The Second Studio Podcast: Interview with Jamie Bush
The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina are joined by interior architect and designer Jaime Bush, Principal and Founder of Jamie Bush + CO. to discuss growing up with designers, photographers, and artists; studying Architecture abroad in Venice; transitioning into Interior Architecture; the disconnect between Architects and Interior Designers; how to differentiate between Interior Design and Architecture; fee structures; and more.
Highlights & Timestamps
Growing up on a farm with designers, photographers, and artists; studying architecture at Tulane University and abroad in Venice; moving to California. (00:00)
How Jamie transitioned into interior architecture. (32:37)
During that time, I was really so enamored with the vintage stores in Los Angeles of mid-century modern furnishings and became sort of a picker, meaning I would go to flea markets and find things that seemed interesting… I think it was always latent in my interest because I grew up in a family where everybody had very interesting homes. They weren’t necessarily always extravagant, but they were always interesting… They were always interested in design and objects and collecting and furnishing and interiors and really made very memorable spaces. (36:14)
Having a foundation in architecture for interior architecture work. (47:28)
We’re not decorating. We really are envisioning an entire sort of sensibility and aesthetic for a project and really looking in the long term, like how they want to live and grow old in this house or not. It might be something like a five year plan or something that they want their grandkids to inherit. We ask bigger questions about these projects. (48:30)
Jamie’s process of working with clients. (01:07:05)
It’s a delicate thing.., I’ve learned to not to be too heavy handed at the beginning because, I have personal things that may not be the prettiest or most interesting objects, but they have a personal story about them to me because they were my grandmother’s or whatever, that you hold dear. (01:21:14)
Differentiating between architecture and interior design. (01:26:39)
I feel that if the education system was reviewed and looked at and taught in a much more rigorous fashion in this country, I think interior design would almost be more valued as well. Because I do feel that sometimes… there are clients that really value the architecture and the “decorating” is sort of superfluous and sort of like an extra and they don’t consider it as critical or as rigorous as a discipline. (01:35:14)
Interior design fee structures. (01:42:28)
