We were lucky to catch up with KIM COLWELL recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi KIM, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

My first interior design project became a labor of love that I stumbled into. My client found me at a lecture I was doing on the subject of feng shui fused with environmental psychology (which I now call Design Therapy) and fine art.

She came to the lecture knowing nothing about the subject but seeking out something or someone to help her shift the intense pain she was feeling from the loss of her husband and only son.

I wasn’t yet doing interior design, though I had been trained to see space as an stylized landscape that would have a profound influence on our psyche and emotions.

After my talk she asked me to come to her home for a feng shui and design therapy consultation. It was an unusually long session (7 hours). Before she had even told me her story, I saw signs throughout her home of trauma, undefined identity, lack of connectivity and sadness.

During our session I had her go to her foyer which viewed the dining, family and living rooms. The dining room was filled with bereavement paperwork; the den was untouched and unused as it had been her deceased husband’s room. The living room was cluttered with items that had no relationship to her authentic self. None of the rooms felt connected to one another in the floorplan.

I had her stand in the front door and and asked her to describe who she imagined may live there as if she did not know the person who lived there. She started to cry. She became aware that the home was stimulating her emotional trauma and holding her in memories that was made it harder for her to heal.

During that session we went room by room and uncovered a new awareness with empowering ways to shift the space to be more conducive to her healing and sense of self. I outlined ideas and suggestions to make changes in her home that would build a deeper connection to herself, and stimulate a feeling of being more grounded and explore what items could bring her joy.

Part of the session was pointing out areas that could be triggering her depression with remedies to support the healing of her emotional state.

By the end of the session I had been hired to do the interior design for her extensive remodel. We ended up being in construction for a year. Throughout that time, I delved into the nuances of her personality to design a space that could showcase a celebration of herself.

We examined many perspectives in the design process that went beyond the artistic. Using feng shui I had discovered that her relationship area was missing from her home. There was very little light coming into the house as well.

To remedy this we pushed out the wall which allowed for a more expansive kitchen and full wall of glass to flood the home with light and air flow. We were able to move the stove top position to allow her to connect with her family while cooking. Each finish selection and decoration was tailor made to encourage her to smile as she discovered new styles and objects she had never known about. I felt like an archeologist searching for nuances within her psyche that she may have forgotten about within herself.

By the end of that year she was dating a man who she stayed with for many years, she replaced several bereavement groups she had belonged to with a new women’s group and more travel.

A few years after we finished her project she came and spoke at the same synagogue I had initially done my talk at (where we had met!). Her transformation was the kick off point to my present day career as an interior designer. The things I learned on her project from how to do a reflected ceiling plan to how to integrate so many perspectives into a design concept have shaped me in ways I will be forever grateful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Transformative interior design is an artistic design process that considers the invisible factors in a space such as design therapy with biophilic techniques and a multi-generational practice of feng shui. This holistic approach creates highly personalized spaces that are saturated with signature style.

I developed this multidisciplinary method honed from my background as a fine artist and study at NYU Tisch with extensive education in psychology and design, and a lifetime as the daughter of a shaman, therapist and founder of the shambhalla institute.

My intention as a designer is to create high-style, high vibe environments that help to heighten emotional and spiritual well-being, support harmonious relationships, and nurture an innate sense of personal balance for my clients and students.

I am based in Los Angeles with projects throughout the US. Consultations and classes are offered in person or virtually.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

It is funny how life shows us the path, but it may take a while for us to get the hint. Feng Shui was my side hustle when I was struggling to pay my bills fully as an artist. If it wasn’t for feng shui I never would have become a designer. If I could go back and change my mindset when I began my journey I would be more aware of where I was struggling to force things to work that didn’t feel as natural and focus on the areas of my life that were flowing more naturally.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

My first commercial design project was for a jewelry designer, Erica Courtney. I loved working with Erica and her team. Her publicist and I stayed in touch over the years. When the pandemic hit and the world seemed to shut down, she reached out with a proposition. I have mostly been winging it when it comes to marketing. I am the worst at it! When she asked if she could work with me on contingency, it was an exciting proposition. Her background was almost exclusively fashion brands.

She taught me to look at everything I was doing more objectively and put my focus into where my heart was in my practice. It was during the pandemic that we revised the web site and developed several extended a new menu of consultations and workshops devoted to helping people transform their space.

Through her guidance, I developed consultations devoted to making changes in client’s space to impact their stress levels, sleep or even manifesting a relationship as well as short guided consultations focused on medicinal paint colors or simple ways to refresh your space with all the items you already own or feng shui for vitality and balance.

I am still able to facilitate full service interior design projects but now am set up to see people all over the country by zoom or travel for short consultations or private training.

If it hadn’t been for her I would have never thought to develop this way of working. I only worked with her until the world opened back up and she went back into her work force. I am so grateful to have had the lesson that two brains are often better than one…especially when there is an objective view of your business that is hard for you to see on your own. It is easy to get complacent in our career when we are busy. It was wonderful to work with someone who could celebrate with you when things went well and talk through the lesson when an issues come up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kimcolwelldesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimcolwelldesign/ or @kimcolwelldesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shambhallainstitute/

Image Credits
All photos are by Jay Lawrence Goldman except for the white living room with the fireplace which is Ana Eiriksson