Week 6: July 4th!

Marketing

Knox Heritage markets to the entire community. However, they especially target those who are potential donors such as historic home owners and historic building owners. They also especially target those who would likely have an interest in historic preservation like realtors, architectural firms, and Interior designers.

Knox Heritage has many strategic planning activities . They have summer suppers for those who donate money. They also have photography contests and tours to raise awareness of Knoxville’s history.  Knox Heritage has several physical advertisements like a cookbook for the summer suppers, a pamphlet for noteworthy historic places, and others about various aspects of Knox Heritage.

I am not sure who does the accounting for Knox Heritage. I was not able to speak to many people this week because of the holiday. I will find out the accounting information for next week’s blog.  For the Salvage Room specifically Beth handles and logs the financial records.

Working on Autocad at the farmThis Week

This week I inventoried new items donated to the Salvage Room. Windows, chairs, an architectural concrete statue, and other items were among these inventoried items.  I also worked on moving items from Westwood to the Salvage Room because renovation is about to start soon. I believe it is supposed to be completed in the spring.

My focus this week was working on the as-built drawings of the Fowler’s mill.  I believe they are going pretty well. Our studio class with Jeff this past semester helped greatly. We went to a mill with Jeff and measured it to create as-built drawings together as a studio. I remembered what I forgot about measuring last time and was able to measure everything I needed in one trip this time.

This week during the holiday break I started farm sitting! I also had dinner with my grandparents for the holiday.

Sketch of measurements for millNew Person

This week I did not get to speak to anyone I have not introduced already because of the holiday. I will introduce two new people next week to make up for it. I did find out something interesting about people though! I was talking to Ethiel who I introduced earlier in the blog and his wife is Michelle Garlington who we met at Workspace Interiors! I always find it interesting when I meet people who have connections with people I didn’t even realize.

Week 5:Fourth of July...Where has the time gone?

This Week’s  Activities: 

Dani and Deborah consulting on a residential design projectThis week was a short week for Lauderdale Design Group. The office was closed on Thursday and Friday due to the 4th of July holiday. The office was very relaxed and there was much less activity than the usual work week. 

As usual, I checked/responded to emails, kept the materials library updated, and unpackaged and stored incoming packages. I also ordered return labels so that we can send back the larger samples that we don’t necessarily need in our materials library, such as 24x24 inch carpet squares. 

I spent time working in the materials library. I helped Deborah pull fabrics to go on the back cushions of chairs in one of our sports office projects. This was a great experience because I was focusing on color matching to the fabric on the rest of the chair as well as choosing a fabric that was masculine and “sporty”. I really appreciate having the chance to help with design work and do some material selecting.  

LDG existing laundry room, a small space projectOne of my big projects I worked on this week was the residential marketing books. Lauderdale Design Group already had marketing books for education and corporate design, but needed some for residential. The marketing books consist of project plans, photos, project summary, as well as concepts. I worked on putting together the marketing books for our two completed residential projects: Kiawah Cottage and View Point Residence. I really enjoyed working in InDesign on this as well as editing photos in photoshop to be put in the books. 

I also spent a large chunk of time this week doing programming for our laundry room. Currently, the room is not being used to its full potential and we are hoping to find storage solutions that will help create a multi-functional space. We want to have storage for cleaning supplies, but also have hanging space as well as hamper space. I measured and laid out the plans in autocad before moving on to research different affordable storage options. It is an extremely tight space so meeting to programming needs will be a challenge I am excited to tackle. 

IIDA competition slideshowLastly, I worked on our IIDA competition submissions. LDG has entered to compete in both the corporate and residential categories of the competition and have two projects going into the corporate section. I spent a lot of time organizing the information to go into the slideshow for each entry as well as editing plans in photoshop. I have started creating our entry powerpoint’s and am enjoying this design project. The competitors are given a slideshow layout to use so it is important that we find a way to make our slideshow stand out and really make a statement with our work. 

This Week’s Focus: 

This week the focus was on procurement and related business practices; estimating; project costs and fees; and budget management. Lauderdale Design Group does not have an in-house purchasing department to purchase product goods. The company specifies the products and sends out for bidding and purchasing to different manufacturers. Project fees depend on the client. They are based off the state fee schedule in some cases, especially if it is government work. However, in most situations the project fees are based on hours worked and the different design phases. LDG will create a schedule that has the different phases and an amount of hours for each phase. This is how they determine how much a project will cost. This will add up to 100%, but can be broken down into smaller percentages. In all cases the schedule will be negotiated to make it the best possible situation for LDG and their clients. Costs are handled by phase. After each phase is completed, the bill will be sent before the next phase can be started. The project budget is managed in a digital computer program called Praesto. On the program each program has its own account in which the the amount of hours are divided into phase. This is how the designers track their hours as well as make sure they are not going over on their allotted hours for that phase. It also helps keep track of the timing to make sure the project is being executed in the time allowed.

This Week’s Introduction:

Denise Retallack, photographerThis week I am introducing Denise Retallack, local photographer. Denise went to college to study marine biology. However, a couple years into school she took an interest in art. She took art classes (2d design, ceramic) and her art teacher loved her work and knew she had natural talent. At that time she decided marine biology wasn’t for her, so she switched to an art major. Denise didn’t know what to do with her degree after graduation, so she ended up working as a graphic designer for a couple of years, but knew that wasn’t really what she wanted to do. She ended up taking an internship with a commercial photographer, which really opened her eyes to photography. She decided to go back to school at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. She worked for a landscape architecture firm for a couple years as their in house photographer, where she fell in love with architectural photography. She decided that her time was up there and she wanted to start up her own business. That’s when she decided to move to Knoxville to be close to her sister and start her business. Her business grew in the Knoxville market and she now works in Charleston as well. Some of her hobbies include yoga, walking on the beach, boating, and just about any outdoor activity. Denise has done an amazing job photographing some of LDG’s projects and we have loved working with her. We are excited to work with her in the future!

Week 5:Fowler's Mill

Allied professions

There are many types of professionals that work with preservationist during a project. Within Knox Heritage itself, there are many educational backgrounds including: Historic Preservation, History, Architecture, Interior Design, and Business. In addition, many allied professionals assist Knox Heritage: Engineers, Artists, Contractors, Carpenters and many more. The Fowler’s Mill project that I am working on will have a Historic Preservationist, an Interior Designer, a Farmer, and a Marketing Professional working together. 

Professional organizations related to Historic Preservation

Two examples of Professional organizations related to Historic Preservation are: American Institute of Architects is an Architectural organization that supports and encourages historic preservation. The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions is “the only national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting local historic preservation commissions and the historic resources they help protect.” The East Tennessee Preservation Alliance is a Knox Heritage Initiative which supports local counties in preserving their historical structures. 

Type of registration/certification available to historic preservation professionals

The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers training and a leadership forum to professionals in the Historic Preservation field. Many colleges offer various degrees in Historic Preservation including undergraduate and graduate levels. 

Conflicts could arise because of the variety of professionals on a project. The Interior Designer and the Artist may want the structure to look as it did initially, whereas the Engineer may focus on the structure more than the aesthetics. 

Mill EquipmentThis week

This week I worked on writing Thank You letters to donors. It is important for an organization such as Knox Heritage that relies upon donations to operate, to reach out to donors. This letter also serves as proof of donations for tax purposes. I also took pictures of new inventory and delivered some of the new inventory to Nostalgia. I also removed paint from door hardware by putting then in boiling soap and water then scraping the paint off. 

The main project I worked on this week was the Fowler’s Mill Project. I will be doing as-built drawings and renderings of the mill as well as renderings of what it will look like as a residence. We met with the owner of Fowler’s Mill and learned about the history of the mill. I took measurements of the entire mill to prepare for my drawings. Ethiel photographed the mill so I can use the photos for references when rendering. 

Fowler's Mill OwnerNew Person

Earl Alexander is the current owner of the Fowler’s Mill. He is around 90 years old and has lived near the mill for many years. He has a passion for preservation the mill and believes Knox Heritage can do it. He has a daughter who lives beside the mill on the same property. He also lives in a historic home in Loudon. He showed Ethiel and I around the home after we toured the mill. Both the home and the mill have many of the original FF&E.  Mr. Alexander showed us old bags from the mill and how some of the equipment worked, and told us what it would have been like when in use. His home was used by the military in the war to store meat in the upstairs area. Almost everything in the home was of the original period of the home. His house has all of the original molding. There is an original fireplace in his bedroom that had been painted so many times it had to be stripped.  He has a piano that was given to his Grandmother that had to be completely taken apart to fit through the small doorway. The chairs and sofas were shorter than modern day furniture.

Week 6: Tackling Obstacles

This week has been a slow one but an exciting one because I am now working on Revit! I spent the beginning of this week watching Revit tutorials and learning the ins and outs in the program. I was able to spend time doing this because a lot of designers were out of town to present for current jobs they are working on and some were just out on vacation. Revit has been very exciting because I am conquering the obstacles of the program and have been able to see little by little that it is actually easy to use. I'm very grateful to get to use Revit as I feel it is a very important program to use in this industry and is only become more important as time passes by. I really enjoy researching so getting to do that has been really exciting, and I've done some sketches of ideas which I frequently love to do so that has been nice as well. Anna is particularly obsessed with materials so she got to pick out vinyls, cryptons, carpet, and LVT which is her niche and it's fun to work together on a project. 

All of our sample options

This week's questions were based around the FF&E of the company. ESa is kept up-to-date on FF&E through representations and lunches. ESa used to just have reps drop in and they'd spend time introducing themselves to all the designers and meeting with them individually, well as ESa grew and the time they had to spend on projects was incredibly valuable they had to figure out a better system to be kept up-to-date. So there are two different ways this happens, we have informals and luncheons. At the informals, a rep comes up sets up a presentation (usually on new products or if it's their first time who their company is) this is done in the mornings and the afternoons. One designer signs up to host the informal and they go around and announce to all the other designers the company that has come to present. That way if a designer is busy at work and can't go then they don't have to, or if it's a certain company that only works with Healthcare design the hospitality designers do not have to go. This also works well, so that if a specific designer wants to meet with a rep they can set up a separate time with them to come in and go over more in depth over a product they want to use on a project. The luncheons is a more formal presentation and usually goes over the scope of all their products and what they have to offer. This is usually for bigger companies or companies that offer more than just one certain type of product. ESa is very lucky and also gets lunch brought into them at these luncheons. It has been very beneficial to get to know these reps and get to see all the different kinds of products that are out there. At the informals and luncheons reps usually have binders or samples to then file away in our library. We have a certain way things are organized in the library and ESa is known for having one of the largest libraries in Nashville. Samples are filed in certain areas that are located on a floor plan (fabrics, LVT, 3 form, stone, etc). Everyone is in charge for keeping the library as clean as possible. We interns are  in charge of filing away products from the to be filed pile and sending back samples like carpet that is to big to store in our library. The designers also will periodically go through the library and give us a list of things to recycle and make more room for new things. We keep all of our reps and their information filed in a Rolodex on the computer, that way when ordering sampling we just have to search for it and call them from their information. FF&E is a very important part of design so it is critical for ESa to be organized and on top of what they can be using to design with.

This week I want to introduce you to Emmy.

Emmy graduated from The University of Tennessee in 2011 and has now spent a year working with ESa. She also interned with ESa as a student to go on with the list of the many other designer who have done the same. Emmy also is the one who is incharge of setting up informals and luncheons, the reps have to call her and then she sets up times to have them come in. Emmy also is working on a project with the Cancer Center that she is letting us help her research new ways to design a conference room/lunch area, she said it is one of her favorite projects because the lady is so inspiring and really sees the benefit that a space catered to cancer patient can have on their recovery. Emmy is really involved with the Healthcare aspect of design and is working towards NCIDQ accreditation as well as EDAC accreditation. Emmy has been really wonderful to be around because she is so welcoming to us and always wiling to help us when we have really simple questions.

Sometimes, you cut a cupcake with an with an x acto knife. This is normal.

Week 4: Around the Office

This Week’s Activities:

My week consisted of doing a lot of the same things I have talked about previously. Every morning I came into the office and checked my emails and sent responses. I also responded to any written messages or notes I may have had on my desk. As an interior design firm, we are constantly updating our materials library, I receive/un-package/store samples from different product representatives daily as well. 

I spent a lot of time this week updating our company website (linked below). I went through our gallery and added a project description slide to all of our project albums.I did this using photoshop. I also added a new residential project album. We are hoping to gain more residential clients in the future. 

Corporate office space planning drafts. I also spent a big chunk of time this week working in our fabric library. For our open house, yellow and black fabrics were placed in the front of each of our clear plastic bins. I took those pieces out and refiled them into their proper spot. The way our fabric library works is effective and simple. We have clear plastic containers that are labeled by product manufacturer. For instance- Knoll Textiles, Carnegie, Momentum. I just created a new box to hold all of our HBF Textiles. The boxes are in alphabetical order so I had to adjust all the boxes after the letter H to make room for the new one. Each manufacturer box is in color order and some manufacturers have multiple boxes in our library. 

I spent some more time this week creating digital files to house our most recent distillery project. I made a folder that housed pictures of the existing building. I also took the existing plans that were given to Joy and scaled them. It had been at least 2 years since I used a scale! I was so happy I was able to pick up on it again no problem. 

Joy also had me help her out on one of our corporate projects this week. I did a lot of work in autocad to make the plans more clear. I put the names of all the people who would be seated at a workstation into their correct spot. I also helped with some space planning by putting their existing file cabinets/bookcases/safes/storage cabinets into our furniture plan. This was a hard task because we were asked to put a lot of additional furniture into spaces that were already laid out without them in mind. But that’s where I got to do some critical thinking and I was able to make everything fit cohesively. 

Discussing professional photographs taken of Synergy.One of the most fun things I got to do this week was sit in on the photograph selection meeting. We got the proofs back from our wonderful photographer, Denise Retallack. We laid all the Synergy shoot photos out and decided which photos we would like to keep and which shows the design best. This took some time because everyone had differing opinions, but in the end everyone landed on the same favorite photos. I really loved the photos and was impressed with them. The photos will be entered into an IIDA design competition. They will be great to have on our company website and for marketing purposes! 

Lastly, I worked to create a project book for the newest residential design LDG completed. I did this using indesign and a pre existing template that has been used for many different project books LDG has. These books are used to show potential clients our work physically instead of digitally. 

This Week’s Focus:

This week I focused on learning about Lauderdale Design Group’s marketing strategy and accounting procedures. 

Creating a residential book to print for marketing.LDG markets itself in so many ways. They have a company website and also use social media such as facebook. Another great thing LDG participates in is First Friday, which allows them to market themselves as well as connect with architects in town. Architects are a huge part of LDG’s marketing strategy and they often have lunch meetings with architects in town to discuss Knoxville’s design community and potential project opportunities. They also participate in US Green Building Council lunch and learns. The LDG office was just remodeled as a marketing strategy. The office now represents the interior design LDG is capable of producing. This way when architects, potential clients, and contractors come into the office they are seeing LDG’s work first hand.

LDG also participates in UT events, as well as sponsoring their own events. They were involved in the AIA golf tournament and have recently entered in an IIDA competition. They do most their marketing through networking and talking around town. They love face to face interaction and Joy is a great face for the company. Also- like I talked about last week, LDG just recently put an ad out in the UT 2013-2014 Academic Planner. Their target markets are education, hospitality, corporate, retail, and commercial design. To view their website, click here. To view a gallery with pictures of their work, click here.  

LDG does strategic planning two times a year during their company days. These are usually held during the spring and fall. Company days consist of an all day office meeting. During these days the employees go over core values, the mission statement, visions for the future of the company, internal and external goals for not only the company, but each employee, and many more aspirations. The accounting is handled both within the company and externally. Joy and Cathy work within the office to help keep the books but they also have an external account who helps handle the more complicated matters like tax returns, etc. 

This Week’s Introduction:

Cathy, Office Manager, LDGThis week I am introducing you to our office manager and go to girl, Cathy! Cathy is absolutely a joy to work with and I am so lucky to have her as one of my mentors. Cathy went to school for merchandising. She went into retail and decided it wasn’t for her, however, it opened the doors for sales. Cathy spent 2 years selling shipping and postage systems-computerized options, and decided she really liked sales but wanted to sell something fun. She went to work for Commercial Interiors and worked there for 10 years. This is how she met Joy- who was then right out of school working for Commercial Interiors. After 10 years Cathy had become a sales manager and had went as far as she could within the company. From there she interviewed and got a position at Knoll. She was an office furniture rep for Knoll for 10 years before retiring. But not for long! When Joy started up LDG she contacted Cathy to come be part of the team as the Lauderdale Design Group office manager. Cathy does everything but design at LDG.

Cathy and her husband have 2 grandsons who are moving to Ethiopia for 2 years while their father is in the foreign service. Cathy’s husband in an engineer and they hope to be retired in the next 7 years. They have 6 acres in Karns where they garden and produce fresh vegetables. They just welcomed a new doggy into their home 2 weeks ago. Cathy loves to create sun catchers using driftwood, copper wire, and beads. She also makes her own greeting cards.