We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paris Kostopoulos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Paris, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

We often have landmark moments during our professional carrier that create new possibilities and open new pathways. Such a moment was in 2005 after I completed a residence in Roslyn New York, an affluent suburb with large homes with pools and pool houses, clubs and club houses and expensive cars. It was a study in designing a comfortable home and at the same time an immersion to luxury that we as design professionals cannot afford for our personal use, but we need to be experts in, if we are to advise and design for someone that lives in that life style. Thankfully, my previous design experiences had taken me from very expensive apartments in Manhattan to large properties in Bel Air Los Angeles, Ca giving me a vast knowledge and a large array of tools to use in my design adventure. That project developed to almost a hotel like setting that at Paris K Design we were proud to call our own creation and our clients were ecstatic to use.

That moment opened other similar possibilities and because of the location we had the opportunity to work on one of our more successful restaurant design up to that point, Kyma Roslyn. A large Mediterranean restaurant from a group of entrepreneurs that aspired to create a following and eventually multiple copies to expand their restaurant portfolio. We ended up creating 4 amazingly successful restaurant locations for them.

Those two projects sprung a slew of others and even so many years later have an impact in my professional carrier. During the pandemic, because of Kyma Roslyn I was approached by a group based in Baltimore to create a version of a Greek restaurant/event venue to uplift and revitilize the Greek town purched not far from the Baltimore center.

We completed Plaka Restaurant in 2023, and opened with great success.

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 was in high school in Greece, and we all had to take aptitude tests and decide, at least for the moment, what profession we wanted to follow. I remember sketching objects and people in freehand in my spare time, so I thought I should go for Architectural interior Design. I started learning how to draft and when the time came to take entry exams to the university I stuck with it. After my Bachelor degree, I wanted to learn more so I got accepted to Pratt Institute for a Masters in Industrial Design and after a small stint freelancing as a industrial designer I went back to what I knew best, Interiors and architectural design. We sometimes take paths that are not direct, and although mine was fairly straightforward, one can argue that I did not need the Masters and I could have used the time and effort otherwise. I however, will say that is exactly what helped me succeed in the profession. Learning another way to design; from the architectural to the object design, to thinking of mass production questions and finding ways to do things differently by brainstorming as if I was to appeal to the masses and not just the specific client, and then zeroing in to one client and specific requirements. It is all connected. While in my graduate studies towards my Masters, I had landed in New York and needed to work. I found a job in a construction firm as their designer but also their project manager. i had already done that during my bachelor in Greece, but construction at the time was done differently there than here and the ability of having both experiences was invaluable in my future as a future proprietor of a design firm. I have been in so many different construction situations that it is now easy for me to understand the problems, often foresee them, avoid them if possible or resolve them when the come up.

It used to be that we should focus our learning to one specific task and learn it well…. I went around a bit, learning all I could about what it takes to build something, whether it was a building, a renovation, a chair, a table and I believe that gives me a unit opportunity to create without limitations.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

One question I had almost from my freshmen year in college was, why they did not teach us psychology? Very quickly in my design path, it became apparent that as design professionals, where we have to interact with individuals on a daily basis we must know how to do that effectively!
I was surprised that there was not even one class teaching behavioral etiquette! I guess it is considered old fashioned, but all I saw in my daily interaction with clients, vendors and other design professionals, that the way we behave in the first instance we approach someone is probably 50% of our success with that person. I dreamed then that I should create a questionnaire to give to my prospective clients so I understand better who they are, what they want and where they want to go.
I guess I was always too busy to actually make one, but in my way, I place the questions during our meetings and gather the information in an organic way that might be even better. However, it still took me years of training on the job, watching other older and more experienced designers to learn how to approach and behave in the various situations we are called to work in.
Creating spaces for people is as personal as it can be and we must be able to understand our clients in order to provide.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

yes, create spaces to improve peoples lives. At the onset of my carrier, being an interior designer was seeing as a pariah of the Architectural and Design professions. It was simply not accepted as a real profession more like a hobby that occasionally someone made money with. I had to soul search to find out for my self why I am doing what my instinct told me to do. I quickly realized that even though most people see our profession as not necessary, not essential, we are not doctors, firemen, or soldiers, we are performing a very important service to the community that is often overlooked as frivolous or extra, but it can immediately improve people’s lives!
We first have to believe it ourselves, and then once we do, embark into a fearless campaign to transform spaces for anyone that would hire us.
I want to improve the world one space at a time and leave a legacy of servicing our souls thru the experience of living and working in spaces that we love.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pariskdesign.com
• Instagram: pariskdesign
• Linkedin: Paris K Interior Design

Image Credits
Tina Psoinos