Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Clayton.
Hi Kristen, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey into the world of interior design started when I was young. My babysitters were a couple, the Wiggin family, she was an interior designer, and he was an architect. They both took me to work with them on occasion. I became obsessed with the language and emotions of color, line, shape, form, space, and texture, and moving ideas from two-dimensional to three-dimensional space. Soon I started to collect paint cards, fabric swatches, and flooring samples. I would invite my friends over and design their dream homes, including a brief consultation, mood board design, and an architectural rendering provided by a home design game I was devoted to as a child. During this time, I was also surrounded by a community of mystics with all the spiritual aesthetics, tarot cards, crystals, sound bowls, astrology, etc. I always felt called to be a healer, but Reiki, mediumship, etc., didn’t seem to fit. After helping my mom design several childhood homes and always being an active and avid artist, I discovered that my healing gift was rooted in what I could create for others. My art and design products seemed to have the ability to align and raise vibrational frequencies. This felt like a calling worth pursuing.
Fast forward to high school and college, where I studied interior design, decorative arts, and art administration. My studies captured art and interior design’s transformative and healing, almost medicinal quality, primarily when it reflected nature and human essences. My experience revolved around museum administration, self-expression through the arts, art therapy, and the intersection of art and healthcare. In addition to art administration, my identity as an abstract artist and critical, creative practice is heavily influenced by the spiritual quality of art and design.
Upon graduation, there didn’t appear to be a space for this amalgamation of interests and experiences, as if my purpose had no focal point. Still, I used the methods offered by An Aesthetic Healing to transform my personal space and provide consultations to loved ones. Then, several years later, after losing my job at the High Museum due to the pandemic, I felt called to create a space where folks could come to receive design as healing, to transform their space in alignment with their purpose and higher self. A space where I could offer a decade worth of knowledge to transform and heal folks through design, which has nurtured me since the beginning. A sacred professional space.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The journey to create An Aesthetic Healing often felt like I was clearing my path, constantly encountering obstacles. For most of the journey, I have been relatively alone, which is a different type of struggle. Another challenge has been and still is juggling multiple jobs and encountering teaching and non-teaching examples.
Also, creating the consultation and design methods used in An Aesthetic Healing required me to undergo an intense healing journey. However, coming out on the other side personally and professionally has allowed me to serve as a guide for others. Now, my interior environment and artwork reflect the beauty and transformative process of healing. I hope to help others achieve the same.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the founder and Creative Director of An Aesthetic Healing, a design studio specializing in one-on-one and couple design consultations with a mystic touch. An Aesthetic Healing provides holistic design consultations that guide clients in curating their sacred space to heal the soul and nurture the higher self visually.
This process was born from my abstract art practice, curatorial projects, interior design knowledge, and art therapy teaching experience. The An Aesthetic Healing process aligns with my path: to reveal the therapeutic and mystical capabilities of design to optimize the human experience. Just like in fashion, we often handicap ourselves by strictly abiding by trends and design styles which usually doesn’t leave much room for selecting objects based upon a more profound meaning and energy level. Curating as a space attuned to facilitating conscious healing and growth illustrates the process of sanctifying your surroundings. I look forward to the day when our design language has shifted. Instead of saying the theme of this space is boho or mid-century modern, we talk about design like the vision and manifestation boards that decorate corkboards and desktop background. Imagine designing with the intention for a space focused on growth in your career, conjuring self-love, and promoting positive expansion in all aspects of life, with the visuals to match. This design language is at the root of the An Aesthetic Healing process and consultation.
My process involves analyzing and interpreting the client’s current curated/interior environment and assigning meaning to each element and principle of design within the space. Then I visually connect their current state to their ideal/future self, the version of themselves that is healing, that has accomplished or has the tools to achieve their goals and dreams. I also interpret the client’s essence and aura, which I picture through an astrological and intuitive lens. The result of these observations and analysis is a visual language and subsequent design guide, mood board, architectural rendering, etc.; depending upon their chosen service, they can be applied in their space as a visual reminder and catalyst for healing and transformation. An Aesthetic Healing is a mix of art therapy, design at its most fundamental state, and a system of self-discovery!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see interior design and clients looking for easily adaptable solutions and one-of-a-kind aesthetics. People are transient these days, moving from home to home, state to state, across town, and across the pond. Quality design doesn’t require an extreme home makeover, and in my opinion, you shouldn’t have to be forced to constantly start over based on trend or location. Creating your unique design aesthetic meaning wherever you go, you can make a house, your home, and having a design guide that allows you to apply the elements and principles of design with intention while matching your essence, aesthetic and reflecting your higher self wherever you go is not only healing but also provides the kind of consistency and dependability your personal style provides, knowing which colors and silhouettes best compliment you, takes a lot of guesswork and stress out of aesthetic expression.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anaesthetichealing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/an_aesthetic_healing/
Image Credits
Photographed by Euan Nesbitt
