Today’s workflows aren’t designed for teachable moments. Persistent notifications and never-ending to-do lists are the nemesis of concentrated, constructive feedback. And yet, Bunny Williams finds a way. “I’ve always felt strongly that, not only do I have my practice and my clients, but I’m hoping that I’m giving something to the next generation of designers,” says the AD100 Hall of Fame designer. If you’re not one of the fortunate talents to have graduated from her nearly-four-decades-old practice (which rebranded to Williams Lawrence in 2023 following Elizabeth Lawrence’s promotion to partner), you’re in luck: Williams recently launched a 35-part online course detailing her design philosophy and professional operations.
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Served in her lingering and affable Virginian intonation, Williams’s stories are seeped in design legacy and enduring advice. Here, she shares her career beginnings at the venerable firm Parish-Hadley, her advice for designers starting out today, and her next dream assignment.
Mel Studach: Congratulations on the Create Academy program. What appealed to you about participating in the series?
Bunny Williams: I met the [team] in New York when they launched Miles Redd’s series, and I thought they were a dynamic and fabulous group with a lot of positive energy about design. I started watching their courses—they’ve worked with Rita Konig and Nina Campbell too—and I thought it was an incredible way of having professionals share their experience with a broader audience. I’ve always felt strongly [about] giving something to the next generation of designers. The same way working with Albert Hadley and Mrs. Parish for so long did for me.
Tell me about those 22 years working at Parish-Hadley Associates. How did they prepare you to go out on your own?
Mrs. Parish and Albert were two entirely different people. Mrs. Parish was not cozy and warm, she was a tastemaker. She was instinctive. She couldn’t read a floor plan, yet she could walk into a room and know exactly how she wanted the furniture to be arranged and sized. She couldn’t express her plans—she would just go get a bunch of stuff and arrange it, and it had magic. By watching her, you learned from her spontaneity. Meanwhile, Albert would measure a table for a dish. He had been a teacher and encouraged us to think. When I would have to present a scheme for a job or a floor plan, he made me draw and explain it. And then he’d say, ‘Hmm, are you sure?’ He was the real educator. From a design standpoint, I’m somewhere in the middle: I want to have the balance and the scale right, and then I want to have the fun of relaxing all with cushions and arrangements.
I was having a hard time leaving. I was trying to negotiate a partnership, which wasn’t working. Somebody said to me once, ‘What is your problem? You have all this business, you can start your own firm.’ And I said, ‘I know I’m really good at decorating, but I’m worried about the business. I can’t balance the checkbook. I don’t know what to do with taxes.’ And she said to me, ‘Don’t you know there are people who like to do that?’ I immediately went and found a young lady who had come out of a business background to help me start the accounting department.
