Meet Luke DeLatour - A1DesignBuild Designer
A1DesignBuild is a home builder in the Bellingham WA area that also provides architectural design services. We specialize in everything from home remodels to complete high-performance home builds, and our over 70 years of providing excellent service to the community assures that your home project gets done right - each and every time. Read on to learn more.
A Designer Who Builds What He Draws
Everybody has an origin story. Luke's involves 400 artists, a company he first noticed from his car, and a Venetian street stone that hasn't moved in centuries. Read on to learn more.
A1DB: What got you interested in design?
Luke: I got interested in design through art. I used to produce art shows, and seeing how art was brought into the world inspired me and design is a part of that. It's taking ideas and bringing them into being. You're mixing the joy of something beautiful with something functional. I love that about design and buildings: you're creating comfortable, functional spaces that inspire people and bring joy to their lives.
I'd say one of the key aspects of good design — design that works — is that it works for the client. When you're meeting with a client and hearing their needs, you're learning about their life and how they move through their home. Good design incorporates their needs but also brings a bit of art, joy, and comfort into the space.
It's been a long path for me. I got started at A1DesignBuild because I drove by, saw the company's sign, looked them up, and thought it looked like a really cool company. So I eventually got hired and jumped in as a carpenter. I learned how buildings were built, what inspired their placement, how they were oriented, how water got to the building. Then I did fabrication for a while and learned how to build things. Design was the next step: I wanted to design spaces that people live in and bring some art into them. A space that breathes with you and is healthy for you and makes for a better life.
I think the integration of design and build is a symbiotic thing. When a client comes to us with an idea, we have the entire team here — from builders to designers — and we can all work with each other. The carpenters and designers can work through the details together and understand how the materials and the build will actually come together. It's beneficial for everyone to be in the same space.
That positively affects the end result because we can walk through the entire process in one place. The designer designs it, works with the builder, and everything becomes more efficient, and the quality is there because we're part of every step. The client stays connected to the process the whole way through.
A1DB: Tell us a little about some of the books, movies, or anything else that have inspired you — things that became foundational to how you do things.
Luke: I consume so much about building that there's no one book I can point to. I'm constantly looking at what other people are building, seeing what new ideas are out there, and looking at everyone's design ideas so I can bring that into our business and keep finding something new to share with clients.
“This job proved to me that something could fulfill a purpose while also meeting a great aesthetic. Design only works when it meets the needs of the client. ”
One thing that's stuck with me: Venice. The whole city is marble — every window, every threshold, it's all stone, and the entire city sits on water. I watched three men repairing the cobblestone streets, replacing the stones exactly the way they'd originally been set. Each stone was about three feet by three feet and six inches deep. They pried one out with a pry bar, fitted a new stone in its place, took it back out, chiseled the edges by hand, and fit it again — no power tools, just chipping and shaping it the way it was originally done. It's amazing to see that craftsmanship.
Learning to build things with your hands is wonderful. When I'm looking for design inspiration, it's all around us: any book, constantly searching the internet for different designs, just seeing things. It's pretty wide open.
A1DB: What kind of art did you produce?
Luke: I was an art show producer — an event producer. I'd put on large art shows with anywhere from 300 to 400 artists, and being surrounded by that art in all its different forms was amazing to me.
A1DB: Tell us about one of your favorite projects.
Luke: One of my favorite projects was a deck we built for a client, a beautiful space designed for entertaining. Out on Chuckanut. It was a great space to work on and included some fine, detailed craftsmanship. It was also the first job I worked on here at A1, and between the welcoming crew and the deck itself, we created something beautiful by the time it was done.
A1DB: What was special about it?
Luke: The end result, just the little details. It all came together to show a team of people doing the best work they possibly could to create a stunning outdoor space. Seeing it go from the design and the drawings to real life, seeing all those fine points come together into something beautiful — that really inspired me.
A1DB: What's another project that excited you?
Luke: Converting a bathroom for a client who used a wheelchair. We went into the home to make the space more usable for her, and by the time we were finished, she had a space that was both functional and beautiful — well-lit, with beautiful tile work. That proved to me that something could fulfill a purpose while also meeting a great aesthetic. Design only works when it meets the needs of the client.
A1DB: Any advice for people looking to get in design or do something artistic?
Luke: One of my favorite quotes is: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." I love that — it's about believing in something and just starting. If you love something, get going. Get a sketchbook and start drawing or writing or doing whatever moves you.
Just begin. There’s no better time than now.
Want to learn a little more? This month, A1DesignBuild is giving away 4 free hours of design and architecture consultation to the first 5 customers who sign up. If you need a little inspiration, now just might be the time.
