May 16, 2022
Recently, I realized I am personally in the process of crossing a threshold. Since 2020 there have been many “thresholds” crossed not only by me but our entire world. The threshold I’m talking about however is one of transition that I’m not so sure I’m prepared to deal with. You see I started my firm, KDI Design, in 2004 with a sincere passion for doing the “right thing”, always. That meant for my team, my rep partners, and certainly the clients. That passion has only increased over the years and proudly I can say the team surrounding me embraces that exact passion to this day.
Kit DeWitt, 2004
Getting back to that “threshold” thing. The dictionary provides synonyms for threshold as “brink, cusp, verge”. After being involved for over 40 years in the most fascinating field of design and furniture, I find myself working my way out of a position. I’m wearing many hats, as most business owners do…however I’m trying desperately to not bog down our design process. During Covid we, like many firms, had to make some hard decisions regarding personnel. The work just wasn’t coming in the door, our world had officially stopped dead in its tracks. Designing and furnishing workplaces wasn’t on anyone’s mind.
Last year, after hanging on by our fingernails for a solid 12 months, our world slowly opened up, and somewhere along the line it absolutely exploded! The floodgates opened wide and work carts are jam packed with amazing projects! Grateful doesn’t even begin to explain the feeling. Senior-Living, Corporate, and Multi-Family projects galore……a little bit of everything and a whole lotta fun. Since 2020 I had once again assumed the role of lead designer just given the fact that we had downsized to a bare bones staff.
Threshold: Now, the team is getting settled, the workload is manageable, and we are seeing a very bright future once again. We’ve survived that awful storm. I realized through that storm we were responsible for the core teams’ livelihood. That responsibility alone was enough to keep me up at night, let alone this virus that was causing a vulnerability that we’ve never felt before. My husband, our CFO, never missed a day in the office, and I’ll admit I was holed up in our house waiting for the VID to disappear for a couple of months. Ginny, our daughter and rock, experienced all the same feelings and therefore the three of us needed to bond, rally, and turn up the grit meter even further than our norm.
Oh yeah, the “threshold” thing: Like I mentioned, we are no different than our industry peers these days, slammed is an understatement. The cool part for KDI is that though we are busier than we have ever been before, the team is cranking as a whole. Each valued team member is just that….an integral part of the TEAM.
The threshold that I am slowly crossing over is one of my role at KDI. 18 years ago, I decided to start my own firm. I’ve always tried to follow my heart, and hope that others will agree I have also led with my heart, sometimes to a fault. Though I absolutely LOVE the design element of what we do, I realize there are others on the team with equal capabilities. We strive to provide a seamless process for our clients (and team for that matter). I’ll always be involved, and also give my two cents, however now is the time for me to gracefully pass the baton to this more than capable team. You will find me in the studio, always supporting the team, however I have a new hobby now! This will be the first of my blog series. I love to write, I’ve got that passion thing going as far as design and furniture, and I’m excited to share some ideas, tips, tricks and anything in between. Here goes……Blog #1 written….check. This will be most fun if you will chime in with your thoughts too! So, for this week, have you crossed a threshold of sorts in your life? Tell me about it!
- Kit DeWitt, Principal