Architecture and interior design company Uptic Studios Inc., of Spokane, has completed the formation of Uptic Curated, a design division dedicated to providing procurement, styling, and staging services to clients throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Uptic Curated is the vision of Uptic Studios creative director Julie Collins, who co-founded Uptic Studios with her husband, architect Matthew Collins. She is also the creative director and principal of Curated, a division she describes as a studio within a studio.

As reported previously in the Journal, Uptic Studios began to plan and conceptualize the new division last November, initially naming it Uptic Interiors LLC. 

Since then, Julie Collins and the marketing team have given the division a new name, Curated. They’ve also fine-tuned the studio’s offerings, and hired Joanna Gott as director of Curated. Gott, a native of Washington, was previously the head of visual merchandising for Waco, Texas-based Magnolia Market and has recently relocated to Spokane.

“Our goal is to find specific, individual furnishings for our clients as it relates to the entire design of their homes, whether or not they have gone through the architecture and design process with Uptic Studios,” says Julie Collins.

In August, Uptic Studios and Uptic Curated will move to 402 E. Sprague, southwest of the University District Gateway Bridge. The company currently is located in smaller quarters at 152 S. Jefferson, in downtown Spokane.

The new space is about 14,000 square feet, nearly four times larger than the space it occupies downtown. Collins says about 4,000 square feet will be used for office space and the remaining 10,000 square feet is warehouse space for future growth, including shop space for employees to design and create furniture pieces.

“It’s exciting for Uptic Studios, because people want to start making things, having shops and tools,” says Collins.

Collins explains that interior design within Uptic Studios is focused on the built-in features of homes and commercial spaces, such as cabinets, certain lighting, tubs, kitchen sinks, stoves, and other attached features.

As a new division, Curated provides concept boards, renderings and materials selection services, and works with each client to source supporting furniture pieces, rugs and textiles, art, and other décor.

Curated can provide add-on services to existing Uptic Studios clients that are working with the architecture and interior design team or be a standalone service to clients looking to “curate” their space.

Uptic Studios currently has 26 employees, including five licensed architects and eight architectural designers. Uptic Studios also has a satellite office in Bellingham, Washington, with one employee.

Collins declines to share projected annual revenue for the divisions, but says the company is on pace to meet revenue goals.

Gott says the procurement services offered by Curated can range from furnishing an entire home, or room, or simply adding a few pieces.

“Even if it’s just updating a few pieces in your house, or even just rearranging pieces in your house, I always tell people that is the simplest way to do a refresh,” she says.

Curated’s design process has several phases from the initial inspiration, coming up with a concept, and selecting the specific pieces, says Collins.

“In our design process, we have drawings, furniture, and layouts where a client can see the exact size of their space and how all the items work together in a floor plan, a bird’s eye view,” she says.

The process also requires several conversations that enable the team to understand clients’ needs and match them to the appropriate vendors and artists, she says.

“It’s like a treasure hunt—finding the right pieces, the right vendors, the right makers, and always making sure we’re on budget,” Collins says.

Styling services for interiors is included as part of the procurement service or can be offered independently, says Gott. Styling services at Curated focus on enhancing the aesthetic and functional appeal of clients’ spaces using existing furniture and items found in their homes, says Gott.

Collins says staging services focus on preparing a property for sale or rent.

The Curated team currently has three projects, one is a staging service for a downtown commercial property, and the other two are procurement services for residential homes in Idaho.