Jessica Helgerson has two clients on every project: The homeowner and the house

0:03This is Business of Home. I'm your host, Dennis Scully. Every week I'll be speaking to leaders and innovators from all corners of the home industry. My guest this week is interior designer Jessica Helgerson. Raised in Southern California and France, Jessica had a unique upbringing. Eventually, she found her way to design and started her own firm in 2000, moving it to Portland, Oregon six years later. There, she's built a reputation around her thoughtful, layered work, and her values. Jessica's 1 % project sees her donating a portion of the invoices on her projects to local nonprofits. I spoke with Jessica about her recent induction into the AD100, opening an outpost of her firm in Paris, and why she has two bosses on every project, the client and the house itself.

1:06This podcast is sponsored by Leloy, maker of rugs, pillows, and wall art. Leloy revealed their latest designer collaboration with Leanne Ford at High Point Market this fall. See those beautifully handcrafted rugs and pillows at their site, along with new seasons from Amber Lewis, Chris Loves Julia, and Bridget Romanek. Learn more at leloyrugs.com. That's L-O-L-O-I rugs dot com. And don't forget to follow atlaloyrugs on Instagram and TikTok. This podcast is proudly sponsored by John Rosselli and Associates, celebrating 75 years of design excellence and artisanal inspiration. For decades, John Rosselli has been a trusted name in the design world, representing premier brands known for their craftsmanship and timeless style.

1:59With a commitment to bespoke customization and exceptional service, John Roselli helps designers bring their creative visions to life. Visit JohnRoselli.com or step into one of their showrooms in the D &D building, the Dakota, the Washington Design Center, or the Mart to experience their legacy firsthand. And now, on with the show. Starting with a huge congratulations to you since we've last spoke, you've been named to the AD100 list. Yes, that's true. And do they wake you up at two in the morning? Is it like getting the Nobel? Do you get a call and saying? I got an email. It may have come in at 2 a.m., but that's not when I opened it.

2:44Well, congratulations on that. And I hope it leads to vast fame and fortune beyond your wildest dreams. I don't know if vast fame and fortune are really my goals, but thank you. Well, you know, that's a great point. I don't know that they are. And that's one of the things that I want to talk to you about, because I know you have some, what should we say, anti-capitalist vibes, Jessica? Is that accurate? It's true. Yeah, it's accurate. And it's interesting to have a conversation with somewhat of an anti-capitalist who is also achieving great success in the industry of high-end interior design and how you wrestle with that.

3:33Yeah, yeah, it's a bit of a dichotomy. I mean, I don't know that it's been a very deliberate path. But yeah, I think as I have grown in my career, I have also grown in my awareness of systemic injustices. And I think I have maybe the ear of some people who don't think about those things as much, but are more interested in kitchen remodels. And so it's a slightly oblique angle to come at things from. But yeah, no, no, no. And I want to talk more about that. But I but I want to I want to take a step back and and speak about your youth. But I sort of admire your your little punk rock edge that you had in your in your youth.

4:25And and I know that you weren't always on the straight and narrow when it came to your schooling. Yeah, no, that's correct. Well, I grew up half French and half American. I have an American father and French mama. And so I spent my summers in France and my school years in the U.S. And I am an only child, but I have a big bunch of cousins in France. So this summer, suddenly I had a lot of siblings. And I really loved and admired the way my French grandparents hosted all of us. And these endless meals where there was always a dictionary on the table and really interesting discussions and the kids running in and out.

5:15And it all just seemed very, and my grandma making things that in America at that point, I mean, I never wanted to eat them, but it seemed really like she would make brain or beef tongue, which I found gross, definitely, but also really sophisticated. Right? Yes, exactly. So, yeah, a bunch of smart people sitting around the table eating beef tongue and smoking cigarettes like my God. So cool. Where in France was this exactly? Outside of Lyon. So my mom is from Lyon. Yeah. Okay. So that was sort of childhood. and yeah, I went to a private girls school run by nuns, lived with my uncle and aunt for my seventh grade year.

6:08And then I came back to Southern California in eighth grade and went to a public junior high where all the kids were smoking pot in the bathroom. So it was a little bit different than the strict Catholic school that you had gone to. Totally. And I was just a kid in a candy store. I really like I had always been my parents were very intellectual. We never had a TV growing up. And so I just found all of like pop culture super taboo and fascinating. And so, yeah, I just I also started smoking pot in the bathroom. Because why not? The kids are smoking pot in the bathroom. Join in. Yeah. And then I just went from like ninth grade, first semester of ninth grade, all A's to, I think, second semester of ninth grade, pretty much solid D's.

7:01And then I wound up dropping out in my junior year of high school and taking the GED. I just thought punk rock was cool and I thought that it was fun. Yeah, it was very compelling to me at the time. Yes. And so what were you doing instead of going to school? What was the punk rock group doing at the time? Well, the punk rock group was fun and sparkly and sexy and also pretty toxic. and actually Josh Brolin has spoken of this often. He was one of the gang and he also got out, but basically almost every boy I went to high school with is dead now. So they all... Because of drugs. Because of drugs, yeah.

7:54And so I never got into that hard stuff. There was also a lot of like misogyny and it wasn't a great environment to be a young girl, honestly. And so I started pulling away from it a little bit. I got a job at a shoe store. And then my dad, who was a professor, was offered a two-year stint at Caltech. And he said, you can come with us and you can go back to school. You can stay in Santa Barbara, where I was at the time, and keep working at the shoe store. But then you're on your own. And that was going to be tough. So I went back to school. I went to Pasadena City College for two years. Went to UCLA.

8:35I was an English major. There were no jobs for English majors. I was wondering if I should go work at the post office. And then I saw a flyer at the Santa Barbara Public Library for the UCSB Extension Interior Design Program. I thought, oh, I like all that stuff. And so I went to one class and it just clicked. It was like, oh, yeah, this is it. I mean, I really, really, really enjoy thinking about space. And I realized, actually, that there's something incredibly satisfying to me about space planning. Like, I think of it as the now, I think I've formulated why I love it so much. It feels like the skeleton of the space and then all of the finishes and decorating and all that feel like the skin and the jewelry.

9:33But I use the example often of like if your arm is sticking out backwards and tucked around the corner, it doesn't really matter if your rings are really beautiful, like it's not working well. So, yeah, I think that that thinking about space in a in a architectural way was really fun. And then it just clicked. It was definitely the right job. So I graduated and was working for an architecture firm that will remain unnamed. And I was also at the same time joining the board of an organization called the Sustainability Project. And I became quite quickly the president of the Sustainability Project, which felt like a great honor to me because it was a bunch of old guys.

10:28and I was not an old guy. I was like 24 when they proposed the presidency to me. So that organization was very formative for me. I think it was Dalius-led and felt very starry-eyed and I thought this is fabulous. You know, we're finding out about climate change, but we've got plenty of time to fix it. Oh, yes, we're going to stop it in time. stop that and it's going to be great. And yeah. So I, you know, I was looking around Santa Barbara and it's a small town and I didn't see anyone doing the kind of work I wanted to do. I didn't see the firm that I wanted to be with. And so I kind of felt like I didn't have another choice.

11:21I remember sitting on the corner sidewalk with my dad talking numbers, and it was going to cost$8 ,000 a month for me to have the office, pay my rent, like all of everything. And that seemed at the time just like impossible. And simultaneously, I did not see another path. I felt like this was the only thing I could do. And so I did, and I rented a space. And the very first week, I wrote to the Santa Barbara News Press, and I said, hey, I've opened my office, and we're interested in green building. And the very first week, a client walked in. So this is 26 years ago. And he said, I have a property on Hollister Ranch.

12:21We're wanting to remodel Hollister Ranch. It's a beautiful property that is divided into 100-acre parcels on the Pacific Coast just north of Santa Barbara. And he had a property with two houses. And he said, I'd never heard of green building. I saw the article in the news press. And can you help me put together a team? And of course, I had the perfect team already because I was on the sustainability project. So I got to pick the architect and the landscape architect and everybody for the project. And I was off and running. And it just, it's been, you know, there of course has been pain along the way, but it has always been just like, okay, it started and it just kept moving forward.

13:18And it always has felt like, despite the pain, like I'm definitely on the right path. So despite the pain, so what's the pain? Oh my gosh, the pain is in every aspect. I think that my son, who was six weeks premature, was premature because of our bookkeeper at the time. What, because of anxiety you were feeling? Yeah, so she was doing a terrible job, and I realized it. And she said, I'm just going to take everything home and fix it. And she took everything off of the computers at the office and took them to her house and then lost it all. Oh, you're kidding. Yeah, I know. So, you know, I mean, now we have a very smooth, very smooth accounting situation.

14:10But, yeah, so many bumps along the way, you know, horrible clients and wonderful clients and horrible employees of wonderful employees. And, yeah, lots of joy and lots of fun and lots of pain. And yeah, I've learned a lot about myself and about how to run a firm better. Well, so tell me a little bit about that. Growing up a lot and what you've learned and learning how to better run a firm. Tell me some of what comes to mind when you think of what you've learned. I think I just feel a lot more confident within myself to lead. I feel settled in my role as design director now. And I think I am the design director.

15:02And I think I can say if my eye is seeing something differently, that, you know, and I think I was more worried about hurting people's feelings or stepping on toes or wanting to make sure that everybody got heard. And everybody does get heard. Like we've figured out how to create an office, I think, that really grows good designers who are empowered, but who are also getting clear feedback. And we're just better, you know, we've been on it for a long time. And then also I have a studio director who I can sit back and trust. And she's making a lot of the more businessy decisions and leading the team from a management perspective.

15:50And I don't want to do that anymore. I really don't enjoy it. Well, I mean, it's so interesting to hear you say that. And I feel like we wrote on Business of Home, maybe it was five or six years ago now, right? That, okay, Jessica Helgerson has decided she's going to delegate. She's in the studio, right? And you were going to turn a lot of it over. And how did that go? Well, I hesitate to go into too much detail. Whatever you feel comfortable telling us. Yeah, the studio director who we hired at that point did not wind up being a good fit for the firm. Nor did the second one. Nor did the third one.

16:35but now we are on the fourth. Now the fourth one. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. I think, um, listen, I mean, I think coming into someone else's business that they've run for all that time is a very hard thing to do well. And there are a lot of people who've been there a long time. We have two lead designers who've been with me for 15 years each. so there are a lot of opinions and there's a lot of established precedent and it's not an easy thing to step into um but uh the current one has stepped in i mean her review was basically just a love song to her so so everybody in the office just thought oh she's yeah yeah i think she finally we found the right person and she i think she has the right personality and then um we uh I think we have an absolutely near zero Venn diagram overlap.

17:36She loves spreadsheets and enjoys wrangling a personnel issue back into place and thinks of herself as a finance bro. And doesn't like design decisions and finds them befuddling. But when she interviewed for the position, her interests on her resume were baking, sewing, learning French, and criminal justice reform. And I was like, what is the criminal justice reform? And she had been told by many people to take that off of her resume because it was unappealing. unappealing and um uh i found it tremendously whereas for you yeah i was i was just like i'm gonna start crying tell me and we have deeply aligned values and 100 contradictory skill sets and so that's good and she sounds like she's an incredible counterbalance yeah i think she's an incredible counterbalance and i'm yeah yeah you know it's early days and um sure we'll see but But so far, so good.

18:56Yeah. It's interesting. Do you feel, I mean, obviously, people who follow you on social media closely or pay attention to what you talk about, they know that there is a values component. Yeah. Right? Yes. Yes. And I would assume that some people feel very aligned with that. And if they don't, then they're not calling you up to do their project. Absolutely. Yeah. It has, I think that the quality of our clients has gone up as I have become more brave about saying things that I think matter. The quality of your clientele? The quality of the clientele has improved. I just think that people who don't want to hear about any of that or find it distasteful or don't call us and that's okay.

19:51there's someone else for them. But yeah, I think that we, you know, in general are getting clients who are quite compassionate and have similar feelings about things. And yeah, and I think, you know, our design approach is a little bit aligned with, I'm trying to articulate this, because I've never said it before, but I feel like the kind of listening based design approach, We're very much in response to the spaces that we're working in and the people we're working for is kind of aligned with listening to the problems in the world and not being closed off to them and kind of having an open listening heart.

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21:29Follow them on Instagram for even more inspiration at johnrosselliassociates. And now back to the show.

21:42Well, I wonder what you're listening for or what is most revealing that people share that give you a real indication both of who they are and what they really want. Yeah, well, I think we are listening to two things. So with all of the interior architecture, all of those permanent things, I have found after doing this job for all of these years that basically humans want and need fairly similar things. They need a space to cook in. They like to eat. They like to sit or lay down. And they need to sleep and bathe. So, you know, there's sort of like none of us are that different, really. So to me, the architecture of the house dictates the way the interior architecture of the house should be.

22:49So for all of those permanent decisions, we're kind of listening to the house more than the client. And if the client is like, I want to open up the space, I want to have the living room, dining room and kitchen all combined. And they've just bought like an old Victorian. Yes, we can widen the openings, but I'm not going to knock out all the walls in the first floor. Like I'm straight up not going to do that because I think that they may live in that house for 10 years. I think that the green approach that I had at the very start of my career has translated after all these years to just don't screw the house up.

23:30Like, do a job on the house that the house wants. And then all of the decorating can reflect the clients and their color sense and the art that they love. And are they modernists or traditionalists? I do not think the Victorian house needs to be a Victorian period set. I think that the Victorian house, when they move out of it and take their lighting and their furniture and their rugs and their art, would be very nice if we hadn't also ruined it. So it's kind of I kind of have two clients on every project. I have the house as a client and the client as a client. And sometimes they're in conflict, it sounds like.

24:16And sometimes they're in conflict, yeah. And we advocate for the house for those permanent things. And I think generally that has been spelled out fairly clearly and our portfolio is pretty reflective of that. And we talk about it openly in interviews. And I think mostly people don't want to screw up their house. You know, mostly people bought a house that they either love or want to love, and they're not against it. They're for their house. So I think typically that approach pleases most people. And then there are, I mean, there are for sure architects and designers who are much more, and I think this is a very valid way to be, it's just not the way we are, much more of like a strong artistic vision that they bring to every project.

25:06you know you're going to get a John Smith house or whoever. John Smith isn't a guy, but, you know, and you're coming to him for that because it's always going to be white with big black things in it or whatever. And that's not us at all. Like our portfolio is so diverse because we're always in like starting over, listening and responding mode. And with the house driving so many of the decisions, you can't help but be a different looking project. Yeah, totally. Yeah. And which is fun, I think. For me, at any rate, that has kept my interest and our firm fairly vital because it's fun to work on a new kind of thing.

25:52You know, I want to do a, whatever, an earth-burned house in New Mexico, or I would always rather work on the kind of project we haven't done yet, then get formulaic. So yeah, it's fun. It keeps the creative juices flowing. I mean, it's a fabulous profession, I think, in the sense of the depth that you can go into. You just never stop learning, right? I mean, the entire world of ceramics and tile is infinite. And then all of woodworking and all of the species and grain types and glassblowing and metalworking and then all of the kinds of architecture you can respond to and all the places in the country and other countries where they're also making cool things in interesting ways.

26:44And so it's just like you could live 20 lifetimes and not get bored with it. You mentioned the longevity of the firm and all that you've learned along the way. Where did you ultimately land if you have a set structure about how you charge and whether you have a design fee or whether you charge by the hour? What did you figure out worked best for for you? Oh, we're hourly on our residential projects. We will sometimes do a fixed fee for large commercial projects. But yeah, we're hourly and then we charge a 30 % markup on goods as long as that doesn't bring it above retail. So it's never a worse deal to have us do the purchasing.

27:36And when you talk about your fee structure with clients and frankly, when you talk about clients just in general about how much all of this costs these days, How do clients, what between tariffs and just inflation in general, how do your clients feel about all of this? Do you find it's more challenging for them to digest? I mean, really, we can only work for pretty wealthy people. That's the truth of it. You know, it's a very expensive proposition. so we I have a free friends and family um policy which I yes I have designed so many of my friends kitchens and I like I that really helps um and I it's funny because you would think well you have the most useless skill of the entire planet but the truth is a lot of people have space planning problems and a lot of people need design help um i mean i just helped my my um son's best friend is moving into his mom's basement until he figures out the next steps and i helped him space plan the basement yesterday and last weekend i was on a three-hour call with some friends in paris who are buying a little tiny apartment and we worked through all the details and um so yeah so that i I think that's a way to give back because, um, this is your pro bono work that you're, that you're doing.

29:09Yeah. Okay. Okay. I love that. I want to talk about another, another gift of generosity of yours, which is the 1 % program. And let's tell people what that is. Oh, sure. Yeah. Um, our office is in Portland, um, in the old town area where a lot of social services are and there are a lot of people experiencing homelessness around us and I was really struck and you know wrestled with the discrepancy of working out the most perfect detail for the backsplash of somebody's second kitchen while people are living in a tent right in front of our office. And we wound up doing a pro bono project for an organization called Portland Homeless Family Solutions.

30:06They have now changed their name to Path Home. And working with them, I realized how efficient they were with their funds and how much help they were offering the community and I left that project wanting to do more. And so I had an idea of giving money to those like unrestricted funds to those organizations. And so we set up something called the 1 % project. we add 1 % to all of our invoices and let it pile up. So the money goes straight to them, to a fund, and then they contact us every month and let us know where we're at. And when we hit like 5 ,000 or 10 ,000, we'll give it to one of the nonprofits.

30:58And my idea at the time was that we did a lot of work to set this up and made it very easy. It's like plug and play. All of the paperwork is done. And I thought that it could go viral and that if other design firms and others in the business of home joined us, we could really do a lot of good. But what I discovered about myself was that I am good at that kind of front end stuff. But then the like hassling people at cocktail parties to join my organization, I was not able to do. Twisting people's arms to sign up for the 1 % project? I just did not want to go knock on their doors and bug them and be that guy who's a pain in their neck.

31:54So it's just us. But we have done quite a bit of good and we've had some really generous clients who have not only done 1 % but like added on a whole bunch. So let's take a step back. And if there are people that hear this and say, oh, I would love to add 1 % from our profits. I would love to support this. What did you have to do? What are the steps? Oh, there's a website. There's a website. There's a website. There's a link to the website on our website. And it can be here in Oregon or elsewhere. They could pick the organizations they think are doing good work. So it doesn't have to be where we are giving our funds.

32:39And it's just an organization that would, as you say, take the funds and hold on to them. Yeah, so it just keeps it out of our pocket. So it's very tidy. Right. We never touch the money. Yeah. And it sounds as if it's been rewarding for you, even if you're disappointed that more people didn't sign up and join and come along. Yeah, I mean, I think, has it been rewarding? I don't know. I mean, I think we've done little bits of good. I just see the need growing exponentially and our little contribution does a little something. um but yeah i think it would have felt more satisfying had it grown um and were i to see like changes happening in the right direction not caring about people and thinking they shouldn't sleep on the sidewalk and so i don't know i i don't feel too self-congratulatory about no no No.

33:44I mean, as you say, you thought or you hoped when you put the word out there that you were doing this, that just others would naturally come along. And listen, and fundraising and campaigning in that way. I know, it's a nightmare. Everybody wants your money. Everybody's got their cause. I get it. I get it. Yeah. Well, and as we've been talking about throughout this conversation, it is for some, and it sounds like it is for you, one of the challenges of being in this very high-end world where we are in service of this candidly billionaire class. And these days we feel many feel lots of conflicts around all of that.

34:27And yet this is how this high end design industry makes its living. Yeah. And, you know, simultaneously, like we are also really providing a living for a lot of artisans and artists. And I love all of that. Those collaborations are fabulous. You know, people doing beautiful hand painting and interesting plaster work and beautiful cabinetry and all of that costs money and they charge plenty for it, you know, and they can live and we can live. of them. So a lot of... So that's the great other side of all of this, right? It's supporting all of the artisans and craftspeople and all of the beautiful things that get created as a result.