Kitchen & Bath Business March/April 2024 - 80

L A S T W ORD
CULTIVATING SUCCESS
This designer finds communication to be as vital as creativity for her business
How does your background infl uence the way you approach the design business?
When I was attending college, I worked in a luxury retail store, and it really
taught me how to interact with consumers and clients. Today, most of my
clients are purchasing luxury designs and because I didn't grow up in that
environment, that work experience taught me how to successfully deliver
a luxury product. My clients are very important to me; they are my next
referral, and how I make each person feel is equal to mastering the art of a
successful business.
What has been your biggest challenge - and how did you resolve it?
To stay current and not get complacent with my work or ideas. From an
operational side of owning a business, it is important to learn how to communicate
with the younger generation of hired designers; their thinking
and experience is very diff erent from that of my generation, but they all
have a voice. Design is one talent, but communication is another talent, and
they need to understand both to be successful and heard.
From a design perspective, I need to stay current with what is happening
around me. I understand kitchen design, but my designs must remain
relevant to the times.
What is the most important career lesson you've learned?
Don't think you know it all. I have been in this business for over three decades,
and I will continually make mistakes of oversight or complacency.
Just when you think you have seen it all, here comes the one thing you've
never experienced. Th e most important lesson is when you grow your business
and have other designers under you: Th eir lessons are your lessons, and
that is part of the process. Stay open to change - I can't express that enough.
80
/ MARCH-APRIL 2024
ABOVE Caren Rideau, principal
of Pacifi c Palisades, Cal.based
Kitchen Design Group,
shares her professional
insights from more than 30
years in practice.
Photo credit: Meghan Beierle
O'Brien
What advice would you give someone entering the
design business?
You can be the best designer and have the best
ideas, but you must know how to work with your
consumers and sell your ideas and products.
While passion for the profession is one thing,
self-confi dence is ultimately essential for working
successfully in the industry - and it can take
time to develop that quality.
Who or what has been a seminal infl uence on your
design career?
My design peers are my biggest infl uences, because
the success of others - especially people I
admire - drives me to be there with them in my
unique way. If you want to grow in this industry,
you have to be open to what other successful
people are doing and accomplishing around
you.
By LESLIE CLAGETT
What is your favorite thing to collect? And why?
I love to collect pottery from everywhere; it is
my biggest seek when I'm traveling. For me, it
tells the story of art, culture and food. I especially
love to set the table with this beautiful pottery.
For me, there is no bigger joy than to see a table
of color of all my favorite fi nds.
Kitchen & Bath Business March/April 2024

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