Good Design for All: Wendy Goodman in conversation with Lauren Rottet

Multi-hyphenate designer Lauren Rottet is known for the comprehensive outfit of especially high-profile projects like Billionaire’s Row beacon Central Park Tower and the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina in Bogota, Colombia. Under the moniker of her eponymously named practice Rottet Studio—which operates out of New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Denver, Stockholm and Malta—she and her team apply their distinct “quiet luxury” and timeless aesthetic to a wide range of spaces, mostly for major corporations, brands, and high-net worth individuals. But as New York Magazine editor and long-established industry tastemaker Wendy Goodman noted in a Sunday, May 19th talk at ICFF 2024, Rottet also develops less ”big budget” projects as well.

“The whole thing about great design is that it makes your life better,” Goodman responded when Rottet asked her if the concept of “Good Design for All”—the title of the one-on-one discussion—was something she also championed. ”You don’t have to have a lot of money to live beautifully with a design that you love and that works for you and your family.” 

Expanding on this point, Rottet cited the crux of the studio’s multidisciplinary approach: “We’re known for interior design, but we do, we say, really eight lines of business. We can’t keep our hands off design and explore its endless application as the subject of the conversation, whether it’s landscape or whether it’s a building or whether it’s the uniforms or whether it’s the art. Everything we do is site specific which allows us to work with different levels of financial and practical constraints; answering various needs and desires.” 

Having grown up with a doctor father and entered a pre-med program before pursuing architecture and design, the seasoned talent has always been interested in creating environments that help people feel better; even fashioning rock-formation habitats for the frogs she encountered while playing outside as a kid. “While biophilia might be the word of 2024, the concept of biomimicry—bringing the outdoors in through different strategies—has always been a major part of what we do.” 

Because of this mindset, Rottet endeavors to go the extra mile and not only outfit, say the interior of new luxury highrises, but also encircle it with verdant parks. “What Lauren often mentions is that if she couldn’t really heal people or help them physically, good design was a way she could help them navigate every minute of every day,” Goodman added.

Rottet Studio has worked on everything from five star resorts in Antigua to motels throughout rural America. “These are literally drive up, standard three story 120 room wood structures that need to be updated but with limited budgets to do so. We approach these projects with the same all-the-way through approach that we might a sprawling residence. Often the question of good design really comes down to careful spatial distribution and how we help actually shape the day-to-day services.” 

When considering materials, for her, reclaimed wood can be as luxurious as onyx. For one such motel—in which she and her team only had $150,000 to work with—going into the nearby community to solicit creative talents to contribute to the intervention was essential. Working not only with locally sourced components but also engaging locally craftspeople or purveyors can shore-up their fledgling businesses; ones that would otherwise shutter in the face of larger chain companies.

This two pronged strategy has also worked its way into much more high-brow outfits as well, where it’s  made sense to do so as a measure of site-responsivity. It all comes down to how these elements are installed and treated. “Building affordable housing is a major issue across the country right now and the materials being used are more durable than aesthetic but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used in beautiful ways,” she concluded. “Sometimes low budgets are really an impetus for innovative solutions.” 

If you are curious to discover more about Rottet Studio, check out their website.
Follow them on Instagram: @RottetStudio @RottetCollection @LRottet