WHERE I END…YOU BEGIN
Announcing the first survey of work by Interior Designer Andee Hess, Where I End…You Begin reflects on nearly two decades of designed and built environments as an artist and founder of Osmose Design. Across nine thematic elements including sculpture, installation, video, two-dimensional work, and process materials, the exhibition considers the intimate and psychological dimensions of Hess' practice, exploring how artistic vision, empathy, and intention inform purposeful design. Taking place at lumber room(419 NW 9th Ave, Portland, OR) with support from Hive Modern and Salt & Straw, an opening reception will take place on October 3rd from 5 - 8pm and the exhibition will remain on view through November 14, 2026.
Where I End…You Begin examines the psychology of design, how rooms and worlds are made, and celebrates the makers, artisans, and collaborators integral to that process. The exhibition’s title describes the nuances and boundaries navigated between ego and empathy, designer and client. Select Osmose projects from 2007-2026 are organized as elements that engage and dismantle certain conventions through which interior design is typically understood: Before-and-After, Documentation, Layering, and Throw Pillows. These thematic tropes become participatory opportunities for reflection, interaction, and humor as the exhibition unfolds.
Hess’s portfolio comes alive as a sequence that includes an entrance portal, lenticular postcards, process materials, doorway entries, a reflection space and video installation. In the exhibition’s central work, stereoscopic project images are viewed through a large scale installation comprised of several “view-masters”, turning documentation into an intimate moment of observation. Five glass doors with upholstered bases translate five pillars of the design process into an architectural encounter. As visitors move among them, layers reveal themselves through small activations, interruptions and concealed details.
Elsewhere, lenticular postcards activate an otherwise fixed image through proto-animation; custom rugs made with SMG elevate the collaborative process between artist and artisan; and process materials including prototypes, sketches, and ephemera act as mementos and artefacts that preserve otherwise temporal moments of labor and experimentation. In the sculptural work What Remains Illuminated, a stack of drawers salvaged from a vintage kitchen are extracted from their original context and reconfigured as a monolith. The work turns the standard “before and after” design trope inside out as a commentary on value, probing what gets preserved and what gets discarded and the privilege inherent in remaking an environment at all.
Presented at Portland’s lumber room, a contemporary art space known for fostering artists’ practices, conversations, and new models of engagement, Where I End…You Begin addresses a broader cultural and conceptual dialogue beyond traditional interior design. The exhibition reinforces Hess’s practice as an artist and designer bridging art, architecture, craft, and experience, while honoring the makers, artisans, and collaborators whose expertise is crucial to building worlds and experiences.
