A story is told without words, through the lens of interior design and set design professional, Katy Fetrow. Katy’s creative background shows how visual storytelling is an important part of communication.
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Our spaces are an extension of ourselves, so I want people to have a relationship to the environments they experience daily. I hope to strike a balance between spaces that are practical yet expressive.” - Katy Fetrow, One Line Design Studio
Q | As a child, what were your interests? What did you want to be when you “grew up”?
I always wanted to be an artist, as a child I thought that meant being a painter, with a picture hanging in a museum. As I got older my understanding of art expanded into music, theater, film and a passion for photography. With interests in video and photo editing, acting, playing trumpet, singing in chorus and a weekly craft night with my mom, she and my dad continuously encouraged my passions that led me to the path I am on today.
At 9, my mom took me to a set build for my older sister’s musical Anything Goes. I sat on a giant backdrop and painted a light grey lifeboat. Later, when I saw the show, I was so excited to see that silly boat up on stage. Ever since, I wanted to be a set designer, to tell stories with spaces. 18-year-old Katy had the foresight to pursue interior design to build a foundation of skills.
and….I also wanted to be a geneticist…
Q | Before your professional career, were you a storyteller? In what ways? tell us your story!
Verbally telling stories is a challenge, my brain moves too fast for my mouth and my words get jumbled. I have always found an ease explaining something through pictures. I was the kid in speech class that spent more time on the visual aids than the actual speech.
I have a love for photos and combining them in various ways can tell a different story or set a different mood.
While studying Interior Design, we had to create concept videos alongside our projects that could inspire us throughout the creative process. The goal was to help us think abstractly and generate mood and tone for a built environment. Combining my love of film, images, and music into something that could inspire a space was a breakthrough for me as a Designer and is still how love to start each project. Every project I’ve ever done has a “theme song.”
A young Katy Fetrow, always creating spaces.
Q | How is Visual Storytelling an important part of communication?
Storytelling brings imagination to life and creates a participatory and immersive experience for the audience. Visual storytelling is a primal form of communication that transcends language. From cave paintings to hieroglyphics to kanji to emojis, humans have been using pictures to convey their ideas for millennia. I often find when I’m having a hard time describing something I say, “Let me draw it for you.” When words fail, an image is the clearest way to express what you’re thinking or feeling. That’s why we will always need art.
Architecture is a form of visual storytelling. The built environment can capture a visual and spatial link that reveres the past, fits present requirements, and is adaptable for future growth. Through the layering and juxtaposition of spaces one becomes aware of how a space may be inhabited and how it interacts with other spaces, and thus a story emerges. From the building’s orientation on a site, to the material of a door knob, each design choice becomes a point in the timeline of a place and culture.
Katy Fetrow in her element preparing set designs during her graduate program at Carnegie Mellon.
Q | What do you hope to communicate in your work?
I want people to have a relationship to the environments they experience daily. Our spaces are an extension of ourselves, so I am inspired to create something that feels authentic and stands apart in a time where everything is beginning to look the same. I hope to strike a balance between spaces that are practical yet expressive.
Stay tuned for Part II
About Katy Fetrow
Katy’s enthusiasm for connecting people to their surroundings is evidenced by her multi-faceted design experience. After numerous years creating multi-family residential and corporate spaces at architectural firms in Boston and Miami, Katy integrated her skillset into film and theatre to visually tell stories though art, lighting, and architecture. Her passion for travel and her curiosity for innovative technology has expanded her vision of how mindful elements can universally connect us. Her work and research have been internationally featured at the Prague Quadrennial, nationally recognized by USITT, and seen on CBS’s FBI and Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. Katy earned her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, is an active member of IATSE USA Scenic Artists 829, and is an integral part of the interior design team at One Line Design Studio.