South Pacific Design Group
http://www.hawaiianstylemagazine.com/article/articles/194/1/South-Pacific-Design-Group/Page1.html
By Kristina Anderson
Published on 04/1/2008
It was just another sunny day in Haleiwa, the picturesque surf town on O‘ahu’s fabled North Shore. The first substantial swell of the season was in, and the big surf breaks—Pupukea, Pipeline and Sunset Beach—were cranking out expert conditions. Tourists strolled the streets looking for T-shirts. The aroma of fresh garlic shrimp, a North Shore staple, wafted enticingly on the breeze. And at the offices of South Pacific Design Group, partners Christopher Moreland and Ursula Gehrmann were tending to business as usual, which today included the rather challenging task of explaining to a visitor what they are really all about.
It was just another sunny day in Haleiwa, the picturesque surf town on O‘ahu’s fabled North Shore. The first substantial swell of the season was in, and the big surf breaks—Pupukea, Pipeline and Sunset Beach—were cranking out expert conditions. Tourists strolled the streets looking for T-shirts. The aroma of fresh garlic shrimp, a North Shore staple, wafted enticingly on the breeze. And at the offices of South Pacific Design Group, partners Christopher Moreland and Ursula Gehrmann were tending to business as usual, which today included the rather challenging task of explaining to a visitor what they are really all about.
Here’s what they are not. They are not general contractors, architects or ASID interior designers. They are not formally trained in the classic sense of the phrase, they are artists. But at this very special design-build firm, Moreland and Gehrmann have nevertheless hit on a successful formula. That’s because for the past 10 years, they have been producing outstanding custom residences where every square inch, including every last pipe, toilet fitting and light fixture, is custom fabricated. They even help some clients find the lot.
“We are creative expressionists, eclectic artists who connect the dots and basically do everything; we don’t sub anything out,” explains Moreland, trying to sum up the team’s intangible talents. “We stay 100 percent with the client. We’re hands-on and yet we work with a whole team of professionals—consultants, architects, engineers.” Fabrication is done in Indonesia by their colleagues, affectionately known as “Team Indonesia.”
While they take on only one big art project per year, on average they work about a dozen smaller projects annually. The majority of projects are located on O‘ahu’s North Shore, however they have projects island wide and as far as Fiji and Bali, Indonesia.
Moreland, who has a fine arts background, says the first thing they did when they started the business was to sit down and sketch out who their ideal client would be. Explains Moreland: “We determined long ago that the profile of our model client was someone we connected with on every level. It’s someone we could get a good groove on with; someone who would trust us completely and then let us go.”
Much to their delight, most of the time they actually do find clients who match this profile.
“I’m actually really happy to say that in all cases our clients are beyond happy and totally satisfied with the final result,” adds Gehrmann, a local girl who began her architectural education as an apprentice with the Honolulu offices of premier international architects WATG.
“Because this is such an intimate process, what we love best is how all the clients become family friends,” she says. “We get together and have barbecues and bonfires, with the dogs and kids and everything. We even travel together. So using the term ‘client’ almost doesn’t somehow seem appropriate. What we do creates such a sense of bonding, we think it’s more fitting to call our work a lifestyle rather than a job.”
Finding business has never been a problem, even though South Pacific Design Group does not advertise, never posts a sign at a job site, and doesn’t even have signage on their office door. (Indeed, the mailman directs unfamiliar visitors to their place.) Gehrmann says their philosophy has always been the “Field of Dreams” mantra: if you build it, they will come. And that’s exactly what has happened. “We sat down, created our vision and goals, put it out there, and just knew clients would show up. And they did,” confirms Moreland.
The process starts with intensive and thorough, “getting-to-know-you” sessions, where clients are even given “homework” that ensures the entire team is on the same page. A schedule is set. Then work begins, lasting anywhere from three to five years.
“Oftentimes clients come in with nothing but a dream,” says Gehrmann. “It helps that there are two of us listening, and two of us with the passion and experience to fulfill their happiness.”
“I think we’re best at being able to interpret a client’s abstraction,” adds Moreland. “We’re able to extract it out of their brain. That’s probably our biggest asset.”
Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Moreland began traveling in his late teens, finally landing in Hawai‘i on a flight layover with $10 in his pocket. He went to U.H. where he studied art, but soon came to the conclusion he needed to make money quickly. He worked for a design-build firm for a decade, becoming very successful at design and sales, and to better understand what he was designing and selling he moved from the office to the construction field where he rounded out his skills as a builder. He then met Gehrmann, who brought a unique sense of Hawaiian architectural aesthetics. They hit it off, and South Pacific Design Group was born.
Both Moreland and Gehrmann are ocean lovers, although neither surfs. Rather, they love free diving because it’s not only meditative and relaxing, but it’s also an excellent metaphor for their brand of design work.
“In free diving, you take one deep breath and you relax,” explains Moreland philosophically. “You then survey your surroundings and suddenly things show up that weren’t there before. I’ve had a lot of interesting design resolves pop out when I am free diving. It’s the only time everything disappears. Creativity takes hold and life becomes artistic. After a dive, I sometimes come back to a problem I have set aside with the solution.”
Gehrmann agrees. “You have so many ‘God’ moments while diving, waiting for the fishes to appear.”
It’s obvious that the team does not see any divide between what they do as designers and how they live life—it’s all one and the same, or in Moreland’s words, “You take the good with the bad and then you realize there is no good or bad. That applies to life as well as to our work here as designers.”
Gehrmann’s gratitude is genuine: “I know it sounds like a cliché, but I think we are so blessed. Not everyone can have such great relationships with clients. When we reach the end of an art project, and are invited for a sunset cocktail with our clients, who are still giddy, and they say, ‘This is more than we could have ever imagined.’ It feels so good to know we were able to make their dreams happen in the way they were meant to unfold.”
Kristina Anderson
It was just another sunny day in Haleiwa, the picturesque surf town on O‘ahu’s fabled North Shore. The first substantial swell of the season was in, and the big surf breaks—Pupukea, Pipeline and Sunset Beach—were cranking out expert conditions. Tourists strolled the streets looking for T-shirts. The aroma of fresh garlic shrimp, a North Shore staple, wafted enticingly on the breeze. And at the offices of South Pacific Design Group, partners Christopher Moreland and Ursula Gehrmann were tending to business as usual, which today included the rather challenging task of explaining to a visitor what they are really all about. For this Haleiwa design firm, work, art and lifestyle are one and the same
It was just another sunny day in Haleiwa, the picturesque surf town on O‘ahu’s fabled North Shore. The first substantial swell of the season was in, and the big surf breaks—Pupukea, Pipeline and Sunset Beach—were cranking out expert conditions. Tourists strolled the streets looking for T-shirts. The aroma of fresh garlic shrimp, a North Shore staple, wafted enticingly on the breeze. And at the offices of South Pacific Design Group, partners Christopher Moreland and Ursula Gehrmann were tending to business as usual, which today included the rather challenging task of explaining to a visitor what they are really all about.
Here’s what they are not. They are not general contractors, architects or ASID interior designers. They are not formally trained in the classic sense of the phrase, they are artists. But at this very special design-build firm, Moreland and Gehrmann have nevertheless hit on a successful formula. That’s because for the past 10 years, they have been producing outstanding custom residences where every square inch, including every last pipe, toilet fitting and light fixture, is custom fabricated. They even help some clients find the lot.
“We are creative expressionists, eclectic artists who connect the dots and basically do everything; we don’t sub anything out,” explains Moreland, trying to sum up the team’s intangible talents. “We stay 100 percent with the client. We’re hands-on and yet we work with a whole team of professionals—consultants, architects, engineers.” Fabrication is done in Indonesia by their colleagues, affectionately known as “Team Indonesia.”
While they take on only one big art project per year, on average they work about a dozen smaller projects annually. The majority of projects are located on O‘ahu’s North Shore, however they have projects island wide and as far as Fiji and Bali, Indonesia.
Moreland, who has a fine arts background, says the first thing they did when they started the business was to sit down and sketch out who their ideal client would be. Explains Moreland: “We determined long ago that the profile of our model client was someone we connected with on every level. It’s someone we could get a good groove on with; someone who would trust us completely and then let us go.”
Much to their delight, most of the time they actually do find clients who match this profile.
“I’m actually really happy to say that in all cases our clients are beyond happy and totally satisfied with the final result,” adds Gehrmann, a local girl who began her architectural education as an apprentice with the Honolulu offices of premier international architects WATG.“Because this is such an intimate process, what we love best is how all the clients become family friends,” she says. “We get together and have barbecues and bonfires, with the dogs and kids and everything. We even travel together. So using the term ‘client’ almost doesn’t somehow seem appropriate. What we do creates such a sense of bonding, we think it’s more fitting to call our work a lifestyle rather than a job.”
Finding business has never been a problem, even though South Pacific Design Group does not advertise, never posts a sign at a job site, and doesn’t even have signage on their office door. (Indeed, the mailman directs unfamiliar visitors to their place.) Gehrmann says their philosophy has always been the “Field of Dreams” mantra: if you build it, they will come. And that’s exactly what has happened. “We sat down, created our vision and goals, put it out there, and just knew clients would show up. And they did,” confirms Moreland.
The process starts with intensive and thorough, “getting-to-know-you” sessions, where clients are even given “homework” that ensures the entire team is on the same page. A schedule is set. Then work begins, lasting anywhere from three to five years.
“Oftentimes clients come in with nothing but a dream,” says Gehrmann. “It helps that there are two of us listening, and two of us with the passion and experience to fulfill their happiness.”
“I think we’re best at being able to interpret a client’s abstraction,” adds Moreland. “We’re able to extract it out of their brain. That’s probably our biggest asset.”
Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Moreland began traveling in his late teens, finally landing in Hawai‘i on a flight layover with $10 in his pocket. He went to U.H. where he studied art, but soon came to the conclusion he needed to make money quickly. He worked for a design-build firm for a decade, becoming very successful at design and sales, and to better understand what he was designing and selling he moved from the office to the construction field where he rounded out his skills as a builder. He then met Gehrmann, who brought a unique sense of Hawaiian architectural aesthetics. They hit it off, and South Pacific Design Group was born.
Both Moreland and Gehrmann are ocean lovers, although neither surfs. Rather, they love free diving because it’s not only meditative and relaxing, but it’s also an excellent metaphor for their brand of design work.
“In free diving, you take one deep breath and you relax,” explains Moreland philosophically. “You then survey your surroundings and suddenly things show up that weren’t there before. I’ve had a lot of interesting design resolves pop out when I am free diving. It’s the only time everything disappears. Creativity takes hold and life becomes artistic. After a dive, I sometimes come back to a problem I have set aside with the solution.”
Gehrmann agrees. “You have so many ‘God’ moments while diving, waiting for the fishes to appear.”
It’s obvious that the team does not see any divide between what they do as designers and how they live life—it’s all one and the same, or in Moreland’s words, “You take the good with the bad and then you realize there is no good or bad. That applies to life as well as to our work here as designers.”
Gehrmann’s gratitude is genuine: “I know it sounds like a cliché, but I think we are so blessed. Not everyone can have such great relationships with clients. When we reach the end of an art project, and are invited for a sunset cocktail with our clients, who are still giddy, and they say, ‘This is more than we could have ever imagined.’ It feels so good to know we were able to make their dreams happen in the way they were meant to unfold.”