Hey folks, on today’s pod Trish chats with Jecks Lea of Persona Abode, based out of London. Jecks, UK Ambassador for VeganDesign.org, is a designer focusing on wellness and humane living. Trish and Jecks get into what it means to design humanely and understanding space.

Though she’s been in London for 12 years, Jecks is originally from North Birmingham. Thanks to The Lego Group, she was inspired early on to be a designer after building homes for dolls. With a degree in accounting, she understands budgets and handles money better. Financial decisions are essential to consider when being a designer, so she’s able to use her first degree today.

Designing for wellness and humane living is the art of figuring out how to enhance ways of life. Certified in vegan design, Jecks designs ethically and with cruelty-free products. Her favorite spaces to design are bedrooms and sitting rooms since they’re designed for comfort and relaxation. Figuring out how to make a client most at ease is her ultimate goal.

From her days of being a student, she found it was beneficial to learn how to draw technically. Taking dimensions and proportions into consideration led to being a better designer, in her opinion. Careful examination of how things will work in space goes into the drafted designs.

Advice

• Understand yourself. Take time to get to know how and why environments affect ways of life. Seek and understand how designs influence people.
• Attend industry events and markets to build relationships with the people you’ll one day be working with. Seminars and trade shows you visit as a student are the start of your career. Think in the long term when networking as a student!
• Embrace living and the world around you!

To learn more about the business of interior design and life as a designer after school, visit The Chaise Lounge Podcast.

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