10 Things Thom Filica Has Learned After Decades in Interior Design

Dear Alice | Interior Design

In this episode of Dear Alice, interior design icon Thom Filicia shares decades of wisdom from his influential career, discussing everything

Key takeaways

• Success in design requires mastering people skills as much as aesthetic knowledge.
• Television shows like Queer Eye helped democratize interior design but also changed public expectations about what design should be.

Main topics

• Career advice for young designers
• The evolution of interior design through television

Notable quotes

"My new boss is my client. I can't go anywhere for very long because you have payroll and all of this, the rent."

"Interiors really should feel like an extension of the person or the people that live in that environment."

Conclusion

Thom Filicia's journey underscores the importance of authenticity, adap

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Hello everyone, welcome to Dear Alice. Today we had Tom Felicia on the podcast. How fun was that? He's the best. He makes our jobs so easy. Life of the party. We talked about space planning and product design and development and people skills. No, I'm like tips for like young designers too, getting into the industry, things that you should be paying attention to and why it's important to be great with people. Yeah, Tom's a great example of all that. I can't wait for you guys to jump into this interview. Let's do it. Hi Tom. Hey guys. Hey. How are you? Great. From hot as hot can be in New York City. Speaker 1 (0:35) Oh, bless him. Well, you look very cool for being so hot. Yeah, you do. Tom's always cool. I know. Tom is an internationally acclaimed interior designer and founder of Tom Felicia. Sometimes I tell people I'm a porn star and just to sort of see their face. Oh my gosh, let's go with, you heard it here. Put that in the title. I look mostly in porn. That's nice. Just kidding. Interior design. It's very different. But I do a lot of work in bedrooms. I love it. That's awesome. Tom's recognized for his timeless interiors and influential voice in design. After earning a BFA in interior design at Syracuse University, he began his career at renowned firms such as Parrish Hadley. I did not know that, Tom. Robert Metzger Interiors, as well as Bill Huber and Associates. Speaker 1 (1:26) Those are some really awesome. Yeah, I even moonlighted for Alan Tanksley. I think I was like, it was pretty much 10 years of, not 10 years, eight years of intense fun. Yeah, I worked for Albert Hadley. I just saw David Kleinberg last night at an event. I worked for him while I was there. I worked for Libby Cameron. She was in the office. I worked for Michael Zabriskie. And I was kind of like all over the office. I was right out of college. I would do anything, draw anything, shop for anything. I was like, whatever. Speaker 1 (1:54) I'll do it. And it was super fun. And then I went and worked with, after that, I was there for about a year. And then, well, I did an internship one year. Then I went back out of college. And then I went to and worked with Robert Metzger. I think I was there for three years. And then that was fun and crazy. And he was amazing. And then unfortunately, he passed away. And then I worked for Jeffrey Bill Huber for another three and a half years. And he was amazing and super talented and lots of fun. And I still love seeing him whenever I'm out at design events. It's always great to catch up with him. And he was super talented and lots of fun. And we got along really well. And then I went off on my own. Speaker 1 (2:35) which I thought was going to be like the easiest thing in the world. And then I was going to be able to make no schedule and go on vacation all the time. It was going to be so easy because I wasn't going to have a boss. I was going to be able to do whatever I wanted. And then I woke up and I was like, that is not at all the situation ever. That's hilarious. My new boss is my client. I can't go anywhere for very long because you have payroll and all of this, the rent. Speaker 1 (3:04) I know. The office space and the showroom. So it's all crazy, but it's good. I like it. Yeah. And you've been on your own since you formed Tom Felicia Inc. in 98, right? In 98, yeah. So wild. Yeah, so I had the design company for two or three years, I think. And then I started working on Queer Eye, which was, and I kept the company going. So I was doing both. Wow. Filming the TV show during the day and then running to the office. Speaker 1 (3:31) in the afternoon, like four or five o'clock and doing work in the office and everyone would leave for me and kind of, and then I would leave it out and then I would go home and get up and shoot a TV show and then come back. It was crazy. That was nuts. Speaking of Queer Eye, we heard that you might have a new show concept. Is there anything you can tell us about that? We do actually. It's an interesting show. We'll see. It's, you know, we're kind of in the infancy of it right now, but it's a, it's a really cool concept. Speaker 1 (4:00) I can't really talk about it. Okay. No, but it's, it's fun. It's a fun show. I think it's, it's interesting and timely and fun and kind of a little different than what a lot of people would think of. Will it surround interiors? Will you get to be the interior designer on the show? It is. It's about interior design. It's pretty much, and it's interior design and lifestyle. Awesome. Okay. I don't feel like there's any good TV shows about interior design right now. So I think it is, when you say timely, I think it's time for a great show. And I know they just obviously Queer Eye, the second edition, just canceled. So that's no longer. I can't believe it. I wonder if there'll be a third version of it. I mean, I love that it kept going. I thought it was really cool that it did. It was great to still have it, you know, be a thing that people even knew was a thing. Speaker 1 (4:50) Because prior to the second one, you know, people were like, what? Like young, younger people just had no idea what it was. What year did your show start? The first Queer Eye? The first Queer Eye started in 93? For real? 2003. That's what I remember. And then how long did it run for? Sorry, sorry, sorry. 93 is when I graduated from college. Yeah, 2003. 2003. And then how many seasons did you guys get? I think we were on for four or five years, four years maybe. I loved when you guys were on. I did too. It was the best. Our show was very different than the second one because, look, the issues were a lot different back then. You know, guys didn't know about hair product and they had pizza boxes under their bed. It was a lot more fun at that level because I think our issues were really sort of simple, easy kind of things. Guys were just starting. Speaker 1 (5:42) to think about their haircuts or think about fashion or think about designing their homes. So we were really engaging them with things that I think were fun to get engaged with. I think the second version got a little bit more about, you know, they dug a lot deeper because I just think that was part of the social fabric at, you know, the time that they were, you know, doing their show. And it still is. So I think that they were dealing with. you know, people feeling just really much more in-depth personal journeys that ours were just kind of silly and fun. And because of that, I think it was a lot of fun. I mean, ours was, ours was insanely fun. We were basically the first springboard to make the connection. And then they took it in and went a little bit deeper than we did. I know you were like influencers before influencers. Pioneers of all that. Yeah. I think there were no. Speaker 1 (6:38) Like social media? Camera phones and social media. We would hold it for the five of us to be in prison. Things people used to say just were insane compared to today. You would be so much trouble. So true. I think that's what's so fun about watching The Office back is that you're like, you could never say that today. You couldn't do that anymore. I just got into watching old episodes of In Living Color. Oh my gosh. Oh my God. You cannot believe what they were doing. Seriously. I can't believe what was happening on television. Yeah, seriously. It was the Wild West. But those of you that didn't see the first round of Queer Eye, Tom played the role that Jeremiah Brandt played. So he was the one that did interior design and obviously did it for four or five seasons. And it was just so fun to see Tom's taken interiors. And also, Tom, I think for all of the different... Speaker 1 (7:27) people that you worked for, your style is really different from Parrish Hadley, from Robert Metzger, from Bill Huber. You have a really, really cool, fresh take on, I don't know, I don't even want to say traditional. That classic American kind of thing, you know? But different than Ralph Lauren. Very, yeah. You know, more casual, I'd say, and a little more fun. And you can really see yourself living this way. Yeah, so many people can relate to Tom. You know, I like the idea of interiors being feel. Speaker 1 (7:56) very, I would say, easy and authentic and fresh and have a sense of place. So I like when they really make sense for where they are. You know, I think interiors really should feel like an extension of the person or the people that live in that environment and what the intention of that environment is for. Like, is it primary or is it secondary? Is it a beach? Is it mountain? Is it lake? Is it what? What is it? Is it? Speaker 1 (8:25) formal, informal? Is it architecturally rich? Is it just clean and simple? You know, is it historical? Understanding all of that and connecting all of those dots is so much fun. And then also really understanding the people or the person that lives there, or maybe even the brand if you're working with a hotel group or a restaurant or something like that. So it's really fun to understand kind of all of those points and then sort of connect all of those dots. I think that's really cool. Speaker 1 (8:52) I feel like to me, that's the magic of interiors is that, you know, if done right, it can make you feel like a part of the environment you're in. If you're in the city, you should feel like that and feel that energy. Right. You should feel that texture, that energy, that sensibility, that lifestyle that you're going to be having while you're there. And maybe it's a reaction to that. Maybe it's something that sort of calms you down a little bit and slows you down. But it has. Speaker 1 (9:19) It has a sense of place. It's an extension of the environment. It relates to the architecture, of course. It relates very much, hopefully, to the people that live there and is an extension of their personality and their sensibility. You know, some people love to cook or they love to entertain. Some people are homebodies. They love to read. Some people are watching movies. And you should be able to walk into an interior and feel like it. You know, if one of your good friends just redid their house, you'd want to walk in and go, oh my God, this is so Steven, or this is, you know, so Elizabeth, or, you know, you want it to feel like the people that live there. And then, oh my God, this is literally like, if you were a house, this would be it. I think that's kind of a cool. Speaker 1 (10:01) I love that. And I feel like no one is a better expert with people than you are. And I think one of the things that impressed me the most in the first few seasons, I'll say seasons now, that we saw and worked with you when we come out to Vanguard and see your launches and things. If anybody can't already understand this, Tom is the life of the room. You are the party of the room. I'd vote for you just based on all this. But even if you'd be talking to somebody or engaging with someone and you'd catch our eye, you would acknowledge us and make us feel important, even though we know that this is. Speaker 1 (10:30) Anyway, you just have such an ability of making everybody around you feel important. And I have no doubt that that's the same way with your clients and this idea of representing them in their space. Yeah. And I mean, thank you for that. That's really awesome. I definitely want the clients to feel like the space is truly an extension of kind of them and that I'm actually using their. sort