Founding Principal Lauren Rottet in the Presidential Suite at The Surrey Hotel.

Houston interior designer diversifies, gets projects ‘we never even dreamed’ of doing

Lauren Rottet has been through down cycles before.

The founder of Houston-based Rottet Studio, an international interior design firm, has worked through her fair share of economic slumps around the nation. Her namesake firm, which she founded in 2008 on a bedrock of corporate interiors experience, has since diversified heavily into hospitality, residential work — and cruise ships. Rottet Studio led the design of nearly 50 ships for Viking Cruises, a luxury and destination-focused cruise line.

“I don’t wake up going, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do in 2017?’” she said.

The Rottet name carries a lot of weight in the interior design community and has cultivated a highly respected reputation around the world. She has worked on notable Houston-area projects such as BMC Software Inc.’s Houston headquarters, and Midway Cos.’s Hotel Alessandra, which is underway in downtown Houston. Globally, Rottet Studio has worked on the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City, residential towers in Hong Kong and Target Corp.’s (NYSE: TGT) marketing and public relations offices in New York City.

Prior to starting her own firm, Rottet co-founded Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet in 1990 in Los Angeles. Four years later, the firm was acquired by Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall. Rottet stayed on for 14 years as director of the interior design studio at DMJM Rottet.

You founded your own firm, Rottet Studio, in one of the biggest cities in the nation. How was that first year?

I had done it once before in a bad economy. In Los Angeles, we had grown Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet to a firm of 60 or 70 people. But I knew I needed to strategize. We started expanding in hospitality. Hotels do renovations every five to eight years. We figured it was a good time to get into hospitality because they’d be renovating because their bookings would be down. So, we did a lot of renovations — offices and hotels and private residences of people who wanted to take advantage of low construction costs. It was a good thing. It introduced us to new markets we weren’t in.

Tell me about how you got involved with the Viking Cruise ships.

That also happened when the economy was still down. Viking wanted new talent and was exploring its options. They didn’t want a ship designer. They didn’t care whether they have ship experience. Strangely enough, I had renovated a friend’s huge, private yacht and I put together a ship brochure, kind of for fun. So, when this call came into my Los Angeles office, it all came together. We ended up getting that client, and we’ve done 43 of Viking’s river boats and three of their ocean ships.

You’ve paved the way for so many women in business. What’s one thing you wish people knew about that journey?

It’s more about who you are and what you do. I don’t think it matters whether you’re male, female, black, white, Chinese, old, young — in my industry, it’s about having a design brain. When a design brain meets another creative person, that’s all they see. I had a partnership with four men and my eyes were opened. I didn’t experience discrimination so much as I realized we think differently. Sometimes, I feel like men want to pass the ball around and take their time, while I just want to get to the point.

In the design world, gender dynamics become very tricky when you’re trying to have a family. A lot of women didn’t have children, and that’s really sad, because they couldn’t figure out how to work the hours. Now, I’m seeing that the guys in the office are just as involved in the family as the women are. It’s a much more even distribution of help.

What’s on the horizon for 2017 for Rottet Studio?

Office users, in general, are downsizing. I think most cities probably have a little too much office space right now. But someone has to fill it. I think interiors will still be good for the next few years. As a firm, we’re going to pursue more renovations. That’s always a good plan no matter where the economy is. We’re doing a lot more high-rise residential work. In some ways, 2017 will be more of the same. Fortunately, in other ways and based on the work we’ve done, people are calling us for projects that we never even dreamed we’d be up for doing.

What’s the best business lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?

I don’t know if there’s one lesson. In any kind of business, there’s a lot of politics and you can be tempted to not stand firm. Stick with your guns — as long as you’re educated on the work and you truly know you’re right. You’ve typically been successful because of your experience and your rationale. Don’t be persuaded by bad politics.

You founded Rottet Studio nearly a decade ago. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

I wouldn’t have done this differently, but in the recession, I hung onto everybody. We didn’t let anyone go. I didn’t pay myself much and I could’ve saved a lot more money. That set us back a little. But now, we have the reputation of treating and keeping our employees like family in good times or bad times.

The only thing I would do a little differently is … I feel like I have finally grown up a little bit and have more reconnaissance in my decision-making. That happened because I have my own firm. Being the total bottom line, you realize there’s a lot of balls in the air and everyone is just as important as the next.

Your son, Kyle Rottet, serves as director of marketing at Rottet Studio. What have you learned about working with family?

I grew up with my father telling me to keep family and business separate. I thought that’s just what you’re supposed to do. But with Kyle, he just rose to the occasion. It’s really been a lot of fun. It’s really interesting how intuitive a family member can be. I don’t have to ever say, “Don’t put that in the proposal,” because he intuitively knows what I like and don’t like.

You’ve had a career that’s sent you traveling all over the world. How does Houston compare on a global scale?

When I left Houston at 17 to go to college, I was never going to come back. Houston was so boring, hot and miserable – why would I ever go back? I went off to San Francisco and Chicago, came back to Houston to get married, went back to Chicago, then Los Angeles and New York City. Family brought me back to Houston. Of course, I moved into the inner Loop, and I thought, "Oh, this isn’t so bad."

I used to hear from people, “Why on earth do you live in Houston?” I haven’t heard that comment in a year and a half. I used to hear it all the time. I know this city has put a lot into PR, but I think the reality is that people moved here and the culture is more diverse and the food is more diverse. The arts have always been amazing, but now you could go to a fun, social or cultural event every night of the week. When you start traveling as much as I do, I come home and I think, “I am really lucky.”

Text by Cara Smith. This interview has been edited for length and clarity and originally appeared on the Back Page of Houston Business Journal's 'Deals of the Year' issue in December 2016. 

Happy International Women's Day! In the spirit of celebrating the women, past and present, who've dedicated their lives to breaking barriers and paving the way for others, Rottet Studio is featuring some of our fabulous and fierce female designers on our blog. Over the course of Women's History Month, we will be profiling their experiences in the architecture and design industry as they put a face to the realities and rewards of being a working woman.Though the conversation around women in the workplace is hardly new - buzzing with oft-quoted entreaties to "lean in," fraught with questions of work/life balance and "having it all" while working a "second shift" -  it continues to have profound, if varied, applications for both genders. In what has become known as The Missing 32% in the architectural practice, women represent about 50% of students enrolled in architecture programs in the United States, but only 18% of licensed architects are women (Equity by Design). Rottet Studio occupies a unique vantage point in the industry - over 60% of our full-time staff are female, and our Founding Principal, Lauren Rottet, has broken new ground as one of the most celebrated architects and interior designers over the past few decades.As the only woman in history to be elevated to Fellow status by both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and International Interior Design Association (IIDA), Lauren shared some of her thoughts on and advice for women in design:Tell me about your path to a career in design and architecture. I was always constructing and inventing things. When I was a child, I used to build little rock houses for the toads that would hang out in our driveway in Waco, Texas. I’d construct these little houses, then put the toads in there, and I considered it a huge accomplishment if the toads were still inside the next morning - it meant that I had built something sound and secure. During high school in Houston, I watched as these lovely high-rise buildings were constructed. My father let me skip school one day – which was a very big deal – to explore what I thought would be amazing interiors way up in the sky. I was so disappointed that these great buildings had such uninspiring interiors, and thought I could do better.What is your favorite part of your job?That it’s so different every single day. I love going into a space and it’s just like you imagined it, that you created something out of nothing and everyone’s so happy and enjoying it – if it’s an office space, they say it’s enlightened and catapulted their business, and if it’s a hotel, watching the guests enjoy their stay and come back. Every designer wants to make people happy.What are the ways in which men's and women's careers in architecture differ?I was raised by a father who told me that there would be no difference between men and women in my generation, and that I needed a career so that I wouldn’t have to rely on anybody else. So when medicine didn’t work out [at The University of Texas at Austin], I switched to architecture. Fewer than 10 percent of women graduated in my class, but I didn’t really think consciously about being a woman in architecture. I never really thought about it as a man’s field. Then again, I don’t think I’m a normal woman.Once in a while, when the guys are standing around taking credit for your ideas (not the design ones, as they figure you might know how to “design,” but the structural, mechanical or project-siting big ideas), I do get a little annoyed. But, it’s a team effort at the end of the day, and I always end up giving those big ideas away anyways. In my studio there is, of course, none of the man/woman thing. We all work hard, and we all have each other’s backs. If you’re knowledgeable, have done your homework, and can hold your own on a job site or in front of a client, you’ll be respected. If you never even realize that there’s something holding you back, then there isn’t anything holding you back.What are potential pinch points that affect talent retention in the design industry, particularly for women? Why do people leave?The time pressure of a design or architecture career is tremendous, so having a family and rising to the top of your game are an effort, to say the least. It is physically difficult to be a young mother with children and work the long hours that being a designer or architect requires. But businesses should be flexible with employees who have children; it’s incredibly helpful when firms are flexible.How do you feel your experience working in a creative field might have been different if you were in a more corporate industry?I just couldn’t have worked in a non-creative field. I would have been an absolute failure, because my brain works too non-linearly. I think you have to match what you love doing with your career, then you can’t help but succeed - because you love it! Working in a more corporate industry wouldn’t have been as fulfilling for me – in a creative field, you’re always learning, excited, and inventing. Every day is a new challenge.Describe the professional moment, accomplishment, or realization that you are most proud of to date.One of the first interiors projects I did when I moved to LA was for a law firm, and it broke so many new grounds. Paul Hastings’ office in New York turned the way people office upside down, catapulted a new way of thinking about office furniture, and went on to win Best of NeoCon. They were moving out of a building with 360 degree views on Park Avenue to a space with no views whatsoever. That’s how I figured out little tricks – the use of materials to make them seem like they go on forever and make a space feel bigger, which was a precursor to what we do now. I had been influenced by Light and Space artists from LA like James Turrell, Larry Bell - and found it fascinating how light alone can manipulate and create the illusion of space. So with the Paul Hastings project, I really added in form and started to look at a space three-dimensionally. In modernist architecture, you look at the floor, wall, and ceiling like planes, whereas in Paul Hastings New York, I looked at the space like a volume that you sculpt into – planes, angles, forms, that trick your eye.Other than that, I must say I was proud to have a parking spot with my name on it when I worked for Keating, Mann, Jernigan & Rottet.What's the best career advice you've received?I’ve been given quite a bit of wonderful professional advice, but I think probably one of the best ones is just to listen. Listen very, very well. You know, you always want to come up with a solution or an idea, or instantly retort back, but I think if you really sit back and listen to the parameters – what the client wants, what the surroundings are telling you about a project, I think that’s probably the most helpful professional advice.And another piece of advice – one of my favorites – is if you start to recognize what you’re doing, you’re not designing. A recent study of 22,000 firms in 91 countries found a positive link between the number of women in leadership roles and a company’s profitability. What does diversity in leadership mean to you? What responsibilities do you think companies and individuals, both male and female, share in promoting gender equality in the workplace?In any field, your responsibility is to promote the candidate with the most drive, who is best equipped to do the job, and that means if you end up with all women or “pink people,” then so be it! Businesses have an obligation to hire the best talent: young or old, male or female. Don’t make people wait for their age bracket or take their “turn” to catch up.You’ve often said that your work centers on improving the human experience through the built environment. What are specific ways we can improve women’s experiences through the design of the physical environment? The way we can help any person in the workplace is having good lighting and more personalized temperature control, because that seriously affects the way people work. Give people inspiring spaces – spaces that are light-filled, uplifting and environmentally clean. There’s nothing wrong with beauty and aesthetics. In my opinion, making your path beautiful from here to there is equally as important as actually being able to get from point A to point B. We have more of an obligation to make things “pretty” than we do just to make things. It’s human nature to respond positively to a smile, a hug, or something that looks or feels welcoming.Mentorship is crucial to professional success and longevity, but many studies have shown that women in the workplace are more reluctant to pay it forward and have a harder time finding mentors than men do. Do you think this dynamic holds true in the design industry, as well?I find that shocking – intuitively, women are nurturing, they’re typically givers. I could see it happening if women were not confident in themselves, or came from a past generation. They always say – hire your replacement, because then you can do bigger and better things. Those people must have come in the workforce late, or don’t understand how to grow people.The key to being a good mentor is the day you realize you can’t do it all by yourself, so you have to teach someone else how to do it. I think the education of our staff – and of our clients – is really important. I love nothing more than getting a student straight out of school - very smart, very talented - and then, you know, kind of hovering over them and helping them learn. Then, once you do that, I feel like they’ve learned from my experience, which amplifies the experience they came to the table with – and now they’re twice as good. They’re better than I am! And I love that.Who is your mentor? The absence of one was my mentor. You can self-mentor by being a sponge and watching people, even if they’re not sitting down and teaching you. You can also learn what not to do by watching those same people.

Happy Transformation Tuesday! This week we're bringing you before and after images of The James Royal Palm in Miami Beach, FL. Designed by Lauren Rottet, The James Royal Palm is a modern tribute to the local area and art deco roots of the historic Royal Palm which was built in 1939. The entire design vision behind the hotel was to transport guests into an era of nostalgia reminiscent of Art Deco Miami in the 1920s through 1940s.Several design elements pay homage to this art deco period including a grand sweeping staircase on the first floor and a “moon gate”—shrubbery that frames the front entrance and serves as an air of privacy for the living room garden behind its walls which features oversized topiary lawn furniture including chairs, sofas and lounges. Many signature design elements original to the hotel were also kept intact such as the decorative compass rose on the terrazzo floor in the lobby, porthole windows in the lounge and the green glass reception desk which was restored and converted to a fresh juice bar.

We can finally show imagery from the completed rooftop terrace, “Toit-Terrasse”, at the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse. Designed by Lauren Rottet and the Rottet Studio team, Toit-Terrasse is located on the rooftop of The Arthur Sachs Mansion at 58 East 66th Street in New York City. All proceeds from the Kips Bay Decorator Show House benefit the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. We're proud to be a part of it!For a floor-by-floor look inside the completed Kips Bay 2015 Showhouse, see the article featured in the New York Times here. 

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       Paper City has the scoop on The River Oaks, the reimagined luxury condominiums previously referred to as The River Oaks Apartments in Houston, Texas."What do The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Surrey in NYC and the St. Regis in Aspen have in common? Interior architect Lauren Rottet. Having completed several $100 million-plus condo projects around the U.S., this new building will be her first in Houston...It’s early in the design phase, but Rottet promises that it will 'possess that spirit of minimalism' where the outside is brought inside, with floor-to-ceiling windows that look straight through the lobby to the back terrace."Read the full article at Paper City.

Paper City has the scoop on The River Oaks, the reimagined luxury condominiums previously referred to as The River Oaks Apartments in Houston, Texas.“What do The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Surrey in NYC and the St. Regis in Aspen have in common? Interior architect Lauren Rottet. Having completed several $100 million-plus condo projects around the U.S., this new building will be her first in Houston…It’s early in the design phase, but Rottet promises that it will ‘possess that spirit of minimalism’ where the outside is brought inside, with floor-to-ceiling windows that look straight through the lobby to the back terrace.”Read the full article at Paper City.

             Houston's District Magazine featured an article on 5 Designers and their design secrets, including Lauren Rottet! Read the digital edition here to find out Lauren's top decorating tips, her favorite materials to work with, and more!

The New York Post featured Lauren Rottet’s redesign of the Loews Regency signature suites, naming her among “5 Design Minds Transforming Midtown” Manhattan.“Her recent redo of the Loews Regency’s rooms and lobby shows Rottet’s penchant for keeping things bright, lively and luxe. Meanwhile, her updates to Henry, A Liquor Bar, and the Hudson Common beer-and-burger hall at the Hudson Hotel add speakeasy and Rat Pack touches to an original design by Philippe Starck.”To read the full article and find out how you can emulate Lauren’s signature style in your own home, click here.

The New York Post featured Lauren Rottet's redesign of the Loews Regency signature suites, naming her among "5 Design Minds Transforming Midtown" Manhattan."Her recent redo of the Loews Regency’s rooms and lobby shows Rottet’s penchant for keeping things bright, lively and luxe. Meanwhile, her updates to Henry, A Liquor Bar, and the Hudson Common beer-and-burger hall at the Hudson Hotel add speakeasy and Rat Pack touches to an original design by Philippe Starck."To read the full article and find out how you can emulate Lauren's signature style in your own home, click here.

We're proud to display this plaque recognizing Lauren Rottet as an inductee of the Greater Houston Women Hall of Fame signed by Governor Rick Perry!