This post is in a series where we talk to healthcare interior designers about their work as interior designers in the healthcare market.
Sarah Tetens is an Interior Designer at Baskervill. She is certified by the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers (AAHID).
What is one book, person, or talk that has been most influential in your career?
The very first mentor I ever had in my career – Sonya Odell. She was my first boss and was a (humble) networking giant in the healthcare design world. She knew everybody. She mentored me in those first few impressionable years in the industry, inviting me to design meetings, even as a beginner. She nominated me for a beginner’s design program when I was just starting out, because she saw potential in me and wanted to see me grow. She opened doors for me in the industry, introducing me to prominent figures in our local healthcare fields who I would have not otherwise met. But most of all, she encouraged me, constantly and unconditionally, to keep going. Keep getting better, keep pushing harder, keep learning, keep improving yourself. Even after moving away, I still reach out to her every now and then for direction, and she never hesitates to give me that guidance.
What products have you been excited about recently?
I love the new PVC-free wall protection that came out this year by Wolf Gordon called Clair. With an increasing number of our healthcare clients becoming part of the Healthy Hospitals Initiative, it’s nice to see manufacturers getting creative and offering more environmentally-friendly options that still look great and perform well. We’re seeing more textile manufacturers offering silicone upholsteries, which are PVC-free and chemical-free, while also performing extremely well on fabric tests for stain resistance, durability, slippage, etc. I’m also excited to hear about advances in infection prevention, specifically use of UV lights in healthcare facilities to kill bacteria in an entire room with just the flip of a switch. Imagine lowering your facility’s maintenance costs and reducing the risk of a healthcare-associated infection during a patient’s hospital stay, all at the same time.
Do you have any go-to design solutions or techniques for creating healing environments?
Research, research, research. You can never do enough. When I research for a project, I find most of my inspiration comes from talking to the people in these facilities or in the communities themselves. Learning more about their daily struggles, patient complaints and concerns, and the operational issues they encounter are critical to a design that addresses those issues and improves their environment. I’m a firm believer in the design being a collaborative process with end-user input.
If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Worry less. Trust yourself more. I tend to get caught up in the “what ifs”: What if the client doesn’t like this idea? What if the design isn’t as good as someone else’s? What if someone at the facility doesn’t like a particular color or textile? You can’t please everyone, but you have to trust your expertise and your knowledge; they’ll speak for themselves.
What is one product that doesn't exist but should?
A single-coat commercial paint system. On our job sites, time is money. Most, if not all, paints take a primer plus two coats, depending on the application. With each coat requiring drying time, this time adds up quickly, and let’s face it – a lot of a building’s interior finish is paint. Wouldn’t it be nice if the subs could do the entire building in one pass? It would open up construction dollars that we could be putting toward more impactful design elements.
We've also talked to Shelby Frye (Pulse Design Group), Elisha Lorenzi (EML Interiors), Becky Trybus (Forum Architecture and Interior Design), Kari Allen (Guidon Design), Crystal McCauley (CallisonRKTL), Jennifer Bahan (Hoefer Welker), Char Hawkins (DesignGroup), Pete Agnew (Perkins Eastman), Deirdre Pio (Gawron Tuergeon), Jessica Whitlock (RS&H), Amber Williams (KDA Architecture), Jenny Manansala (Stantec), Andrea Kingsbury (FreemanWhite), and more.
