January 18th, 2023
6:30PM EST
Nina Kinoti-Metz Founder, Studio Parallel
Nina Kinoti-Metz was raised in numerous countries in Africa. One of her favorite past times of visiting the open air markets exposed her to the concept of color and pattern which gave rise to a keen interest in painting and birthed her love for art and design. She undertook a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Binghamton University with specialization in Printmaking and Drawing and later she went for a master's degree in Interior Architecture from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY. With tenures at some design giants such as FXFOWLE Architects, Clodagh Design and then Dattner Architects, she honed her design skills and quickly worked her way up to project manager while working on many different project types from commercial interiors to high end residential, civic/educational projects to luxury hotels and retail.
In 2004, along with her life and work partner Christopher Metz, AIA, founded Studio Parallel which is a Brooklyn based full-service Architecture and Interior Design. The firm developed a distinct work methodology that involves a project-by-project ramp up or down in team size, which enables SP to keep overhead generally lower and thus can meet very specific and tight budgetary, schedule or phasing requirements through different scales of project. This feature has been of particular benefit in the post pandemic normalcy of remote working, ever tightening budgets, travel, and supply chain restrictions. Plus the ability to bring different expertise to the table specific to each project.
With their collective and extensive experience in hospitality, commercial, residential, and educational building types, together with clients they often work from business conceptualization to real estate selection, branding, architectural design, construction and to the opening party! The design is done along a narrative with one main concept and just like in any good story, the space, its characters, and visuals support this vision. With that in mind, Studio Parallel leverages their diverse experience to stimulate exchange of ideas that translate clients’ needs and culture into unique environments that are thoughtful, expressive, and timeless.
Creating Your Own Opportunities and Path to Success
As young female designers and architects the trajectory of our career is often not clear. We are taught and trained as a professional that if we put in our time and gain experience we’ll naturally progress and eventually take over the reins ourselves. But unfortunately, that often isn’t the case.
Female professionals often have to shape our careers and make our own opportunities in a way our male colleagues do not. But what are the best paths and experiences to help us get there? How do we know we are ready to start out on our own?
In this seminar, we will discuss experiences and opportunities that Nina has found are common with young female designers and architects, that led her to push past what was happening around her and became more effective on her projects while she worked at firms, and later when she started her own practice.