New and vintage Cherner chairs surround a cement CB2 table in the dining area.
Though she flirted with a fashion career, a practical side led to pre-law studies at Virginia Tech—but those classes put her to sleep. Gottlieb finally found her niche after meeting an interior design major who inspired her to change her major on the spot.
After earning her degree, Gottlieb landed at Gensler, working in the architecture firm’s DC and Seattle offices on commercial and hospitality projects in the U.S. and abroad. She later joined Capital One as an in-house design strategist. Then the pandemic hit.
“I re-evaluated where I wanted to be and was drawn to residential design,” she explains. In January 2021, she launched her own firm. “I’ve trained under phenomenal designers,” Gottlieb asserts. “Each step of my career has taught me something I use every day.”
She says “the thrill of helping people feel their home is who they are,” drives her work, which always includes an element of surprise. “I love a ‘delight’ moment,” she admits. “I push clients to embrace a sense of the unexpected and I keep reinventing and trying something new.”