New model for collaboration

GROWING STAFF: Scott J. Pacheco, left, owner and president of Scott James Furniture & Design in Tiverton, with his father, Rob Pacheco, head bed builder. Although the company shut down for two months at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, it has done well since then, Scott Pacheco said, especially “doing a lot more work in the wealthier coastal neighborhoods for people leaving New York,” which has resulted in more full-time employees now than before COVID-19 hit. / PBN PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN
GROWING STAFF: Scott J. Pacheco, left, owner and president of Scott James Furniture & Design in Tiverton, with his father, Rob Pacheco, head bed builder. Although the company shut down for two months at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, it has done well since then, Scott Pacheco said, especially “doing a lot more work in the wealthier coastal neighborhoods for people leaving New York,” which has resulted in more full-time employees now than before COVID-19 hit. / PBN PHOTO/DAVE HANSEN

Rhode Island has a long, rich and diverse history of design, which arguably started with Samuel Slater. In 1789, the 21-year-old textile mill apprentice in Great Britain left his homeland after memorizing the machinery design and came to America to start the Industrial Revolution that put his new country on the road to becoming a global powerhouse.

Design has morphed from those days of clanky, sometimes lethal machinery into myriad opportunities. Acording to one study commissioned by R.I. Commerce Corp. in 2019, the industry now includes industrial design driving “a rapid expansion into technology, product development and digital experiences,” which includes 3D printing technology that helps minimize costs and emphasize design.

If only Slater had a 3D printer.

“Design as we know it has been expanding in so many ways so quickly, it’s such a rapidly evolving field,” said Lisa Carnevale, executive director of DESIGNxRI, a Providence-based nonprofit that works with designers and design businesses. “There are job titles now that didn’t exist 15, 20 years ago. Technology moves fast and design is part of that.”

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HIRING AGAIN

The COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the local industry, with relatively few companies hiring throughout much of 2020. But that began to change in recent months, according to Carnevale, with companies involved in web development, graphic design, architecture and interior design among those with job postings in DESIGNxRI’s email newsletter.

“I’m getting an email like once a month [for job postings] where I would get three or four a year” before the pandemic, Carnevale said.

It’s been a mixed bag, however, for companies finding help. Carnevale said small, local graphic design companies are having a hard time finding full-time help because graphic designers often prefer to freelance. Finding experienced architects is also a challenge, she says.

The pandemic reduced strategy, product and design software developer Octo Product Development Inc.’s revenue by 25%, said founder Justin Sirotin, “but we’re proud we kept 100% of our staff – and at pre-pandemic pay grades – throughout 2020.” The Pawtucket-based company added workers in December 2020, bumping the number to 17, and they’re still hiring.

“Coming out of the pandemic in the design world, the biggest thing is we are no longer geographically constrained in the partnerships we work with,” he said. “If there are positive takeaways, one is that from being stuck at home for 1½ years, we’ve broken the model of collaboration, or at least rebuilt it in a way that clients are much more comfortable [with].

“We attract employees because we do interesting work that’s quite complicated and important for the betterment of society as a whole in the world of technology and industry,” he continued. “People who are attracted to that and like intellectual challenges want to work here.”

Christine M. West, co-owner and principal of Providence-based KITE Architects Inc., is of a similar mindset, running a company that has 90% of its business in Rhode Island, and has added new employees coming out of the pandemic.

“We choose projects carefully and prioritize clients that have a great community impact,” she said.

The pandemic was a game changer for West as it was for many employers, including a shift to employees working remotely.

“We worked hard to maintain our employee level and the [federal] Paycheck Protection Program was critical to that,” she said. “We also turned to research, creating a series of white papers to link human cognition to design strategies, that helped us expand our body of knowledge.”

‘UNIQUELY CONNECTED’

Sirotin and other designers highlight the collaboration that exists in the state and how it’s helped the industry during the pandemic.

“We’re in a really excellent geographical location to be able to support people from a wide array of industries, and Rhode Island [has] a uniquely connected design community where we can collaborate with other companies without feeling like we’re competing with one another,” Sirotin said. “We seek support from our fellow designers and … because of the intimacy of the state, can cross-pollinate in a way that I don’t think exists in other creative communities.”

Because of that, he said, “I’m optimistic Rhode Island has a permanent place in the creative community and an opportunity to make a mark in that arena that’s different from other cities.”

Such collaboration also routinely extends beyond the Ocean State for many in the industry, including East Providence-based marketing firm Advertising Ventures Inc.

“For us, working around the world has become even easier” during the pandemic, noted Mary Sadlier, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for the company, which does business as (add)ventures and has had a team in Miami for 10 years.

During the pandemic, (add)ventures has collaborated with partners as far away as Argentina. “For Rhode Island, coming out of the pandemic, the opportunity will be leveraging a fantastic place to live along with showcasing the professional opportunities and challenges that creative people crave,” Sadlier said.

The company now has 86 employees, including 22 hires since the pandemic began. That talent pool is fairly local, Sadlier said, owing to the pipeline from local colleges such as Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson & Wales University, Salve Regina University, Roger Williams University and Rhode Island College.

Tiverton’s Scott James Furniture & Design shut down for two months at the start of the pandemic but has done well since, with more full-time employees post-pandemic (15) than before COVID-19 hit, says President Scott J. Pacheco.

“We’re doing a lot more work in the wealthier coastal neighborhoods for people leaving New York,” Pacheco said. “We’re seeing a lot of people excited to renovate their new home and add their own flair to it, which bodes well for everyone in the local design community.”

PATHWAYS TO WORK

While there are hopeful signs for those looking for work, Carnevale would like to see Rhode Island design-related companies lead the way nationally in creating a more diverse workforce.

“That shift needs to happen, designers need to be in the conversation with everyone [else]. It’s about creating more ways to be inclusive,” she said.

“Nationally, something like 2% of architectural design has Black or brown employees,” Carnevale said. “It’s a problem across the industry, not just here.”

DESIGNxRI has worked to boost minority hiring in the industry for years, and partners with another nonprofit, DownCity Design, where participants design and build amenities for Providence’s neighborhoods. Since its founding in 2009, more than 3,000 city teens have joined the programs and created nearly 90 public projects, including many to improve schools and parks.

“Part of our Design Forward [RI] program is working with kids to create pathways so they can enter the field, not because you’re privileged or your uncle was an architect at a firm,” Carnevale said.

DownCity has partnered with DESIGNxRI since 2015 to offer the Design Forward RI training, and runs the youth Explore Design programs that help young people discover design careers and build skills to pursue these careers, said Adrienne Gagnon, the agency’s executive director.

“We also offer some of Design Forward workshops for adults, including Design Strategy for Innovation and Creative Facilitation,” Gagnon said, adding that several staffers have participated in the DESIGNxRI’s Emerge cohort programs for emerging design professionals.

“The pandemic asked people to rethink so many aspects of our work and life, and essentially to redesign how we do those things within new constraints,” Gagnon said. “This was a moment in which designers could truly shine, from helping restaurants reimagine their outdoor spaces to designing face shields and ventilators to meet increasing demand. We all had to get creative.”

Carnevale said the Design Forward program also focuses on filling gaps in soft skills within the design sector, adding it’s difficult to only train people on technical skills without their also understanding the business side of design.

“They also need to know about asking the right questions, making sure they are thinking through the problem correctly,” Carnevale said. “Employers have been talking about business acumen for years. It’s not just to come in and design a thing. It has business implications and has bottom-line needs. They just need to learn a few extra skills and they will fit right in.”

And companies such as Warwick-based software and app-development firm Brave River Solutions Inc. offer their own ongoing training.

Marketing Manager Jennifer Flatow said the company is using LinkedIn Learning as a resource to offer new and experienced employees on-the-job training. The platform, Flatow said, offers training videos from web design to other subjects within the design field.

Flatow said online learning platforms were being utilized before the pandemic, but Brave River expects to utilize the platforms more often to accommodate a hybrid work environment.

Brave River also has new employees shadow fellow colleagues to better understand company operations, Flatow said. “If someone is working on the launch of a new website, they’ll shadow the web designer who is working very hands-on [with] it to see what the process is,” Flatow said. “They’ll also shadow a project manager who is running the project to see what their process is. They get to see different perspectives on a particular project or area.”

KITE Architects’ West said the industry’s emphasis on collaboration and training and a host of top-notch schools in the area have helped Rhode Island earn its reputation “as a design capital.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: More and more people know about us and want to be here, so more and more [that] will attract designers,” she said.

PBN Special Projects Editor James Bessette contributed to this report.

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