Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanna Hartman.
Hi Joanna, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m an architect as well an interior designer, and I love working with clients creating highly personalized environments. To get here, I spent years seeking out architectural and interior design work experience rounding out what, in my mind, made a real architect – not just the piece of paper handed to me at graduation or the licensing exam scores and appellations saying I do a particular thing. I was after the hands-on, real-world learning. Afterall, to capture and translate the feeling, the scale, and the detail of great architecture, didn’t you need to actually be in the pantheon when the light streams in and the rain pours down?
So, starting in college, I sought out travel, and I continued as I worked in one of the country’s largest corporate firms coordinating large-scale international projects – including living and working in London, international design competitions, a host of convention centers, a deep dive in public spaces, a few domestic hotels, and a few floors of the Burj Khalifa. I flourished there and quickly began running teams; I had a reputation for being reliable and capable when it came time to make things happen – whether that meant wrangling a competition team, ideating a new light fixture, or producing a coordinated set of construction documents. But about 7 years in, I began to crave the results-driven feedback that could only come from working directly with the client – not the developer or the board, but the actual end user; whether that was a business owner or a homeowner, I was eager to pursue the emotion in design and to dive into the nuanced details that make projects sing on a personal level.
It was time to seek out the small and a change of scenery – hence my move to Austin in 2006. Here, I continued seeking knowledge. I worked in boutique architecture firms, I worked on high rises, and I worked in residential design-build where I was able to compliment my time on commercial construction sites with residential construction experience – getting to know builders and highly skilled Austin artisans and sub-contractors. After years of doing interior design work on nearly all of my projects, starting all the way back on the Burj Khalifa, I sat down, took all the tests, and got my interior design license.
Finally, I began to feel, not complete in my learning, but sure footed; I knew my foundation was strong enough to proceed without a net. My project process was dialed in; I could consistently deliver results measured in both on-target budgets and exceeded expectations. Along the way, my clients felt engaged but not overwhelmed, delighted, and excited; my input elevated their goals and took the worry of construction off their shoulders. In 2020, I launched my own firm with my architect husband, and my only (small) regret is that we didn’t launch sooner.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My journey has been a deliberate study in gathering skills, experiences, and specific knowledge. It took some time, and it took some speaking up for myself – sometimes uncomfortably, but it hasn’t been fraught with anything I’d characterize as a struggle. Maybe because I tend to look at challenges as opportunities. For the record, my journey isn’t over. I’m always seeking out and learning, and I always have a long list of travel destinations!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Page Paul Architecture & Interiors is a full service studio focused on quality, high end custom design projects which look to enhance the experience around and within them. Our studio’s interests lie in discovering creative solutions which result from a process that balances many variables including aesthetics, function, budget, site and client desires. Our collective experience allows us to holistically conceive and design a variety of project types across a variety of styles, always uniquely suited to their circumstances. Our capabilities and rigor leave no stone unturned in the process of design. Whether we’re analyzing a site to determine how a building’s form relates to its context and sustainable strategies, or we’re programming interior spaces which harmonize with the building and create mood by utilizing aspects such as color, texture and lighting; we strive for a result that is nuanced and tailored to the end user.
Based in Austin, and working nationwide, PPAI provides design and management services for all aspects of architecture and interior design. Our client-oriented focus specializes in renovation and new build of residential and small to mid-sized commercial projects – including hospitality/restaurant, retail, office and mixed use. Our breadth of services provide the convenience and coordination of a lead design team equipped to guide a whole project vision.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
During elementary school recess, I remember spending all of my time laying out floor plans in the pine needles -scootching my feet together to shape ‘walls’, the sound of wind whispering in the tall trees above me. If allowed, I would spend all day out there laying out ‘my houses’. At home, I wasn’t allowed to move my furniture around, but I did restyle the décor of my room seasonally – in a very DIY way, that is to say my ‘budget was as much construction paper, crating supplies, and time as I cared to invest. Looking back, I loved floor plans as much as I loved color and texture and movement in decor too.
I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I was lucky enough to grow up in a very old home that was, originally, a stagecoach stop between Chicago and Detroit. My parents painstakingly maintained our home and filled it with antiques – both authentic and my dad’s hobby antique reproductions. It was not the place my friends wanted to (or even could) gather – it wasn’t big, after all; plus, there was nothing ‘new’ or even remotely ‘cool’ in my house at the time, or so I thought. Then, I was maybe 8 when I realized that my neighbor friends all had similar homes to each other and some were even identical floor plans (gasp!) – no surprise, since they were all built by the same builder. I remember running home to tell my parents about how I just ‘discovered’ that Heather’s house was exactly the same floorplan as Nikki’s house, just mirrored; my 8 year old mind was officially blown. From that point on, I made it my secret mission to truly know my surroundings, and to this day, I map out floor plans of the places I’m at in my head to understand them.
I’m also grateful for early exposure to a brilliant and extremely well-travelled old family friend who hosted the most curious dinner parties at their lake house. The ‘farm’, as it was called, always had the most beautiful and exotic finds for me to explore and play with while the adults were dining into the wee hours in the next room. As the only kid at these functions, I would spend hours off exploring and talking to the zebra hide rug in the guest house, getting lost chasing fireflies in the English gardens, or building forts for their tolerant Vizsla and me with piles of Indian silk pillows while African tribal masks looked on disapprovingly. I can still remember the smells of the farm: pine soap, well-worn leather, rough-hewn wood, and sweet orchids wafting in from the greenhouse!
Between my own home and the farm, I was ensconced in curated antiques and oddities that were not found at the local homewares stores. I unwittingly absorbed an appreciation for a hand-carved ball & claw table foot as much as I was captivated by beautiful silver table settings. Over the years, this has served as a useful foundation for me to be comfortable in the incongruities in styles, colors, and typologies; if it’s collected, curated, and edited with care, there’s no such thing as a clash!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pagepaularchitecture.com
- Instagram: page_paul_architecture
- LinkedIn: Page Paul Architecture
Image Credits
image credits are Page Paul Architecture & Interiors unless noted in the file name (Chase Daniel, photographer)
