originally posted on Boston Voyager on September 3, 2018.
Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Kosasih.
Alicia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia throughout high school and came to Boston to pursue higher education. I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Operations Management from Boston University in the year 2014 and worked for about a year back home. However, I’ve always wanted to be in the Design field and therefore decided to return to the US to initially test the waters. What I thought would have been a one-semester design school trial ended up to be a success. Throughout my study, I was blessed with several awards; including First Place at New England Design Showdown in 2016, where my work was featured at Design England Magazine. My design portfolio was also awarded as top 10 nationally by the American Society of Interior Designers at the same year and later honored Best In Show at the 2017 International Interior Designer’s Association Design Awards hosted by their New England Chapter. I graduated from New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University in 2017, and currently working as an Interior Designer at one of New England’s most established Architecture & Design firm, CBT Architects.
Today, my design work focuses on educational environments, ranging from maker spaces, innovation centers, libraries, integrated learning centers to specialized learning spaces such as performing art center and theater. Our clients vary from Pre-K to Universities from both the public and private sectors. Additionally, I am also actively involved in developing our internal design research on the role of innovation and wellness in our constantly evolving interior spaces to learn and work.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not always been the most exciting one. After earning my Bachelor’s Degree, I went home knowing that there was something left to explore and I knew I just had to give it a try. When I expressed my intention of going to design school with my parents, the reaction was not exactly positive, as none of our family members is professionally trained neither as an Architect nor Designer. I decided to give it a shot anyway, and believe that hard working and passionate people are as equally deserving as naturally talented people to be successful.
I remember very clearly that I almost failed one of my foundation classes during my first semester, and had a firsthand taste of design school’s famously brutal working hours. Furthermore, I felt everybody in the program was incredibly talented in what they do; so the only way to survive is to work even harder. The design industry is always highly competitive, it gets very easy for anyone in the field to have a moment of Impostor Syndrome and feel they are not worth their presence. However, I have a firm conviction that everyone has an equally interesting stories and point of view; the only differentiating factor is how hard and passionate they are about making their career goals come true. Success is never a straight path; life has its own unique ways of providing each person a journey of their own to get to places they want to be.
what should we know about Interior Designer at CBT Architects? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am currently working for a Boston-based Architecture & Design firm called CBT Architects. We are a 220-person firm with an established presence in the country, particularly in the East Coast. Our work covers various built environments across different uses, including Multi-family residential, Education, Hospitality, Retail, Workplace, Cultural, and Urban Planning. Within the firm, I am part of a 20-person Academic Studio, where we actively design learning & living environments for various academic institutions. My current projects include a performing arts center & theater for a private school in Newton, MA and an innovation space for a private university in downtown Boston.
Our studio specializes in designing innovative, user-driven learning environments which include, but not limited to integrated science centers, maker spaces, innovation centers, performing arts centers, student commons, dining hall facilities and residence halls. We are interested in creating spaces where students and faculties are given the freedom to perform at their best, and therefore improve overall education quality. As learning is quickly evolving from a traditional model into more project, collaborative-based method, we swiftly adapt to this trend and work with our clients to provide best environments to support these activities and break the conventional pedagogy.
Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
Allow me to quote Tim Notke, a high school basketball coach whose words got popularized by NBA player Kevin Durant: “Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.” It is very easy for anyone to doubt themselves, as our landscape becomes more competitive every single day. However, as long as we keep the passion alive, and give our best with good intentions, then it will always pay off.
Contact Info:
Website: aliciakosasih.carbonmade.com
Instagram: instagram.com/aliciakosasih
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aliciakosasih
Image Credit:
CBT Architects, Design New England Magazine, author’s personal works
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