PROfiles

>>> meet the designers behind projects featured in this issue

Elaine Alexander, Allied Member ASID
Kacie Moore
Tony Sutton, Allied Member ASID
Est Est, Inc.

Tony Sutton's office sports a shelf loaded with thick scrapbooks that bear testimony to the history of his interior design firm. Yellowed newspaper and magazine articles date back to 1959, the year William Benner and Patrick Maas founded Est Est in a small shop in Scottsdale, Arizona — the first independent design firm in the state. The partners helped evolve luxurious desert style with their commitment to custom residential, hospitality and commercial design, a tradition that Illinois native Sutton has continued since he acquired the firm in 1984. Est Est now has some 25 employees, including interior designers Kacie Moore, a graduate of Arizona State University who's studying for her LEED accreditation, and Elaine Alexander, a graduate of Rider University who previously worked in television and fashion before transitioning into interior design. Moore and Alexander, along with Sutton, created a signature look for the headquarters of UTAZ Development, featured in this issue.

Mary Kay Sunset
Semple Brown Design

Interior designer Mary Kay Sunset, a principal with Denver's Semple Brown Design, took a lot of drafting and woodworking classes in high school. Her father was also influential in her choice of career. "Dad was an engineer and product designer," Sunset explains. "He's detail- and design-oriented." Nonetheless, a well-meaning guidance counselor pushed Sunset to study business and marketing at Colorado State University. "I actually wound up getting my degree in interior design," says Sunset, "but I don't regret studying business. It helps me with project management." Sunset, who joined Semple Brown Design in 1988 to start the firm's interiors department, has managed her fair share of interesting projects, ranging from restaurants and law offices to jewelry stores and performing arts facilities, including the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver. One of her more recent designs, the office for a Boulder-area "green" developer, is featured in this issue.

Michael Brendle, FAIA
AnneMarie Dienstbach
David Key, IIDA
RNL Denver

It's a bit intimidating to create a new space for fellow employees," notes interior designer David Key. "It's a challenge to make everyone happy." But that's exactly what Key and fellow interior designer AnneMarie Dienstbach, plus firm principal Michael Brendle, did when they joined a team to create new office space for RNL's Denver office. "Our team set up a small group of decision-makers," says Dienstbach, who has a degree in interior design from Mount Vernon College in Washington, D.C. and an MBA from the University of Colorado. "But, still, everyone had an opinion." Dienstbach, Brendle, a graduate of Texas Tech University, and Key, a graduate of Iowa State University, listened to those opinions and ideas to create an airy, "transparent" and sustainable setting for the architectural firm, just across the street from their old locale. Fellow employees, the design team notes, walked across the street regularly to check the progress of the new quarters. Nonetheless, everything went smoothly, even the move. "The movers came to the old offices on a Friday to pick up everyone's packed boxes," says Dienstbach. "On Monday, everyone arrived at the new office and unpacked. It was very well orchestrated." You can see the well-orchestrated RNL offices in this issue.