From the March 26, 2010 Edition of Dallas Business Journal, please see article and link.

Green Squared is proud of its affiliation with Faulkner Design Group and wishes them continued success. Adrienne and her team are visionaries in the area of interior design and bring an acute awareness of environmental sustainabiilty and energy efficiency to their design processes.

Faulkner Design Group Inc.’s leader carries on family legacy Adrienne Akin Faulkner carries on a family legacy with her interior architectural firm, Faulkner DesigGroup Inc.

BIGGEST PROBLEM

When Adrienne Akin Faulkner started Faulkner Design Group Inc. in 1992, she had a hard time getting people to take her seriously as an interior designer. But after landing a couple of jobs for well-known personalities and clients, and getting a little success under her belt, Faulkner Design Group quickly took off. Today, Faulkner works on large-scale projects, both nationally and internationally.

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Adrienne Akin Faulkner had no intention of following in the footsteps of her grandfather, famed architect George L. Dahl, who designed several notable Dallas buildings, including Methodist Hospital, the Earle Cabell Federal Building and buildings at Fair Park.

But the pull toward the world of design was just too strong. On a trip to visit friends in Los Angeles one year, Faulkner ended up on the campus of Long Beach State University, looking at the curriculum for the third-year interior design program. At once, she knew it was the career she wanted. So she ditched her plans to attend Thunderbird School of Global Management to pursue an MBA and instead registered for the interior design program at El Centro College.

After graduating with a professional certificate in interior design in 1990, she landed a job with Dallas-based Fusch-Serold and Partners Architects. When the work started to thin out, Faulkner was relegated to drafting, something she did not like.

As luck would have it, an up-and-coming star of the Dallas Cowboys, Troy Aikman, needed some interior work done on his house. It was the year before he won his first Super Bowl, and after meeting Faulkner through a mutual friend, he selected her to do the work. About the same time, Faulkner landed work rehabilitating residential space for JPI Multifamily Partners LLC.

With those two jobs, in 1992 Faulkner launched Faulkner Design Group Inc. from her home. Today, Faulkner Design Group is a fully integrated interior and architectural design firm with 18 employees, an office of more than 9,000 square feet and $9 million in revenue. The company’s work is primarily interior design but also includes consulting on exterior construction materials, such as paint.

“We started having some success,” Faulkner said, explaining that some properties she had designed ended up selling for more than comparable properties.

The biggest obstacle she faced early on was being taken seriously in the industry.

“I was young,” she said. “People sometimes call us interior decorators, but I’m actually more of a connector by trade. I like connecting people and making a win-win situation for everyone.”

Over the years, Faulkner has learned how to create win-win situations for her clients.

“There’s a lot of firms that do what I do that can do a nice end result, but that’s a small part of it. It’s the nuts and bolts in between,” said Faulkner. “Can you work efficiently? Can you handle a client’s money? Can you give them the service at all levels? What I’ve seen in the last 20 years is that you cannot afford to have someone in the process who is not savvy in knowing how to do a tight set of plans or how to use their (client’s) resources.”

One of Faulkner’s clients, Bryant Nail, a partner at PM Realty Group who has worked with Faulkner for more than 12 years, agrees that quality service and resourcefulness are what set Faulkner Design Group apart.

“They do better work than others I’ve worked with in the past. They are willing to take the time to find an affordable way to make something look great without sacrificing quality,” Nail said.

Of special interest to the firm is its focus on senior-living communities. For more than 10 years, Faulkner has been working to create senior-living facilities that maintain the same level of warmth and continuity of living for all stages of care. Faulkner plans to take her work in the senior residential sector to more areas outside of the United States.

“I think we’re going to see a paradigm shift in Asian cultures (toward a bigger need for senior-living facilities), just like in our own cultures,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner creates her designs with flexibility in mind. With more than 600 communities and 160,000 multifamily and senior- living units to its credit, it would seem plausible that creative inspiration would decline over the years. But Faulkner stays fresh by seeing design in everything.

“I’m very passionate about people, places and things. I’m passionate about life and the things life brings you,” she said. “Design is everywhere. You touch. You feel. You want to continue the great experience.”