Co-owner and principal designer Anne De Wolf joined the company in 1998, a year after her husband, Richard De Wolf, founded ARCIFORM. Raised in Germany, she officially moved to the the US in 1993 after meeting Richard while living on a sailboat in South Carolina. They went on a road trip to Oregon, fell in love and were married just 6 months after.

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR FREE TIME?

Work is like a favorite hobby to me. I’m designing all the time. We’re always remodeling our own home—a historic mansion in NW Portland, that needed to be saved and restored. When I’m not designing you might find me at the house we built on Willapa Bay, gardening, watching Korean TV, antiquing with friends or running—I just started exercising again, and I’m sore!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT YOUR JOB?

I love how design inspires and motivates. I love how much fun I have with my co-workers and my clients during the design process. Taking things too seriously has no place in our days. I think when you’re having fun, the design flows more easily and you can see that in the end result. It’s wonderful when a team feels like they all created something beautiful together. Helping people design their homes can be an intimate process. I feel lucky to have had many friendships develop through my work.