MICHELLE THOMAS, IIDA

founder/principal designer

Michelle Thomas earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in CIDA Accredited Interior Design program from Virginia Commonwealth University and is licensed Interior Designer in the state of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC.  Ms. Thomas is a recipient of 2009 Top 100 MBEs award honoring minority and women entrepreneurs.  Her passion for being creative propelled her to specialized in hospitality design.  Upon graduation, she worked with a small firm in Richmond, Virginia, and shortly thereafter, she advanced to a senior design position at Hamilton Hochheiser Ross, overseeing all aspects of commercial design, ranging from conception to installation.

 

After relocating to the Washington, DC area in the late 1990s, Ms. Thomas accepted a senior interior design position at Austin Kuester, where she managed both creative and production phases of hospitality design.  She worked extensively with Sodexho Marriott and HMS Host services. Her design work with the Hershey’s Chocolate World food court won the prestigious Award 2000 from the Washington Metropolitan Chapter American Society of Interior Designers.

 

As a project manager, Ms. Thomas joined ForrestPerkins in Washington, DC, a firm specializing in luxury hotels and resorts. Her responsibilities included managing designers and reviewing project documentation, meeting schedule demands, staffing requirements, and budgetary considerations, as well as, acting as a liaison between the firm and contractors to ensure specifications and quality control were met for each project. In addition, Ms. Thomas contributed her design expertise to these projects. She developed a rapport with known companies such as Marriott International, Barceló Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Summit Properties.

 

In January 2003, she created M DESIGN STUDIO a boutique studio energized by creativity. Ms. Thomas’ design projects have been published in Hospitality Design, Home & Design and Hospitality Design No.3.