A Little About Lisa
Lisa Ellis’s work is shaped by an early exposure to historic restoration and interior design in her hometown of Americus, Georgia. Her parents purchased and restored historic homes, building a portfolio of investment properties. In her childhood home, restoration unfolded while she was in the first grade; at one point, she reached her upstairs bedroom by climbing scaffolding. The house, with its formal scale and high ceilings, revealed the process of building through structure, material, and craftsmanship. She developed an early fascination with that process, returning home each day eager to see what had taken shape.
Lisa Ellis studied history as an undergraduate and attended a graduate design program in Oxford, England, focusing on ecclesiastical architecture and the history of the Church within the context of Western architectural tradition. She continued her training through a graduate program at Parsons in New York and worked for an architectural firm specializing in skyscraper design, gaining a contrasting understanding of structure, scale, and contemporary construction.
In a separate chapter of her work, she studied furniture restoration in England with generational craftsmen and imported English and French antiques, later establishing a restoration and furniture showroom in Athens. These experiences inform a disciplined approach to proportion and a belief that architecture and interiors are conceived as a unified composition, grounded in the classical tradition.
Her work is grounded in the belief that design creates future memories through the careful orchestration of space, material, and light. She considers interiors and exteriors in relation to one another, with attention to orientation, season, and the movement of light over the course of the day. Lighting is a fundamental element, shaping atmosphere and perception. Her work is guided by a commitment to what is lasting, rejecting trends in favor of authenticity, material integrity, and design that endures. Lisa Ellis has led a professional design practice since 1993.