Her motto is, “design ’til you die.” Tiffany Woodson makes sure spaces are beautiful and well-designed. As managing partner of Dallas-based boutique interior design firm Ink + Oro, Woodson’s portfolio includes some of the most chic multifamily properties in Dallas including The Jackson at Viridian in Arlington, The Margo in Frisco, and 8111 Douglas in Dallas. Founded in 2006 as part of 5G Studio Collaborative, the firm spunoff in 2016. Below, Woodson discusses her childhood passion for interior design, how she got started in the industry, and why she decided to take a leap of faith to leave California as an 18-year-old and move to Dallas. Read on:
D CEO: Can you explain the rationale behind you firm’s name, Ink + Oro?
Woodson: “Ink is basically the idea of hand drafting and the textures of our design. It’s the architecture and hard lines. Oro is more about the orbital movement and the softer, more fluid details of design. Together, like yin and yang, it creates harmony, balance, and beauty.”
D CEO: What would you say is your firm’s design aesthetic and specialties?
Woodson: “We are a commercial design firm, but we have a very hospitality and residential look. It’s a niche that nobody does and we’ve found this gap in the market. One of the great things is that we got into the Dallas multifamily game at exactly the right time. There is this energy in the high-rise market right now to make everything look very residential, and we’ve been able to do that very successfully.
And then our office group has really caught on. Especially with returning to work post-pandemic, people really want to merge that gap between office and residential, and I think we do that very well. We’ve been fortunate to work with some of the who’s who here in Dallas like the Hillwood Group and Lincoln Properties. It’s been fun seeing our team grow from five team members just seven years ago.”
D CEO: When did you first get into interior design?
Woodson: “It’s a funny story. Apparently when I was little, my mom says I used to sleep walk all the time. She says she would come into my room and I would be crying and yelling, ‘My curtains are so ugly and I need to paint my room.’ I guess I had night terrors about how ugly my bedroom was like 9, and I’d rearrange furniture and tell my mom what art to buy. I don’t know, I guess you could say I’ve always had this passion to feng shui a space, probably since I was age 5 or 6.”
D CEO: You were born in California. What originally brought you to Dallas?
Woodson: “Yeah, I grew up in northern California. My mom owned an Italian restaurant. My dad owned an excavation business. They wanted me to stay in California, but I didn’t think there was challenge in that. So, I’m 18 and it’s my senior year of high school, and I start looking at places to move and for design schools to attend. Miami was too expensive. Los Angeles? No way! New York? No. So I looked at Texas. At the time I could pay rent for less than $500 a month, and Dallas had a great interior design program that was accredited. And, call me crazy, but I decided to move here after only ever visiting one time.
I attended Dallas County Community College and met so many great people when I moved here. I got to know a ton of connections in the design community, and we had a really great class… And so when I finally graduated and started looking for a job, no one would hire me because I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree. So that’s why I decided to start my own firm. And I guess the rest is history.”
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