Relying on a fluid philosophy to create comfortable work spaces, Primo Orpilla and Verda Alexander, founders of Studio O+A, have been accepted into the Interior Designer Magazine’s Hall of Fame. Both graduates of San José State University, Primo and Verda have designed workspaces for major companies such as Facebook, Yelp, Uber, Cisco, Levis, and Williams Sonoma. Incorporating elements from the fine arts and drawing inspiration from the world around them, Primo and Verda strive to design open, creative work spaces that express each company’s purpose and that develop “a story that the people who work there can be a part of.”
Working with this belief that the overarching story of a company is an important design element, Primo and Verda seek to understand their clients in ways that many might consider unconventional. They begin by studying the individual qualities that make a company, its workers, and their workspace unique. “We research what kind of coffee they like, how much natural light they can take, what their favorite movies are,” they elaborated. “All of those things go into the design.”
Being in continual contact with their clients allows Primo and Verda to create designs that express and support each company’s unique culture. Letting go of preconceptions about a company’s goals, practices, or philosophies is a key factor in creating a successful design plan. “The client determines the design. The client’s philosophy, not ours, is the starting point, and the longer we’ve been doing this the more certain we are of that approach.” Adhering to these principles, while still fully integrating space for creative solution-finding, working, and thriving allows Studio O+A to create truly individual workspaces that are suited to each individual company’s goals.
Primo and Verda say they are both honored and humbled to be accepted into the Interior Designer Magazine’s Hall of Fame. They attribute their success to SJSU’s Art and Design Department, which provided them with the skills, knowledge, and values they need to succeed in a dynamic field like Interior Design. With good design now being so widely adopted into mainstream companies’ workspaces, Primo and Verda believe that the need for thoughtful, creative, and unorthodox designers will only increase.
When asked what advice they would give students, Primo and Verda said: “Whichever path you choose, do it not as a job, but as a vocation. If you have trained to be a designer, you are one of those lucky people who get to make a living doing what you love to do. Not everyone is so privileged, so it’s important that you bring to each day’s work the passion that you started with. Make sure with everything you do it matters to you.”
For more information on their studio, visit http://www.o-plus-a.com/
By Kaitlynn Magnuson
