Spotlight: Spoak your Space Winner, Arriane Serafico

Hi, Arriane! Please introduce yourself.

I'm Arriane, a photographer and writer living in Raleigh, NC. I share my space with a husband who tolerates, I mean, appreciates my design whims, a two-year-old who's determined to undo them, and our beloved rescue dog who's perpetually unimpressed.

Oh, and I'm originally from Manila, Philippines where if you purchase/build a home, it’s most likely to be a “forever home” - something passed down through generations - which probably explains why nostalgia is a huge influence in my interior design sensibilities.

What 3 emojis would you use to describe yourself?

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What was the vision for your winning design in this giveaway?

The vision isn’t a particular aesthetic, but to create a room that's a time capsule of this particular moment in my toddler’s life. 

Here's my hot take: a childhood bedroom shouldn't be timeless. It should be time-full. Like a dog-eared page in the story of growing up, vivid and unmistakable. I want my kid to remember this room not because it was Pinterest-perfect, but because it was boldly, unapologetically magical. Think less 'tasteful neutrals' and more 'controlled chaos with lots of personal stories'.

Here are some of my inspo photos:

And here’s where my Vizi is at the moment. A canopy over the bed on track curtain rails (inspired by Sara Charlesworth @chalkwhitearrow), a comfy reading chair, blue walls (and maybe blue ceilings, too).
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My challenge to myself for this room design is to shop more from small businesses, emerging artists, or secondhand, and less new-for-the-sake-of-new. And to incorporate some DIY touches that feel really personal to our family (more on that below!).

What does your relationship with design look like?

Design isn't just a part of my life; it's the lens through which I see the world. It's been that way for as long as I can remember! I’ve dabbled in graphic design, experience design, interior design, instructional design, graphic design - all of it. I'm drawn to design for its ability to weave stories and context from beautiful things, solve problems that actually matter, and let us build, express, and experiment with our identities.

My inspirations? I know it's cliché to say "travel," but it is what it is. One of my favorite design destinations is Morocco–the designs there are so different from mass-produced, algorithm-approved aesthetics online.

These days, my online home/interior design inspirations are Matilda Goad, Paige Wassel, Karie Higgins, Ethan Gaskill, Laura Jackson, Beata Heuman, and Jessie Bush.

What’s your most prized possession at home?

My collection of film cameras. I once picked up (and had to fight a guy over) a vintage Hasselblad camera at an estate sale for an impossibly low price. I documented my pregnancy through the pandemic with film, and it was such a transformative creative exercise - so these cameras are very meaningful to me.

What do you do on your time off to recharge creatively?

Recharging creatively? With a toddler and house renovations, that's like trying to meditate in a mosh pit. By 7 PM, my brain's basically mush and I'm just trying to avoid any more stimuli.

I’d say traveling is still my preferred way to recharge. I recently took my first trip without my child this summer - I went to Paris to watch the Eras Tour and made a side trip to Morocco with one of my closest girl friends. Talk about a creative jumpstart!

With a kid, that kind of travel is a rare luxury for me, so now it's all about the little things: thrifting adventures, losing myself in audiobooks/podcasts, falling down YouTube rabbit holes, and devouring Substack newsletters by my favorite women writers. For interior design in particular, I’ve been intentionally exposing myself to more and more international sources of inspiration - I love reading design blogs/magazines from Australia, Japan, and Korea.

What’s something you’re looking forward to right now?

I'm knee-deep in this wildly ambitious DIY project - creating a hand-drawn pattern to print on fabric for my son's room. I’m using Procreate to illustrate a pattern made out of his favorite things: animals, dinosaurs, you name it.

Will it look professional? Absolutely not. Will it be deeply personal and probably embarrass him in 10 years? You bet. And that's exactly the point. I'm creating memories, not a showroom. I’ve never done any of it before – illustrated a pattern, print it on fabric - so I’m nervous and excited! Stay tuned :)

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