Owner and Principal Designer – Hackett House Studio
Background
Erin Nordholt is the founder and principal designer of Hackett House Studio. Her path to interior design began with a career in finance. After a campus career fair connected her with Morgan Stanley, she spent nearly a decade in the industry, starting as an assistant before earning the federal licenses required to sell financial products and building her own clientele.
Her interest in interiors, however, began much earlier. As a child, Nordholt was drawn to furniture and home design, and that interest continued throughout her finance career as she decorated her own home, followed designers, and began learning more about the business behind the industry. Several years before making the transition professionally, she was already listening to conversations about how interior design firms were built and operated.
In March 2020, Nordholt decided to leave finance and pursue design full time. Without an established portfolio or extensive renovation work of her own to showcase, she built Hackett House Studio by taking on a wide range of opportunities and learning through experience. For approximately the first three years she worked independently, gradually developing the portfolio, systems, and client relationships that allowed the studio to grow into a small team.
Approach
Nordholt’s approach begins with an understanding of how profoundly a person’s surroundings can influence daily life. Her own experience at home helped her recognize how materials, furnishings, books, textiles, and collected objects could affect her mood, reinforcing her belief that interiors have an emotional impact beyond their visual appearance.
As Hackett House Studio has evolved, Nordholt has become increasingly interested in working more deeply on a smaller number of projects. Rather than pursuing growth through volume, she wants the studio to contribute more comprehensively to each home, particularly through greater involvement in architectural interiors and custom new construction.
Historical context has become an important part of that direction. Nordholt is drawn to the character and craftsmanship found in older homes and is interested in finding thoughtful ways to bring those qualities into new construction. Natural materials, traditional details, and choices that can endure over time are central to how she thinks about longevity and value.
For Nordholt, this means looking beyond whether a material simply recreates a particular appearance. She considers how something is made, how it will age, and whether the decisions being made today can contribute to a home that remains meaningful and durable for years to come.
Beyond Design
Building Hackett House Studio has also shaped Nordholt’s understanding of entrepreneurship. Her background in finance provided valuable experience, but operating a design firm introduced an entirely different set of responsibilities, from accounting and taxes to purchasing, client communication, budgets, team management, and the development of internal systems.
Over time, she has become particularly focused on the relationship between client service and empathy. Nordholt recognizes that homeowners may experience a design project through the accumulated pressures of construction, financial decisions, delays, and unexpected challenges. Learning to understand those reactions while maintaining clear processes that also protect the business has become one of the areas of growth she values most.
She also shares what she has learned with other designers through coaching and an online community focused on the realities of running an interior design business. Her perspective on entrepreneurship is grounded in experience rather than the idea of immediate flexibility or freedom. She believes building a successful practice requires persistence, problem solving, and a willingness to continually refine the way the business operates.
Creativity remains equally important. During periods when the responsibilities of running the studio begin to overshadow the design itself, Nordholt intentionally makes space for creative exploration without client parameters. A reminder beside her workspace reads, “rest is part of the process,” reflecting her belief that stepping away and creating freely can be an essential part of returning to the work with renewed energy.
As Hackett House Studio continues to evolve, Nordholt’s focus is becoming increasingly intentional: fewer projects, deeper involvement, thoughtful materials, historical context, and a level of service built from the lessons she has learned throughout the studio’s growth.
