A little about me…
I grew up in an artist’s home. And every home we lived in was transformed into a unique work of art. The smell of oil paints, charcoals, turpentine, wood…filled the air and seemed perfectly normal to me. To tear out a wall or paint a room a radical color was easy. We lived outside the box. My love of materials, home design, and making things started early. I would rake fallen leaves into floor plans in our yard, and build houses out of cardboard, sticks, pillows, rocks, and snow. It was from here, in the woods of the midwest, my education about the impact of the natural world on our living environment was born.
I believe in the healing power of Nature. The profound affects the elements have on our sense of well-being. This led to my interest in holistic therapies. And the connection between our bodies, minds, and the spaces we inhabit. I practiced Five Element Acupuncture for over a decade, working one on one with clients helping make connections between the laws of nature and state of mind. This profound work was only the beginning of my passion for transformation through our connection to the natural world. And I wanted to reach more people. So it was only natural to take this information into physical space…like doing acupuncture to a room. It started by designing and making furniture and functional art. In 2004, I created Barefoot Design custom concrete furniture. I had to balance all the ethereal energy work with something really heavy and grounding… something…concrete! But soon I found my passion for turning people on to the deep and powerful affect our environments have on us grew into working with whole space transformation and interior design. Creating sculpture to live in. Really, our homes should be a sanctuary from the chaos.
My intuition is my design partner. It’s a vibular thing. I trust the hair standing up on the back of my neck more than the latest “rule” or trend or blog post about what colors work where. But I will always explain why I feel the way I do. I love working closely with clients to help people become more aware of what it is to live with good design, beautiful lighting, color, texture, organic materials, and the profound affect it all has on our subconscious, our moods, our feeling of well-being.
My intention is to cultivate design that encourages reflection on our relationship to nature, to world cultures, to ourselves.
Design that is sensual, encourages you to touch, to relax into it, to kick off your shoes…completely functional art. Completely personal.
Welcome to Barefoot Design.
Elegant.
Grounded.
Organic.
Whimsical.
~ Keelin Kennedy