Von Löwen Designs

I’ve had several people throughout the last several months contact me to ask what this Jersey Zen thing was all about, so I thought I would finally break down and tell the story.

Back in 2008, a friend of mine (hi Stephie) told me about the HGTV program Design Star. At this point I had never even heard of the show, me – I’m more of a Colbert Report, Reno 911 kind a’ guy; but after countless cocktails and a little more persuading, she finally convinced me to post some of my work on their site. I didn’t really think much of it and after doing a bit more research and actually watching the show, I just blew it off with a laugh. Well a few months went by and by now I thought they had already finished with their selection process and picked the next lucky contestants. But what would you know, I opened my inbox one morning to find an email telling me I had made it to the next round of qualifying. The email went on to explain that although the judges liked Von Lowen Designs, they needed me to prepare a video to allow them to get to know Lars and his personality, (careful with that) after all this was television, and the ‘winner’ would get the chance to host their own show. And – if this wasn’t fun enough, I had to finish the whole thing and get it to LA in something like 10 days! It was December and I had four projects going on, two of which were to be completed before the holidays: now how the heck was I gonna’ pull all this off?

Mr. C to the rescue! Ciro, a great friend, musician, colleague, and actual co-star in the video, offered his highly skilled production services, camcorder and help to enable me to complete the task. HGTV had some formatting guidelines on how the video should be prepared, asking everyone to address specific questions in a particular order to maintain consistency; so it was hard to really be that creative, but we did our best. Anyway, one of the mandatory questions I had to answer was, “How would you describe your design style?” What a generic question!

What to do. . . what to do? Well anyone that has seen the video, knows me or has worked with me, can tell you that although I might be one of the most serious people they’ve ever met, I am always able to laugh at myself and can be very dry and sarcastic at times, and if there’s one thing the video captured best it was that. There’s nothing worse than a pretentious, self-centered, pompous designer in my book. So in keeping with my lighthearted and humorous theme, I coined the phrase ‘Jersey Zen’, the ultimate oxymoron and two words that you would think, and hope would never appear next to each other. The video went on to do some other pretty funny stuff, even with a PG-13 rating. When asked, “How would you handle the competition?” we cut into doing scenes of me ruffing up Ciro out back by some dumpsters, sprinkling a little laxative into someone’s morning coffee, and the controversial bondage scene of me tying up my friend Winnie to her chair. When asked, “How would you deal with the judges criticism?” I had a scene of me throwing a temper tantrum, making a big mess throwing trashcans around, doing shots of Wild Turkey at the bar, and then busting into a full on meditation scene.

Needless to say, although not very ‘professional’ in tone, the video was a hit and received a warm welcome online with almost 700 views and numerous comments from friends, clients and total strangers alike in less than a month.

So whatever happened with Design Star you may ask? Well, I was fortunate enough to receive a bunch of calls and emails from HGTV’s casting department, but that’s about it. Everyone around me was getting so excited that I was a shoe in for the show and a natural for television. Myself on the other hand, already had a taste of how Hollywood works from my musical pursuits of the past and still was not convinced. Sure enough, the calls and emails just stopped coming and just like that the Design Star experience was history.

Since then, I redid my website and thought I would add a blog to it. Yea’ I know, give me a break I’ll get better. Anyway, customer service is extremely important to me and has always been a mainstay in what I consider any successful design approach. It just seems so rare to find good help these days, so I wanted to make sure to touch upon the subject here, in this forum to share with everyone. But when deciding where to actually put it, I was lost – until one night I thought to myself, why not come full circle and turn something as silly as Jersey Zen into something a bit more meaningful and heartfelt? It was then I decided to start using the phrase as a category to reflect my core philosophy of sorts, and where you’ll find all my posts on client relations and customer service. As time went by, I began to think about it a little more and realized it wasn’t just an entertaining, clever catch phrase I had come up with after all! Jersey Zen actually did reflect my style – direct and forthright with a mellow approachable feel. . . and maybe even a few good laughs thrown in to keep things fun.

There’s a balance there somewhere. . . and yes, for the record – although I have spent most of my adult life living in both Northern and Southern California, I was born and raised in South Jersey. Please don’t hold that against me. Hahaha.

I’ll just leave it at that. . . make it a great day!

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so before you leave be sure to visit Von Löwen Designs to view an assortment of refreshing examples in kitchen and bath design concepts, refined palette and interior finishes, and sustainable yet chic, green remodeling ideas that may encourage and inspire your next remodel or home improvement project.

A core ingredient to any successful design approach is simply treating your client deservedly, like you would want to be treated and not like just another kitchen, bath or other remodeling project. Subsequently, as you listen to a client, the question on your mind should be, “What makes this person different and unique from any other I’ve worked with?” and “How will this affect my approach and course of action?”

Unfortunately, this can be very hard work and not always intuitive. It seems the natural tendency for most of us is to do the exact opposite – we listen for the things we recognize and have met and dealt with before, so that we can draw upon past experience to use the words, concepts, and tools that we already know so well. It’s the way most of us work, but it doesn’t always serve us well.

Before you can help someone, you must understand what’s on their mind. You must create situations where they will feel comfortable enough to tell you more about their issues, concerns and needs. Your goal is to learn as much as possible about the interests, tastes, preferences, likes and dislikes of this individual, and to experience them on their own terms, not yours or anyone else’s.

Only by finding out more about the individual and having a thorough understanding of your client’s perspective can you decide if you even want a relationship and know if this is a client for you. Only by learning more about them can you discover how to be more effective, by understanding what will be appreciated and learn what this person truly wants, needs and responds to in order to gain true commitment.

One of the most dangerous sentences in remodeling is, “What clients want is. . .” No matter how you finish that statement, you will be wrong. The whole point is that clients are, and want to be treated as, unique individuals.

One of the biggest pet peeves I hear from people that have had bad experiences with designers, is the designer’s inability to quiet themselves long enough to comprehend what they’re actually trying to explain to them. The recommendation to ask a lot of questions, shut up, and listen has been given often, but cannot be stressed enough. In just about any conversation it can be sometimes very difficult to get people to say what they really even mean. When someone asks; “Do you like this finish Lars?” it is not necessarily a question. Just as frequently, it is a request; “Can we please use this Lars?” or even an instruction; “Let’s use this, we really like it.” Life would be easier if people always said precisely what they mean, but often they don’t – people hint a lot.

Of course this works both ways and it’s not only the client who can be ambiguous and vague. Designers can be too. To be effective as a designer you must work at making sure that what you intended to say was actually heard that way.

The most common form of communication breakdown is a misunderstanding about what has been said. How many times in professional life has the following scenario played out:

“What happened, you said that would be ready by today.”
“ Oh, I thought so too, but that was just an estimated time of completion.”
“ Ok, but that’s not what I thought you said. Why didn’t you say it that way in the beginning?”

Never assume who you’re working with is a mind reader. Say what you want and think. Hints won’t work, and if you need help from your client, ask for it. Frequently design professionals feel they need to project an aura of complete mastery and come across like a know-it-all in order to win a client’s trust. Personally, I feel that nothing can be further from the truth and have always felt that anyone who tries to appear omnipotent and constantly making claims to have all the answers is more likely to evoke precisely the opposite response.

Good design and advice, as I’ve mentioned before – is a duet or group effort, not a solo performance – and more often than not you will need to ask for your client’s help with resolving more than just one issue on the job. When you ask for help you are keeping the focus on your client’s concerns and worrying a lot less about how you ‘appear’. You are inviting them to join in on the problem solving process and I have always felt this was a sure way to improve the relationship, build trust, and wind up with not only a beautiful end result, but a much more satisfied client!

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so before you leave be sure to visit Von Löwen Designs to view an assortment of refreshing examples in kitchen and bath design concepts, refined palette and interior finishes, and sustainable yet chic, green remodeling ideas that may encourage and inspire your next remodel or home improvement project.