LARRY BEARD JR . DESIGNER + PARTNER . URBANDWELLERS
"urban spaces, often small, are a chance to see the big picture of our lives"
Hey neighbor, it's me, Larry Beard Jr—an urban dweller perhaps like you, has been figuring out ways for you to have a deeper connection to how you live since I was a kid. Encouraged by my parents to redesign entire parts of my childhood home, I found a fertile design playground in small spaces. The garage was a place to invent ideas about how things worked together, and how to solve problems. Yet the family garage contained drama. It was both a playground, AND a serious workshop. It was my special place that was alive with the movement of its own flow, a dynamic place where everyday things happened, and where my imagination soared. My early experimentations with our family space left an indelible impression on my design mind. My epiphany: we can discover a deeper side of ourselves in a small space when it is designed to illuminate our inner lives.
I learned on a visceral level: a small space gives us access to a deeper connection to what we all care about most—through the walkway of left brained efficiency and through the garden of right-brained imagination. urbanwellers is me and Bruce's culmination of refined design skills, sharpened to make urban spaces come alive so we can feel boundless with possibility; because every mood should feel at home, every desire to entertain and every yearning for sanctuary should find fulfillment in the precious space of an urban dwelling. Design and engineering must come together to make our urban dwelling homes into both playgrounds and sacred spaces.
I refined my design skills formally when I studied under Sandy Ihlenfeldt and earned my degree in Design. I immediately immersed myself in the Design discipline and as the Global Art Director for TeleTech®, a public Colorado based company. There I was responsible for the overall corporate branding, creating branded corporate exhibit and event programs, and environmental design for our annual Advisory Board Meeting. Winning awards as a Designer and brand strategist for TeleTech, was due in part to experiencing Bruce's desire of designing smart and beautiful furniture for Heart Art—and my growing desire to experiment with environments. These successes led me to join my partner Bruce in his effort to create furniture designs for a newly burgeoning market: the urban home market. I totally immersed myself in the Denver design community by serving two terms as a board member for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGAColorado),—and my partner, Bruce and I, created several signature furniture designs revealed at the annual AIGAColoradao charity auction gala event known as Heart Art. Our nascent urbandweller company designs were a hit. A growing interesting in me and Bruce's new concepts over the next several years formed the urbandweller brand. Bruce and I saw there was a market for new kinds of furniture that fit the design logic and emotional logic of an urban space, and urbandwellers began to take flight as a bona fide enterprise.
Through urbandwellers, I have tapped into my original inspiration for design. This is my belief that design flourishes in a home, the place where you are proud to socialize in, where it’s safe; a smarter place to live in—an exciting place to live in. I remember my grandmother and aunts used to cook for 13 total brothers and sisters—and their families—after church every Sunday. I recall her ability to use her home to provide herself and her family emotional and spiritual fulfillment. Her deep connection to her home helped others connect to a rich family experience. I carry that lesson with me when I design. For me, urbandwellers draws its inspiration from the potential for emotional fulfillment that lives in every urban home.
Great ideas can happen—from simply doing chores.