Good design is essence of hospitality
Every day, for two years, while a student in the master’s hospitality program at Cornell University, Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery walked by a plaque engraved with an E.M. Statler quote: “Life is service — the one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow men a little more, a little better service.”
As the San Francisco interior designer explains it, her industry “is service, pure and simple. Instead of a great dining experience or a tranquil vacation, I am providing well-thought-out design and serving up beauty and function.” So it is that her master’s degree is put to good use in her line of work — as is her bachelor’s degree in art history.
About 15 years ago, Rebuffel Flannery opened the French antiques store Habité with her first husband (it has since closed). Clients began inviting her to assist in choosing pieces for their homes, which led to design work for them. “Luckily, it had a natural ease from the start, and I loved the expression of creativity,” she recalls.
In 2004, she established her own studio (www.carolynrebuffel.com). “My aesthetic is to meld antiques and traditional pieces with modern elements and organic texture,” she notes. Her current projects include an iconic San Francisco restaurant, a “decorating face-lift” for a Victorian flat in Russian Hill, and a house in Tahoe that is under construction.
And in September she launched WorkRoom C (www.workroomc.com), a custom textile collection that offers myriad color and pattern options. “We are living in an exciting time,” she says, “and being a designer when design has become such a huge part of our daily experience is really inspiring.”