Everything They Didn't Teach You in Design School. And Then Some.
Crispin Butterfield
B.A.I.D.
F O U N D E R | I N T E R I O R D E S I G N E R
Kelowna-based creative leader. Formerly of Manitoba, Calgary, and for a brief and glorious period, Ottawa. Likely the only designer in design history that gets anxiety choosing paint colours (ugh, the options!). I tend to avoid places where schmoozing is the vibe. Authentic Mexican travel was a recent and most excellent adventure. My eyes are actually this blue. Few things excite me more than amazing sushi and designers with confidence and passion for their careers. My dog thinks I'm pretty cool. Self awareness over accomplishment. White Lotus definitely needs a 3rd season. I trained in classical ballet for 15 years; one summer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet pro-division. Oprah is shorter than you think she is in real life. We are only here but for a brief moment; lighten up, enjoy the food and book the tickets!
So glad you're here.
F E A T U R E S & A W A R D S
You don't have to go it alone.
The reality is not every designer wants to work for a firm today.
Many designers are setting off on their own after dedicating years to another company;
some are even discovering a second career after decades in a different field.
My goal is to help encourage and inspire you to successfully step up and run your own elevated interior design business. My journey involves some incredible successes and of course, some fairly big failures.
And as I approach nearly 20 years in my own career, I finally feel ready and excited to share what I've learned and developed for myself and our company with other emerging interior designers.
My own business quite literally started by happenstance a few months after graduating from design school.
I realized immediately although school had provided the technical skills required to be a designer,
I had zero knowledge when it came to actually 'being' a designer in real life. We weren't taught anything about setting up & organizing projects, pricing and valuing our services, working with real-life clients, find & managing trades, budgeting project costs, writing proposals, promoting ourselves, providing top-tier service, the mindset required to attract and manage high-level projects, and the list goes on.
Can you relate?
It wasn't until many years into my career I found my own variation of mentors and a sense of community that helped round out my strengths as a business owner. Imagine if I had access to these resources earlier on?Mentorship would have been an immeasurable gift back then.
My service offerings would have been tighter, I would have been profitable sooner, my projects would have run smoother, my clients would have been more assured in my ability to deliver, and my confidence would have been so much stronger.
I wouldn't have doubted my own talents and place in the design world nearly as much for as long as I did.
I know you understand just how that feels - doubting yourself when you know you're talented and have so much to offer, but don't really know where to even start.
If this is you, hang tight.
The practical help you've been looking for from within the industry is here.
My promise to you: no gimmicks, no salesy pitches, no fluff.
Just rock-solid professional experience, advice, and genuine honesty & insight.
After nearly 20 years of honing how I run my own design business, I've complied the best of the best resources for every new and emerging interior designer to take and adapt for their own use. The very same templates, guides, and real-life experience that has shaped my firm are now yours.
You don't have to struggle through it all - I have been where you've been, and I'm here to help show you how to get where you want to go.
Do it different. Do it better.
Elevate the industry.
