Colette van den Thillart is an interior designer born in Orangeville, Ontario, who grew up in Mississauga. She traces her passion for design to childhood, including a bedroom she designed herself at six or seven, with grass green shag carpet, daisy wallpaper, and yellow curtains, later recreated and shared on Instagram. She began her career after a two year diploma at the International Academy in Toronto, working first for a small residential firm before joining Toronto designer Brian Gluckstein, spending roughly a decade helping grow the studio from a handful of people to eighteen.

A move to London with her husband and young children led Colette to complete a Master's degree in decorative arts through a program based at the Wallace Collection, studying English country houses and French estates. She then spent twelve years as Creative Director for British designer Nicky Haslam at NH Design, working on projects from a grade two star listed historic restoration to residences in Istanbul and Marrakesh.

About a decade ago, Colette returned to Toronto and founded her own eponymous studio, now a team of seven handling residential projects worldwide alongside commissions such as the interiors of one of the country's oldest private members clubs. Her practice is guided by a belief in atmosphere over trend and transparent trade pricing. Her work has earned ARIDO Residential and Loft Conversion Gold Awards, House & Home's Designer of the Year, and the Designer Society of America's Design 360 Award. She is currently producing a documentary about Elsie de Wolfe, founder of the interior design profession, built around a scrapbook collection acquired at auction in Los Angeles.

⁠⁠Colette Van Den Thillart Interior Design⁠⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Snøhetta

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Daniel Baumann and Vanessa Kassabian are the two leaders running Henning Larsen's New York studio, and their combined story runs from childhood living rooms all the way to construction sites around the world.

Vanessa grew up in a matriarchal household in San Antonio and Houston, patching drywall and hanging blinds long before she ever set foot in a drafting class. That class, in middle school, was the first of many steps that carried her through Tulane's five year architecture program and into an early career shaped by a tough economy, a decade at a Norwegian design firm, and a deliberate pause to raise her son. She landed at Henning Larsen in 2025, in a role she describes as a full circle moment.

Daniel's path started an ocean away, in a small town in South Germany and then Copenhagen, where he grew up an introverted kid who loved books and drawing and, by his own admission, hated sports. He found his footing on a Danish tall ship during his military service, then later at the Royal Academy, through a bruising master's program at London's Bartlett, and through a grinding stint at Foster and Partners before he joined Henning Larsen. He eventually helped open the New York office in 2018, and he speaks openly about a burnout he went through and how it reshaped the way he leads today.

Daniel and Vanessa speak candidly about the parts of architecture school that never get taught, things like management, finances, and resilience. They talk about the mentors and the difficult bosses who shaped them, and what it actually takes to build a studio culture where an idea can travel around a room until it clicks. They also dig into Henning Larsen's foundation owned structure, its in house PhD research program, and hands on experiments like a UPenn cooling shelter collaboration and a straw based building facade. From there they turn to the projects defining their growth across the US and Canada, from Mission Rock in San Francisco to Raleigh City Hall, Harvard's Enterprise Research Campus, and a new civic center taking shape in Etobicoke, Toronto.

This is a conversation about resilience, mentorship, and building places worth showing up for, on the job site and off it.

⁠Henning Larsen

Upcoming Episode

⁠Colette Van Den Thillart Interior Design

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠⁠

Emma and Darcy are the founding principals of & Daughters, a Vancouver based architecture and interior design studio established nearly a decade ago. The two met during their first week in the Master of Architecture program at the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, where a shared preference for desks near natural light placed them side by side in studio. They developed a close friendship throughout school, collaborating on design build projects and studio work before launching their own practice together in their late twenties.

Emma began her design career at Vancouver based St. Marie, where she served as project lead on the Botanist restaurant at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel. Darcy spent roughly six years at the boutique residential firm Scott Posno Design, taking on responsibilities spanning consultant coordination, municipal approvals, and client relations. Their earliest independent commissions included a condominium renovation in Vancouver's West End and a barn on a family property east of Oshawa, Ontario.

The studio gained wider recognition for its design of a sushi focused cocktail bar above Namos restaurant on Fraser Street in Vancouver, developed for the restaurant's owners. Working with a limited budget inside an unremarkable existing space, Emma and Darcy built their design strategy around lighting, using warm amber toned illumination to create an immersive, sunset like atmosphere throughout the room. Photography of the completed project drew significant attention and helped establish the studio's reputation in hospitality design.

& Daughters now works across residential and commercial hospitality projects, with a growing focus on refined interiors for restaurants, bars, and homes. Emma and Darcy have expressed interest in eventually taking on a boutique hotel project.

&Daughters⁠

Upcoming Episode:

Henning Larsen

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caplan's Appliances⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Doors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠To connect with our sponsors, email me: jonathan@issuedforconstruction.ca

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Issued For Construction⁠⁠⁠