a born southerner, jade relocated with her family to central europe at a formative age. she lived, worked, and was inspired by her time in istanbul, warsaw, vienna, and budapest. she traveled the world, studied art history while attending university in vienna, and she began a career in advertising as an account executive with ogilvy & mather – where she learned the art of business: project management, meeting deadlines, and client services. in the winter of 1999 in budapest, following in her family's footsteps, she started her interior design firm. by the autumn of 2000, AIG/Lincoln Poland Inc. commissioned her as a design consultant for their warsaw based model homes in their 101-unit residential project, a first of its kind in poland. jade has been a contributing shopping editor for Pestiside, where her bi-weekly editorial feature, Gotta Have It, highlighted the best shopping found in budapest. after creating over a dozen stylish interiors in her 5 years in budapest, including major renovations in magyar, jade moved to washington, dc where she was a contributor to 'elements of living' magazine and completed 7 projects, both residential and commercial in 2 years. she currently resides in athens, georgia.

"guess i’m a black sheep in the design world. most interior designers walk into the initial meeting with their new clients with pre-set ideas. they want to make the space this way or that, using all the latest trends. but my aim is to create a space that the client envisions. they are going to be living in it. it should reflect their style, not mine. in fact, of all the homes and offices that i have designed, very few actually reflect my own personal taste which is somewhere between european and eclectic. i see myself as merely a guide through a sea of choices, helping my clients achieve the look they want.

"what most of my clients lack is the ability to visualize the finished home. They usually know what they want and all of them know what they don’t want but often they can’t imagine how to pull it all together. they have no idea which fabrics to choose, which names to trust, or how to get it all done. In some cases, especially working with couples, they have conflicting ideas and/or clashing styles. we start off with them talking and me listening…

"i listen to their ideas, likes, dislikes, etc. we do the “magazine test” (where we go through stacks of magazines and have them mark which colors, chairs, patterns, kitchens, floors they love/hate). and most important of all, we decide on a budget. A figure that the client is comfortable with spending that does not break the bank. a beautiful, put together home really is affordable, if you use a professional to help you avoid mistakes and aid you in spending your money where it counts. then i put all their ideas together, fine tune them, and come up with what I call a “vision” – its a story-board that includes suggested layouts, color schemes, furniture, and fabric selection. it is then that the client is able to see what they have imagined all along on their walls, in their rooms- to scale, on paper, in pictures, and in color. this vision is our design bible, a pre-selected list of materials and ideas.

"decorating a home is overwhelming. i think the main reason people hesitate to reach out to an interior designer is they think they can do it themselves. but everyone needs an editor, a sounding board, a source of inspiration and knowledge, someone’s who is market savvy, goal oriented, and resourceful. a good designer is all of the above and then some and i want to be a great designer- not only creating beautiful spaces, but destinations that my clients can enjoy to the fullest-. i want the bachelor to have a stylish pad to rest while he builds his budding career- the newlyweds to enjoy the new look of their new life- and the family to raise their kids & create memories in the rooms i decorate. it may be corny, but it’s real. and i create spaces for real people so that they may live really beautiful lives."