Benjamin Woolsey/OTTO, courtesy rocky rochon design
Itâs Rocky Rochonâs eclectic eye that draws clients to him, but itâs his
logical approach to interior design that has kept his business booming since 1991. And by booming, we mean a portfolio that includes the homes of some of the original employees of Microsoft and in-progress jobs such as a Whidbey Island beach home and a 200-acre farm on Ocras Island. Seattle-born Rochon received his interior design degree from the University of Washington in 1983 and then moved to San Francisco, where he rose to the top of the corporate interiors ladder as design director for RMW Architecture & Interiorsâsnagging such prestigious gigs as designing the executive offices for Apple. From his schooling, Rochon learned to be a logical problem-solver, which he says many people, including those in the tech industry, can appreciate: âI explain not why that color is pretty but why it should be in the room,â he says. âI also refer to doing interiors as writing a book. You have to have an outline, you have to develop your characters, you have to have a theme.â The eclectic nature of his style came when he moved back to Seattle and opened a retail store called Inside in 1990, which included everything from unique custom pieces to antique finds. The store helped start his residential business in Seattle, and heâs been running from project to project ever since. But he wonât stop there: Rochon just launched his own paint line called Rocky Rochon Paint, will soon open a retail store called The Paint Laboratory, and hopes to launch a furniture line sometime in the next two years. You may not meet Rochon at swanky cocktail lounges, but heâs out there as one of the Northwestâs hidden design stars.
OPPOSITE: Club Zum commercial health club in Seattle, 2002. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Bathroom in a downtown Seattle
penthouse, 1999; media room at a house in Mount Baker, 2006; living area in a house in Medina, 2008.
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