Jung and the Restless to Design Nirvana
By Maxine Breedlove
If Frasier Crane and Julia Sugarbaker created a love child, the result would be Claudia Ricciardone. Just like Sugarbaker, she oozes a genteel quality. Also, like Sugarbaker, she engages in challenging social and political conversations—especially when it comes to women, children, and environmental issues.
At first glance, a breezy blonde-haired, blue-eyed Italian-American donning an exquisite dress might read unapproachable, but folks, she’s just like you and me. Ricciardone shares her successes (like everybody else), but what is totally refreshing is that she also shares her difficulties—like the time she face-planted in a client’s home (twice and on consecutive days). If you spot her in the gluten-free aisle at Whole Foods Market, do say hello. She’s gracious with old-timey manners, but she can laugh at herself too.
Ricciardone is also judicious. Accordingly, because she is so discerning, she manages her business quite decisively. As a matter of fact—she has developed a somewhat compulsive attention to detail. Like Dr. Frasier Crane, she excelled in the science of psychology. Through the University of Saint Joseph’s honors program, Ricciardone majored in psychology and double-minored in art history and sociology earning magna cum laude distinction. She continued as an honor student and went on to earn a master’s degree at Fairfield University, but she didn’t stop there. While at Fairfield, she also earned a sixth-year degree in school psychology while maintaining an impressive 4.0 grade point average. After college, Ricciardone earned her living as a school psychologist and adjunct professor. Then, like many of us, she chose differently.
Ricciardone and husband, Hector Hernandez, wanted a baby. In an unanticipated twist, staying home made sense. Still, she grappled with the realizations that well all struggle with—like the fact that she had to take a leap of faith into the unknown and unpredictable. She enjoyed the safety of a predictive career. Like Frasier, she ruminated fervently. She wrestled with the flawed idea that homemaking meant letting go of intellectual thought and professional relationships forever. Still, she calculated the risks and left her safe-choice career.
Today, Ricciardone is the epitome of professionalism. She is a client-pleaser who is delighted to talk shop and share her experiences (good and bad), which is the crux of who she is because she holds nothing back.
When it comes to custom design, she is knowledgeable about negotiating vendor issues, placing wallpaper orders, hiring furniture painters, and choosing material for window coverings. The list goes on and on. This gem shares her foul experiences and her successes, and she is up before the sun—actively encouraging her fellow designers, which is refreshing. Even so, she refuses to accept credit for her professional and personal renaissance. Ricciardone quickly heaps credit on her husband, Hector Hernandez, for providing her segue into design.
Hernandez, an investment banker by profession, arrived at home one evening and announced that he was ready to build a home, but she resisted. After all, the couple had just settled into a starter home. Unfazed by his wife’s objections, Hernandez persisted. Very soon, Ricciardone found herself engrossed in the building process and working with contractors and her architect. She expresses that the hand of providence moved on her behalf.
Luckily, Ricciardone was no stranger to building because she had vast experience specifying finishes for her father’s custom home business during graduate school. After graduation, she continued making design choices for the company while she worked as psychologist. “Design was always my first love, but for practical reasons, I chose a traditional career path,” Ricciardone explains. She chose psychology because she was focused on two goals. First, she desperately wanted to help children. Second, she wanted to be a good daughter. She wanted to assure her parents that she could be independent—it’s an unstable world after all.
Nowadays, she gets psyched about helping clients choose finishes that will create a home that the entire family (and pets) can enjoy. In her own home, she has chosen fabrics and furnishings that are stylish and current but that will hold up to her busy daughter. And while she has her favorites, she researches vendors, visits showrooms, and communicates with other designers constantly about recommendations for the best quality products at the most reasonable prices.
Most designers work for a big firm before opening a business, but Ricciardone’s entrepreneurial spirit and research skills compelled her to carve her own path. She explains that diving into the business side of design helped her create a successful business model. When she found herself in unfamiliar territory, she sought out business and design mentors and implemented processes that streamlined how she approaches a client project. She expresses that she is thankful that she entered the design world when she did because there are so many resources in the design community, which was not always the case.
When asked which professionals she liked working with the most, she was inclined to say that almost everyone is amazing. However, she did admit that she has a soft spot for architects and contractors. Her father instilled a deep respect for the stressors and challenges that these professionals face. “I know how important it is for their projects to stay on schedule,” Ricciardone sympathizes. “I help clients create a plan prior to the start of construction, and because of the processes I’ve incorporated, I know that my projects won’t get delayed by indecision, and that is important to me,” she explains. “You have to create a special design plan, you have to be willing to educate clients about the design process, and you have to be comfortable talking about money,” she stresses. “I can do that for people, and I don’t give everyone the same blue lamp and the same white sofa. I work very hard to pull together rooms that represent my clients.”
The cornerstone of Ricciardone’s boutique design firm is sustainability, which she argues is a sound, fiscal approach. “Sustainability is crucial for me--I am uncomfortable with wasting a perfectly good piece of furniture,” she explains. “My clients want well-built, high-end finishes, which is the exact same thing that I want,” she quips. “I enjoy the trends very much,” she assures, “but I grew up in Connecticut surrounded by traditional design influences where the homes were built in the 1700 and 1800s, and they still have a timeless appeal.” And while she appreciates the clean lines expressed by the Colonial, Georgian, and Greek Revival periods, the top reason she is drawn to the classical styles is the element of timelessness.
“As a girl, I spent many summers visiting family in Teggiano, a small Italian town established in the 4th century B.C., and I find that people tend to associate Italian architecture with Tuscany, but Italy’s architecture is diverse,” she explains, “for instance, much of Milan’s architecture is contemporary, even experimental, yet old and new co-exist harmoniously within the city.” Ancient Roman and Renaissance architecture helped her appreciate classical proportions, quality of construction, exquisite craftmanship, and artistic genius.
While ancient architecture imprinted her personal taste, her palate eventually evolved, which she thinks happens to a lot of design lovers. Currently, she demands a serene, restful aesthetic. She purposefully adds pops of color, but each pop must flatter rather than grandstand. When designing, or painting, Ricciardone embraces principles like the Golden Ratio and avoids a mash up of trends. “Visually, it’s unpleasant,” she sighs. Rather than chase trends and fads, she relies on quality materials and enduring finishes and furnishings to pull together a space that looks impeccable regardless of the year.
The Ricciardone-Hernandez residence reflects her signature style. French blue shutters and window boxes hint at the sanctuary inside. When asked about her personal aesthetic, she clarifies that while her design style leans towards new traditional, she incorporates modern touches (like lamps and custom textiles) to keep a room from feeling stale because, as she explains, “the tension between new and old helps create visual interest.”
Ricciardone has a couple of favorite haunts in Charlotte. She expresses avid support for fellow, local creatives like the Flower Diva. She is also fangirling over works she found by Lauren Reddick via Art House Charlotte. A burgeoning painter herself, Ricciardone plans to offer custom art for her clients very soon.
Claudia Josephine Design serves the greater Charlotte, N.C. area.
