Lydia Corser of Greenspace and Eco Interiors.
Lydia Corser remembers when, nearly 20 years ago, she told people that she was a “green” interior designer. She got some confused looks.
A common response was: “So you only work with the color green?”
Now, of course, times have changed. Everyone understands that being “green” means being conscientious of the environment. Things have gone so far in the other direction that now all designers, Corser points out, are expected to have at least a basic understanding of the environmental impact their products have. Corser distinguishes herself, however, with a singular passion, backed up by decades of intensive research.
“My internal mission to save the planet drives me in every aspect of my professional and personal life. You can call me a religious zealot, I guess. That’s, I think, the difference,” Corser says.
Calling her design company Eco Interiors, she wanted to pursue her love for architecture, design and colors, but still be able to feel good about the effect she was having on the planet.
Some of what she does differently than other designers has to do with the products she’s using— natural paints, for example. But often times, the difference is in the decisions she makes as a designer. If she sees, for instance, cabinets that can be re-furnished, she, unlike a lot of other designers, will opt for that instead of tearing them out and starting fresh. This in turns uses less energy and resources, which lowers the impact on the environment.
“I’ve actually done that a lot. It works against me in terms of opportunity for business, but I hate to see things wasted. When there’s a perfectly good layout, there’s no reason to redo the whole darn thing. There’s a lot to be done to retro-fit a kitchen and bring it up to snuff,” Corser says.
Years ago, she won a design bid for a residential home through the City of Santa Cruz by proposing a layout that stayed within the same blueprint of the house, whereas all of the other designers proposed construction that would build an addition to the home.
Additionally Corser owns and operates Greenspace, which sells home and remodeling products, all green of course. But she doesn’t just take the manufacturers’ word on the products she sells; she researches every product in her store independently before it goes on the shelves. She will study everything about it, from its creation and transportation to its actual use in the home, to determine how green it really is.
“Some things are really, really crunchy granola. And some things are like, ‘well, it’s made in the US, and you know, it’ll last a long time.’ There’s always pros and cons to every product, a reason why we have them there.
Some of those reasons aren’t as strong as others. Others are way more overwhelming,” Corser says.
She works with her customers to understand exactly what is important to them and directs them to the appropriate products. Do they care most about minimizing their carbon footprint? Are they more concerned with lowering toxins in their home? In some cases, Corser recommends that people don’t buy from her at all, but walk next door and purchase products from the Habitat ReStore.
“It depends what they’re looking for. A lot of times on small projects, it’s more economical for people [to go the ReStore], and it’s also better for the planet to encourage people to reuse,” Corser says.
In the past two decades, she has watched as her industry has changed to become more environmentally conscientious. There was a slight boom in the ’90s that rose and then fell with the dot-com bubble. Things picked up extraordinarily in the mid-2000s, but then fell again in 2007, when the economy tanked, which was coincidentally right around the time she opened Greenspace.
In many cases, these rises in the public’s interest in green home design have been driven less by a desire to save the planet than a health concern about reducing toxins in their home.
“People don’t come to me and say, ‘I want to reduce my carbon footprint, I’m going green.’ The whole wave behind this industry was preceded exactly parallel with the organic food industry,” Corser says. “People think about their health. They have children and they think about what they’re putting in that child’s body. Not just in the food, but what’s also in their indoor environment.”
Greenspace
729 Swift Street, Ste 56-A,
Santa Cruz
Eco Interiors
719 Swift Street, Santa Cruz
