Leading with Responsible Design

October 20, 2026 Taylor Moore

How to guide client choices to build healthier homes

In 2021, I pursued a dream that had been hibernating for over 10 years: to build an interior design career focused on sustainable and healthy interiors. Ironically, I found little demand for this type of residential interior design in my active, nature-focused mountain community. I launched my practice anyway.

Currently, clients find me through word-of-mouth referrals or my online portfolio and most don’t cite sustainability or health as specific goals. However, regardless of budget or square footage, my clients consistently emphasize four priorities: durability and longevity, family wellbeing, comfort and efficient resource use. They may not use the language of healthy interiors or sustainability, but these values are the foundation of what I like to call “responsible design.”

Responsible design focuses on creating spaces that minimize environmental impact and prioritize human health through strategic design decisions and knowledge-based material selections. It doesn’t have to mean committing to a particular certification system or stringent threshold requirements. Rather, responsible design identifies impactful opportunities that align with the client’s aesthetic and functional goals. In some projects, this could mean finding Red-List-free products that the client loves and prioritizing indoor air quality through natural fibers. In others, avoiding water-intensive materials and focusing on recycled materials may meet the client’s needs. A third project may source from B-corporations and only use Good Weave rugs. Rather than limiting my scope of work, I use the approach of responsible design to widen the possibility of making impactful choices in every single project.

Existing frameworks and groups such as WELL, LEED, Living Future, Six Classes and Healthy Materials Lab can be helpful starting points, but since many clients generally aren’t pursuing specific certifications and sustainability or healthy interiors may not be part of their specific goals, I remain fluid in each project’s criteria. Pulling from my resource library of vetted products, materials and companies, I look for opportunities to make meaningful specifications in areas of high impact that won’t sacrifice a client’s aesthetic vision and functional needs. It’s far from perfect, but I’d rather make a few impactful sustainable or healthy choices than none at all.

I believe in the power of certification systems and how identifying specific and measurable thresholds are important for distinguishing meaningful achievements and moving the needle forward. We need more stringent codes and legislation that takes a stand based on findings of scientific research. Yet until then, we can still make an impact, even in a small way.

Our role as designers is to understand clients’ needs and create spaces that achieve these goals. However, many clients are unaware of, or simply overwhelmed by, the health and environmental impacts of their decisions and how these decisions can inadvertently conflict with their priorities.

Interior designers are hired for our expertise not just in aesthetics, but also in material knowledge, longevity and livability. This means we are making decisions that will impact their families’ health for years to come and we have an ethical responsibility to use the research and science being revealed to make educated recommendations. Most clients don’t know to ask about off-gassing, flame retardants, or lifecycle impacts and that is exactly why we must think ahead for them and champion materials, brands and products that do better.

Sometimes this is easier said than done. In the residential space, I yearn for more conversations around material transparency, traceability and environmental impact. Sometimes I cannot find options that align with both my values and the client’s preferences and end up focusing on client satisfaction. Despite this, I continuously remind myself that even a few wins in each project are still progress.

Consumers face an overwhelming amount of information when trying to select products and materials that are reliable, durable and safe for their families and pets. Greenwashing and inflated claims only deepen the confusion. This is precisely where we come in.

As interior designers and industry professionals, our role is to cut through the noise and guide clients toward high-impact choices, whether or not they’re specifically asking for them. For clients pursuing certification targets or navigating chemical sensitivities, we bring deeper technical expertise. But even without that mandate, the responsible design approach creates an opportunity for meaningful change in every single project. Progress doesn’t require perfection. I believe that a few strategic, informed decisions, multiplied across our collective client base, add up to something significant. We can make a difference and we must, even if our clients don’t ask for it.

By Andrea Lackie. She is the principal and owner of Andrea Lackie Design. She can be reached at andrealackiedesign.com.