Get to Know the Pros: Catherine Staples

Morpholio’s top design voices share their tips and tricks for creating great boards that drive great design.

Catherine Staplesis a design pro, running the award winning-firm Aspen & Ivy out of Toronto. She brings well over ten years of knowledge and experience to the conversation, as evidenced by her sophisticated projects and boards. Learn how she and her team deliver the highest level of quality and service for their very discerning clients!

How do you begin the design process?

Our design process starts with an initial consultation or onboarding process. During this phase, the design team gathers information about the client’s preferences, requirements, and goals for the project. This can involve discussions, questionnaires, and sharing of inspirational images or examples.

The design team works closely with the client to understand their lifestyle, functional needs, and aesthetic preferences, identifying the purpose of each space, considering the desired atmosphere, and discussing any specific requirements or constraints.

Based on the information gathered, the design team begins to develop initial concepts. This involves creating mood boards, material samples, and digital renderings to visualize the proposed design direction. The goal is to align the client’s vision with the expertise of the design team, ensuring a collaborative approach.

Is there a most important tip, trick or piece of advice that someone shared with you along your journey?

Create a template. This helps maintain a consistent look and feel across projects, especially when working with a large design team or multiple users. By incorporating your brand elements such as the logo and font styles into the template, you can ensure that each project aligns with your brand identity. It also allows for a streamlined workflow and reduces the need for manual adjustments or formatting.

What is your favorite tool/feature in Board and why?

Our favourite feature is the automated furniture list. It generates cut sheets and spreadsheets instantly making it convenient and efficient for our entire team. This feature saves time and streamlines our process, allowing our client services coordinator to easily prepare pricing and proposals for our clients.

Check out all of Morpholio’s Top Design Voices of 2023 here. You can also get more behind the scenes content by following @morpholioboard on Instagram.