Design Begins with Difference: What Europe Taught Me - and What America Let Me Discover

Where Europe gives you roots, America gives you wings

Design doesn’t begin with a sketchbook, a mood board, or a Pinterest folder... It begins

With culture.

With contrast.

With difference.

I learned this not in a classroom, but while living in Vienna-a city where every street corner quietly teaches you how to see.

For years, Vienna was my everyday backdrop: Otto Wagner’s steel-and-glass pavilions glowing in the morning sun; Jugendstil buildings with façades that looked almost hand-drawn; cafés where a single bentwood chair could tell a hundred years of Design history. At first I didn’t realize it, but the city was shaping me. It was teaching me a visual language-one built on restraint, harmony, and intention.

Vienna is where I fell in love with design.

Vienna is also where I changed my profession.

Vienna’s Influence

Design as Culture, Not Decoration

What sets Vienna apart isn’t just its beauty but its philosophy. In that city, design is never loud. It never forces itself into a space. Instead, it belongs-to history, to context, to craft.

Living in Vienna taught me three foundational principles:

1. Materials carry meaning

Natural stone. Real wood. Brass that’s allowed to age. Plaster that breathes.

Viennese interiors don’t hide these materials-they honor them. They let time imprint itself onto surfaces.

2. Rooms have purpose

In traditional Viennese apartments, the layout is a sequence of intentional spaces: salons, libraries, dining rooms, even “Vorzimmer” designed only for welcoming guests. Each room has a role, and each role influences how you live.

3. Design begins with subtraction

European modernism teaches discipline: What can be removed? What can be simplified? What is essential?

These ideas seeped into my worldview. They shaped how I saw objects, light, and texture. And eventually, they pushed me to take a leap: to become a designer myself.

Landing in America

A New Design Vocabulary

Moving to the United States Arlington, Virginia was like stepping into a different design universe. Not better or worse. Just different. And that difference is where creativity lives.

Americans approach design with an entirely different energy:

• Optimism (“Let’s try it.”)

• Practicality (“How can this make life easier?”)

• Personalization (“Your home should feel like you.”)

• Scale (Everything is bigger-rooms, furniture, ideas.)

Where Europe gives you roots, America gives you wings.

Suddenly, open plan living felt normal. Kitchens became social hubs. Color palettes expanded. Performance materials-engineered stone, durable fabrics, bold wallpapers-were not a compromise but a lifestyle choice.

The contrast was striking. And incredibly inspiring.

Europe vs. America

Not Opposition, but Dialogue...

Great design happens when these worlds meet...

Where My European Eye Meets My American Home

Today, my work is shaped equally by Vienna’s quiet discipline and America’s expressive warmth. Clients in Arlington, DC, and the region often tell me they want beauty but also livability. They want character but also comfort. They want homes that feel curated, not museum-like.

This is exactly where cross-cultural design shines.

A home can have:

• a European mix of natural textures

• an American sense of comfort and flow

• a Viennese devotion to craftsmanship

• a modern American openness to color and lifestyle flexibility

Every project I design is, in a way, a cultural translation.

Design Begins with Cultural Difference

If Vienna taught me how to see, America taught me how to create.

If Europe gave me the foundation, America gave me the stage.

Design doesn’t come from copying a style-it comes from understanding the cultural DNA behind it. When you blend two perspectives, you create something richer, more human, and more meaningful.

And that is why design begins not with similarity, but with difference.

Interior Designer: Rusa Topchishvili

RT Interior Design