Members to Watch

If you would like to nominate someone, please EMAIL our President-Elect, Matthew McCarty, ASID

Michele Plachter, Associate ASID - Michele owns one of the mid-Atlantic’s fastest growing full service design firms, Michele Plachter Design, and her work has been featured on TV and in such national design publications as House Beautiful and Traditional Home. Her most recent featured publication is an 8-page spread in Traditional Home's 2021 special bookazine, "Outdoor Rooms & Retreats." She is also currently expanding her business to work on primary and vacation homes, as well as small commercial projects from coast to coast. “We work hard to create an ideal custom experience every time,” Michele says. “That means regular communication, resolving problems promptly, managing their budgets carefully, and working behind the scenes to ensure that installations are seamless.” She has won service as well as design awards, and forms close relationships with her clients. Those clients use words like “detail-oriented, articulate, thoughtful and talented,” “very knowledgeable,” and “a joy to work with” to describe Michele, and “timeless” and “functional and gorgeous” to characterize her work.

Jhanvi Jagani, Student ASID, WELL AP, LEED GA – Jhanvi is a student member of ASID, a graduate student at Drexel University, on the cusp of her graduation. Jhanvi’s thesis research focus is based on composing experiences within In-Between places, by exploring the idea of liminality and place identity as a threshold toward creating an enhanced experience for the user and implemented within an Airport, which serves as an in-between place in a journey.

Jhanvi is sensitively addressing populations who experience unprecedented delays when confined to an airport setting-such as pandemic and beyond. To solve this, Jhanvi is creating an immersive 360◦ experience by proposing an airport extension for interactive public activities.

With anticipated graduation in June from Drexel University with M.S. Interior Architecture + Design; Janvi plans to work in sectors such as hospitality, commercial, Mixed-use, Retail, Multi-family, Food/beverage, and entertainment with an impact toward building a sustainable future.

Julia Abriola, Allied ASID, Associate IIDA – "As interior designers, it is our job to find solutions to our clients' design dilemmas. We are creative problem solvers by nature. It is for this reason, and even more so in the beginnings of a post-pandemic world, why I am looking forward to holding the position of ASID PA East's Professional Development Director later this year. As this semester's batch of freshly graduated designers embark on the next stage of their career, how will this new work environment greet them? How can we best prepare them for the challenges they may face ahead? For current design professionals, how can we help them adapt to the up-and-coming hybrid work model, and bolster their passion for their upcoming projects? Through the planning and production of educational, constructive, encouraging, and inspiring activities and events, I aim to answer those questions, and aid us all in solving those problems."

Danielle A. Capozzi, Assoc. AIA, Allied ASID, LEED AP – “Design professionals and industry partners are seeing a surge of client interest to act on back burner projects or pipe dreams. In the ever-changing pandemic environment, ADORNA Design believes that the nexus of a successful project is communication. Thus, we emphasize transparency around the impact to our clients’ time and budget. We’ve also grown a team of architects, designers and administrative support over the past year to meet the increased demand, recognizing the opportunity to streamline processes and create efficiencies in how we coordinate with each other, clients, contractors and vendors. From concept to construction, ADORNA Design is harnessing our multidisciplinary experience and holistic design approach to truly lean into what we do best: transforming people’s lives by starting with the physical spaces they live, work and play”

Magdalis Melo, Associate ASID – "As a woman minority-owned business, we merge world culture and diversity while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing environment for every client. As an interior designer, it is important to capture the essence of effective solutions for every client’s need, while providing classic details and distinct touches of textures and patterns. We must make sure to not only have a strong work ethic and stay detail oriented, but also stay current in a way that adds sensibility to each space.

COVID completely changed every business and it is now more than ever imperative to nourish and establish relationships with clients to further add value to all that we do in a safely manner. The rise of social media has helped educate the public to all the different ranges that we as designers can provide for them. As such, learning new skills and gaining certifications contributes merit to all that we do as designers to be able to constantly provide the highest quality in each project to seamlessly coordinate form and function enabling the creation of beautiful and innovative architectural spaces for everyone."