Design Therapy: Tom Stringer

By Donna Sapolin

It’s not uncommon for designers to cite travel as a source of inspiration, mention the role they must play as psychoanalyst to their clients as the least favorite aspect of their jobs, and denigrate the design disruptions that occur after projects are delivered to the families who commissioned them. Tom Stringer, Chicago-based principal of Tom Stringer Design Partners, however, turns these common sentiments on their heads.

Stringer is an avid scuba diver as well as a frequent passenger on the many yachts he’s designed, so it’s not just any unfamiliar sight that generates design ideas for him. More specifically, it’s the juxtaposition of color, texture and pattern seen under water in places “that feel like the ends of the earth,” he says.

And, he relishes the fact that he frequently finds himself at the center of complicated family dynamics: “I feel that the relationships that come to the forefront in residential design are some of the most compelling parts of the work; they’re a great part of the reward,” he says. “A project for a board of directors is not nearly as satisfying as one for a really interesting family. I’m a richer person for the people I’ve met and know. There’s a lot of interest for me in figuring out how to motivate people-and figuring out what is going to make the client happy. Each relationship has a unique construct and one has to apply that to how one does business-it has to be structured around individual needs.”

“I believe every good designer is a good psychologist.”

Stringer’s emphasis on meeting individual needs has borne significant fruit: At any given time, Stringer has more work from repeat clients than from new ones and has designed as many as 14 projects for some. His firm often oversees all aspects of a design process-the architecture, landscaping and interiors-helping the other design professionals involved to more clearly understand the clients’ desires. A case in point is a seaside residential project in Santa Barbara-the largest project the firm has ever undertaken. “All the design players meet more regularly with me than the clients,” says Stringer. “This is the fifth house we’ve done for them so we have a really intimate knowledge of their program. We speak both the designer and client side language and therefore can be really great communicators.”

As for the pesky household management issues that arise once a house is handed over, well, these have been more a boon than a bane for Stringer who saw in them an opportunity to launch an adjunct business focused on lifestyle management-Chartwell.

“The concept underlying Chartwell is that having a beautiful home should not be a burden,” he explains. “The business came about because clients were coming back to us six months after we’d delivered a perfect home and asking us to fluff it up. They trusted us to a high degree and came to us to solve problems they were having in managing their properties. Not wanting to ever say ‘no’, we began assisting them with the staffing of their homes and with events and party planning.”

“What we do at Chartwell eases the transition from what was to what could be. Living extravagantly and living well are separate concepts-this is not about extravagance; this is about keeping the beauty created in the initial phase going.”

So while some designers are grossly discounting fees during these challenging economic times, Stringer has opted to provide extraordinary new levels of service and value. “We are the only design firm in the U.S. that has a butler on staff,” he says. “We don’t have butler service in the office mind you, but we have extremely competent people who are able to get a new home up online and running. Much of what we have been involved with in the last year or so is applying management discipline to various households to make them more efficient. We define benefits, job descriptions, and watch the overall picture.”

On the design side, fleshing out a total picture means creating product.”I periodically turn my attention to designing collections and view them as projects,” says Stringer. “Some work for manufacturers and some don’t. But we practice product design everyday with bespoke items for our clients and these inspire whole series of ideas for related items. At some point in the future, I’d love to pursue the production lines with greater attention because I absolutely adore doing this; it takes what we do with interiors and applies a different scale to it.”

For Stringer that pursuit would be a matter of returning to his roots. After graduating from the College of Architecture at Arizona State he landed an internship with Charles Pfister in San Francisco that involved product design. “This was at the point when Feister was developing his first set of licensed products for Baker and Brown Jordon,” he recalls. “I got to be the guy in the back room drawing all the furniture for that breakout branding effort.”

In 1990, Feister passed away and Stringer moved to Chicago, assuming the role of Design Director at Branca for three years before launching his own firm. Today, his 12-person company works around the globe, executing projects that range from yachts and residences to small hotels and restaurants.

At the moment, he is trying to wrap up details relating to the Santa Barbara estate, a home in Palm Springs, another in Cincinnati, and several in Chicago and Florida so that he can leave for a vacation in Australia and New Zealand. He and his partner will be joining clients who are circumnavigating the globe by yacht and have invited them to come aboard whenever they are able to make the time. “I don’t believe in passing up a good offer,” says Stringer. “I can probably sit at a desk and decorate well into my 80s but I definitely can’t do the kind of traveling I’m doing now in my 80s. I can eventually replace the revenue but I’ll never be able to replace these rare experiences.”

He knows that invaluable insights and discoveries await him on distant shores. “I adore contrasts and contrasts of cultures,” he says. “My own personal interiors are eclectic. We always try to find what the local environment offers in terms of crafts so we usually come back with one or two objects that embody our experiences. And we encourage our clients to collect when they travel as well.”

“A home should embody the spirits of the occupants and contain objects that are a part of their family’s lineage as well as things they’ve acquired themselves.”

What Stringer doesn’t want his interiors to do is reveal an obvious, telltale design signature beyond the general appeal of classical symmetry. “I hope that what people sense when seeing our work,” he says, “is that the interiors are crisp, well thought out and cogent as well as appropriate to the architecture and natural setting.”

This master bedroom in a renovated 1970′s-era farmhouse in Harbor Springs, Michigan evokes an east-west sensibility. “A contemporary pavilion on the prairie” is how Stringer describes the new iteration of the home. “We pulled the walls out and inserted a horizontally oriented grid of bronze windows to evoke the far eastern look of a floating roof held up by stilts,” he adds. A walnut bed by Juinho holds centerstage, effectively bifurcating the space and forging twin seating areas. McGuire’s bronze Bracelet Table adds a lyrical touch to the room’s predominantly squared-off geometry.

On the window side overlooking the lap pool, a pair of granite-topped side tables by Therian and a Roman Thomas Chair wield a sculptural but neutral presence in a house that, says Stringer, “is intended to be a vessel for diverse paintings and objects gathered around the world. The challenge was to house a personal collection without creating a museum-like environment.”

To shape this yacht’s sky lounge, Stringer paneled the walls in Mozambique veneer inlaid with a filet of stainless steel at the edges, and set up a bar area; seating area; an entertainment area with a movie-sized screen that rises from a credenza topped by animal horns; and a game table. Many of the panels have touch latches and cloak storage areas.

The designer worked with Joanna Burke, an art consultant in Los Angeles, to procure a collection that is exclusive to the boat. Two early 19th-century Swedish paintings depicting harbor views of Pompeii at night hang above a custom game table by Mattaliano and a pair of custom chairs by Dessin Fournir. A pair of custom-designed lounge chairs by Venu add some colorful spunk to the otherwise neutral setting.

In a Hyde Park rowhouse for a Chicago couple, Stringer employed a host of contemporary classics and a neutral palette of silvers, grays, blacks, and whites to create an elegant entertainment arena that serves as a perfect foil for brilliantly colored paintings. A pair of rugs from JSL-a light-hued one in silk and a darker one in wool, anchor two separate seating areas. At left, two iconic leather chairs from Ralph Pucci flank a corkscrew-based side table. Sheer draperies address the homeowner’s concern for privacy while revealing the architecture of the windows.

In the living room of a new sstructure with a classic Michigan summer home sensibility, Stringer gave expression to the owner’s love of periwinkle blue by using the Tantan rug he designed for Texstyle Design. “This room takes inspiration from the old-fashioned floral bouquets gathered from mid-western summer gardens that contain flowers in every color of the rainbow,” he says. Vivid custom upholstery from Monte Allen, yellow window treatments, and a blue table from Richard Mulligan set the multi-hued palette while adjacent rooms emphasize single tones within it. Stringer added visual interest with millwork painted a crisp white.

This 10,000-square-foot Bahamian Georgian home in Vero Beach, Florida is an example of the turnkey service provided by Stringer’s firm. Executed for a repeat client, the residence represents ground-up construction delivered to the client as a completely furnished and styled home. “The clients show up at the end of our process and this is how it looks,” the designer explains. “We build; train the house staff; procure and place every object, including the silverware in the drawers; bring in the florist; and deliver on a specific date.” The house was fully executed in just over 10 months.

In the dining room, a coffered ceiling and walls lined in a tawny faux shagreen covering shape an elegant shell for a William the IVth mahogany side table and Paul Ferrante wood and metal sconces. A Paul Ferrante lantern hangs above the client’s round mahogany table and four Dessin Fournir chairs. Gary’s in Beverly Hills provided the table settings, which include antique estate silver. A Victorian mahogany sideboard below a painting depicting the pyramids holds additional objects gathered for the project.

Stringer explains the planning and styling process: “In our offices, we tape off areas that are the sizes of the surfaces we have to decorate and we assemble still lives together there. We then ship the objects in boxes labeled with the name of the surface they’re intended for and note any need for florals.”

Stringer derives a great deal of gratification from bringing an all-consuming project like this to fruition. “We’re in this business to build and deliver, not draw,” he says. “Prior to the delivery, the client last saw the project as a piece of dirt they bought.