Susanne Andrey, director of inspiration at Infuse Ideas, says her job is akin to a producer on a movie set. “I put the team together to produce the project and I manage the production,” Andrey says. She walks her commercial interiors clients through the design concept phase for their workplace environment, she bids out what the company needs from her trusted list of vendors, and she manages the project through fabrication and installation. “I’m a turnkey solution for branding, graphic identity, signage, and decoration. Once the carpet is down and the walls are painted, anything that goes on the interior I can handle, even custom furniture or millwork,” she adds.
Andrey’s interiors projects frequently center around wide-format digitally printed artwork, wallcoverings, and graphics. She’s not a fan of vinyl. “It belongs in sports stadiums; I don’t think it belongs in offices or restaurants,” she says. Instead, she prefers Monadnock Envi paper. For wide-format printing, she often uses California-based Smart Levels Media and K & L Wide-Format Digital Printing.
With the growing trend toward creating appealing and inspiring corporate interiors – especially in California where tech companies are competing for employees with the likes of Google and Facebook – Andrey’s clients are often willing to do a photoshoot specifically for the imagery that will grace their walls. This type of customization and focus on the artwork is a boon for Andrey, who started Infuse Ideas in 2008 when she moved to California from the East Coast, where she previously owned a similar company serving tradeshow and retail clients’ graphics needs. “I find I can do more creative things at the corporate level and we have better assets to work with,” she says. “In retail, they only need it for five months so they would just take anything. But in architectural interiors, they ask you to have more longevity and beauty and something that is more finished.”
Andrey is no newcomer to the printing industry. She started her career working for a small ad agency with a printing facility and was immediately drawn to the wide-format projects. In the 1980s, when photographic processes were the only game in town, Andrey convinced the photo printing company she worked for to open a large-format facility in Boston. “I saw a market for them in tradeshows,” she says. Andrey worked for them until the company was sold, which is when she struck out on her own. She’s been carving her own path ever since.
“My job is to go out and find the best resource for this particular job. That makes me an advocate for the end user,” she says. “I’m not a printer and I don’t want to be. I sub everything out and I feel every print shop has a different strength, so I want to hire the right shop for the right job.”