Nile Johnson on Making Space for Creativity

Original article posted at Business of Home by Caroline Bourque.

Nile Johnson tells his kids all the time: He just knows when they’re not being honest. Likewise, the Philadelphia-based interior designer can walk into a room and know instantly who he won’t get along with or who will be a friend for life. A killer sense of intuition, he explains, is one of his greatest gifts.

That’s what made his choice to take on a client he didn’t mesh with all the more surprising. The way the working relationship unraveled—and what Johnson learned from it—is the heart of the debut episode of Trade Tales, a new podcast from Business of Home. Every other week, BOH editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen will talk to designers about nurturing creativity, figuring out a firm’s finances, setting goals and establishing boundaries. Johnson’s story of bouncing back from a nightmare client kicks off a series that explores what happens when designers take a risk, try something new, and discover their own version of success along the way.

Johnson graduated from The Art Institute of Philadelphia in 2007 at the outset of the financial crisis, just as design work began drying up all over the city. After jumping from job to job, he took a leap of faith in submitting an audition tape for HGTV’s Showhouse Showdown. Though the TV appearance wasn’t necessarily what brought in new work, Johnson credits winning the show with giving him the confidence to launch his own firm and take on a sudden influx of clients—including the dream pair who would eventually recommend him to his toughest client.

After inching forward in fits and starts, the incompatibility between client and designer ultimately doomed the project. Looking back, Johnson acknowledges that his intuition didn’t fail him—he just failed to listen to it. But instead of wallowing in defeat, he used the challenging experience as inspiration for improving operations at his boutique firm. “I think I am the same designer; I think what’s different is I have allowed myself to be supported with help that will allow the process and the creativity to flow simultaneously, so that everything flows together,” he says. “The designer in me hasn’t really changed. I think the business owner—that dial has been turned up.”

If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—new episodes will debut every other Wednesday. This episode was sponsored by The Shade Store and SideDoor.