Design is Democracy, Not a Dictatorship

Leslie Hart-Davidson will lead the lecture “Design is a Democracy, Not a Dictatorship,” at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 16 in Orchestra Hall.

The talk includes her origin story of being born into a family of artisans and real estate flippers, starting a company against all odds, surviving the real estate market crash in 2009, and thriving thanks to the philosophy “Design is a democracy, not a dictatorship.”

It will also share the four-part design language created to effectively communicate the importance of our visual experience in a room so that attendees can take action with their own spaces to live better in their homes.

Hart-Davidson is the Founder and Principal Designer of HDD Studios. While boasting the coolest job in the world, she helps people live better in their homes through great interior design.

Her roots in design run deep. Her maternal grandfather was an artist and furniture upcycler in the 1940s. Her paternal grandmother gifted her with the fifth generation of tailoring and sewing skills.

Her parents, Jim and Mary Hart, were real estate flippers in the 1970s and ’80s before it was a thing, so she’s been designing since about birth.

Hart-Davidson is an educated and credentialed designer with a bachelor’s degree in interior design from Bowling Green State University and founded her design business in 2001.