Lake + Potter is a design team specializing in approachable, sensible, and authentic interiors. Founders Brie Heinlein and Jane Gardner share a Midwestern sensibility and a lifelong appreciation for good design. Different from other design firms, Lake + Potter creates a customized roadmap for each client, providing them the tools to execute tailor-made design projects on their own timeline.

Brie, known at age seven to rearrange and redecorate her friends' bedrooms when their parents weren’t looking, believes that better design can enliven spaces, generate a feeling, and create a mood. Her creativity and love of refining an aesthetic led to a career in media and advertising, but her passion remained rooted in renovating and reimagining homes. She finds inspiration in playing with patterns in textiles, and in searching high and low for the unexpected finishing touch to each and every room.

Jane began her career as a research analyst at a top-tier investment bank. Seeking a more creative path, and driven by her love of architecture, Jane decided to pursue her Masters in Real Estate Development at Columbia University’s Architecture school. She worked for a design-driven Manhattan developer where her passion for interiors was born. She went on to sell real estate in Manhattan and Brooklyn for over a decade, collecting design insights from some of the city’s most inspired homes. Jane has extensive customer service experience, loves a good floor plan exercise, and brings a level of precision and functionality into the design process.

After many evenings on the back porch, dreaming under heat lamps and stars, Brie and Jane created Lake + Potter, a design practice with a collaborative approach that is as personal as it is transformational. Lake + Potter’s goal is to make good design accessible to everyone and empower clients to have fun while they reimagine their homes.