As the co-founder of Studio O+A, the San Francisco design firm responsible for groundbreaking offices at Facebook, Microsoft, Slack, McDonalds and many others, Verda Alexander has spent 30 years in the design industry redefining workplace and looking ahead to the future of work itself. Verda’s work focuses on expanding the conversation around design, social justice, climate activism and art. Combining a multi-disciplinary career with a passionate commitment to improving lives through design, her typical contribution to a project is to question received wisdom, test basic assumptions and look beyond conventional solutions to a more creative path. Verda’s experimental projects for O+A, range from pop-up installations on the future of the office to a mobile design lab partnering with communities across California.

Named by Contract Magazine Designer of the Year with Primo Orpilla in 2012, Verda is also a member of Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame. In 2016 Studio O+A received the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Interior Design.

Verda writes and speaks regularly on the ethics and aesthetics of design. Her newest effort is “Break Some Dishes,” a podcast that engages innovators from industry and design in conversations about meeting the challenges of climate change.

Q&A

Models: digital or physical?
Physical. My first job out of college was crafting models by hand for a landscape architect. I could have done that the rest of my life and I still make cardboard sculptures in my art practice.