Alice Benjamin

One of our favorite aspects of collaborating with phenomenal interior designer Alice Benjamin is how personal and thoughtful she is with every single one of her clients. 

Alice and her team like to “get personal”. And that means going beyond direct questions and learning about your likes and dislikes. It includes things like opening up closet doors and taking in not only the colors and textures and shapes, but also how organized or eclectic or systematized things are. And how those relate to how the client wants their home to feel. It highlights what the client values and what’s unique about them. And all of those things will get incorporated into the design.

Another really interesting consideration she notes is that some clients have external drivers and some have more internal drivers. One has a higher level of interest in how others experience the space, while some clients prioritize how they, personally, want the space to feel and function. My thinking before that was that all residential design projects are highly personal. Now I realize that this is not always the case.

And she typically starts these conversations right as she walks into the foyer. If both partners are present, she asks what home means to them. She finds that most couples have not discussed this in advance and it leads to very interesting revelations and insights. A simple example – one person wants a lively, bustling Italian kitchen filled with family and food. The other wants their own space to  sit solo and contemplate life and decompress. Then that becomes the challenge for the Alice Benjamin team.

And speaking of teams, that’s something Alice mentioned being hesitant to grow into. Her concern was that she wouldn’t be able to remain authentic. What she discovered is that having the team actually enhances that ability. 

And that helping other designers has had a huge impact on her in terms of teaching how to help other designers have confidence in their voice and their designs – to bring forth their own voice. Because when you become more confident – your voice becomes stronger.

She also talks frequently about “the art of eating”, which was so intriguing that I had to ask the intention behind that statement. She shared that because she is French, she’s keenly aware of the huge difference between french eating and american eating and the relationships we have with food.

She was raised with the idea that food is passion, showing love and nurturing – to be shared and revered and grateful for the pleasures of dining. In America, the food relationship is more about calories (good and bad), and going to get things from Instacart instead of shopping daily from farmers markets.

So “the art of eating” ends up tying into the Benjamin team approach to designing homes as well. It’s beyond the basics of furniture placement and fixture selection. It’s about creating spaces for each individual who occupies a home so they feel enveloped in joy, pride and comfort inside their own home environment that supports their life. That’s the recipe that has been successfully served for each project she’s a part of.