The Napkin Sketch

Ah, the napkin sketch. I find beauty in it - it's somehow intriguing to me. Perhaps it's evaluating the thought process that went into it. I've been drawing "napkin sketches" since as long as I can remember. It started with creating little floor plans out of play-doh in kindergarten. By the time I was in first grade, I was drawing my own little "dreamy" floor plans. It must have been the influence of growing up with rolls of blueprints around as my mom spent late nights drawing furniture floor plans, lighting plans, etc at her drafting board. Thirty plus years later, I am still drawing floor plans!

Kelly Wearstler's sketch (above) for her boutique at Bergdorf Goodman translated into this:

And as for the work of Philippe Starck, all I can say is brilliant! The man is genius!

I've forever been enamoured by the sketches of Frank Gehry (& there is a movie of the same title!).


To freely hand sketch in furnishings helps to get a sense of placement before starting the hard-line drawing:

And of course, a great rendering is a work of art.

We are still accepting submissions for our current month's design challenge - please submit your living rooms for a free space plan! I'm looking forward to featuring the blog post - and I'll need to start with a napkin sketch!