Meet Susie Chang

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susie Chang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susie, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Jason and I graduated together in 2011 from CSULB’s Interior Design program. It was a tough job market and once Jason found out he didn’t get hired from the Architecture firm he dreamed of working at, he decided to start this company. CSULB has an impacted Interior Design program and it’s a tough program to get admitted to. There were countless sleepless nights at school while only taking our pre-requisite classes. Not to mention- a lot more all-nighters in the studio once we actually got in. This studio class is small, only about 20-25 students that will graduate from the program each year. We spent so much time together, that we became a family.

Before Jason started the company, our colleague Josh, Jason, and I were hanging out, discussing a business idea of having all our studio mates work at a business we would start one day. We would call it “Studio 11 Design,” because we were the class of ’11 and we went through “studio” together. “Studio” is what we called our classes for Junior and Senior year.

While Josh and I went off to work at other firms, we would always freelance on the side to work on projects with Jason. We’ve also brought on other CSULB Interior Design colleagues at different times to help us when our hands were full. Ultimately, our dreams came true. Eventually I quit my firm in 2019, and I was able to go full-time with Jason. We were able to hire colleagues throughout the years from our “studio” to work on projects at our firm (which has since rebranded) now called “Chlo Interiors.”

What should our readers know about your business?
As an Interior Design business, I think what sets us apart is not having a specific design style that makes all of our projects look the same. Although I think it’s great that some designers have a very distinct style that make people go to them for that distinct style, we pride ourselves in being able to provide a design that our clients envision when they come to us. Obviously, it’s not like we don’t have a distinct style at all- our projects are clean-lined, minimal and modern. Whether our clients like the cozy vintage modern style, or a California coastal style, we help that vision come to life. Another thing we are proud of is the level of detail we are able to provide in our Construction Document sets. This set pretty much is a package our clients can hand off to their General Contractors to build off of without having too many questions for us while building (because all the information can be found in there!). It’s been 13 years since starting and there are so many things we have learned and also are still learning! It would be nice if business classes were also a requirement during school lol.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Day 1: Marina Del Rey to rent a boat for half the day to go fishing. Great White for lunch and Gran Blanco for drinks. After that we would head over to Abbot Kinney to walk off our lunch. I’d then head over to the Venice boardwalk to go people watching. For dinner, I’d go to American Beauty and end the night in Santa Monica at the Bungalow.

Day 2: I’d pick up Mendocino Farms and take it to Santa Monica beach to eat. Towards the afternoon I would head over to Montana Street to get some coffee at Lalaland. We would also walk up and down Montana to eye-shop and get dinner at R+D Kitchen which have the best burgers in town. Goodies is next door and it’s hard to leave without buying something.

Day 3: Malibu for some paddle boarding and eating at Malibu Farms. Malibu Village Mall for some shopping and checking out the Surfrider Hotel for cute interior inspo.

Day 4: Culver city steps for a morning exercise session. Platform for some shopping. Pasta Sisters for dinner, and Oldsfield’s for drinks.

Day 5: Sweet Maple for the best brunch in Santa Monica, and then walking around LACMA for a museum visit. For dinner, Park’s Korean Bbq in Koreatown, and then drinks and karaoke session at Infinity Karaoke.

Day 6: Walking around fashion district, toy district, jewelry district and flower district (such an interesting place to see!). For a quick drink, I’d go to Sunright in Little Tokyo which I think has the best milk tea hands down. For the evening I’d head over to Bestia (always the best food) or Yangban (I’ve been wanting to try for the longest time!).

Day 7: San Gabriel Valley or Rowland Heights for all things Asian and the best Asian restaurants. I’d also try to include Anaheim Packing district (cute shops and restaurants) and Newport Beach.

I feel like 7 days isn’t enough to really check out LA/OC but this was the best I could do!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We feel that we owe a huge thanks to our Department Chair, professors, and associate professors at the CSULB DESN Department. Although at the time we were in school, which felt like hell with all the countless sleepless nights, we now have the discipline and knowledge we needed for this career. People think Interior Design is mostly decorating (which I also thought when switching my major over from graphic design), but we are SO far from that! This program focused on Interior Architectural Design. A big focus was also on providing concepts for each project. WHY we designed the way it did, WHAT it had to do with the program that was given to us, HOW we planned to carry out the design, and WHO the end user is and how it would be useful to them. Each professor had their own unique backgrounds, whether they came from architecture firms, architecture schools, business owners, designers that focused on philanthropic projects, etc etc,… Huge huge huge shoutout to CSULB DESN!!!

Website: www.chlointeriors.com

Instagram: @chlointeriors

Image Credits
Josh Bustos https://www.joshbustosphoto.com/