When she was growing up in Newport News, Va., Jennifer Farris found it difficult to express her creative side. “I went to a small, private school without much of an arts program, so I was constantly searching for some outlet for my creative interests,” Farris recalls. “I even took a cake-decorating class because it was all I could find that made me feel fulfilled.” In addition, her father's hobby was carpentry, and he let his daughter help out with a variety of projects. “He was always willing to let me get my hands on all the power tools and get my hands dirty,” Farris says.
That creative drive and zest for working with her hands serves Farris well in her current job, as senior designer at Design Compendium Inc., a Brooklyn, N.Y., creator of visual merchandising displays and tradeshow exhibits.
“My first job in the industry was as a part-time consultant for Design Compendium, while I was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology,” says Farris, who holds a degree in display and exhibit design from FIT and a degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design. “Before coming full circle and landing a job at Design Compendium in 2001, I was able to explore other areas of interest to me, such as designing theater sets and museum exhibits.”
What's the most exciting project you've worked on in the past year?
Design Compendium was appointed international design consultant for Asprey, the British luxury brand. The highlight of our year was the botanical window campaign we installed in April, created to reflect nine different rooms from a British manor house. We had about three weeks to re-create the actual spaces, down to the smallest detail of a piece of paper and a pencil on a writing desk.
What do you see as the greatest threat to visual merchandising?
Our consumption culture. The media and Internet technology have established a sense of immediacy with viewers. From pop-up screens to billboards on buses, people are inundated with visual information constantly and they have adjusted their visual filters to accept only what is relevant to their lives. Branding in a store window or interior environment has to be addressed in very specific ways so that the drama is not lost, but that it can compete on a visual level. A poster and a headless mannequin are not enough to keep people looking.
What can this industry do?
From a design standpoint, we have to evolve with the world around us. Being aware of where people are investing their attention helps us to continue creating concepts and developing designs that bring together all aspects of a brand and its marketing in a way that excites the viewer.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?
To continue my education past my degree at FIT, from professor Elisabeth Jacobsen.
The worst?
To let a stranger cut my hair.
What song do you sing when there's no one else around?
The five most-played songs on my iPod are “Sound & Visions” by The Sea and Cake, “Pass” by Songs: Ohia, “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John, “So Much Beauty in Dirt” by Modest Mouse and “Encore” by JayZ.
How do you relax?
Anywhere warm where I can be with good friends and sip a dirty martini… extra olives, please.