Interior Experience: Little Wing Lee on Multidisciplinary Teams, Sharing Resources, and Other Passions

Little Wing Lee portrait by Joseph De Leo.

By Julia Gamolina

Little Wing Lee’s sharp eye for color, texture and materiality along with her thoughtful and narrative-driven approach brought her to work with some of the most renowned and inventive design firms. In 2019, she started her own interior design practice, Studio & Projects. She also publicly launched Black Folks in Design, an organization whose mission is to bring awareness to and promote the cultural contributions, excellence, and importance of Black designers.

Prior to her career in design, Little Wing worked in documentary television and film contributing to several Oscar and Emmy nominated projects. Little Wing is a graduate of the Interior Design Masters Program at Pratt Institute, studied landscape architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and received her Bachelor's degree from Oberlin College. In her interview, Little Wing talks about starting an organization where Black designers can support each other and share professional opportunities, advising those just starting their careers to be passionate about things other than design and to be aware of what’s happening in the world.

JG: How did your interest in design and the built environment first develop? What did you learn about yourself in studying it?

LWL: I had always been interested in art and design from a very young age. My mom was a modern dancer and an artist during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s. She has very strong ideas about how a space should feel, about fashion, and she gave my sister and me her eye for beauty. We would also spend summers with our grandmother at her gigantic pink Italianate house in Connecticut surrounded by acres of gardens, who also had a love of nature and beautiful things. I spent a lot of time wandering around her gardens, pouring through her china cabinets, stacks of table cloths, napkins and being fascinated by all the patterns and colors and styles that she had. So, I grew up with a strong appreciation for how spaces and objects and nature could combine to create a beautiful environment.

When I began my formal study of design, I was drawn to the very human scale of interior design projects and thinking about all the various elements, from interior architecture, materials, textiles, to lighting and furniture design. As an interior designer, I am not only concerned with the interior space of a project. The experience as you approach a space is an important part of your experience of an interior. It can work to set the tone and mood. Similarly, a view within the space will affect how you experience a room – think of a view into a garden or cityscape in the background or foreground of the interior. At my grandmother's house I always loved that the garden was part of our dining experience – whether actually eating outside among the hydrangeas, the view of the apple trees from the dining room or freshly cut peonies on the dining table. You see that love in the use of plants and flowers in all of my projects whether interior or exterior.

NMAAHC History gallery, by and courtesy of Little Wing Lee. Photography by Ron Blunt.

How did you get your start in the field?

I started out my career working in documentary television for ten years. But after a ten year career in that, I had a turning point. I had been working on an intense and intimate documentary series about death and dying, and that began this process for me of assessing the direction of my own life. During a break in production of a television show I was working on, I decided to attend the Career Discovery program at the GSD at Harvard University to study landscape architecture. I then entered the Graduate Interior Design program at Pratt Institute. I knew I had found my next career.

Walk me through your career steps chronologically, focusing on significant moments and key milestones. Please speak about starting your own design studio, as well as Black Folks in Design.

I started out working part time for a small architecture firm run by Eric Daniels on residential commercial projects in New York City. He was my former professor at Pratt and was very helpful and open to sharing his experience and resources. I then got my first full time job at SOM, as part of the innovation studio which was held within the interiors department. It was an incredible experience working with a multidisciplinary team which included a graphic designer and an interactive designer. I learned a lot from working with other types of designers, how graphics can be used in a space, using new technologies in interiors. We worked really hard, but also had fun sharing each other's points of views in design. Working in a large firm, you also have the benefits of all the resources. SOM has an amazing library and model shop, and designers from all over the world. I then worked at Rockwell Group on my first hospitality design project.

The day my son was born, RAA contacted me about the Smithsonian project. In Fall of 2010, I started as an exhibition designer for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. That project was the perfect blend of my interests and skills. I had been an African American Studies and Religion major in undergrad at Oberlin College, combined with my Master’s in Interior Design, so it was a great project to use all my expertise.

“...design can change the world. Design affects everything, from how we live at home to how students learn in school. Those experiences are impacted by spaces, and those spaces are created by designers.”

— Little Wing Lee

The project team was also made up of predominantly Black designers from various fields. Having worked in other design offices, I was often the only Black designer. The experience of being in a room with other Black architects, interior, graphic and interactive designers working together on the concept of this museum was incredible. After the NMAAHC was completed, I thought “When again will the opportunity to work alongside so many talented Black designers?” I looked for an organization where Black designers could meet one another, share opportunities or ways to collaborate. Since that space didn’t exist, I decided to create it myself. In 2017 I launched Black Folks in Design (BFiD) as a network that connects Black designers within and across disciplines to support each other and share professional opportunities. We help people understand the excellence, contributions and importance of Black designers and we create economic and portfolio-building opportunities for Black designers.

In 2016, I also started as an interior designer at AtelierACE / ACE Hotel for Sister City in NYC and on ACE Toronto which opens later this year. During that time, I also worked on refreshing various ACE Hotel properties in the US and abroad including ACE Palm Springs, the Breslin restaurant in ACE NY, and the Kyoto property.

In Fall of 2019, I established my own firm Studio and Projects. I had been thinking of starting my own practice for a while, and it felt like it was a good time. I had an opportunity to work on a small restaurant project, Bar Bete, in the Cobble Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was a success, and I took that as a sign to finally start my own firm.

Bar bench at Bar Bete, courtesy of Little Wing Lee. Photography by Joseph De Leo.

Sister City. Photography by Adrian Gaut.

Where are you in your career today?

Currently Studio and Projects has several projects that we’re working on. We have two mixed use commercial projects in Harlem. Our clients are RAY and the National Black Theatre. We’re really excited to work with both of these clients and the architecture firms involved - Frida Escobedo Architects, Handel, and Marvel. We also have a residential project in Brooklyn that’s just getting underway. It’s great to have different types and scales of projects, and be able to think about residential, public spaces, and theatrical spaces.

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges?

Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on different types of projects, from hospitality to museums to residential projects and public spaces. So sometimes switching between typologies has been challenging. But I also recognize that my varied experiences in so many types of design are actually beneficial.

“...be passionate about things outside of design. Those passions will influence your work and the types of projects you’re going to be working on.”

— Little Wing Lee

What have been the highlights?

The biggest highlight was the opening of the Smithsonian. I was able to be at the opening ceremony in Washington DC, and to be sitting in the audience with legendary artists, activists and President Obama was really exciting. I was then able to walk through the museum and see the work come to life, and to talk with visitors, some literally moved to tears, and to see people including my mom and my friends, who were so appreciative of the beautiful space we created for African American history and culture was incredibly rewarding.

Who are you admiring right now and why?

Right now, I’m really into the work of Mariam Kamara of Atelier Asomi. She’s an Nigerien architect. I love the sense of pattern and texture in her architecture and also her use of restrained color palettes.

Black Folks in Design, photography by Little Wing Lee.

What is the impact you’d like to have in the world? What is your core mission?

I know it sounds cliched, but I believe that design can change the world. Design affects everything, from how we live at home to how students learn in school. Those experiences are impacted by spaces, and those spaces are created by designers. Having the ability to impact in large and small ways, to shape someone’s experience in beautiful, intentional and meaningful ways is very important to me.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

One thing I would say is to be passionate about things outside of design. Those passions will influence your work and the types of projects you’re going to be working on, and I think make you a more unique and interesting designer. I’m thinking about designers I know who are also musicians or passionate about food or anything else, and how those interests affect their design work in really special ways. I’d also say to be aware of what’s happening in the world. Be a critical intellectual in how you think about the world we are living in but also the design world and the changes that can be made within our own industry.

As a Black designer and a woman sadly, it’s somewhat expected that you are going to encounter additional hardships. So I think it’s important for you to establish a strong community to give you advice, insights, and encouragement.