THE LOOK
Designers Explain Tectonic Shifts in Interiors
H OME
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
AS WE HEAD into spring,
only one thing is certain in the
interior design market: A lot of
things are happening at once.

To go over them all, the
Jewish Exponent talked to
three designers in the Greater
Philadelphia area.

Michelle Erdosi,
owner, Aeternum Design
Studio, Philadelphia
In September, Erdosi talked
about how, during the
pandemic, with people home
more often, houses and
apartments were becoming
“multifunctional.” A breakfast nook could be
for eating the day’s first meal or
working from your laptop, for
example. A bedroom could be
for sleeping or taking a Zoom
meeting. But now, post-omicron,
according to Erdosi, clients
are emerging from their
homes, or “survival mode,”
as she describes our collec-
tive approach to 2020 and ’21,
and looking out again. The
designer, due to this develop-
ment and her background in
commercial design, has made
like her customers and shifted
back toward focusing on it.

Clients are starting to ask
her the question that most
white-collar participants in the
economy are asking: What’s
the future of the office going to
look like?
A dining area in a workplace
created by Daroff Design
Courtesy of Daroff Design Inc.

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THE LOOK
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Since Erdosi is a designer,
it’s her job to at least have an
inkling of an answer.

“I’m looking at creating a
hospitality, kind of kitchen
vibe,” she said. “Th ey can eat
there and maybe they have
meetings.” Th e owner’s intention is for
the offi ce to not feel like an
offi ce, she added.

Her designs are open, with
booth seating and plug-ins.

Th ey are for people to sit
down, eat and then work for
a morning or aft ernoon. Th ey
are also for workers to have
meetings with each other, both
formal and informal.

One of Erdosi’s clients is
asking for that kind of layout
with the understanding that
its employees will no longer
come in eight hours a day, fi ve
days a week. But it does want
the offi ce to be there for people
when the company needs them
or when they want an offi ce
space themselves.

Th e new offi ce, essentially,
at least according to Erdosi’s
design, will be a place where
workers want to go, not a place
where they have to go.

“Something that’s fun,” she
said. JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Karen Daroff ,
owner, Daroff Design
Inc. + DDI Architects,
PC, Philadelphia
For both commercial and
residential projects, Daroff sees
a similar trend. She calls it
“inside-out spaces,” or outdoor
spaces that can be used the
same way people use indoor
living rooms: to hang out.

Restaurants have recap-
tured parking lots and streets
for outdoor dining; while
apartment complexes, condo-
minium buildings and even
senior living facilities have
added features like pool decks
and lounge areas.

Daroff says this trend, like
so many others, emerged out of
the COVID crisis.

In 2020 and ’21, area
residents started to redis-
cover the great outdoors aft er
spending so much time in their
homes. Th ey also developed a
more acute sense of how people
spread illness and a related
desire to trade small spaces and
large groups for open spaces
and smaller groups.

“People are more aware of
living a healthier lifestyle,”
Daroff said.

And with her commercial
office projects, Daroff is
noticing a similar theme. Like
Erdosi, she is designing offi ce
spaces to be for gathering as
much as working.

Many of Daroff ’s offi ce
blueprints include open
kitchen areas.

“It becomes a hub of the
offi ce,” she said.

Matt Kaplan, owner,
M Kaplan Interiors,
Malvern Kaplan understands the macro
developments in the interior
design industry. He has been
in the business for 30 years,
and his family has been in it for
100 years.

And he says that today, in
line with the multifunction-
ality and sociability of so many
spaces, customers want furni-
ture to withstand heavy and
continuous usage.

Customers are investing
more in furniture and, more
specifi cally, in pieces that
are both casual and durable,
according to Kaplan. On top
of furniture, customers now
prefer a fabric called Crypton
that is known for being, as
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FEBRUARY 24, 2022
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