Angie Lee Believes Connectivity is the Key to Progress

Pembroke’s vice president and head of interior design, part of Metropolis’s Specify Hot List 2021, talks about developing human-centric spaces as the president-elect of the IIDA International Board of Directors. 

By: Anna Zappia

Angie Lee, vice president and head of interior design at Pembroke and former partner and design director of interiors at FXCollaborative, uses a multifaceted approach to create interiors that have emotional resonance. As the president-elect of the IIDA International Board of Directors, she is set to apply the same balance of technical skill and creative thinking to steering the group’s sustainability and social justice efforts. 

“When you walk into a space that moves you, it’s because the designer was able to channel a profoundly personal point of view that they translated from a client brief into an honest understanding of human-centric values,” Lee says.

She thinks IIDA could similarly translate design from a privilege for a few into a benefit that’s accessible to all. “That kind of impact, that impression on memory that design can accomplish, is something I’ve always strived to do,” she says.

In her design career, for example, she has aimed to create experiences instead of interior looks. It’s an agility that comes from 20 years of honing her craft. “The typology, residential or commercial, the budget—it doesn’t matter as far as I’m concerned. It’s a matter of finding the best possible solution for any built environment.”