Three interior design alumni from Belmont’s O’More College of Architecture and Design – Amelia Harmond (2019), Lorraine Ensley (2019) and Ava Fowler Allen (2020) have been invited to join Interior Design Magazine’s 30/30 Program.
Interior Design has been a leading publication in the world of interior design, architecture and facility management for more than 90 years. Commencing the 30/30 program’s third year of existence, the initiative strives to generate connections and educational experiences for the community. Events will be hosted across the country, with 30/30 program members getting a front-row seat to these expansive networking and brainstorming opportunities.
Q&A with O’More alumna Amelia Harmond:
Name: Amelia Harmond
Major/Class: Interior Design 2019
Hometown: Thompson’s Station, TN
Current Position: Project Manager at Inner Design Studio
Current City: Columbia, TN
What does this achievement mean to you?
“This award is everything I have worked for and being recognized at such an early stage in my career makes it all feel so worthwhile. I have known what I wanted to do for a living since I was 13 and stumbled across O’More at a college fair at my middle school, so to think 13 years later I would have a career pursuing what I love and being recognized for it has been a blessing.”
How would you describe the environment at O’More?
“O’More has such an uplifting environment, you are free to be out of the box with your ideas and who you are as a person. The professors help to push you out of your normal realm of thinking and cultivate your ideas into space and designs. In a funny way, the classroom is a lot like therapy – your professors and classmates help you to understand your life experiences and how they can impact how you design, as well as how people will view and experience your designs.”
What advice would you give to students who want to pursue a career in interior design?
“Know this isn’t a halfhearted career, you have to have a passion for it. The words ‘interior design’ are often used in relation to a decorator, but you must understand so much more than what colors make an aesthetic space. You must understand psychology, architecture and even engineering, depending on what part of interior design you enter. For this to be a sustainable career path, you must have the passion and drive for it.”
Talk about an experience at Belmont that still sticks with you today.
“My senior thesis often comes to my mind. The class made us look deeply into ourselves to examine why we were here taking this course and what drives our passion for the career. It was a really eye-opening experience for me because the same theories I dove into that semester are the same ones I use today when I am stuck in a design rut.”