Clients may initially be drawn to Martha Pearson’s eye, but they come to trust her ear as well. Working across the residential and commercial spectrum, Pearson appreciates the bonds formed through intensive design projects like full home renovations. “Those are so fulfilling at the end… especially how you become a marriage counselor halfway through the project,” said Pearson. “I am in deep relationships with couples all around town.”
Growing up in Mobile, AL, Pearson didn’t plan for an interior design career. High school vocational quizzes pointed to architecture, which she studied in college before switching to business. A job at Deloitte & Touche lured Pearson to New York, but her heart eventually led her to study design, culminating in a master’s in furniture design and manufacturing from Savannah College of Art and Design. Pearson then realized her long-held dream of living in New Orleans (developed through childhood day trips from Mobile) and in 2018 founded her own firm.
Pearson finds New Orleanians “more inclined to push boundaries” – from design to costuming – and she enjoys that license. Her “layered, storied approach” can be seen in the creative flair applied to a Bywater warehouse-turned-apartment complex, a leather ceiling she envisioned for the former Blue Giant restaurant space, and bold choices and colors she championed for a historic Uptown home.
Pearson’s commercial portfolio includes The Commissary, a project that required injecting hints of Brennan family tradition into what was initially a nondescript space. “Getting the Brennan story across with this very new, modern industrial environment was a lot of research and development on the front end to make sure what we were going for could be executed.” The result was a striking, distinctive indoor/outdoor market and café that feels at home in its Lower Garden District neighborhood.
With commercial projects, Pearson enjoys the freedom of designing something that will appeal to the public, not simply an owner’s taste. As she said, “When a [commercial] project is done, it’s kind of a piece of art.”
Pearson’s dream canvas? “An old, old villa or chateau abroad – getting it into the 21st century… Getting to be face-to-face with historic structures and buildings, roads, all that jazz… that can just inspire you.”
Contact Martha Pearson Designs, 251-463-2236, marthapearsondesigns.com
