Local designer talks inspiration in magazine profile

Interior designer Michelle Cortizo, founder and owner of Cortizo Interiors, LLC, is one of five Boston-area designers featured in the May 2019 issue of House Beautiful, a popular national magazine focused on interior decorating and the domestic arts. The article profiles the discussion the designers had with HB Editorial Director Joanna Saltz about what inspires them in their design work.

Michelle Cortizo as featured in House Beautiful. (Photo courtesy of Little Outdoor Giants)

“It was quite a surprise,” Cortizo said of the opportunity to get together with other successful designers and talk about her work. “I had no idea it was coming.”

She and the others received an email asking them to meet at Red Sky, a large studio in Allston, on March 8, which is International Women’s Day. A team of photographers from Little Outdoor Giants took photos of each designer.

“It was casual and relaxed,” Cortizo said. “Then we all sat down and Joanna asked a series of questions. It was so inspiring to hear the other designers share their experiences and inspirations, their process.”

Cortizo began her own business in 2000, but started her career as a designer when she was 7 years old. “I would move things in my bedroom, playing with the space,” she said. “When I got older, I started helping friends.”

Later, after she married and was raising her children, she worked at the Luce School as an aide in the special education department while building her business at the same time. “To do both was a lot,” she said.

Her late father-in-law, Guillermo Cortizo, encouraged her to build on her passion, telling her that interior design was what she should be doing. In 2004, she left the Luce to focus exclusively on design. Cortizo finds inspiration in film, fashion, the outdoors, and different fabrics, among other things, but she always begins each project in the same way.

“I start with the client,” Cortizo said. “I have to be a good listener. Everybody is so different in how they tell their story. If they have something they love and want to have, I’ll build off of it. I can get clues from what they like and don’t like.”

She tries to stay away from images and ideas on websites and social media platforms. “Too many images in your head can overwhelm you,” she said. “Today there’s so much out there. You have to start off with a nice, clean canvas.”

Cortizo has done design projects for both commercial clients and homeowners. She has designed spaces in coastal settings and urban locations. One project she has worked on is a home in Braintree that dates to the 1930s.

“I was given the freedom to do the whole thing,” she said. “You learn how to get the trust of your clients.”

A coastal home in Plymouth designed by Michelle Cortizo

Another project is a home in Plymouth in which she used the original lead doors and brass handles. “There’s a bit of whimsy happening in that house,” she said.

One of the highlights of her career is the PRISM Award she won a few years ago for her work on the design of a kitchen in a private home in Canton. Another is the Heading Home to Dinner fundraiser, a dine by design event that the Boston Design Center hosts. Cortizo explained that two years ago the design community decided that it was important to give back. Mally Skok, Elizabeth Benedict and Kristin Rivoli started this event and asked that local designers either create a bar cart or tablescape of their own choosing in design and theme. That is followed by a two-night event at the Boston Design Center, with a cocktail party and viewing of the carts the first night and a catered event and dinner at the tables the second night. In just two years, the event has raised more than $100,000 for Heading Home, a local nonprofit that provides housing and aid to homeless families in the Boston area.

“The second year (2018) I attempted a Moroccan tent table with two other designers, Linda Holt and Kim MaCumber,” Cortizo said. “This event is without a doubt one of my proudest moments, knowing that our design community can help to make a difference. After it was over we found out that Architectural Digest featured our table. I never would have dreamed this would happen … ever!”

Cortizo uses a simple and clear philosophy with clients when it comes to making decisions about which furnishings and other items to include in the design of a room in their home.

“You need it or you absolutely love it,” she said. “You picked it because you absolutely love it. If it doesn’t resonate, what’s the point of that? There should be a connection. Everybody’s home should be them.”

For more information about Cortizo Interiors and for a link to the House Beautiful story, go to www.cortizointeriors.com.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on May 3 2019. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.