Artificial intelligence will never replace the human soul. It will never replace the elegance, the sophistication, the refinement Kips Bay Showhouse/Dallas designer, Mark Cravotta can bring to a design project.

But, recently, Mark, principal of Austin based Cravotta Interiors, wrote a post on Linked In about why his firm is embracing artificial intelligence as a catalyst for creativity, albeit with caution.

Mark has been one of my long time design crushes - we featured his work on the cover of a past Fall issue of Seasonal Living Magazine.

When I saw the Cravotta Interiors post on Linked In about AI, I emailed Mark and asked if I could have his permission to share it in this blog post with you, and he wrote back immediately and said, “Yes.”

This is the most beautifully written explanation of why a major luxury design firm has chosen to embrace AI - vs. being fearful of AI - and I’m so happy to be able to share it with you.

Mark: thank you.

Below is a wide angle image of Mark’s stunning and sophisticated music room for Kips Bay Showhouse/ Dallas. I love the way he used lighting to subtly highlight every textural detail.

See all of the images of his Kips Bay Showhouse/Dallas room [ and all of his other gorgeous projects ] on his website here.

Now, let’s talk about AI as a “catalyst for creativity.”

As you can see below, I entered a text prompt into Midjourney that gave me this image. And as you can see, this image has nowhere near the sophistication of Mark’s real world Kips Bay Showhouse/Dallas room.

But, if I was still designing [ remember, I was an interior designer for 16 years of my career, before I started my business 21 years ago ] and I had wanted to spark my imagination with a beginning visual reference for what I wanted to create?

This image might have helped.

Back when I was still designing, social media tools weren’t yet in existence, but when these tools came into existence, it completed changed how designers and their clients could communicate. Think: PINTEREST.

Now, today, we have the next wave of tools: generative AI. These tools are, once again, completely changing the way designers and their clients can communicate, BUT they are not changing why clients need a designer.

AI cannot manage a large design project. AI does not know which vendors have great customer service, and which don’t. AI doesn’t know why one vendor’s sofa is better than another. AI cannot tell you, amongst a dozen choices, why you should choose a particular item so that it fits within the design and so that it will also fit within budget. AI can’t hold your hand through plumbing emergencies or any other kind of emergency that might come up. AI doesn’t go visit artists in their studios and bring you the one of a kind pieces that add a maker’s soul to a room.

Generative AI imagery is good for one thing: fast conceptualization. It’s the new Pinterest.

As Mark is saying, is it important to always be learning? Yes. Is it important to incorporate tools that can make a business run more efficiently? Yes. And AI tools can help with that in lots of ways, but they will never replace the need to hire a designer for those that have the ability and desire to do so.

Mark - again: thank you for writing such a beautiful and important post for all designers [ and our entire industry ] to read and discuss.

Follow Cravotta Interiors on Linked In here.

And if you’d like to add a comment onto Mark’s Linked In post, click here.

I post a lot on Linked In about artificial intelligence and the metaverse, and if you’d like to follow me on Linked In, I invite you to do so by clicking here.

And if you’d like to learn how to use Midjourney AI to spark your creativity, I invite you to take one of our monthly Zoom workshops, all of which can be found on my website under the navigation link: WORKSHOPS.

One parting thought:

You are irreplaceable, but change will always be with us, so learning [ even if you have no intention of adopting ] is always a smart idea.

Leslie Carothers
Principal, Savour Partnership