Interviewed by Kathryn Soter | GFDA Executive Director
Since 2012, Matthew Tenzin has been a principal at Joe McGuire Design, overseeing residential interior design projects in Aspen, Boulder and Denver. In 2017 he founded home within, a wellness design consultancy that works with home owners, architects and developers across the country. It was Tenzin’s personal experience as a Buddhist monk that inspired him to guide his clients through the five steps of the Home Within Process, a perfect embodiment of his lifelong love of the interconnection of spirituality and creativity. Through this process he helps clients create spaces that are healthy, sustainable, filled with positive energy, and rooted in a deep sense of purpose and place. Read on as he shares his story with us and be prepared to be enlightened.
What inspired you to start your interior design practice and how does your background influence the ethos of your company? Was there a particular motivating experience, or turning point in your career that led you to start your business? Could you describe that “a ha” moment?
MT: As a kid I wanted to be an interior designer or an artist, but I have also always been interested in spirituality and philosophy, looking for the meaning within things. In my early twenties, as an aspiring artist, I began meditating regularly and eventually ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. After five very happy years, half of which was in meditation retreat, I left the monkhood with the wish to integrate what I had learned with my naturally creative impulses.
Soon afterwards, I met my husband, Joe McGuire, who was a fellow meditator and an established interior designer in Aspen. We gradually started working together. He taught me interior design, and together we began infusing our design practice with our love for the meditative and healing arts. Now, through guided visioning and energy balancing practices, we create spaces that are not just comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, but healthier, more sustainable, and filled with positive energy, intention and a sense of connection to the land.
How do you define the “Home Within Process,” and what are its core principles? Can you explain the significance of the Five Levels of Wellness in your design methodology?
MT: The Home Within Process is a holistic approach to design that acknowledges all the aspects of a home, not just the physical. We guide our clients through five steps, or what we call the Five Levels of Wellness: Physical, Sensory, Emotional, Energetic and Spiritual. All five of these levels or aspects of a home greatly impact our health and wellbeing, but typically only the first two, the physical and sensory, are focused upon by the design industry.
Instead of starting with the physical, we start with the spiritual. This is the level of intention and vision. Once the true meaning and bigger purpose of a project is clarified, we can design spaces that hold and reflect that energy. We can then identify the emotions we want the spaces to reflect, and we can then select objects, art and other spatial elements that enhance those emotions. At that point, we can better design physical and sensory elements – color palettes, natural materials and spatial layouts – that fully support the bigger purpose and the wellness vision for each space.
In what ways do environmental well-being and personal well-being intersect in the spaces you design?
MT: For us, these two are deeply intertwined. This is why we start from the outside in, by walking the land with our clients and doing practices to help them sense and connect with the energy, history and ancestry of a place. In this guided visioning process, quite often our clients experience a deeper connection to the environment within and around their home, and an understanding of the impact of their decisions on their own well-being, and that of others. This often translates into prioritizing healthier, natural materials and methods that are less harmful to the planet.
Are there any principles of circularity that show up as a recurring theme in your work?
MT: For us the whole process is circular. It’s a loop, from the spiritual or sacred, down through the levels into the physical and back up again. It’s actually a practice that can bring greater consciousness and creativity into all we do. For example, when sitting and grounding in our physical body, we become aware of the sensory elements of the present moment. This brings awareness of our emotions and allows us to open to emotions that feel better. This leads to more positive energy, which raises our vibration and allows us to access states of higher consciousness, spirit, or vision. True vision comes from a higher perspective, a state of wholeness that leads to innovative solutions that are win-wins for everyone: ourselves, others and the planet.
For example, after doing the guided visioning session with one client, she came to the realization that the home she was building, on the shore of a beautiful lake in New Hampshire, was not just for her. It was for her children and grandchildren and future generations. She realized that she wanted it to be sustainable and built to last, and that it needed to be powered by solar and geothermal. She had the vision of building a small shrine in the woods where she could meditate and honor the indigenous ancestors of the land, and she wanted to create trails around the property, lining them with blueberry bushes and native plants. Previously she had only been thinking about what she personally wanted out of the home in the short term. By slowing down, and shifting out of the logical mind into a more visionary state, she was able to see the bigger picture: the opportunity to honor the past and also make a significant positive impact on the future.
Do you find that clients are becoming more aware of sustainability in interior design? How do you educate them on making more conscious choices?
MT: In some ways our clients are becoming more aware, and in other ways maybe we are attracting clients who already are more aware. For us, it’s less about educating them, and more about educating ourselves and bringing what we learn into the design process. When we source materials and solutions that are true win-wins, it doesn’t really require client education. These options are simply more beautiful, functional, healthy, sensible and sustainable. They are the obvious choice. They are no-brainers.
Care to dream about the future? What does the future client look like and what trends or innovations excite you the most right now?
MT: We are excited about the work we have been doing to preserve rainforest land. A few years ago, we started planting trees with the goal of offsetting the carbon emissions of our firm and all of our projects. But then we learned that preserving biodiversity is even more important than offsetting CO2. Leading scientists have concluded that if we don’t preserve at least 50% of the earth’s biodiversity, we will not survive as a species. So, if we focus only on sequestering CO2, and we ignore biodiversity, we’re in trouble. But if we focus on preserving biodiversity, we are solving the CO2 problem in the process. This is why we have shifted to preserving existing rainforest land, which preserves the zones of the densest biodiversity, while also protecting the cultures, livelihoods and ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.
Amazingly, through rainforest preservation, it only costs about $3000 to offset the CO2 generated by the construction and furnishing of a 5000sf house. This is an option that we are beginning to offer to our clients. In the future, we envision carbon offsets or biocredits* being included in the budgets of all environmentally aware construction projects.
We have worked for years with Conservation International as one of the most long-standing and highly reputable international organizations focused on the conservation of habitat and biodiversity. Through them, rainforest land can currently be preserved for $25 per acre.
🦋 Editor’s Note: Biodiversity credits might be new to many of us, but when used thoughtfully—like Matthew Tenzin does—they can help companies take meaningful action to support ecosystems and protect nature. It’s one more way to move toward a future where design not only looks good but gives back to the planet.
If you’re just getting started with bio-credits, here’s what to keep in mind: They work best when they’re part of a bigger, thoughtful plan to protect nature. Make sure to do your homework before buying and be clear and honest about how you’re using them—transparency builds trust and helps avoid any confusion or backlash.
According to the Conservation Finance Network, carbon credits are fairly straightforward—because of how the atmosphere works, a ton of carbon kept out of the air in Mexico has the same impact as a ton saved in Germany. But with biodiversity credits, it’s a different story. There’s no simple apples-to-apples comparison when it comes to nature. As the global science body IPBES defines it, biodiversity covers everything from genes to species to ecosystems. So how do you compare a butterfly in the Amazon to a lynx in a forest in Canada? You can’t, really. That’s why biodiversity markets have been slower to develop. It also means it’s extra important to take a bit of time to understand what you’re buying and who’s behind it.
Now for some fun. We like to get to know our subject’s design sensibility a little better. Indulge me for a few more questions!
1. My hope for the future of design:
design that fully acknowledges our connection to nature through sacred reciprocity: giving more than we take.
2. A place or experience that made me care the most about the environment:
the two and a half years I spent living in solitary retreat as a Buddhist monk in a remote wilderness area, and my recent trips to Ecuador, learning from the indigenous people of the Sapara Nation, and finding ways to support the preservation of their ancestral rainforest land.
3. My design icons are:
the Tibetans and the ancient Egyptians, for whom all art, design and construction was imbued with an awareness of the sacred.
4. Do you have a favorite ‘sacred space’ either in your home or out, where you do your best thinking or like to recharge?
I have a meditation room in my home where I sit every morning, and where I do visioning and energy work for clients. And I also feel so grateful to know that the most sacred space is inside us, wherever we are. It’s just one thought away.
5. How would you sum up your design philosophy?
Design is love. It comes from the heart and the wish to nurture, uplift and inspire others. The further we travel into our heart, the more we connect to the whole, and more beneficial our designs will be for all.
6. What color do you identify with most and why?
Clear. It’s not really a color. (It’s kind of a joke.) But there is also a deep sense of peace, freedom and creativity that arises from inner spaciousness and clarity. It’s the source of all!
7. What’s one design trend that should stay?
Curves. I’ve been loving the resurgence of organic lines over the past few years. They bring playfulness and flow. And there are no truly straight lines in nature.
8. One material that’s underrated in design:
energy or chi. It’s not really a material, but some materials have more energy or life-force than others. It’s amazing to learn to feel the difference and to see what happens when we design spaces with materials that have more of this.
9. My favorite architecture style/era is:
Original southwestern adobe. It’s not only beautiful, it’s cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and made from 100% local and biodegradable materials. And there’s nothing like the calm, earthy groundedness of an adobe building.
10. A vintage piece/item I own and love:
There are so many, but one of my favorites is a small vintage Milo Baughman swivel chair that I sit in almost every morning to drink my first cup of coffee or tea. It is the perfect scale, so cozy and comfortable, and full of good energy.
Thank you Matthew!
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