AUBREY O’BRIEN: Crafting Spaces That Speak

 

Aubrey O’Brien is an award-winning interior designer and international artist whose creative journey is shaped by a fierce dedication to authenticity, hands-on craft, and joy in the unknown. She is the founder of Aubrey O’Brien, Inc., a design studio known for producing interior environments that feel deeply personal, thoughtfully built, and richly textured. 

Foundations: Early Life & Education

Raised in Sarasota, Florida, Aubrey grew up in a family rooted in both interior design and custom construction. From a young age she was exposed to blueprints, building sites, and the tactile world of materials — wood, metal, fabric — long before formal training. It’s a background that informs everything she does: the attention to structure, the love of detail, and the belief that craft matters. 

She studied interior design at Ringling College of Art and Design, where she earned the Presidential Scholar for Interior Design. During her academic tenure, she also gained LEED accreditation, reinforcing her commitment to sustainable practices and material integrity. 

A Design Philosophy Rooted in Optimism & Material Honesty

Aubrey’s work philosophy is described on her site as relentlessly optimistic and undaunted by ambiguity. She doesn’t shy away from the messy parts of design — iteration, material constraints, or unexpected challenges — but embraces them, seeing them as opportunities for innovation. 

For her, every interior is an intimate reflection of the person who will inhabit it. She believes there is no “one size fits all” in design. Her firm specializes in sourcing unique elements, custom furniture pieces, bespoke finishes, and styling that feels tailored. The process is never about copying past successes, but about responding to each new project with its own voice. 

Know-How: Learning by Doing

While many designers work primarily in the conceptual realm, Aubrey balances vision with direct, hands-on work. She apprenticed with an Italian woodworker and also trained herself in metalwork through welding. These experiences give her a grounded familiarity with how materials behave, what craftsmanship demands, and how structure and finish merge to create feeling and durability. 

That learning by doing doesn’t just inform her furniture design and detailing, but also how she leads her firm’s broader design work. It shapes how she sources materials, collaborates with makers and contractors, and ensures that the final outcome is not just beautiful, but built well. 

Career Highlights & Notable Experiences

After her studies, Aubrey took on a range of roles that enriched her perspective. Early in her career, she designed for Walt Disney Company, working under Wing T. Chao, contributing to resort design projects — scale, storytelling, structure, and guest experience. 

She also designed for fashion runway brands, took part in an artist residency in Shanghai, and worked with architecture firms in New York on residential and hospitality projects. Each of these experiences added new dimensions to her craft — from the precision of fashion, to cultural immersion, to managing complex project logistics. 

Her resume also includes residencies, volunteering, mentorship, and teaching roles. She holds adjunct professor roles teaching courses like Introduction to Interior Design and History of Interior Design. These roles amplify her impact — educating others even as she continues to deepen her own practice. 

Signature: What Makes Her Stand Out

• Bespoke & Personal: Every commission is treated as unique. She doesn’t recycle design vocabularies; she listens, probes, and crafts with the client’s identity in mind. 

• Craftsmanship: Wood, metal, texture — the material choices are lived in, tested, and given attention beyond surface beauty. Her apprenticeships and physical work with materials are distinguishing features. 

• Story-Driven Aesthetics: Spaces built with narrative — who is in them, where they are, what matters. There’s a belief that interiors are more than decoration; they express lived experience.

• Optimism & Adaptability: She embraces ambiguity rather than resisting it — whether that means figuring out how to make a difficult material work, or adapting design to site constraints. That attitude allows for creative problem solving and surprising results.

• Educational Engagement & Global Perspective: Her residencies, her teaching, her international exposure (like Shanghai) feed into her design vision. They keep her work evolving, attuned to new influences. 

Bi-Coastal Life & Inspiration

Aubrey splits her time between New York City and Sarasota, Florida. These two locations also feed her design language: the energy, density, and architectural conversation of New York; the light, nature, and tradition of Sarasota. She draws inspiration from architects like Paul Rudolph, who influenced her childhood in Sarasota. 

Her designs often balance contrast — open vs intimate, industrial vs warm, polished vs raw — in ways that feel intentional. This contrast reflects both place and process: material selection, furniture custom work, texture and finish, light and shadow. Every detail is an opportunity.

Looking Forward

As Aubrey O’Brien continues her practice, her ongoing goals include pushing deeper into bespoke craftsmanship, expanding her artistic and furniture design work, staying innovative in sustainable and ethical sourcing, and mentoring future designers. She sees interiors as evolving expressions that must adapt with culture, materials, and technology — while always retaining the human, the personal, the crafted.

For anyone interested in spaces that aren’t just decorated—but that feel alive, honest, and meaningful—Aubrey O’Brien offers not just a designer but a creative collaborator. A partner who brings artistry, technical skill, heart, and integrity to every project.