Aubrey O’Brien is an award‑winning interior designer and international artist who creates interiors infused with optimism, purpose, and craftsmanship. Her firm, Aubrey O’Brien, Inc., is defined by a deep respect for materials, for the process of making, and for the stories that live inside every space. To Aubrey O’Brien, design is not a style to replicate but a narrative to unfold — one that always begins with the people who will inhabit it.
Beginnings: Family, Form & Curiosity
Aubrey’s earliest lessons in design came from home. She grew up in a family engaged with interior design and custom construction, absorbing informal education about blueprints, craftsmanship, and spatial thinking from a young age. Walking job sites, learning through observation, and being surrounded by build and finish work gave her a visceral understanding of how spaces are constructed — physically and emotionally.
Her formal training reinforced what she already sensed. At Ringling College of Art and Design, she graduated as a Presidential Scholar in Interior Design, a recognition awarded for exceptional promise. Alongside that, she earned LEED accreditation, grounding her work in sustainability and conscientious design practices.
Making & Materials: Hands‑on Learning
Aubrey believes that understanding how things are made enriches how things are designed. To that end, she apprenticed with an Italian woodworker, immersing herself in the craft of wood. She took up welding, discovering an admiration for metalwork. These experiences weren’t sidelines; they became integral to her aesthetic and her insistence on quality construction.
Her design approach is material first: she sources unique elements and often designs bespoke furniture. She insists that each piece, finish, and custom detail contributes not just visually but atmospherically — creating texture, integrity, and warmth.
Professional Arc: Diverse Experiences, Rich Perspectives
After her education, Aubrey’s career wove through several fields, each contributing to her depth as a designer. One of her early roles was designing resorts for The Walt Disney Company under the leadership of Wing T. Chao. There she learned to think in large scale, how to design immersive environments, and how storytelling and environment work hand‑in‑hand.
She then branched into fashion, global residencies, and high‑stakes residential/hospitality architecture in New York City. A residency in Shanghai expanded her exposure to global aesthetics and material cultures. Working with runway brands taught her about the interplay of movement, form, and identity. Airports, homes, commercial spaces — she gathered experience from many typologies, always returning to her conviction that every project must contain truth to its context.
The Firm: Aubrey O’Brien, Inc.
Aubrey O’Brien, Inc. is a full‑service interior design studio serving high‑end residential and boutique commercial clients. Its mission is to approach every project holistically — from inspiration and schematic design through styling and final accessorizing. The firm does not adhere to a single aesthetic. Instead, each project is shaped by function, scale, proportion, the architecture of the space, budget, and, most importantly, the lifestyle and values of the client.
Bespoke furniture, custom built‑ins, rare or unique fixtures and finishes are part of what the studio offers. But equally important is educating clients: helping them understand why decisions are made, why certain materials perform best, and why proportion and architecture matter in shaping daily experience.
Philosophy & Approach: Ambiguity, Optimism, and Precision
A defining trait of Aubrey’s practice is her embrace of ambiguity. She is “undaunted by ambiguity,” seeing in uncertainty both challenge and opportunity. This outlook allows her to lean into unusual material combinations, custom solutions, and designs that are thoughtful rather than formulaic.
Her optimism is equally central. She believes spaces should uplift, comfort, and endure. That belief reflects in her insistence on quality materials, strong construction, and craftsmanship. The aesthetic clarity in her work comes not from simplicity alone but from clarity of vision, integrity in detail, and honest expression.
Education, Teaching & Dual Bases
Outside her studio work, Aubrey engages in education: she serves as an adjunct professor teaching courses such as “Introduction to Interior Design” and “History of Interior Design.” Through this role she shares her knowledge, process, and values with students and emerging designers.
She splits her time between New York and Sarasota, Florida. These two places offer very different inputs: New York brings energy, density, and immediacy; Sarasota offers light, space, nature, and atmosphere. That duality informs her sensibility — the way she plays contrast, light, material, and space.
Identity in the Work
What makes Aubrey’s interiors recognizable is not a uniform style but a set of consistent values: authenticity, quality, immersion in material, and atmosphere. Each project feels unique because it begins with a deep listening to clients, and a willingness to engage with the unpredictable. She doesn’t seek to stamp spaces with her own ego — she seeks to elevate what already is. Spaces become reflections of personal narrative more than design showpieces.
Looking Ahead
Aubrey O’Brien continues to push forward in her practice. She’s interested in exploring more custom furniture, more experimental material use, deeper sustainability, and more engagement with art and craft. Her work implies a long‑term vision: not just creating spaces that look beautiful now, but places that feel rooted, evolve gracefully, and carry stories.
In her world, design is rallying the human sense of place, not just building for aesthetics. Every room should feel like home in more ways than one.
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