Key Takeaways from Our Interview with Rebekah Zaveloff

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Rebekah Zaveloff is the co-founder and creative director of Imparfait Design Studio, and she also leads Kitchen Lab, the Chicago firm many people still associate with kitchens even though she has designed whole homes for years. In our interview, Rebekah walked us through her background in fine arts, her years in restaurants, how she learned construction by working directly with contractors, and what it actually looked like to build a second brand without throwing away decades of visibility.

Laura Umansky and Melissa Grove also shared their own experiences running a firm with two very different service lines. Listen to this episode if you have built a solid studio, but your systems feel stressed by growth by a pivot, or by serving multiple types of projects at once. Also listen if you are doing great work and still feel like you’re guessing at marketing, process design, or team structure.

Introducing Rebekah Zaveloff of Imparfait Design Studio

Rebekah Zaveloff is the co-founder and creative director of Imparfait Design Studio and Kitchen Lab Interiors, a Chicago-based interior architecture and design firm known for character-driven residential work that balances creativity with technical rigor. With a background in fine arts, hospitality, and kitchen design, her career developed through hands-on industry experience rather than a traditional linear design path. That combination of artistic training and problem solving continues to influence how she approaches both design and business decisions today.

In this DesignDash Podcast conversation, Rebekah joins Laura Umansky and Melissa Grove to discuss the evolution of her firm, the launch of Imparfait alongside Kitchen Lab, and the operational lessons that came with growth. The discussion moves beyond aesthetics into topics many firm owners quietly navigate, including brand identity, construction literacy, marketing strategy, and how studios adapt when their work expands faster than their structure. The insights below highlight what designers can realistically apply to their own businesses.

Key Takeaways from Our Conversation with Rebekah

#1 Your firm may actually be serving two different businesses!

One of the most valuable insights from this conversation is that many studios unknowingly operate multiple businesses under one name. Rebekah explains that Kitchen Lab originally focused on kitchens and renovations, but over time the firm began completing full homes. The market, however, continued to associate them with kitchens because of branding language.

Instead of forcing one identity to carry everything, she created Imparfait to clarify scope internally and externally. Laura immediately connects this to her own work at Laura U Design Collective, and also how many of the firm owners in the DesignDash Community operate.

“We have pretty much two groups… heavy construction projects and furnishings projects. Those are very different things.”

Takeaway for Firm Owners

If projects require different timelines, budgets, workflows, or client expectations, you may not have one service offering. You may have two. Figuring out that distinction and acting accordingly will simplify marketing, staffing, and decision-making.

#2 Construction knowledge changes how designers make decisions

A recurring theme throughout the conversation is Rebekah’s belief that technical understanding fundamentally changes how designers operate. While many designers focus early on aesthetics or sourcing, she credits construction exposure as the turning point that allowed her work to scale successfully.

Her first professional experience came through a kitchen design firm, where she worked closely with contractors and trades rather than operating purely from drawings. That environment reshaped how she approached design decisions.

Instead of treating construction as a downstream responsibility, she learned to evaluate how every specification affects labor, sequencing, and cost before it reaches the field. That perspective changed how she communicates with builders and how confidently she can guide clients through decisions.

Laura and Melissa reinforce this point during the discussion, noting how younger designers often assume they must already know the answers rather than learning collaboratively from tradespeople. Rebekah pushes back against that assumption when she encourages designers to ask questions early and often rather than designing in isolation.

“There’s this whole idea that you have to know everything. Like, no. Ask questions. Ask for advice.”

This ties back to another recent DesignDash article where we chatted with Stacey Garcia about whether designers need formal training. In her opinion, you “don’t have to have the formal training as long as you’re working with people who do so you don’t make mistakes.” Whether that’s tradespeople, architects, or other designers, leveraging others’ experience and education is key to a successful firm. 

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Your authority and impact will increase when you understand execution instead of focusing too much on the conceptual. Site visits, contractor conversations, and technical curiosity reduce costly revisions, build trust with project partners, and improve your own literacy within our industry.

#3 Brand equity is an underestimated asset

One of the more surprising lessons from Rebekah’s story comes from what almost happened during the Imparfait launch. After nearly twenty years operating as Kitchen Lab, she initially planned a full rebrand. The assumption was that a new direction needed a clean break from the past. Instead, outside advisors helped her recognize that the existing brand had a lot of value beyond recognition alone.

“You guys have serious digital equity in Kitchen Lab.”

An SEO consultant explained that years of press mentions, backlinks, and online search behavior had created authority that could not be recreated quickly, regardless of marketing spend. Melissa expands on why this matters for established firms considering similar moves.

Rather than abandoning Kitchen Lab, Rebekah chose to let it function as an entry point while Imparfait clarified the firm’s higher-budget, longer-duration projects. The two brands now support each other rather than compete.

“Kitchen Lab absolutely sends clients to Imparf. So giving that up would have been just bananas.”

This distinction allowed the firm to evolve its positioning without discarding the credibility it had already built.

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Rebranding is not purely creative because your visual assets are not the only assets branding has created. Because of this, rebranding a design firm is also operational and digital. Before changing names or positioning, evaluate what visibility, trust, and search authority your current brand already has online. Sometimes evolution is a much better choice than replacement.

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#4 Marketing isn’t just one job

Another important takeaway comes from when Rebekah realized that “marketing” is actually several separate disciplines. Early in the process of building her firm, she searched for a single partner who could handle branding, PR, strategy, social media, and implementation simultaneously. That expectation quickly proved unrealistic unless you want to work with an agency (which Melissa does not recommend).

As she worked through the launch, Rebekah began consulting specialists individually. She gathered perspectives from naming experts, SEO consultants, branding strategists, and PR teams. By making that shift in expectation, she clarified decision-making and better understood where each type of expertise added value. Marketing should be a system of coordinated roles rather than a single outsourced solution.

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Before hiring marketing support, define the specific problem you are trying to solve. Strategy, branding, publicity, and execution require different skill sets. Clear expectations lead to better partnerships and better results.

#5 Strategy without execution does not move a business forward

Rebekah is surprisingly candid about where her firm struggled most during growth. They had great vision and incredible ideas, but follow-through was the primary problem. Like many principals, she enjoyed developing strategy but found consistent implementation difficult alongside project demands.

“I knew that my weakest point is implementation.”

Instead of hiring senior strategists, she hired team members responsible for execution. Their role was maintaining consistency across social media, communication, and visibility efforts. This highlights a common hiring gap between planning and operational reality. Many firms know what they should be doing but lack ownership structures to ensure it happens consistently.

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Growth never comes from better ideas alone. Assign responsibility for execution; make employees “owners” of to-do’s instead of leaving everything up in the air. Consistency builds visibility and increases momentum over time; you can’t rely solely on thought-leadership.

#6 Different project types require different systems, not just more staff

As Kitchen Lab expanded into whole-home projects, Rebekah realized that kitchens and large residential builds operate under entirely different logistical conditions. Yes, they look different, but the main difference was more structural than aesthetic. Whole-home work operates at a completely different scale.

That difference multiplies coordination rather than just increasing volume. A kitchen project may involve a tight set of decisions moving in a predictable sequence with a known set of partners. A full home introduces overlapping timelines, multiple consultants, construction documentation phases, procurement tracking across hundreds or thousands of items, and longer decision cycles with higher financial stakes. It also means managing client expectations during slumps of activity, which we call “the valley of despair.” 

Adding more designers does not automatically solve that complexity because the issue is not how many people are working. It is how the work proceeds through the firm. Without different workflows, teams end up switching mental models constantly, moving between fast-paced renovation decisions and long-horizon construction planning within the same week.

Laura immediately relates this to the internal structure at Laura U Design Collective, where architectural projects and furnishings projects require different workflows, timelines, and communication styles.

“Those are very different things and it’s hard to do them all as the same group.”

Our conversation with Rebekah reframes operational stress as a systems issue rather than a staffing problem. 

Takeaway for Firm Owners

If projects feel increasingly difficult to manage, the issue may not be workload but rather workflow. Different project types often require distinct processes, expectations, and team structures.

#7 Experiencing life as a client improves how designers lead projects

Being a client is key to understanding your clients and relating to them will only make you a better firm owner. When Rebekah was looking for marketing professionals to help with her rebrand, she found herself in that role. For the first time in years, she was positioned entirely on the other side of the relationship. As the client, she was navigating uncertainty, evaluating expertise, and making decisions without fully understanding the process herself.

“It was really interesting being a client for the first time.”

That experience reshaped how she evaluates communication and service delivery inside her own firm. Instead of viewing client reassurance as an “optional soft skill,” she started to see it as a structural part of professional service. Clients are purchasing outcomes, sure, but they’re also purchasing confidence throughout a long decision-making process. They need your support and execution.

“It’s a wonderful perspective to feel good about your purchases rather than having buyer remorse.”

Laura and Melissa connect this idea to the fact that designers operate inside familiar systems every day, while clients encounter those systems for the first time. What feels routine to a studio can feel uncertain or high-risk to a homeowner committing significant financial resources. Experiencing that imbalance firsthand helped Rebekah refine how her team communicates expectations, explains decisions, and supports clients during moments of hesitation.

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Stepping into the role of client, whether through consultants, coaches, or outside vendors, can sharpen how you structure your own service experience. Understanding what clarity, responsiveness, and reassurance feel like from the receiving side often leads to stronger communication and better long-term client relationships.

#8 Clear boundaries protect clients from decision fatigue

Toward the end of the episode, we talk about a huge frustration for firm owners: when clients continue to search for alternatives after selections have already been finalized. Online platforms and algorithms reinforce uncertainty by repeatedly presenting similar options (we’re looking at you, AI), which can make clients feel as though better solutions are always available.

“You are seeing it because you added it to your Pinterest board and now it’s serving up all of the things over and over again.”

Rebekah explains that her team addresses this behavior directly and immediately instead of accommodating endless comparison cycles. At a certain point in the project, continued searching stops being productive and starts undermining progress.

“We literally will say, ‘Stop shopping.’”

Laura describes a similar boundary that LUDC sets once projects transition into execution.

Together, Laura and Rebekah reframe boundaries as a form of leadership rather than restriction. Clients often continue searching because they feel responsible for making the “perfect” choice. Clear direction from the designer reduces anxiety and allows momentum to keep carrying the project forward, especially during procurement and installation phases where delays can be extremely costly.

Without defined decision endpoints, projects risk looping back into earlier phases and that can increase revisions, timelines, and emotional fatigue for both client and team.

Takeaway for Firm Owners

Decision closure is an operational responsibility that your firm is responsible for. Establishing clear moments when selection ends and execution begins protects timelines, reduces redesign cycles, and helps clients move forward with confidence instead of uncertainty.

Listen to the Full Episode on DesignDash

This interview covered a lot more than her “rebrand” story, and she has so much more wisdom to share in the podcast episode embedded above. Rebekah talked about hospitality, construction, naming, SEO, marketing partnerships, implementation, client boundaries, and the reality of managing two distinct categories of work under a single shingle. Laura and Melissa brought their own experience into the conversation too, which is always valuable.

If you’re building a firm, considering a pivot, or trying to make your marketing less chaotic, the full episode is worth your time. And if you still have questions, please leave them in the clients below or join the DesignDash Community!

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
Our contributors include experienced designers, firm owners, design writers, and other industry professionals. If you’re interested in submitting your work or collaborating, please reach out to our Editor-in-Chief at editor@designdash.com.