Meet Andrew Suvalsky

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Suvalsky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I always have had a good / strong sense of my passions, interests and a desire to attain a ‘higher’ level of access to things that interested me. This is not the same as confidence, but it’s a good ‘engine’ to help develop confidence. As I pursued interests and found where my talents lie, I nurtured that and believed that I needed to be engaged in those areas of my life to feel “whole and with purpose”. This is something I also have always thought was my right, or destiny. At times my interests and pursuits were definitely not aligned with my piers, or so I thought, which in turn to some extent didn’t help my confidence. But as I grew up and started to get respect and acknowledgement for my talents, my desire to be accpepted or liked and my interest in musical, artiistic and intellectual pursuits, started to balance out. This is when my confidence really started to ‘kick in’. In short my advice to others is to listen to and work on trustin your inner voice as pertains to one’s own desires and interests, and to pursue them. This will open a pathway to follow, which ultimately is a very appealing an inspiring trait others will recognize.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am the owner of an interior design and architectural firm based in NYC, ASDesigns. I have projects in the New York City as well as elsewhere and what is most rewarding about this is that the majority of my clientel comes from referrals, more than from any advertising or public displays of my work. Therefore I feel a great deal of respect and trust for what I do, it’s uniqueness, and that my creative vision can enhance my clients’ lives. This personal part, mixed with the ability to be creative and produce living, artful environments for people, is very rewarding. In short, I design homes – sometimes a few rooms, other times an expansive redo of many rooms including the architecture. In my work I always focus on the marrying of two elements: The overall design, which is about creating a unique and very special appearance that reflects my ethos and which you won’t see elsewhere, and the individual details, which are the many elemental parts of the design (colors, style, etc.) that reflect the specifics my clients’ taste. My most successful designs aren’t so just because they’re well-received or result in beautiful photos taken at the end of a project, but rather, are those projects that clients reflect back to me as being true expressions of their tastes and authentic selves which have given them a more thoughtful and greater enjoyment of their homes. My designs include full architectural renovations, many custom designed pieces (cabinetry and furniture) and a curation across limitless sources of unique pieces. I think of my designs like a beautiful, hand-painted puzzle in which each piece is intrisic and without which, the puzzle / art wouldn’t be complete.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1) Finding your voice and using it when necessary, even if it is uncomfortable. 2) Listening and creating space (usually time, if not also physical) before responding to any requests that make you uncomfortable. It’s really important to feel and acknowledge the discomfort and NOT respond until that’s in check. If some response is needed, a small and neutral gesture such as “message received, will revert soon” will likely take the edge off and make the person feel sufficiently heard while giving you room to craft the best response. 3) Be inspired by but don’t compare yourself to others. I think the former is like rich fertilizer in an already blossoming garden, the latter is more like over-watering and tends toward more negative results.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I have learned much along the way, starting with and from my employers. In the earliest days of my carreer, even before I moving from Chicago to NYC and changed careers from city planning to interior design, I have always been blessed to have employers who gave me a fairly high level of independence in my work environment. I ran with that and took my work very seriously. I learned quickly in all arenas that I was exposed – sometimes finding out I really didn’t like what I was doing but always driving me toward more creative pursuits. I loved both creative work as well as business. Though it, a key takeaway: We are all naturally stronger in some areas, less so in others, and then there are things ‘we need to do’ that we avoid like the plague. I think it’s important to acknowledge all three and work to find the balance. For example, as a creative person who owns a business I understand that as important as my creating beautiful designs, it’s equally so that I understand and have a handle on the flow of money. My work is the proverbial 1% inspiration/99% perspiration. The inspiration is the art and the perspiration is the project managment and implementation side of producing my designs into actual, livable environments. While I personally like the accounting side of my work, many creatives in my position don’t — it’s fairly common. So, to be well rounded, you don’t need to master all aspects but you do need to understand how they interrelate and then put together the right support of personnel to make this work: In my case this includes excellent project managers, a bookkeeper, and an accountant. My advice? Be excellent in one area you are passionate about while learning enough to be in the know, without being an expert, in the other apsects of your business or pursuits.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://asdesigns.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewsuvalskydesigns/

Image Credits

Brittany Ambridge
Costas Picadas
Adam Macchia