We recently connected with Tobi Wright and have shared our conversation below.

Tobi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

From a very young age, I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer. What I didn’t know was that in my Junior year of college, at Parson’s School of Design, computers would turn my hands-on passion into a desk job. In my senoir year I’d choose to take an advertising class. The collaborative aspect of advertising seemed like it might balance the sitting-at-a-desk reality of graphic design. It would for a while, but when digital advertising (think banners) started to be all the rage, I knew advertising would follow a similar path that graphic design did. I’d explore a completely new path in the wellness world, going to school for massage therapy. Once I started practicing, it was extremely important to me that my clients felt relaxed the moment they entered the therapeutic environment. With a BFA from Parson’s, creating soothing, healing spaces came easily to me. Clients often commented that they felt relaxed even before they were on the massage table.
My ever-evolving treatment room aesthetics resulted in clients asking me to help them create soothing environments in their own homes.
Marrying wellness and interior spaces was the perfect path for me. I’d take an interior design course in order to fill in the gaps between the 1 dimensional world of graphic design/advertising and the 3 dimensional world of interiors.
In no time I was creating efficient, productive and nurturing spaces for home owners and businesses.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in a creative household. My father was a photographer, painter, and finder/transformer of found objects. When we were quite young, my father would jot down different scenarios/scenes on pieces of paper, toss them around in a bowl, and my sister and I would draw or paint the scene dictated on our chosen slip of paper.
He was ALWAYS re-imagining our childhood home in some manner…repainting the walls, sewing furniture slip covers, transforming found objects into furniture, or casting his friends in plaster, producing life-like sculptures.
There was no doubt my sister and I would end up in creative fields. We were both accespted into Laguardia High School as art majors. My sister would end up at SVA, and I at Parsons School of Design.

As I mentioned earlier, a combination of graphic design, advertising and the healing arts would lead me to interior design.
My experience in advertising would come full circle. Brands I had created print ads for, such as Stark Carpet, Sherle Wagner and ABC Carpet & Home, would become trusted vendors.
My focus on wellness as a massage therapist would translate from the physical body to the emotional body and physical space. On the surface interior design is pretty, at the core it is about wellbeing. Your work and living environments have the power to envelop you in serenity and make you more patient and productive.
My graphic design background serves me well on commercial design projects. During a recent redesign of NPR’s New York bureau, branding elements were communicated through lighting design, feature walls and code required graphics.

Quite a few clients have hired me to design their pied-a-terres. Second homes are environments where clients go to relax, escape, have fun and entertain. My color and concept driven aesthetic lends itself well to such settings.
My striking yet serene design approach has also resulted in employees wanting to spend MORE time at the office, post COVID.
My next goal is to create restaurants that generate instagramable experiences and repeat clientelle.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

During COVID I ended up in the lead design position of the redesign of NPR’s NYC offices. At the core they are a technology company. In order to remain on the air and stay relevant in the everchanging media environment, they need to overhaul their technology every decade or so.

The circumstances that landed me in this position were very unique and live in the realm of “timing is everything”.

I did not know what I did not know, and it turned out that I was rather unqualified for this position. The architect’s designer should have been the lead designer, which made for an often unpleasant dynamic. I had been looking forward to creative collaboration with the architecture firm, but that didn’t come to fruition. I was ultimately on my own.

I was learning commercial design processes at a break-neck pace, and I was sourcing specialized materials (acoustic and eco-friendly) in early 2021 when many showrooms were closed due to COVID. There were tears, sleepless nights, and I missed one deadline by 2 weekdays. Every time I thought I could exhale, there was another deadline to meet.

Against many odds, I succeeded. NPR was very happy with the outcome and one of the architects acknowledged that, despite “drinking from a firehose” for months, I prevailed. They thought I was going to quit…give up.
Quitting never even occured to me as an option.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Aside from word of mouth from existing clients, Professional Organizers and Real Estate Agents are a consistent source of new clients for me.

It is a natural progression for clients to discover, through the process of organizing and sometimes purging their belongings, that they want to take the aesthetic of their home to the next level. Clutter in the home often causes clutter in the mind. When homeowners (or businesses) begin the process of decluttering, it changes their brains.

Interior design continues to move the needle forward. Navigating an efficient environment can result in increased patience and productivity. Designing a custom closet, office or kitchen can improve your day-to-day processes in surprising ways, while expert space planning can completely transform how you relate to your environment.

In the case of Realtors, new homeowners understandably want their homes to reflect who they are and how they live. Space planning may be necessary for some, to determine how much existing furniture will fit in their new home, and where. Others may want a fresh start with a clean slate, choosing to renovate bathrooms and kitchens so that their home is truly their home. Many clients who come to me through Realtors have just invested in a 2nd home and want a pied-à-terre that is sophisticated yet playful, that they can show off to their friends when they are in town on the weekends.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://insidewright.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidewright/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insidewright/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobi-wright-37961a88/

Image Credits
Gieves Anderson Giles Ashford Andrew Frasz Brittany Ambridge David Shechter