Interview with Julie Massucco & Melissa Warner

Interior designers Julie Massucco, Melissa Warner, along with Carrie Miller, announced their design partnership in 2008. With offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, the trio is known for interpreting classical motifs in a modern way. As part of the Williams-Sonoma Home Designer series. Massucco and Warner discuss how they find gifts for hard-to-please people. We caught up with them to find out more about their partnership.

What brought the three of you together to form the partnership?

We met about eight years ago working in the same office and had loved the experience, though we all eventually moved on to other firms. We kept in touch though, and ended up collaborating on another project together. Through that experience, we realized our impact would be better as a team, so we decided to make it official and form a partnership.

In which ways are you alike and in which ways are you different? How does that impact your projects?

There are underlying things we all do the same, though we each bring something slightly different to the table. Aesthetically, balance is really important to us and giving a room personality is something we all do well. Customer service is also hugely important to us as well. But as individuals, Carrie’s slightly more modern, Julie uses the most bold pattern, and Melissa is all about finishing details and the little nuances of soft goods. Ultimately though, our styles are all very symbiotic, and when you look at our site, it’s pretty hard to discern who did what, even though we all have unique qualities.

What advice can you give to other designers who are thinking about working together?

Ideally, it’s great to have worked together in some capacity before. Make sure you’re compatible, not just in terms of personalities and as friends but be sure you have the same work ethic, and approach clients in the same way. For us, having spent so much time together professionally before, it was pretty seamless. If you haven’t collaborated before, try working on a couple projects together as a test before moving forward on forming a business.

For more on Massucco Warner Miller, visit their website.