Designwire Daily: from the editors of Interior Design magazine

10 Questions With… Andee Hess

by Sara Pepitone | Tuesday, December 13, 2011 | 7 Comments

Andee Hess became head of the interior design department at Skylab shortly after starting to work there as an intern. Undaunted, the recent Marylhurst University graduate stepped up, and spent four years with the Portland-based group before launching her own company in 2007. Since then, Osmose Design has twice won Interior Design Best of Year merit awards. The designer spoke with us about video games, pride, and the desire to solve problems.

ID: Who or what has most influenced your work?

Materials—the production process, the scrap, the constraints. And these days I am spying on Faye Toogood, Matali Crasset, and Mathieu Lehanneur.

ID: How do you describe your style to a new client?

Compelling. I think there is a lot in that word. My practice is called Osmose, which can mean to absorb from your surroundings but in the origins of the word it also means to push or influence. It’s kind of a push and pull to create something compelling.

ID: What is your latest project?

Artificial rooftop landscape for Panic Inc. The design was influenced by their deep appreciation for Super Mario Bros.

ID: Now that’s compelling. What does that look like? And what prior Super Mario experience did you have?

(Laughing) Other than playing for hours and hours? The concept developed out of the need to make their rooftop comfortable, to get rid of the glares. They’re a group of nerdy programmers, which I love, so I got some maps of Super Mario Land, the grass and elevation, and it all came together one night.

(See the Panic Inc. landscape here: osmose.tumblr.com/#13428534152)

ID: What is the project you’re most proud of?

I did an installation of an exploded upright piano for a vacation home in Astoria, OR. I am the most proud of it right now because I really had to wrestle my own ego and pride in order to complete it.

ID: What was the internal struggle about?

I’d convinced the client I could do anything. I had a formal plan. But residential is not like commercial where I’m standing around in heels. I had to use a nail gun. I had to physically pull the parts apart myself and re-assemble them over the course of a month. It was grueling and very rewarding. And in the end my clients really treasured it. Success.

ID: What do you do to relax?

Exercise.

ID: Where do you go for inspiration?

I go to people. I’m really in design because I am sincerely fascinated with people. The story and soul of an individual or family or company can be an amazing base for how a project develops, the what’s and why’s of the aesthetic.

ID: Have you noticed any emerging design trends out there?

I do a lot of work in Portland, and the trend here is heritage and authenticity. Funny that “authenticity” would be a trend, but there is good reason for it in these days—everyone is questioning what they’re doing. Think about Ian Schrager’s new concept of luxury. Economics are driving all things.

ID: What advice do you have for designers-to-be?

Love problems. Love creating them, and love solving them.