Take 10 With Designer Suzanne Tucker
Suzanne Tucker photo by Michael Venera
How will Shelter in Place affect interior design ultimately? COUPAR touched base with San Francisco interior design icon Suzanne Tucker of Tucker & Marks Design and Suzanne Tucker Home to get her unique perspective. Suzanne, the protegee of design legend Michael Taylor, opened Tucker & Marks in 1986 with Timothy Marks, her business partner, and future husband. The California native's knowledge of the industry is not limited to the West Coast but expands nationally and globally through her travels, books, speaking engagements, and industry affiliations.
CC: The design industry has faced many crises; the AIDS epidemic, 9/11, the Great Recession, how does this pandemic compare?
ST: All of those crises have affected our industry in various and heartbreaking ways. While that's a big ask to "compare," to me, the AIDS epidemic has been the most profound - it came on slowly, lasted for years, and we weekly, if not daily, attended funerals of friends and colleagues. We lost a great generation of design mentors and a young, upcoming generation of talent we'll never know.
9/11 was a national tragedy and horrific shock, but it didn't ultimately affect the industry long term, whereas the Great Recession impacted us all for quite a few years. This pandemic is again an entirely different and unprecedented experience for anyone alive today. With the ongoing spread, the loss of lives, the complete upheaval of our day-to-day worlds, the dire economic outlook – it is hard to know how our design community will be impacted.
But this too shall pass. If there is anything our creative industry has shown time and again, we are strong, we are resilient. We are quite adept at supporting one another by being proactive and nimble, thinking outside the box, coming up with novel solutions, and rising to the occasion.
CC: What are some of the challenges that you and your staff of 35 have faced since San Francisco’s Shelter in Place order?
ST: Our foremost challenge and focus the first few days was naturally the health and safety of our staff and how to look after everyone's well-being - not just physical but emotional as well. It's challenging being so disrupted when you are accustomed to daily interaction in a sociable environment with colleagues and friends, people you genuinely care about and love. That first week also brought the challenge of getting our hands on enough laptops for everyone to work remotely.
The second week's challenge was getting our clients comfortable with Zoom meetings, and our vendors and showrooms assured we would still be moving forward with all of our orders and projects. The third week was whiplash - are we allowed to keep building or are we being shut down (the latter) and how do we keep the progress going forward albeit at a slower pace. And the fourth week has been how not to be overloaded with back to back Zoom calls and sitting in a chair for 12 hours straight! Goodness knows what week five and six will bring!
CC: What are some of the unique solutions Tucker & Marks has come up with?
ST: Right from the get-go, we scheduled daily Zoom meetings with our office staff starting at 9 a.m. with the senior team, then the junior staff and the architecture team. We address the daily tasks and the bigger picture of projects, which allows everyone to "check-in" with one another, and discuss any concerns, be they personal or professional. And instead of canceling our weekly job site meetings, we moved them to a Zoom or conference call at the same time slot. The conferences help keep continuity in the office as well as some semblance of schedule and progress.
I've also touched base with every client and sent them care packages of samples and textiles, along with some all-important dark chocolate! Except for one or two who were initially reeling from the rollercoaster stock market (understandably), most clients have been wonderfully resilient and embracing this temporary yet creative design process. And once again, it pays to remember we are in a high-end service business and whatever we can do to make it easier for the client, that's the goal.
CC: With showrooms and workrooms physically closed, how have you been working with vendors and artisans?
ST: This is a perfect example of the nimble thinking I referred to above. While most showrooms/vendors' locations are shuttered, many of them have reached out and offered alternative ways of communicating, shipping samples, organizing Facetime presentations, etc. We have done the same with our Suzanne Tucker Home textiles.
Our warehouse is still up and running, we ship samples to designers' home offices, and our customer service coordinator deftly manages all stock checks, reserves, and orders from her home – so far, so good. I also want to mention the importance of social media, and especially Instagram, in this context: now even more crucial in terms of researching resources, vendors, and artisans – and in terms of sharing our Tucker & Marks and Suzanne Tucker Home message, and communicating with clients, vendors, and artisans all over the world.
Amara Dove courtesy of Suzanne Tucker Home
CC: How do you keep the morale of your staff up while everyone works from home?
ST: As I mentioned above, we have our daily "check-in" with everyone and make sure there is a platform for all to voice any thoughts or concerns. I'm seeing that everyone without exception has had a down day where you feel depressed. There may not be a specific reason but turning our world upside down is reason enough to feel blue and deflated.
We have also held a few Zoom cocktail parties complete with themes and costumes. A leopard-attired birthday party, a Texas-style bon-voyage, and since I was supposed to be vacationing in Hawaii on my birthday a luau with everyone concocting their own tropical "Quarantini cocktails." Maybe since we're wearing more loungewear than usual, the next theme should be a pajama party!
CC: How do you reassure your clients that their projects will progress despite the setbacks?
ST: The keywords here are communication, anticipation, and understanding. Communicate what's happening, anticipate what they may be concerned about, understand they are dealing with their anxieties and concerns. Even before this crisis hit, we have made it a point to send out a weekly recap email to every single Tucker & Marks client, whether there were significant developments in their project or not. Now, of course, those recaps are even more important than ever before. We keep our clients informed on project status, vendor delays, potential site closures, etc. Transparency is key: if there are no answers to certain questions at this point, we also share that. The news is sometimes good, sometimes meh, but not all bad: our projects are all moving forward, though with adjusted schedules.
CC: What has been the upside for you of working from home?
ST: Spending so much time at home has been an unexpected luxury for me where I can daily experience my own home and enjoy being with my favorite things. As a dear friend once observed, my house is like a decorating "laboratory," where pieces are studied and come and go. But there are certain pieces I won't part with and speak to my heart on a personal and sentimental level. Pieces I've inherited or those from designers and people whom I admire – Michael Taylor, Tony Hail, Albert Hadley, Bunny Mellon, Pamela Harriman, - and I love spending more time with these treasured possessions.
Someone else pointed out to me that I seem to have a penchant for frogs. Looking around, they are right – antique Thai frogs by my front door, carved jade frogs in my bedroom, a large Chinese gilt-metal frog that came from Tony Duquette's estate (as do my white ceramic frog planters), my smaller bronze frog family which I picked up at the Brooke Astor auction a few years ago in NYC. Those latter few are permanent fixtures in my living room and a source of delight whenever they catch my eye.
I've been drawn to collect frogs, but what I didn't know was how revered they are in certain cultures. The frog's entire life is a symbol of transition, good luck, and abundance. It reminds us that though there are things lost during change, each one is an opportunity to find something better. The frog's eggs grow but lose the cluster's safety when it gains mobility as a tadpole. The tadpole ultimately loses its tail but gains legs. And finally, the metamorphosis is complete with the frog's ability to breathe out of the water and live in both environments. At each change, the frog advances to something greater than what it leaves behind. How apt, how hopeful – in these uncertain times.
Chinese gilt-metal frog from Tony Duquette's estate photo by Edward Addeo
CC: What is one item you’ve learned you could never live without?
ST: The internet! Or maybe electricity to power the internet!
CC: What might the design world look like in 10 years?
ST: Strong and resilient. Spirited and ever beautiful.
CC: How do you define beauty?
ST: Defining beauty is a bit like catching a moonbeam! But to me, beauty is what speaks to your soul. It can be deeply evocative and yet make you speechless. It can lift your heart and transport you to another dimension. And I love this quote: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller
