Listen to Episode 25 here!:
I’ve wanted to have Katie as a guest on my podcast since, well, I started a podcast, and I’m so glad it’s finally happening! (Full disclosure: Katie and I recorded this episode months ago, but life has been so busy lately that I’ve been delayed in getting it posted.) Katie: Please forgive me for the delay! (See: The “Not Right Now” Things.)
Katie and I grew up in the same suburban Atlanta neighborhood, and I always thought her family was SO COOL. After all, her mom is a prolific children’s book author who’s written some of our family’s favorite books, including Agatha’s Feather Bed and The Library Dragon.
Katie, like her mom, turned out to be both artistic and entrepreneurial in nature. She moved to New York and, after working in commercial illustration for a while started designing beautiful wallpaper. Soon those designs became a company — Grow House Grow — which ties narrative to each design (something my story-loving heart just adores!) Grow House Grow now makes more than just wallpaper, too — they also design beautiful cement tile. I’ve loved Katie’s work since she started Grow House Grow back in 2007, and it’s been fun to watch her gain well-deserved recognition along the way. She’s killing it, and getting much-deserved recognition from publications like The New York Times, Fast Company, and Design Milk, and right now she’s part of a collaboration with Anthropologie. Soooo cool, right?
I loved this quote from Katie that she gives to clients making design choices — and feel like it applies to far more than interior decor!: “Don’t put a design into your home based on what other people are going to want. You’re the only one looking at this every day, and you want it to bring you happiness and joy and make you reminisce or give you a creative spark, so that’s my intention with the wallpaper.”
Okay, ready to hear from this amazing woman? Thought so. Here we go!:
