Lessons - The Designer Behind Some of NYC's Most Expensive Addresses | Karen Asprea - Asprea Studio Founder (7M+ Sq Ft Designed)

In this lessons episode, discover how thoughtful design creates homes that grow with the people living in them. Learn why natural materials and personal expression make spaces feel timeless. Understand how intentional choices can support long-term value. And explore simple upgrades that make any home warmer, more functional, and inviting. What is your design philosophy? Like, what are the principles that guide how you look at a room in design? And like, I only know like Art Deco maybe as like a design philosophy. What would it like? So benchmark for people just so they can understand what is design in 2023, 2024? How do you look at design? What are things that if people are even like looking for a home, like where do they go? What are the resources they look to? It depends on what kind of home you're looking for. Like the clients and my clients and people that I work with, they'll come to me before they start looking for a home a lot of the time. Oh, I didn't realize. So I just learned something new. So that's how you're supposed to do it? You're supposed to find the... There is no right or wrong. Okay. There is no right or wrong. It really depends on, you know, what you're looking for and how you're looking to do it and how you expect it to be done. So, you know, if you want, like, say you're looking for a house that is maybe like a little rundown and you want to make it into your own. Mm-hmm. I would be a person that would be probably a good fit to work with because I can look at different properties with you and say, okay, with this house, we can do X, Y, and Z. This is what it will cost you. This is how long it will take. This is how much you're going to have to invest. And then I would work with a real estate. agent, you know, a lot of people that I know, good friends of mine, to say, okay, if my client buys this house and invests this money and the design kind of looks like this, like, you know, what my aesthetic is, combined with their, you know, personality, you know, in that, what is their sale price on the out? And that's how we search for property. Oh, that's very smart. So it's not just I've bought a house and I want to make it look nice inside. It's this is a fix and flip or this is something like there could be like a very strategic business move and you bring in a. OK, OK, because now I'm going to ask my friends that do these if they have a designer that works with them ahead of time. So I think a lot of them. buy the house and then they're like, OK, the cap rate's good. Whatever. We got it at a deal. Like, you know, there's a lot of work we have to put into it. But I don't know if they're working with a designer before they actually buy the property, which would be a mistake. Well, no, I mean, some some do and some You're very kind, by the way. I think it is a mistake. No, just like it logically, it makes sense. It does make sense because then you see the complete picture from somebody that can actually budget it all out. Right. Versus just the financials that look good. But I mean, you don't understand what the actual quality of the design would be on the back end. Right. Or the price rather. It depends on what you're doing. Like, I have clients who are, you know, politicians and, you know, they very, they have a lot of resources, basically. And they just want what they want. And it needs to be beautiful. And they like my aesthetic. They like working with me because they know that the job's going to get done because they know that they're hiring a pretty type A, going to get it done New York girl who wound up in Miami. You're going to clean up down here. You're going to absolutely clean up down here. I have a whole other side issue with the design that exists in Miami already, but whatever. We'll leave that alone. But yes. So, you know, because I have this background in commercial real estate development, I tend to apply it to everything. Even when I am working with clients who are like, I just want what I want. I want it to be beautiful. And, you know, I will take them through the same process. How much can you sell this house for in five years, in 10 years, in 15 years? You know, are we setting up for retirement? Are we setting up for new family, like someone like, you know, families that are going to have children and expand? Are we setting up for, you know, some like major change of life? And what does that look like? Some people are saying, OK, well, I want to buy a house. I want to make it look beautiful. And then I want to sell it in five years. That's very different from somebody who comes to me and says, I'm building an estate for my family. And it will remain in the family. So the way that we look at materials and make choices is different. Very smart. So, so bringing it back to like that word design philosophy, is there like a name you put on this philosophy as to how you design a house or is it, Well, I would say that my aesthetic is warm and modern, but still classic. You know, I went to Pratt Institute, which is a, you know, they train you in traditional techniques, at least when I went there. You know, I think that I got a little bit of like an old school architecture training. That's good. Which I, yeah, which today I totally appreciate. And then I studied in Copenhagen. And, you know, being there and learning about how they approach design with a lot of natural materials and natural elements, I think that that is very important. So in terms of, like, the philosophy behind the way I design is we're part of nature. Everything that we pull out of the earth will eventually wind up back in the earth one way or another. We change, right? Like we change over time. We age, things change, we have kids, they grow, they change. So I like to use natural materials, marbles, woods, metals. And materials that you can see came out of nature because over time and with use and through weather conditions and, you know, when the sun hits the wood floor, like they will change color. They will change texture. You can see the use in them. Like, you know, say you buy a really gorgeous leather couch. It just looks more beautiful over time because you can see the use in it. And I don't like to use materials that are plastic and static because we're not static and design should not be static. Your space should grow over time with you. It seems like there is an over-indexing on these clinical kind of builds. I don't know how to put it. It's like they're so devoid of life and soul. And this is, I mean, I've seen them in condos in Toronto. I see them in some glass boxes down in Miami. So it's interesting to me because they're very modern. But to your point, they look so... I don't know how else to put it. So in your mind, when you look at different design elements, I love a Californian style. I think California does a really nice job of creating modern plus classic. Yes, and warm. It's warm. Yes. Yes. Do you find that that style is starting to permeate New York, Miami? Do you feel like, because that's the style that I think Miami actually really needs. I think it needs more of that modern but classic style. Yeah, I mean, I would, so what I saw a lot, yes, I do think that that style is becoming more appreciated. I think that, you know, for a long time we were looking at, fake materials that were imitating nature, but they don't really imitate nature because, again, they're static, like, you know, plastic laminates that look like wood. Yes, they're very effective in commercial settings, like, you know, in elevator cabs. Like, of course, you know, in commercial buildings, like, yes, there's a time and a place for these materials. And, you know, I appreciate that, and I respect that, and I use them when I have to. But I think that overall, especially after COVID and people being now stuck in those spaces and looking at their walls and going, oh, I'm in a white box. Yeah. I think that there's a greater appreciation for these warmer natural materials and warmer palettes that you do see in, you know, in California. Like, yeah, you do see that. And I think that you're going to see it more and more here as well. When somebody is designing a space and let's, let's obviously the levels that you play at for commercial are phenomenal, but I think that when a lot of people are listening to this, they still care about their own personal space and assuming that they're, you know, creating this beautiful environment inside their house. I know that a designer like pulls out elements of a personality in an individual or a family and applies it to a house. Can you walk me through that concept of like how you do this? And what does that actually mean? So give me like an example of you have a client, pick a random client, not name a name, but how would you take that person and their personality and like turn it into an actual environment they can live in? Okay, I have a good example of this. I was approached to design a house in Connecticut. It's a big estate, it's about 20,000 square feet, so it's a big one. And I was looking at the architectural plans before I met the family. And there was a slide that took you from the second, the main level of the house down into the lower level. And I said, oh, these people must be fun. That's amazing. They must be fun. I said, oh, yes, I can't wait to meet them. So my hunch was correct. They're very fun people. Just the most amazingly kind and fun-spirited people. And so after working with them and getting to understand their personalities, I'll give you one very specific example. There's a speakeasy and the slide is behind a hidden wall panel. I love this. This is fun. And you can slide down into the bar that's downstairs. And, you know, there's like a little powder room close by. And I said, oh, we have to find something fun, but still like goes with the aesthetic of the house. And I found this beautiful, from a distance, beautiful wallpaper. But when you get up close, you can see that there's monkeys smoking cigarettes everywhere. In the wallpaper and like little brassieres hanging and like they're drinking vodka. That's fun. And, you know, I was just like, I know that they'll open up the door and crack up at this, but still it's a beautiful wallpaper. So you do, you incorporate elements of the personality into like everything. So when people come over, when they're just living in the house, they recognize elements of themselves. Oh, 100%. I love. And this is this is so this starts to create like a home out of the environment. Exactly. Exactly. Like we are creating homes from houses and basically just making space for their lives to happen in a in a way that they will be comfortable for a long time. When is the right point? Because we have to be cognizant that not everybody has a 20,000 square foot estate. Of course. So the other side of the spectrum is people that are getting their first home, their first condo. Just give advice to those people on how they can still create a home without, for example, housing. going to the extreme and doing everything that they can't they probably can't afford. What are those things that they should be spending money on, like those sort of like those mission critical things that can really change how they view a space? So I think you start with the basics. If you're buying a home and it's your first home purchase and you really want to make it feel warm and inviting. Invest really well in a big, comfy sofa that is a neutral color. Get the basics in your home in neutral, tonal colors that are warm, earthy, whites, creams, taupes, and start there. If you create that foundation, you can layer on top of that. And I would always say to stick with natural fibers. If you're going to buy throw blankets, buy wool, buy linen, buy cotton, buy wool. Don't buy fake fabrics. You know, the more natural materials that you buy, the longer they'll last and the nicer they will look. You know, like people, you can really feel those things when you go into a home. And another big thing that I specifically see this in Miami, and it drives me bananas, is that the light color temperature in the bulbs that they install in the homes are very blue and, I wouldn't have ever thought of that. Very white? Yeah. Well, we're going to go to your house and I'm going to check it out. You can, yes. Yes, 100%. Because then it's like no matter what you purchase, even if the color of what you buy, even if you buy a beautiful warm taupe sofa, you put it in that room and you turn the lights on and if the lights are not a warm natural white, the color looks crazy. So you never will achieve that weight. that warmth that you're looking for. Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.