Lisa Chestnut is calling from her new home in Marfa, Texas. Lisa is one of QCP’s most singular designers. She holds a degree in Landscape Architecture and has worked over 30 years in the industry. She’s also starting over, reapproaching her life literally a thousand miles away from her comfort zone.
It’s another quiet-but-energizing day in this remote border town, with plenty to do but no particular rush to do it. “It’s a one stoplight kind of town,” Lisa says of her new surroundings. “People can leave their doors unlocked or their bike on the side of the road and go pick it up the next day. I literally bought my house over a glass of wine. It’s that kind of a place.”
Apart from Lisa’s voice and a few occasional yips from her Chihuahuas (rescued from the local shelter in February), her end of the phone is dead quiet. No cars passing by, no noisy leafblowers, not even the distant hum of an airplane to fill out the background. It seems like exactly the calm, uncluttered change of scenery Lisa had been seeking since she began to feel crowded out of her old digs in Encinitas, California.
“It’s such a magical place. All I get from it is inspiration: the sky, the storms, the smells, the people. And of course the Judd influence is everywhere,” she adds, referring to sculptor Donald Judd, whose presence here in the 1970s helped put the town on the map for artists and visitors alike. “It's hard to ignore.”
As the woman behind some of QCP’s most popular precast furnishings—including the elegant new Groove table—Lisa has drawn inspiration from her life and upbringing in Southern California. So why leave it all behind? Why now?
“I first visited Marfa a couple years ago and always felt like I needed to get back. Whether full time or as a place to escape to once in awhile. I just loved it here,” she recalls. “Then two big life changes hit me right on top of each other. I lost my mom and I ended a 22-year relationship at about the same time. Two huge life changers like that—at the same time—the world is trying to tell you something.”
She was also feeling a need to change up her own approach to art and life, and Marfa was the perfect place to reset. “I just wanted to free myself and loosen up,” Lisa continues. “I want to open myself to doing more art, like the kind of work I’m doing for Rick [Crook, CEO of QCP] lately. I’m hoping that Marfa will help me develop beyond what I’ve done in the past.”
Lisa’s relationship with QCP began several years ago when the landscape architecture firm she works for collaborated with QCP to manufacture furnishings for a challenging site. “I liked what QCP was doing, but also felt some of it could be improved upon so I asked Rick if I could propose some designs and he said, ‘Sure, show me what you've got. QCP wants to move outside the box people have put them in over the years, which is what I’m trying to do, too.”
One of the ways QCP is opening up new possibilities for concrete amenities is with the new, high-tech Eduracast blend, which is lighter, stronger and more versatile than traditional concrete mixes. For Lisa, it means the freedom to eliminate anything unnecessary to her designs. “I don’t totally understand the science involved, I just love that we can pour so thin with it,” she says. “You can make your design more about the piece itself and not what’s holding it together. That can be a subtle thing, but it really adds something I think people pick up on.”
Minimal and unpretentious, the Groove table might not look out of place in an outdoor restaurant or gallery in a place like Marfa. Does Lisa have any thoughts on where it might look best?
“When I’m designing, I’m usually not thinking of where the piece will end up, but I can picture Groove in any type of setting,” she offers. “I hope my designs can be used and enjoyed by any type of person in any place, but I’d say Groove would look very natural in a minimalist, creative sort of space.”
She’s not following—or looking to set—any trends with Groove either. Or with any of her work for that matter. “I don’t like trends. They come and go. Good design that lasts and lasts is what
I’m after.”
Groove’s inspiration came from the everyday things Lisa sees around her, including jewelry, architecture and interior decor. “Then I put my twist on it,” she says. But does that twist come from being female? In other words, do women and men design differently?
“My first reaction would be to say yes, but I don't think it's always gender based,” Lisa answers after a pause. “Design is intuitive and comes from a place within you through your experiences and paying attention to what is in front of you. I do think that women in design and architecture are being more recognized than they have been in the past, and I love how that’s happening more and more.”
Even while finding her footing in her new environment, Lisa is already feeling the inspiration filtering into her work. She can barely keep a lid on her next collaboration with QCP, which finds her stretching out in new ways, just as she’d hoped.
“We’re working on a new line called Novo,” she reveals, stopping herself short. “Wait can I say that? It may be top secret. It's a complete family of products that are a bit more sculptural than I tend to get. I’m usually very controlled and linear with my designs, so it’s been a fun test for me. Moving to Marfa has been part of that test, letting go of old ties and freeing myself up to inner growth, both emotionally and aesthetically..” In the meantime, does she think any of her work will find its way into a public setting in Marfa? “Uh no, not yet,” she says with a laugh. “This is Judd’s town, and I’m not competing with that guy.”