What motivated you to become a designer (or current role)?

The first time I learned about Frank Lloyd Wright’s work was the turning point. Up until then I thought architecture was more engineering than art, but Taliesen completely changed my mind. Once I saw that buildings didn’t need to be boring boxes with badly laid out interiors, I knew I wanted to make beautiful spaces for the world.

When you are retired and look back on your life, what is the biggest accomplishment you hope to achieve?

On my most recent vacation, I walked into the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and literally gasped at the beauty of it. I want to work on a space that has that kind of an effect on someone.

What does successful workplace culture mean to you?

Through a balance of enjoying the work that I do, the people I work with, and the space that I work in, that combination of elements results in a successful workplace.

Do you have a talent (outside of being your talented self at Bergmeyer) that you are proud of?

I try to be “artsy-craftsy” in my spare time. I crochet, am interested in photography and pastels (though I’m definitely still learning :p), and do watercolor paintings (landscapes and nursery art for my sister’s kids).

What valuable lesson did you learn from your parents?

Being happy in life matters more than being wealthy.

What is a work-related book you'd recommend?

Either “The Architecture of Happiness” by Alain de Botton or “Architecture of the Absurd: How ‘Genius’ Disfigured a Practical Art” by John Silber, depending on how cynical I’m feeling at the moment I’m giving the recommendation

What grinds your gears?

TRAFFIC. I don’t understand how people can be so inconsiderate about how they’re driving that it has this ripple effect miles long and lasts for hours.

What’s your ideal superpower?

Teleportation so I can avoid traffic.

What's your favorite web/print comic?

xkcd, “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” My favorite is one that is a timeline of Earth’s average temperature starting from 20,000 BCE and illustrates the drastic change to the global average temperature in the last 100 years.

What do you listen to while working?

Video game music. I read somewhere that the soundtracks for video games are designed to make good background noise without being too distracting, and it makes sense to me. It also helps that the music can be quite amazing on its own; my particular favorite is “The Best Is Yet To Come” from Metal Gear Solid.

What do you listen to while relaxing?

More video game music, specifically the soundtrack to the video/computer game, Riven, in particular the track “Atrus’ Theme”.