Carrie Kravetz

Interior Design Grad, 2006

Carrie Kravetz originally moved to LA from Denver, Colorado, to study film. After a career as a red carpet reporter for top media outlets, she decided she needed a more creative outlet. She pursued her passion, and graduated in 2006 with an Interior Design Degree from FIDM, and is now the Design Director for Nathan Turner!

Tell us a little about yourself: That's a hard question! I'm originally from Denver, Colorado. I've been super creative and artsy since I was a little girl. I started writing professionally when I was 13. I started on a show called "News for Kids," then worked for Reuters, Teen People, MTV, and Entertainment Weekly. I've been in LA since 1998. I came out here to study film at USC and work in the entertainment industry. I was a red carpet reporter for a long time, and went back to school to get a degree in Interior Design at FIDM. I wanted to be a set designer, combining my love for entertainment with my love for art. I am now the Design Director at Nathan Turner. All that early interviewing definitely helped my design career, as I now help celebrities design their homes. And in order to be a good designer, you really have to figure out what your client wants. I think some people are intimidated by celebrities and other high power people. I'm not. I definitely don't get star-struck, so I'm able to do my job. Okay, maybe if it was Ryan Gosling, I'd be just a little googly-eyed.

What went into your decision to switch from entertainment journalism to interior design? I really didn't have a creative outlet through reporting. Looking back, I was obsessed with designing and re-designing my room growing up, and I was the head chair on the Prom committee so I designed the look of the entire event. I think it was during that Prom that I realized I was a really great designer. I had fun, and it was a success. Then I got swept up in being an entertainment reporter, because all these opportunities opened up to me. During my time as an entertainment reporter, I saw tons of movies. I really started noticing the sets. I decided I wanted to be a set designer, so I went back to school.

Tell us about how you got the job working for Nathan Turner: I actually got a job right out of FIDM for a designer named Kerry Joyce. I had no clue how respected and admired he was in the Los Angeles design community when I got the the job, so I kind of lucked out. It was an awesome first design job as a design associate. I learned so much—Kerry was an amazing teacher. I left that job, since I couldn't really grow there, and started working for Lucas Studio, another design firm that was located in Almont Courtyard. Nathan Turner's design firm was in the same space and I used to see him all the time. I had a really good idea for a Domino magazine article (Nathan was a contributor to the magazine) so I approached him with my idea and he loved it. He said we could work on it together. A couple months later, the magazine folded, and we never got to see our idea through. As Nathan's firm starting growing, he needed more help. When he started his antique store over eight years ago, he had no idea people would hire him to design homes. His business started growing, and he needed help. Then he got a huge A-list celebrity client, and needed someone to do an as-built of their huge home. Since I knew CAD, and how to do an as-built (thanks, FIDM!), he hired me to do it. He hired me part-time at first, and as he continued to grow, he hired me on full-time. I've been there for about three years.

What do you love about your work? Getting to work with Nathan. He's so fun and talented. Lately, I love to help work on his segments for the Today show, and it's been really awesome. I also love our clients—well, most of them! It's pretty exciting to design a piece of furniture or an entire room that someone absolutely adores.

Tell us about your experience on Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators: Being on a reality show is so much work. You have to look good all the time because they are filming all the time. Then, they use the footage of the one day you didn't have time to do your usual makeup routine. It was definitely fun, but I was so busy during last year's filming, that it was super stressful. You have to do take after take. They make you walk in the room like five times sometimes. It just delayed a lot of the work I had to get done. Now we have a lot of crazy fans coming into the store/office to try to meet Nathan. It's so strange that our society is so obsessed with celebrity culture. I was used to being on the other end of the camera, so when I appeared in front of it, I really didn't know what to expect. I definitely like being behind it better, although for the first few days it was kind of fun to be followed around by multiple cameras and a microphone.

How did you know FIDM was the right college for you and how did you decide on your major? I knew I wanted to go back to school for Interior Design so I could work as a set designer or the art department. I lived downtown, and I was always driving by FIDM. After I visited the school, I was completely sold. I didn't even look anywhere else. :)

How do you feel FIDM prepared you for what you’re doing now? I think the technical skills I learned at FIDM helped me get all my design jobs. The workload was intense, and prepared me for the real world of design. Also, I loved my FIDM teachers. They had great real world advice, which is something you can't learn from a text book.

Any advice for students thinking about attending FIDM? I think some people think FIDM will be an easy school, because it's a fashion school. But, it's not. It takes a lot of hard work. Don't go into FIDM thinking it's going to be easy. A lot of incredibly talented people have come out of FIDM. Also, I think students thinking about attending FIDM should know how great the location is. The Downtown Los Angeles location is absolutely amazing. There are so many work and social opportunities.

What is your biggest goal right now? I still want to work on sets, and I do whenever I have free time! I'd love to design tabletop accessories and also make/sell more of my mixed-media collages. I'm hoping I can incorporate my art with tabletop. I've sold a bunch of work through our store; I just need to find the time to make more!

Anything else you’d like to share? Going to FIDM was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm still best friends with some of the people who graduated from my class, and they're doing big things. The talent that comes out of FIDM is remarkable. Also, if you have a chance to do Chairing Styles, totally do it. It was my favorite class ever!

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Would you like to make a career out of your love for interior design like Carrie Kravetz? Find out what you could do with an Interior Design degree from FIDM.