"Interior Design: Where Do We Go From Here?"
As the co-founder of Studio O+A, the San Francisco design firm responsible for groundbreaking offices at Facebook, Microsoft, Slack, McDonalds and many others, Verda Alexander has spent 30 years in the design industry redefining workplace and looking ahead to the future of work itself. Now branching off from the commercial mainstream of O+A’s core business, Verda’s new work focuses on expanding the conversation around design, social justice, climate activism and art.
Verda’s vision has shaped the company from its earliest days. Combining a multi-disciplinary career with a passionate commitment to improving lives through design, her typical contribution to a project is to question received wisdom, test basic assumptions and look beyond conventional solutions to a more creative path. Verda’s experimental projects for O+A, from pop-up installations on the future of the office to a mobile design lab partnering with communities across California, have consistently opened new doors of exploration in the company’s approach to more mainstream projects.
Named by Contract Magazine Designer of the Year with Primo Orpilla in 2012, Verda is also a member of Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame. In 2016 Studio O+A received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Interior Design.
