Tiny but mighty, r.o.i. Design is exploring the idea of adding staff. We would welcome a professional who is comfortable developing leads and customer relationships, as well as performing hands-on design. Ideally, this person is an interior designer but could be an architect or a graphic designer. They need to be entrepreneurial and experienced in designing to a budget.
The candidate would be a good fit if they value collaboration, hard work, commitment, innovation, and honesty, and aren’t afraid to unload a truck of furniture alongside the rest of us.
Our key customer is the “design-build contractor or developer”. We help them design the facilities they build for their tenants and end users. We also work with business owners directly in creating non-traditional office environments, retail spaces, multi-family public spaces and residences, and medical and dental offices. We have been known to design some great building facades as well.
Our office is on the fringe of downtown and is an eclectic mix of casual styles that matches who we are as a group.
When it comes to all that r.o.i. Design does to make a project a success, the “stuff” is often overlooked. But, in order for a job to be done, many things need to be delivered and installed, such as furniture, window coverings, and decor.
Here is a visual of what r.o.i. Design has procured, delivered, and installed within the last six months:
We have been busy and are looking forward to projects opening their doors this spring. We are showcasing just a couple of them:
With First Companies:
CBD Consulting
CBD Consulting – Progress Photo of Break Room
We are partnering with Dixon Architecture to create a stunning building that will house CBD Consulting and their tenants. CBD Consulting enhances educational facilities through the power of technology, training educators and planning school technology systems. The new building reflects their cutting-edge approach and houses their offices and learning labs. Dixon is particularly pleased with the cantilevered second floor offices and r.o.i. Design is very happy with the stairwell lighting, the corridor birch columns, the ceiling bulkheads and pops of green and orange color throughout.
Complete Health Dentistry, Dr. Nick Ritzema DDS
Complete Health Dentistry – Progress Photo
We are partnering with architect James Brodi of Create 3 PLLC to create an industrial space that includes new interior brick, exposed ceilings and electrical conduit, polished concrete, reclaimed Grand Rapids ash reception desk, shelves, and beams. The use of interior glass, framed in black, is a simple and striking look. The lower breakroom island is built from faux-painted concrete block, giving the staff space its own urban look.
With Dykhouse Construction:
Mill Steel
Mill Steel – Progress Photo of New Break Room Cabinets
This third-generation business is moving to an existing 36,000 square foot building in southeast Grand Rapids, but not before an entire remodel. We are partnering with Dixon Architecture to create new exterior dormers, canopies, decks, and landscaping, as well as a complete demolition and reconstruction of the interior spaces. Looking to house a growing and young workforce, the new space is driven by expandable space, collaborative space, break room and café, and a generous training room. The bold blue of the Mill Steel logo is represented in the interior, along with some interesting details that include live plants in the break room, pivot doors that open up the break room to the training room, Dri-Design metal panels inside and out, bold carpet patterns, outdoor patio, and a fire pit.
Look for more stories about our designs for dermatologists, professional cleaners, furniture manufacturers, pediatric dentists, multi-family developments, automobile mirror manufacturers, and jewelry stores coming soon!
At the Northeast corner of the Campus View community sits an empty retail
building, the old Brian’s Books location. It is a cavernous, 9,250 square foot
building that is not ideal for a retail store or restaurant venture due to the
ebb and flow of a college town. Campus View was searching for a way to
transform the space into residential housing. They asked r.o.i. Design to look
at the building and come up with some ideas.
We landed on new housing approach that intertwines private rooms with
community living. The space was ideal to
handle a 24-unit complex with a central shared area, complete with a communal
kitchen, a lounge with a fireplace and large TV, exercise room, and on-site laundry.
Each of the units has a complete bathroom with tub/shower and a small
kitchenette with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave. The units will be fully
furnished with a full-size bed, desk, wardrobe, dressers, and a loveseat. There
will even be loft storage above the bathroom in each unit. Campus View has
named the property View Point and has already leased several of these suites to
students who are interested in the shared space with privacy concept.
For the redesign of the building, r.o.i. Design wanted to it to feel like a cool, urban, loft-like space. We call it “hipster-eclectic”, encompasses everything that is quirky, creative and bang on trend. Hipsters have wholeheartedly embraced a minimalist aesthetic that effortlessly mismatches several different trends and styles.
The exterior will get new metal siding, giving it a modern industrial look.
The interiors will feature an eclectic mix of surfaces, exposed ductwork and
pipes, and industrial light fixtures. Large factory-type wall stencils will
identify room numbers.
Construction on the building should take place this spring and hopefully be
open for students to move in this fall. Campus View will begin leasing the
space as soon as possible. It will be exciting to see this inventive new living
space take shape and add to the unique housing offerings at GVSU.
We are celebrating a great 2018 with a healthy list of new customers and suppliers. The ten-year recovery from the 2007-2008 recession was a challenge, but we are proud to have weathered that crisis and are starting year two of a three-year strategic plan to grow and create a sustainable interior design business.
Last year we added Megan Hoekzema, Interior Designer, and Stacey Udell, Office Administrator to the team. We joined Local First, volunteered at Mackenzie’s Animal Sanctuary and donated our design time to Living Stones Academy helping them improve their multipurpose room and staff lounge.
We reference The Right Place’s 2019 Economic Outlook report to get a sense of what our community might experience ahead. As a tiny company, we would like to think we can be resilient to most economic shifts, and we describe ourselves as “small but mighty”. But along with that, we want to add “smart” so we have our heads up regarding our economy.
While the West Michigan marketplace needs to pay attention to the impact of tariffs, trade agreements, interest rate hikes, and changes in leadership in Lansing, the ongoing issues of talent shortage and the reality that every company needs to do more with fewer people.
Grand Rapids continues to lead the state (and the nation) in post-recession recovery.
The president of The Right Place, Birgit Klohs, is our customer and when asked, she summarized about the future, “2018 was a banner year, 2019 isn’t going to be quite as good. Read more here.
Rapid Growth Media’s article “Michigan’s Corporate Construction Continues to Grow into 2019” reports that West Michigan contractors have the largest backlog of business since 2000. “If the world stopped today, construction employers would have 9.8 months of work left to do.” And since contractors are r.o.i. Design’s #1 customer, we are pleased to hear this news.
For us 2019 will mean:
New staff, we are currently looking to hire a design lead. This person will help develop new business, lead the design direction of projects they develop and add perspective and energy to our group as we look to grow.
A year ago, we thought we needed to add staff to be able to provide us with rendering and illustration talent, but our Creative Executive Ryan Bright has risen to the challenge, growing in skills and managing out-sourced talent to meet our needs. We see adding more rendering services as part of the tool kit.
Our work in medical and dental offices continues to look strong. We have multi-family projects scheduled through 2020. Our window covering and solar shade business is growing. We have installed two projects with more than 100 windows within a few months of each other. Congratulations to Purchasing and Procurement Manager, Ronda Geyer.
We will be looking at our technology needs this year and anticipate making an investment in software and hardware.
Our physical sample library needs to shrink, as more and more resources are “online”. We rely on our sales representatives to help us with “just in time sampling”. Megan continues to manage our library and representatives in the effort to stay on top of the newest and best materials.
Our strategic plan has us revising processes and procedures, focusing on marketing and sales, and company culture.
We continue to be driven to “making a difference” in the lives of our customers and in our community.
Vintage Hutchinson Ad Used in Wall Décor at 616 FAB House
The last layer of interior design includes wall art and r.o.i. Design has learned planning for meaningful wall décor has incredible influence on how the space impacts employees, customers, and guests.
It is an opportunity to support a company’s brand, communicate values and goals, as well as add aesthetic interest.
For Wolverine Power Cooperative in Cadillac, Michigan we worked with them to create an assemblage of their customer logos using a cable system to suspend the logos. This brought a sense of pride to staff and board members as they passed by. In the same project, we created a custom wood “service map”, that outlined where they provided power; but the map was interesting as “art” in addition to telling a story. They also asked us to help them create a “word wall” using words that describe how they want to be perceived. We created a graphic and then had it printed on vinyl wallcovering.
For multi-family developer Eagle Point Properties, they like the common areas of their projects to have photos and imagery that represents the location of the residences. For downtown Grand Rapids we found historic photos of landmarks and purchased the rights to print those photos. For their project in Virginia, close to Washington D.C., we featured the architecture and landscapes that describe this region, rich in American history.
Hutchinson North America built 616 FAB House in Grand Rapids in 2016. This space serves as a gathering and meeting space but is surrounded by displays and imagery that demonstrates their tradition of innovation. Working with them and their Paris, France associates, we selected historic images and arranged them throughout the space similar to a museum exhibit. In the same space, were close up details of machinery and operations of the past alongside robotic demonstrations of current technology.
Wall art and décor can be personal, and any effort we made to create custom wall art programs have resulted in positive “returns”.
Wolverine Power Cooperative, Cadillac, MIHistorical Photos Used in Wall Décor at Stuyvesant Apartments
