Today we’d like to introduce you to Janet Hobbs.
Hi Janet, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have roots in the design and construction world. My grandfather built houses in an area called “Usonia” north of NYC, some of them directly for Frank Lloyd Wright, others for people who had studied under Wright. Our family slide shows included pictures of houses being framed up in the woods. That may have planted the first seed. I was always interested in fine arts, but even as a young person didn’t think being a painter or sculptor was a viable life plan. One time working a summer job in a factory in my hometown I saw a brief interaction between an engineer and a drafter. I thought, “maybe that’s something I could do.” Then some things conspired to get me interested in urban planning, space planning and architecture. I started out working for a home designer in the Westlake area in the 80’s. One day I quit that job after hiring one employee after another that I trained but who was paid more than I because they were all men. I cried all the way home, but it was the best decision I ever made. My first clients were builders who hired me to do pen and ink renderings of their homes to put on marketing brochures. I’d drive across town, pick up the plans, drive back, do the rendering and deliver it back to them all for $40! Gradually I built up a clientele and that was the BEST and most important thing about my career. I learned something from each of them, shared what they saw on their travels and eventually through those many interactions and what I hope is an innate sense of design, I started selling stock plans all over the world and doing custom designs for amazingly interesting clients all over the Hill Country as well as other parts of the country. Their patronage made it possible for me to do some work we are all very proud of.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Of course not. I started my business during the savings and loan melt down in the 80’s, survived the tech bust in 2008 and at least two other major “busts” during my time as a home designer. Fortunately, we were always blessed with enough work to weather those storms, but it was no picnic.
That was the EXternal struggle. The INternal one is always to try to get and train good staff. I have had some wonderful partners along the way, but we kissed a couple of frogs employee wise, too. And, as one very well known framing contractor said to me when I asked what he was doing that day, “What am I doing? The same thing I do every day. Training my competition.” Just when I would get the place built up and humming along someone who go off on their own and maybe take some others with them.
As I always say, “I love my work. I hate my job.”
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Keeping your creativity fresh and having it reflect your own values and aesthetic sense, keeping it pure, is the biggest challenge for anyone in a creative field. With payrolls to meet and rent to pay, the temptation to compromise is strong. And, we all DO compromise.
But, sometimes you have a client who is truly a patron, who really brings something to the table that ADDs to what you bring. When that happens there can be a synergy that rises above… One custom home I worked on with a particularly good observer of the built environment as a client, a charming lady named Cherry, I believe rose above the rest of what I had done up to that point. When asked what to call what we had done I thought about all the genres we drew from and called it “Hill Country Fusion.” A beautiful home.
Another home was a collaboration among builder, interior designer, myself, developer and vendors for a home in a Parade of Homes that spawned a style I called “Neo-prairie.” I flatter myself to think that we were one of the first to go that direction. It turned out great and has been imitated many times since.
But, the smallest remodel, the tiniest bungalow, is a success if it brings joy to the people who live there. When I started in this business I asked my boss, Joseph Volpe, how he reconciled to himself that he was doing something as materialistic as creating housing stock. His reply, roughly paraphrased, was that if he did his job right he changed someone’s life, brought harmony and beauty to their environment and thus improved their lot in life. That philosophy got me over many a hump and guided me to making good design decisions for every project.
Another early influence, not as philosophical, once said to me, “Why do you take all this so personally?” The answer is that I really care about our clients and i really want to create that magical environment for them that WILL improve their lives.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
This is the best way to make a living in the world!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hobbsink.com
Image Credits
Four Walls Photography
Merrick Ales Photographer
