Quin Gwinn Designs Her Life as Working Mom, Interior Designer, and now Master of Art
Written by Meg Seitz · Photography by Julia Fay
Quin Gwinn is just magic.
It’s a sunny, warm Monday in May; Julia Murray and I are waiting for Gwinn when Julia asks Taylor Florio if she’s seen her around Hygge West this morning. Taylor says no; then, lovingly adds: “Oh, you’ll know when Quin is here.”
And it’s true. {Continued below}
Just a couple minutes later, Gwinn comes bounding in with big apologies, big smiles, big hugs; it’s so much light, magnetic energy, and electricity all at once that it’s almost overwhelming.
As I said – magic; like, that pure human magic.
That kind of magic can only come from someone who knows that what you bring into a room matters deeply. As an interior designer, no one knows that better than Gwinn. She focuses on residential and on small, commercial projects – places that are intimate, warm, and personal.
“When I got laid off, I felt like a big wrench [had been] thrown into my life,” she admits. “And, at the same time, it created a fire for me; I wanted to figure out, ‘what can I do for myself, and how can I figure out how to work so that no one fires me again.’”
A Georgia native, Gwinn studied interior design at Georgia Southern University. Upon graduating, she worked for a small architectural firm in Atlanta; she focused on large scale, commercial interiors for spaces like senior living facilities or community centers.
In 2010, Gwinn and her now-husband, Jason, moved from Atlanta to Charlotte. He had graduated and landed a job as a school counselor; at the same time, Gwinn was laid off. It was an unfortunate byproduct of working in the economically-driven field of interior design post-Recession. Yet, it served as a catalyst for Gwinn.
“When I got laid off, I felt like a big wrench [had been] thrown into my life,” she admits. “And, at the same time, it created a fire for me; I wanted to figure out, ‘what can I do for myself, and how can I figure out how to work so that no one fires me again.’”
With her oldest child in pre-kindergarten, Gwinn had some time to get to know Charlotte and build clientele. To do that, she took a part-time job with West Elm. She realized quickly that a lot was possible for her.
“I realized really quickly that Charlotte is just wide open for opportunity,” she says.
She took the West Elm experience and ran with it. She used her interior design experience to develop the Home Stylist program for West Elm store associates across the country; she later became the first certified Home Stylist for the brand.
“I’m always movin’, movin’,” she notes, laughing and beaming. “I get the ‘how’ question a lot, and when people ask ‘how,’ it’s really a question of ‘when’ – when do I do it? – and my answer to when is when y’all are asleep!”
Then, in 2014, she left West Elm to officially launch Quin Gwinn Studio.
Today, Gwinn’s life is a balance between her work as a designer and her life as a wife and mother. She and Jason married in 2011. They have three children together – Ryan (11), Chase (7), and Gigi (3).
So, here’s where we fire up her real magic with an age-old question – how’s she do it?
“I’m always movin’, movin’,” she notes, laughing and beaming. “I get the ‘how’ question a lot, and when people ask ‘how,’ it’s really a question of ‘when’ – when do I do it? – and my answer to when is when y’all are asleep!”
She talks honestly about squeezing the most of each day; and how she’s learned to be ‘hella’ productive in short windows of time; how she uses the hour before she wakes up the kids or the time after everyone has gone to bed. Or how she sometimes makes up for the lack of sleep with a nap in the carpool line.
She shares about her CEO Monday – she carves out that first day of the week for all the priorities she has to do, but hates to do. Tuesdays through Thursdays are for field and client work; and then Fridays are for family.
She’s funny and candid about it all – but also, real, sharp, and clear, especially when she talks about why finding time for yourself in all this truly matters.
“As a mother, you’re giving yourself to however many people that you think to yourself, ‘where are the pieces for me?’” She admits. “And we have to carve [those pieces] out – they’re not going to just show up; you have to find the time for yourself – and not forget that you’re a priority, too.”
“As a mother, you’re giving yourself to however many people that you think to yourself, ‘where are the pieces for me?’” She admits. “And we have to carve [those pieces] out – they’re not going to just show up; you have to find the time for yourself – and not forget that you’re a priority, too.”
Her clear time and energy parameters have allowed her to accomplish a lot – including her Masters degree. She graduated from Queens University of Charlotte just last weekend with her Masters of Arts degree in Interior Architecture. As much as she enjoys the residential interior design work, she’s excited that the Masters will now give her the space and education to do more socially impactful design work.
Gwinn’s career is making an impact closer to home, too. Her children know she’s an entrepreneur. She observes how different their vocabulary is – her son, Ryan, talks entrepreneurial when he discusses wanting to design an app; her middle child, Chase, asks her if she’s going to meet clients.
“It makes me so happy to know that they know what I do,” she gushes.
Gwinn is the first in her family to earn an undergraduate degree; she’s also the first to earn a graduate degree. Those choices have made a powerful impression on her children, as well.
“After graduation this past weekend, my oldest asked me if I was going to get a job now,” she says, laughing. “It’s cool to see that they see the options – and that you don’t have to land one singular, career option.”
And that’s modern magic.
Happy Mother’s Day to our moms. You’re magic in your own perfect ways.
Meet the Author: Meg Seitz is the Founder and Managing Creative Partner of toth shop, an agency with one goal: Elevate your brand’s content through powerful writing, creativity, and strategy. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor with Queens University and Founding Partner of the children’s book series, “Bea is for Business”.
She’s an English major with an MBA, so she can talk Homer’s “The Odyssey” just as well as she can talk sunk costs – though she’d much prefer the former.
Meet the photographer: Julia Murray, owner of Julia Fay Photography, feels most at home behind a camera with a story to tell on the other side. Her business began during her sophomore year of college, while majoring in radio and tv broadcasting. Now residing in Charlotte NC, she primarily shoots weddings and other local small businesses like her own. Her favorite part about her job is the connection it brings between art and people.
