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. And even I think about schooling, it was very Eurocentric, right? Like, okay, we, a little bit of Greek, you get a little bit of like other countries, right? But truly it is very like England, like English, Eurocentric based. And I had to do, and still need to do more research on other, like the other histories of design that aren't.

Eurocentric and Euro focus. So I think you're right there that it's, it's learning, [01:07:00] learning more about the options of what's out there 

Kimiya Khezri: and

I think, 

yeah. 

Kendra Shea: right. Like, but understanding that it exists and having that point of view.

Kimiya Khezri: Yes, of course. And I think it's, it's with every part of the world that you are at, it's the same thing. Because when I was in Dubai in school, well, what did we learn? We learned about only the Middle East, like things that were, the history of like things that's happening in the Middle East. We never really learned about the history of design in Europe or like history of design in like, you know, America or Canada or like anywhere else in the world, in Russia.

And like no one really talks about what design is in Russia. Has any designer really researched 

Kendra Shea: Petersburg and then there's that like, great, but what, what other, and I know it has to be out there, right?

like

Kimiya Khezri: like there's so 

much, 

there is so much beauty, there's so much creativity going out there in the world that. People are not aware [01:08:00] of. And I think that's so important for us within the industry to educate ourselves on the different cultural, um, aspects or designs and history that we have around us. If you have, let's say, um, a coworker that's from a different background, ask them more questions, talk to them more, see where they come from, see what their design background is, see what the history of their, you know, um, the history of their country really is like asking a lot of historical questions.

Some people might find it boring, some people might not be interested at all. But I think it's very important for you to have that knowledge so that you don't just stick with one particular design standard and 

Kendra Shea: you 

Kimiya Khezri: explore and expand your palette.

Kendra Shea: Yeah, I think that's, that's, that is a great way to put it. We need to explore and expand our own palettes as, as existing [01:09:00] designers within design space. That's great. Well, um, I think that's it for the, the kind of heavier questions. So now we're gonna move on to what I call the fun questions.


[01:09:12] The Fun Stuff
---




Kendra Shea: These are a little bit more, less serious, a little bit more freeform, kind of first thing that comes to mind. Uh, so the first one is, what creative things do you do outside of interior design to inspire you?

Kimiya Khezri: Paint I paint a 

lot, um, and I think. It's like my comfortable, safe space is when I'm sitting in my balcony and I am just like looking out and like seeing people walk, seeing cars, drive by watching, uh, a bunch of pigeons like flying and like that life seeing movement 

Kendra Shea: Mm-hmm. [01:10:00] 

Kimiya Khezri: inspires me. And I, I love painting so much.

So that's something that I do outside of interior design.

Kendra Shea: Nice.

Kimiya Khezri: Um, and I, and I think I get that from my mom. 'cause my mom is an artist, she's a painter. And I've always, I was like raised. All those like paintings around us. Like we, we never had the blank wall at home. 

Never. Like it's always some sort of painting on there.

And that really inspired me a lot as well, um, into like picking up a paintbrush and like painting on a canvas was my mom.

Kendra Shea: That's awesome. And I, I think a great creative expression, um, a little bit more looser than the design that we often do. So I think that's, that's awesome. Is there a designer, artist, creative or firm, uh, whose work you are really into right now and why? So it can be interior design related, not interior design.

It could be a book. [01:11:00] Anything.

Kimiya Khezri: You know, I've always been like in love with Zaha Hadid. 

I've always like, she is one of my biggest inspirations and I think it's because I would watch her. Designs and buildings being built in person there. Like, and especially in Dubai, we have a lot of Zaha Hadid structures there, and it's just, it's breathtaking.

It's so beautiful. She's such an inspiration. I've always been in love with the way she thought her thinking process, her designer and creativity process. I actually, um, I researched into this a lot on like how she gets things, like how she comes up with things or, uh, what her design team or process would do to be able to make something come to life.

And it's so interesting. And, um, one of the case studies for my actually graduating course, I did a case study on her [01:12:00] and, um, I'm just like, I absolutely, think of any other designer,

Kendra Shea: No, I think that's 

perfect. That's a great answer. Um, she's, I think she's one of the most inspiring architects. 

Kimiya Khezri: icon. 

Kendra Shea: Yeah, she is. She's truly an icon. And I think for all of us women of color, of any sort of color, just having 

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah. 

Kendra Shea: and show that it can be done is, is important.

Um, 

Kimiya Khezri: from someone coming from, um, middle 

East, being able to grow, 

uh, so much and being able to inspire so many people as well.

Kendra Shea: And the way she is put with the Giants of Design in such an important way. 'cause I feel like you're just like, white man, white man, white man. You're like, Zaha, yes. White man. You know what I mean? Like she really breaks up the pyramid of white men up there. So, yeah. I, I think there is no shame in that answer at all.

Do you have a favorite color?

Kimiya Khezri: Right now I have a favorite color. [01:13:00] In general, I don't, but at the moment, I am absolutely obsessed with a really nice olive or army green, 

if that makes sense. Uh, I'm here for it. 

I, everything, everything, that I have right now, or everything that I purchased even online, like my clothing, I, well, I'm actually wearing 

green 

right now. 


It's, it's just a color that, for some reason it touched me so much and I'm like stuck with it right now. I'm absolutely obsessed with it and I've, I love using it in the space as well, in a, in a home, um, as like accents or even as a, uh, primary color as well. But yes, it's olive green,

Kendra Shea: Yeah. No, that's a great choice. I love a good olive green. Uh, do you have a least favorite color? Do

Kimiya Khezri: purple.

Kendra Shea: funny. It's my favorite. To be

fair, 

Kimiya Khezri: really, 

Kendra Shea: care. No, I'm not gonna judge you for not having the same [01:14:00] favorite color of me. That's weird. No, I'm a purple girly. Through and through.

Kimiya Khezri: I never understood the color purple. 

And 

I 

like, it's 

so difficult 

for me. 

Kendra Shea: Someone, there are people that'll tell you it actually doesn't exist as a color and that just hurts my brain. So

Kimiya Khezri: No, it definitely is a color, but it's just, it's never been a color that I really connected with or understood much, especially using it within a space. It's, it's, it's a very strong 

color as well. 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. 

Kimiya Khezri: Um, and it just, I, I don't think it's a 

Kendra Shea: color 

Kimiya Khezri: that I can feel comfortable working with.

Kendra Shea: fair. It is. It's, it's kind of like for me, red and orange are that way. Or like orange is 

really 

Kimiya Khezri: Oh, yes. 

Orange. Yeah. 

Kendra Shea: color that when you use it, you have to be comfortable. With how you're using it, so, no, that's totally fair.

Kimiya Khezri: And it's sometimes the psychology behind colors as well, 

Kendra Shea: Yeah. [01:15:00] 

Yeah. 

Kimiya Khezri: a color makes you feel. And I feel like orange is 

one of those 

colors 

that if I looked at it for too long, it would make me feel sick. 

Kendra Shea: yeah, like it, I couldn't live in it for sure. I did have a room that was orange in one of my apartments at one point, but it was like an office. It was offset with blue. It was a little loud. But yeah, no, it can be intense. So I see that. Uh, is there a color combo you usually avoid?

Kimiya Khezri: Something I see a lot, I see a lot of it. And that's, um, black and red.

Kendra Shea: That's a tough one.

Kimiya Khezri: I,

they, they go Really? Yeah, they go really see, they do go well together. I'm not saying that they don't, but it's just they're two very overpowering colors. in like a house that seems like, so I've done schools where the colors are red and black, but that's like you're doing it in a gym, in an auditorium or Right. Like it is big, large spaces, but in a home that feels like very oppressive.

Yeah, I know. [01:16:00] And, uh, a lot of people use that in a movie room and because in VA in Vancouver, it's very, uh, like it's a standard for everyone to have a movie room in their house or like in their basement or like a rec room. Yeah. Um, it's, uh, yeah, it's like every house, every standard family house in Vancouver does have a theater room or a movie room in 

their basement. good to know. That's amazing. Okay, it's always, yeah, it's always black and it's always dark and black and there's always like red in it. We can do we can do better. We can do better than that. 

Kendra Shea: We can do movie theater vibes with purple. No, just kidding. 

But yeah, there's definitely ways to give dark and Moody that isn't like red and black and I, yeah, and they're trying to like, I was thinking like popcorn bucket, but then my brain goes, Nope, that's red and white. But interesting.

Kimiya Khezri: Oh, interesting. Popcorn buckets are red and white. You say here our popcorn buckets are yellow and white.

Kendra Shea: Ooh, interesting. [01:17:00] I guess it depends, like you can also get the yellow and white ones at the movie theater, but then like the old school or the red and

white.

Yeah,

Interesting. I was just trying to figure out like why red, I guess maybe red like movie curtain, like the old school theaters is

maybe 

what they're going for. But it does feel like a lot. I'm sure there's people out there that are like, I love that color combo. And you're like, rock on friends. Not for us, obviously. What um, programs do you use for design? So, AutoCAD, Revit, Photoshop, InDesign, all of them. None of them

Kimiya Khezri: Um, so we, I do SketchUp Enscape I do, um, AutoCAD. I used to work with Revit, not anymore. Instead I've switched to Chief Architect.

Uh, are using Chief Architect. I've

Um, it's, it's really, it's a very convenient, uh, program. I don't have to work on AutoCAD and then import it and [01:18:00] change everything and sketch up, and so it's like, it's very similar to Revit.

I feel like Revit though, is more complex.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Um, and I've always said that Revit doesn't feel like it's meant for interior design. Chief Architect works really well in the residential spaces.

Kimiya Khezri: I definitely agree with that. We're having to work with Revit in the past. I definitely agree with like, you know, Chief Architect works better with the interior design industry than Revit.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. And I, I'll be curious. Like, so I think that makes sense why the residential market is heading that way versus Revit, because when you are doing a big commercial project, engineers like it and all that good stuff. Um, and I think it plugs into Enscape, right? The same way that Revit does.

Kimiya Khezri: no, it has its own actually 

rendering, uh, rendering. Um. So it, it, yeah, it, there is no plugin with Chief Architect, but the render quality is pretty good. Uh, and it's [01:19:00] not as good as scape, but it is, it's still, it's pretty decent. Uh, we, I try to, and I render it in itself. I try to like move it to Photoshop and like do some touchups.

Kendra Shea: yeah. Um, but I would, I would have done the same if I were to use Enscape as well.

Yeah. So it's really giving you that, that same progress and ability to kind of work more efficiently, which is really nice, I think. Um, 'cause yeah, the resident residential market felt like it was just an AutoCAD for a long time and was looking for that kind of, um, program to, to integrate everyone or the trades better.

Um, so what is your favorite command in your most used program?

It could be AutoCAD, it can be chief architect. Do you have like a shortcut you love use the most?

Kimiya Khezri: and, and, oh my God. I wanna say purge. I 

love 

purging this, 

Kendra Shea: I love [01:20:00] that. That's

Kimiya Khezri: but no, 

Kendra Shea: Purge is a good one. Cleans up your drawing real 

nicely. It makes it run faster. 

Kimiya Khezri: and it's so easy to have a laggy drawing

Kendra Shea: so easy. You have one weird day where things aren't working and all of a sudden you're like, why is this drawing so laggy? And you purge it and you're like, oh, that's

that's. probably made like six extra lines I didn't need somewhere.

Kimiya Khezri: I, I do love the, um, the paintbrush and the bucket tool. I love the bucket tool so much. Even it's just like I can easily pick colors and drop it somewhere else. Like I can apply to anything and everything. It just, it's nice in AutoCAD though. I haven't used AutoCAD in a few months, so bear with me. I don't remember exactly what it's called.

But, um, when you like duplicate a line in a exactly perfect distance that you want to, 

Kendra Shea: Offset? 

Kimiya Khezri: Offset. Yes. Offset. And Chief [01:21:00] doesn't have that. 

Oh, Chief doesn't have that. It really pisses me off.


Um, but offset, I just, I was obsessed with offset. I remain in school. I would offset everything.

Kendra Shea: That's, that's a tough command to lose. 

Kimiya Khezri: definitely, yeah. But now it's, it's much better now. It's like, um, the, I wanna say the dimensions, the measurements and all that, uh, it's become so much more flexible and you can do whatever you want. And actually, what I really like about Chief is that 

if you are working on renovating a space, and you already have a structure in there and, uh, you're not starting from scratch.

So you have all the, uh, the bone, the joist, all the studs there. So you can get all the, you can turn on a layer and all your studs and structure will show and you can make measure, 

measurements off the stu and the joist and not off of the [01:22:00] drywall, and, you know, make those calculations from the drywall. 

Kendra Shea: man, it has to be core, whatever. And I guess maybe that really shows the difference where that's useful for interiors versus, you know, wall face. And 

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah. 

Kendra Shea: Revit and you're like, oh, what? I don't need to go to the core either, you know, and you're trying to figure out what the most logical thing is, so, 

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah. So yeah, so like a four and a half inch interior wall. If I turn on the, the structure layer, it literally breaks down the wall into drywall, joist, cavity, all those things. And it's great because then you can snap dimensions to like either the joist or the drywall or whatever it is that that you need to.

Kendra Shea: Alright. My last question is, if you were to meet yourself just starting out right before you started design school, I would say , right as you started at LaSalle, uh, if you were just to meet yourself starting out, what advice would you give to young you?


Kimiya Khezri: Um, I, I [01:23:00] was really hard on myself in school. Um, I always wanted perfection and I always wanted to help. People. And I think that's why I got into tutoring. Um, but doing all that, I didn't realize 

how much 

I missed out on as well, um, and how much help I needed, um, rather than, you know, giving. So if I were to give myself, uh, an advice, it would be take it day by day.

Um, you don't always have to make, uh, things perfect. You don't always have to, uh, be the best and you don't always, need to make everyone happy.

Kendra Shea: Yeah, I think [01:24:00] that's good advice. Uh, you can't make some of the best advice I ever got was you can't make everybody happy. And

Kimiya Khezri: You can never make

Kendra Shea: I think that's really good advice

to 

Kimiya Khezri: And I think that's what I try to do a lot. I always wanted to keep everyone happy. I wanted all my classmates to be happy. I wanted all my instructors to be happy. I wanted, uh, just everyone to be happy with me. And I, it, I went above and beyond, uh, to make that happen. And I think that it would be nice to be more relaxed.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. Yeah, I can totally see that. I think that's great advice. You school is really hard and when you're in it, you're like, I have to be so serious. But you don't have to be that serious. It is okay.

It 

Kimiya Khezri: Yeah, it's okay 

to 

fool around 


Kendra Shea: yeah, it's okay to have a little bit of fun. It is okay to not have a perfect project.

It is okay. [01:25:00] Right. Like I think I had the same problem. I was so hard on myself and everything needed to be perfect and it definitely led to some heartache and tears and Right. And a lot of stress that I

Kimiya Khezri: And it is the smallest, yeah, and the smallest thing that happens, that's not your way. It like disappoints you. It takes a toll on you. It like interrupts the whole pattern of you trying to impress

Kendra Shea: Yeah, yeah. Sometimes stop trying to impress people and just be there. And I think that's really good advice 'cause it is part of school is you are trying to impress your teachers and impress you know your classmates and impress the people who might be working for you, especially when you're doing things like crits and have professionals in and out of your classroom.

So I think that is very good advice.

Kimiya Khezri: and I, I, I always had this fear, like I walked into that university, like I walked into the college actually. Um, I remember the first day, this fear up to today. I remember it. I walked in and the first thing that came to my head is, what [01:26:00] if the industry never accepts me? Yeah. And I wish I just. I wish I hadn't walked in with that fear because that fear really triggered so much anxiety in me.

Um, ru sometimes some, sometimes when people have certain fears, they take that and use it as a motivation to do better. But I felt like that fear really helped me back in so many aspects and I just, I wish that, um, I had told myself that, Kimia, you're starting this new program and, uh, you're going to become a interior designer. Take it day by day. Relax, calm down, walk in with an open mind.

Kendra Shea: Yeah. That's wonderful advice. Well, thank you so much for this. This was a wonderful conversation.

Kimiya Khezri: Thank you so much for having me.

Kendra Shea: Yeah, this was really good. 


[01:26:59] Closing
---


[01:27:00] 

Kendra Shea: Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Design Over Drinks is produced, hosted, and edited by me, Kendra Shea. The podcast is also produced by Simon Shea Graphics and Cover Art by Tano design Music is by Qreepz. You can email us at Design Over Drinks pod@gmail.com. You can support us on Patreon and follow us on most social media at Design Over Drinks Pod all one word and Blue Sky at Design Overdrinks.

Find us wherever you get your podcasts.


[01:27:29] Tag
---




Kimiya Khezri: It's always great to talk to you. I know we, um. We met really long time 

ago 

Kendra Shea: as per everything IIDA, it was an IIDA event. I went up to Vancouver, um, for one of their leaders' breakfasts and that's when we got to meet. So that was really wonderful and I was actually excited when I did get to meet you 'cause it was a fun, like a, it's a good leader's breakfast, so those are always

good. 

Kimiya Khezri: yeah. 

Kendra Shea: Um, but it was really nice to be up in Vancouver and network a little bit and, uh, you know, [01:28:00] IIDA things.