6 THINGS WITH AMY PIGLIACAMPO

 

6 Things with Amy Pigliacampo Founder of Amy Pigliacampo Interiors

Amy Pigliacampo, Founder of Amy Pigliacampo Interiors, is a Los Angeles-based interior designer who specializes in residential renovations, select new builds and intimate commercial projects. On a mission to find the soul of every home she encounters, Amy defines her approach to design as “subtractive”. By peeling back layers of the past, she helps her clients realize their ultimate vision for home, creating spaces that are magazine-worthy yet rooted in the realities of daily life.

1. What started it all for you?

My background and education are rooted in fashion; I worked for several major brands and advertising agencies, ran a handbag company in NYC for five years, and was a wardrobe stylist for seven years before pivoting into interior design. I had gotten to a point in my career where I wanted to create something that was more lasting. Right about that time, a photographer that I worked with asked if she could shoot my house in Silverlake for Apartment Therapy. That was the beginning of the journey and when I started to explore home design and remodeling.

I started doing small projects for friends and family, then took the plunge; I rehabbed a shabby foreclosure with my husband, which led to new projects in Brooklyn, NY; Woodstock, NY; Austin, TX; and Durango, Denver, Breckenridge, and Boulder, CO. During the five years that I lived in Colorado, my heart was still firmly rooted in Topanga Canyon.

After two years of debate, travel, and soul searching, my family and I found a very special home and moved back to the Canyon in June. I call it the LA loophole; we can pretend we live in a quaint small town while having easy access to a massive metropolis.

2. What drives your creative spark?

The learning! There is never a project that doesn't require me to stretch beyond my comfort zone. Every client is a brand new situation and while there are similarities, each assignment is incredibly different. I obsess over the details, down to the books in a space. When something is designed well, you notice how the space feels, not how it looks. I obsess over educating my clients (and anyone who will listen really) as to how much the details really matter and how they impact your attitude toward the day and life in general. I'll give you a great example.

We have lived with a broken blind on a very prominent door in our home for 8 months. It needs to be replaced but that's part of a larger window treatment plan that we aren't ready to take on just yet. Recently, we just removed it, opting for less privacy until we can move forward with a new system. The difference it made in how we felt in the space was tremendous.
It takes a surprising amount of energy to tolerate colors, shapes, textures and choices that don't align for you personally. When you fix those things, your every day experience is vastly improved.

3. Most treasured home decor item?

It's more of a category — my plants. I'm getting close to 200 potted babies throughout the house and the space just doesn't feel like home without them. We devised an elaborate and relatively successful plan to move them from Colorado to California (the first move from CA to CO didn't allow for this and I was devastated) and I'm so grateful that most of them survived.

For me they signify accomplishing the personal goal of becoming a plant parent. I wanted to be a person that lived with many plants and I became that and then some.

4. What’s the best advice you've ever received?

I had a hard time in middle school and high school. No one believes me when I say that but it took me a really long time to find good friends and a partnership that complimented who I was. I was mystified by those people that seemed to have everything figured out when they were teenagers.

My Dad always told me to be patient and that I should be grateful that I wasn't "peaking early". He would say, "Imagine if high school was the best part of your entire life, it would only go down from there." That stuck with me. He essentially taught me how to visualize goals and manifest them. He also told me to be myself. That sounds overly simplistic but it's actually hard to be yourself when being different can be lonely. He was right on both counts, of course.

These ideas are so relevant to the creative process as well. He's constantly reminding me to that it's not accomplishing the goal that makes you happy, it's all the steps and the struggle you work through to get there that creates happiness.

5. It's 5 o'clock at home. What would you be pouring?

I drink a lot of Tazo cinnamon and decaffeinated chai and way too much sparkling water. Topo Chico is a special indulgence. I also have a tradition of making homemade margaritas for my husband on Fridays.

6. What are your 6 favorite accounts that you follow for inspiration?



"When something is designed well, you notice how the space feels, not how it looks." -Amy Pigliacampo

 
PHOTOGRAPHY BY COREY SZOPINSKI
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