Featured Expert at Work: IDr. Ivy Almario

Innate design skills and an extensive knowledge of design gained through studies contribute to the success of interior designers. Their greatest fulfillment lies in creating spaces that promote a clients’ well being. Nowadays, everything serves as an inspiration. However, to be an expert in the design industry, it takes dedication and wisdom gained through years of practice.

A woman of passion, excellence, and gentleness, Interior Designer Ivy Almario knows that genuine partnership with clients is one of the ways to truly deliver spaces that answer to her clients’ needs and wants. Her observant eyes, love for arts, and years of experience helped her to become one of the top-notch interior designers in the Philippines.

We had the privilege to talk to her about her career and asked her necessary and helpful design tips.

Tell us something about yourself

I am an interior designer by nurture and by nature. I just really love being one. It is my passion. I am just so fortunate to be in a profession where it doesn’t feel like work because you are passionate about it, doing something you love!

How did your career start?

My Aunt, Myrna Adriano, was an interior designer, so our first home was professionally interior designed. I was about 12 years old when I saw the whole project. But beyond that, (I was a few years younger, then) I was already visiting her house and I was so amazed at how beautiful it was. So I said that when I grow up I will be a designer – that simple.

What do you love most about your job?

It is the ability to transform spaces. And mostly, being part of a process where your skill contributes to people’s well-being.

Name your top 3 strengths as an Interior Designer

• I listen very well.

Interior design is truly an applied art because the solutions you apply are really personality-based. Everything you do as an interior designer is to enhance the level of everyone’s enjoyment and their environment. You cannot capture the real wants and needs if you listen on a superficial level. You have to take note of the nuances, and even the body language between the husband, the wife, and the children as they speak and express what is said and not said.

• We (IDr. Cynthia Almario, my sister, and I) trained in the states for 13 years.

It gave us a leg up because the standards and proportions that we learned are international, and the look is global, plus we learned the necessary deliverables to document the design process.

• I am a woman.

In an industry where you are tasked to create living environments and homes, it is a strength that you are a woman. As a woman, you are also a mother and a wife so you understand the requirements of what makes a home functional.

Do you have fears as an Interior Designer?

The fear is to disappoint the clients. The process could run for 2 to 3 years and to sustain that level of enthusiasm in your clients is a gift.

How would you describe your style?

If you see something that we did, it showcases warm interiors and there is always a wow factor. When you enter a house that we designed, you understand that it is a finished product. Although there is always a room for tweaks, you still understand that we have delivered a complete environment. We are design chameleons. In essence, we give you the best version of our best vision of your dream house.

Where do you get your inspiration?

From travels, movies, lots of magazines, and books; it could be from anything. You just expound on it. Everything is a trigger.

Did your style evolve over the years? How?

I would say so. When we first arrived here, our designs were very European and American. But now, we have also embraced modernity, colonialism, Filipino, and Asian.

How do you come up with the final design idea based on your client’s needs?

It is like solving a crossword puzzle. The correct solution will jump at you after paying attention. Even the floor plan will unlock its strengths and weaknesses. Also wisdom; there is no substitute for experience.

Why do you think homeowners need an Interior Designer?

Homeowners need an interior designer because their house is their gift to themselves. It is their one-time-big-time expense. It touches on everything they worked hard for, they are making a shelter for their loved ones, and they are hoping to showcase an environment where they can invite their friends over. So, when you conceive of a home, you conceive it to be the best of the best. Because a home is an investment, you should, therefore, treat the designer not as an expense or liability, but as your partner in adding more value for your home.

What is the most affordable home design tip you can give to Filipinos?

A can of paint changes a room dramatically.

What is the essential furniture piece a new homeowner should own?

Invest in a good mattress. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping. A bad mattress will affect the quality of your sleep and your health. At the end of a long day, to sleep in a good bed is your best reward.

For small home spaces, how can homeowners maximize every area in terms of design?

Mirrors are the trick. It makes spaces look bigger.

Whenever you enter a house, what is the first thought that pops up in your mind?

Because of my profession, whenever I enter a house I suspend my judgment right away. I understand that they are not interior designers. So I’m the least critical person of all. And when people might solicit my opinion, I’m the most neutral person. I leave my design judgment at the door, so I’m the coolest person when you invite me to the house. Otherwise, I would petrify every person who would invite me if I didn’t give off that vibe. But if you are inviting me professionally, my brain starts as soon as I open the door. I see, I look, I feel, I stare, I observe.

With your network of clients, how do you balance life and work?

Work-life balance is very difficult. You will observe that in any passion-driven person that is usually the problem because work doesn’t feel like work. You tend to be a workaholic. You just hope you are married to a very understanding person – and I am. My husband wishes we could start early, but you have to understand that we are still artists. To make us work like bankers and work from 9:00 – 5:00, it just doesn’t fit the bill.

How can you succeed as an artist in the business?

Have integrity. Deliver what you promise. It is even better if you over-deliver.

If you would resemble your work style to a piece of furniture, what would it be? Why?

I would be a desk. From a desk, stories are written, whole operas can be conceived. In my case, homes, hotels, and all my design projects are conceptualized and solved from my desk.

As a renowned Interior Designer in the Philippines, how would you encourage aspiring and new Interior Designers who want to make a name in the industry?

There is no shortcut. Just because there is Pinterest, just because there are sketch apps, just because technology makes you feel you could assemble something that looks decent it already means you actually can. There is no substitute for an internship, for hard work, for being in the field. It is not like in the movies where everything happens fast; it doesn’t. A career is built brick by brick.

IDr Ivy truly knows how to create exquisite and functional spaces that best match her clients’ preferences.

What do you love most about interior design? Share it with us in the comments section.