The Pfeiffer Design Series: First Projects & Embracing a New Era

In the first chapter of our series, we explored Susie Pfeiffer’s creative upbringing and the early influences that shaped her eye for design. Now, in Part 2, we step into her early career – from her very first projects to her fascination with the dawn of the internet and how this forward-thinking mindset set the tone for everything that followed.

Breaking Into the Industry

After qualifying as an interior architect in 1989, Susie quickly realised that the role was still relatively unknown outside of London. “Nobody really knew what an interior architect was back then,” she reflects. “And unless you wanted to work in the capital, opportunities were very limited.”

For several years, she worked in London, but the desire to balance career with family life soon led her back to Sussex. It was here that Susie began to forge her own path.

First Solo Projects: Building a Portfolio

When Susie returned to Sussex after working in London, she was eager to put her skills to the test closer to home. One of her earliest milestones was her first solo project, a flint barn conversion which she transformed into a family home. Far from being just a personal project, it became her calling card – a living portfolio piece that demonstrated her ability to marry functionality with beauty, while respecting the character of a heritage building.

“This barn became a showcase,” Susie recalls. “People could walk into a space I had designed and understand instantly what I was capable of. It helped me explain and educate my future clients on a design and construction process as well as what the differences between interior design and interior architecture were.”

From there, opportunities began to snowball. She was commissioned to convert a dilapidated Oast House, work on several coastal properties, and later on collaborated with developers on refurbishments. These projects gave her invaluable experience across a variety of property styles and scales, sharpening her skills in both residential and commercial settings.

A Passion for Innovation: The Birth of the Internet

While Susie was gaining traction with her projects, another revolution was unfolding: the arrival of the internet. Many designers were cautious about technology, but Susie saw its potential straight away.

“I’ve always loved being on the front foot with new ideas,” she says. “When the internet arrived, I knew it would change how we connected with clients and shared our work. I didn’t want to be left behind.”

Determined to embrace this new tool, she enrolled in night classes to learn computer-aided design and develop a website “I can remember my first website was very rudimentary, but it was so exciting at the start of the internet era. I used pictures of my barn to show the various aspects of my interior design capabilities and explain what an interior architect can do.”

At a time when most studios still relied on hand drawings and word-of-mouth marketing, Susie was already experimenting with digital methods – laying the foundations for a modern, connected design practice.

Lessons in Resilience

Like any designer starting out, Susie’s journey was not without its hurdles. She pitched for projects, won some, lost others, but each experience taught her something new about clients, about construction and about herself.

“Every job, whether successful or not, gave me another piece of the puzzle,” she reflects. “It taught me to adapt, to keep learning and to always push for the next challenge.”

In Part 3, we’ll look at how Susie formally established Pfeiffer Design, growing from those first solo projects into a fully-fledged studio, and how her early embrace of technology and collaboration shaped the ethos of the company today.