We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Rosadela Serulle ("RS").
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic having done her designs studies in Milano Italy, Rosadela Serulle started design studio in 2005, her designs are a mixture of tropical and eclectic design, that translates on to any project. As a designer she completely thinks out of the box, to her, clients are the number one priority, their comfort and the importance that they can identify themselves through design. Currently she is described as a designer who melts styles together, conforming a magical space full of artistic elements the client can always enjoy. The importance of choosing less abrasive materials towards the environment is a way she can contribute to society. Even though she has a trademark to each creation, all of the designs are different. She describes that her most important objective is to design a home where all spaces are enjoyable and used, excluding her from those designers that choose to create a museum like residence.
Rosadela Serulle Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Rosadela Serulle.
Rosadela Serulle Design - Casa Udo Residential Apartment
Designer Interview of Rosadela Serulle:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
RS : As a young child, I was always involved in construction design and architecture, as I was born into a construction family. My sisters are architects. Therefore, I was immersed at a very young age in design. My understanding for space textures fabrics, lighting grew with time. when it came time to pick a career, I knew I wanted to be an interior designer and I knew that in order for me to make my work stand out I needed to learn about lighting. I studied in my country, interior design and then I left for Milano to do a masters in Light design. I was extremely lucky to be taught by professionals in each area and to take with me the importance of a good company, structure and ethical values. Traits, that so far, are the core of IDA SRL a& RS INTERIORES.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
RS : IDA SRL & RS INTERIORES our sister companies, both founded by myself in order to tackle the necessities of our clients. We are proud to have 19 years in the market defining us as a leading design studio in Dominican Republic. We have worked abroad in Curaçao, Miami, Florida and Texas. We believe the most important thing is to listen to our clients there wants their needs and be able to demonstrate this in a physical matter whether it be designing their home office or more.
DI: What is "design" for you?
RS : Design for me is an opportunity to demonstrate in a physical nature a feeling, a state of mind and one’s personality.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
RS : If I could say, there’s one thing, I love to design most I would have to choose homes, this is where people for their hearts and soul where they meditate where they relax where they can be themselves. It’s true working on peoples residence is probably the hardest task a designer has to overcome as a home with design is not for us but that’s why if you listen closely to your client, you will know exactly what they want even if they don’t. My true weakness would have to be beach or mountain homes, I love coastal / mountain living , it’s woven in me. There’s a certain liberty while working on a second home, and this is certainly part of why I love it so much.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
RS : Out of all of my past work until now it is very hard to see, which is my favorite as there are details in each of them that make them my favorite. Particularities that can only come up while mixing the personalities of the clients with my own. These are the part of my designs that are my favorites.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
RS : Our first design was a boutique hotel in the heart of a UNESCO world heritage site. It had so many challenges to it walls that could not be brought down historical findings, that would stop the project for months, and all the needs of a boutique hotel. It was truly a great project from beginning to end.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
RS : I’m not sure anyone can answer this question with only one thing as our favorite material platform or technology. But if I had to choose, I would say as the mind. There is no way of slowing a creative mind and I sure have one.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
RS : I feel most creative at night, during the day, there are too many distractions, office, work employees, my children and my household. But at night it’s quiet all I need is my computer and it just flows out! And of course, good music!
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
RS : The most important part of a design is functionality. This is where all my focus goes to. I always want to create something that is both functional and different. I aim to design spaces that are not Museum like but filled with family gatherings and playfulness.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
RS : When I’m designing, it’s a rush I have to pour it all out until I can’t until I’m so tired I just cannot keep going. Sometimes there’s a part of the design where you get stuck and then it just opens up and you can see everything clearly, once you’re there, it’s no stopping it.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
RS : There are so many feelings that come about when I finish a design and I see it come together in real life. I would say the number one feeling is gratitude. I’m proud of myself even though a blank canvas, I can see as if I were looking at a picture what the end result would be like when I look at it for real when I can touch it when I can smell it, this is pure joy and excitement.
DI: What makes a design successful?
RS : The most important thing that makes a design successful is if it checked off all of the necessities that you were hired to do. If at the end of the day, my client turns to me and tells me “I can’t believe it. You understood me I couldn’t even express it myself, but you understood me. This is my home”. Then I know my design was successful.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
RS : Functionality functionality functionality. Did the designer take into consideration what the client wants? It could be a great avant-garde design, but if it’s not functional and the end-user cannot function correctly, then there’s no point to the design.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
RS : As a designer, we have a lot of responsibility towards our client and towards society and the environment. At the end of the day, the client comes to us for our guidance therefore, we must be mindful of the materials, types of furnishing restructuring even the way we dispose of old Elements. It is so important to take into consideration that there are so many materials today that we can choose to incorporate in our designs and won’t hurt the planet.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
RS : I love the way designers are now sharing with each other their projects, their struggles and posible solution to others problems. There are so many platforms today inorder to shine and help others. I also believe that designers are now very much getting involved with materials that are recyclable and have multiple usage towards them.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
RS : Our last design exhibition was for Latin American fashion week this past March, where I designed two pop-up restaurants. It was a true experience of express design.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
RS : The inspiration for my designs always come from my client. They might not know it but the conversations I have whether or not it might be about the job. This is where I find my inspiration.
DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
RS : There’s just no way to describe my design style but it’s a mix. You might like to see it as a melting pot of different styles, that mesh into one. Sometimes when I see the mixtures of elements, I surprise myself, but they work wonderfully.
DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
RS : I am based in the Dominican Republic therefore I think my designs have a little bit of that tropical essence that you may get from Island living. Because of this, I integrate a lot of organic elements, textures and colors..
DI: How do you work with companies?
RS : We work one on one to make sure that our design proposal is the best fit for them. Again, listening to their necessities, making list, checking them off in order to assure that the functionality of the space is proven.
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
RS : I believe the most in Porten factor in choosing a Designer is to choose one that designs for others not for themselves. There are so many professionals in our field that choose to design for themselves rather than for the end client and this is the number one error.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
RS : The first thing I do when I start my design process is to have a sit down with my client. We talk about everything we talk about their lives. We talk about what they want me to design the hired project. We talk about everything this is where I get to know their personality, this is where the design elements come in to play and everything comes together for me.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
RS : A day in my life, I wake up at 6 AM I make breakfast for my twin boys, they go off to school and I work out. By 830 I am ready for work, I check my agenda because I have to write everything down. I exchange emails with the employees at the office and then we begin the rotation just as a Dr. goes through his patients we go one by one to each of our sites. I try to make it back home for lunch each day since my children are my number one design. And then we go at it again till about 6 PM. Later in the day after everyone at the house is asleep or watching TV I can concentrate and get lost in my designs
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
RS : My suggestion to upcoming designers would be to listen to your client if you design for yourself, and not for them, you will lose them in the future. The key to success is for the client to be able to recommend you to give you other homes, their offices, etc.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
RS : I just love being a designer being able to channel the creativity and make it come to life is something special I guess the cons of being a Designer today is that some people think they can do it on their own, they see a picture and just copy it, but there is so much more to it.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
RS : Listen to my client makes my design functional and always be ethical.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
RS : The skills you need to be a designer is you have to have a creative mind, always think out-of-the-box always look for solutions. There’s always a way out of the maze.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
RS : I use a AutoCAD, vector works and Revit..
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
RS : The design part of the process is the most time-consuming. This is why I choose to do it at night when I have no distractions. We hold team meetings, make lists and quotations during the day, but the real magic happens at night.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
RS : The design process from beginning to end can take up to six months minimum, of course this depends on the size of the project.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
RS : The most frequent question asked would be how did you know? “How did you understand me? How did you know this is what I wanted at the end, if I didn’t even know myself.” When I get this question, I know I did a great job because at the end of the day I could see my client's personality and I displayed it.
DI: What was your most important job experience?
RS : The most important job experience until now has been the design of the boutique hotel in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. The intervention of a 450 year old homes being brought together to make up 24 suite hotel was very challenging. There were times where we had historical findings and we would have to stop the building process for weeks or months.
DI: Who are some of your clients?
RS : I mainly work for individual families. I love it! It's a challenge to meet everyone's criteria.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
RS : I love designing second homes, there’s just a liberty that goes along with it.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
RS : Part of my future plans are to keep on growing my company. We are restructuring right now and opening a warehouse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A place where our clients or anybody can find the core elements for their projects or homes.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
RS : There’s always teamwork at our office as her designer I do take on most of the work, but later it is discussed in our group meetings for there is always positive feedbacks.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
RS : Well right now we are almost finishing a project that I’m very excited about and it’s in Casa De Campo Dominican Republic a Luxury resort I think it’s probably top 10 in the world right now. The design of this home which we called BERIT (promise with GOD), describes me perfect. The client allowed me to design this home as if it were for myself, its many elements of design pop out in each space. Whether it be textures, mixtures of materials and styles and colors. I am 100% in love with this home. We have not even taken the pictures of the Project and the clients have already received offers for purchase.
DI: How can people contact you?
RS : People can write us directly via email or through Instagram if it’s outside the country. We do, however work a lot by word-of-mouth recommendation. Our team loves a challenge and we’re very much looking forward to working in different countries.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
RS : I would love to add that this experience with a Design Award competition has been amazing, it’s been challenging since there are so many things to fill out to submit. But it has definitely broadened my way of thinking, I will definitely keep on participating in the next years to come.