Meet Sara Ables, 2024 Member of the Year

Jun 25, 2024 By Nneka McGuire

Read about her unexpected journey to design, her advice for emerging designers, and her most beloved piece of furniture

By Nneka McGuire Jun 25, 2024

Published in Articles

Looking at Sara Ables’s origin story, you might say the odds are in her favor.

As a college student unsure of her path forward, a chance encounter with peers studying architecture and design helped her find her calling. Years later, a serendipitous job opening, followed by an out-of-the-blue phone call, led to two fascinating, perfect-fit jobs in furniture design. After that, a flash of luck resulted in Ables, IIDA, winning a piece of distinct, iconic furniture that would make the hearts of design lovers everywhere skip a beat. (More on that later.)

Excellent odds, right?

Look a little closer, and you’ll see that every stroke of luck was preceded by hard work, endless curiosity, and can-do-ism. Chance may have brought Ables to interior design, but her own diligence and dedication assured career success. That personal drive, paired with her passion for volunteering and mentorship, led to Ables being honored as IIDA’s 2024 Member of the Year.

We spoke with Ables, president-elect of IIDA’s Texas Oklahoma Chapter (president beginning in July 2024) and a senior workplace experience specialist at Corgan—a freshly minted position she created—about how being an IIDA member contributed to her career growth and evolution, her advice for emerging designers, and her first love, furniture design.

The below conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What brought you to design work?

Sara Ables: Chance, really. There’s a lot of people that knew what they were going to do since they were little kids—they just knew. But then a lot of people like me, stumbled into design in college or later in high school. I started college knowing that I was artistic and creative, but that I also really enjoyed science. I spent my first year at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) just trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Of course, my parents were pushing me towards pre-pharmacy and business degrees, which weren’t me. I was talking to a lot of different people I met on campus, making friends, and discovered the possibility of studying architecture and interior design. I loved it.

Sara Ables, IIDA
Senior Workplace Experience Specialist
Corgan

When did you become involved with IIDA?

SA: I first got started with IIDA as a student; I had free time outside of class to be a campus leader. I volunteered at IIDA events, just trying to meet other people, knowing the value of that. After seven years of undergrad, I was kind of burnt out—I had transferred from UTA to the University of North Texas (UNT), and unfortunately had to start all four years again. I wanted to do something completely different, and that’s how I got into furniture. I interned on campus with UNT Facilities and Construction. One of our project managers ended up leaving to go to a furniture dealer. And I’d never heard of that. We didn’t learn about it in school at the time. I wanted to ask her more, so I followed up with her, and it turned into a job.

I worked at that furniture dealer—FMG, a Haworth dealer—for about three years and learned so much. It was a whole new world for me. So much detail and technical knowledge, a great group of people, I absolutely loved it. Then, someone I graduated with contacted me looking for a furniture specialist at their firm. This new opportunity was walkable, so that was a no-brainer for me. I took that opportunity and worked on the firm side of things, specifying furniture on projects and coordinating with our interiors team and architects. That’s what I’ve done for the past decade at a few different firms. I am a furniture lover for sure.

Tell me about one of your favorite personal pieces of furniture.

SA: So, I had this crazy thing happen to me. Our local Texas MillerKnoll furniture dealer, WRG, encouraged designers to attend six CEUs throughout the year, and at the end of the year, you’d get your name dropped into a bucket for a chance to win an Eames lounge chair and ottoman. I made sure that I could attend every single CEU that year. All six of 'em. I got my name dropped in the bucket six times. At the end, they had a big happy hour and chose my name out of the bucket. I was completely shocked. I thought I’d get a floor model from the showroom, but I got a brand-new Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and was able to select all the finishes. I chose the ebony shell and black-and-white checkered upholstery. It is my favorite thing. I have a tattoo, an Animal Crossing froggy chair tattoo [a beloved item in the Nintendo video game] with the checkered seat pad.

You’ve shared a bit about your IIDA experience. Is there more you want to say about how IIDA contributed to your evolution as the designer?

SA: I’ve learned so much from being a part of this organization. All the skills, the relationships, everything that I know is because of this organization. To be honest, ever since I was a student, I feel like it’s opened a lot of doors and opportunities for me. I honestly have never had to search for a job, and I feel very lucky and grateful for that because it’s been through relationships and people that I’ve known through IIDA. That’s super cool.

You’ve shared a bit about your IIDA experience. Is there more you want to say about how IIDA contributed to your evolution as the designer?

SA: I’ve learned so much from being a part of this organization. All the skills, the relationships, everything that I know is because of this organization. To be honest, ever since I was a student, I feel like it’s opened a lot of doors and opportunities for me. I honestly have never had to search for a job, and I feel very lucky and grateful for that because it’s been through relationships and people that I’ve known through IDA. That’s super cool.

IIDA has been such a big part of me and what I do, and it helped lead to a new thing that I’m doing. Last year in Chicago at CLC [IIDA’s annual Chapter Leadership Council], I was thinking, man, I really love what I do with IDA. I love all these skills; I love leadership responsibilities. How do I apply this to my everyday job? I tried to figure out what that looked like, I did a lot of Googling. I landed on workplace experience specialist. I brought this idea to several leaders.

It was great timing—Cheryl [Durst, IIDA executive vice president and CEO] came to Corgan’s office for a community conversation with our president and announced my Member of the Year award. Around that time, I brought the workplace experience idea to Corgan’s president, Lindsay Wilson, and she was completely on board; she built a brand-new position for me and the firm, and we wrote the job description together.

Share one of your favorite design projects. What made it special?

SA: One of my recent projects, with a client called Brunswick Group in Dallas, was a pretty small-scale project, but very high design. The client was amazing, so incredibly nice, so thankful after presentations, even giving us hugs. You rarely get that from clients. I was the senior furniture designer on the project, and my best friend from college who I recruited to work at Corgan—I get to work with my best friend now, which is great—was the designer on the project, and it was so much fun. When we presented to the client, the dynamic was just—it was probably the best presentation of my life. It was very memorable, one of my last design projects before moving into this new role.

Sara Ables was recognized as the Member of the Year recipient during IIDA’s 2024 Annual Meeting. She is pictured here with IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA.

You’ve done so much volunteer work with IIDA, but also with organizations like the Hip Hop Architecture Camp and the ACE Mentor Program. Why is volunteering so important to you?

SA: Because I didn’t have that guidance going into college. Even throughout college, the transition of moving universities, no one told me anything about anything. I was just kind of stumbling through. Once I found IIDA, it was this whole support system. I found people who could guide me through really hard things to navigate alone as you’re starting this career. So, I want to give back. If we just let everyone navigate alone, the future of the industry is not going to get better. We need to offer support to our younger designers, emerging leaders, and even K-12 students. We need to expose them to design—at that age, I never knew this was a career that I could do.

What’s one piece of advice you can share with young designers?

SA: Something that I learned along the way, and something that I tell students and young designers now, is don’t compare yourself. When you stop comparing yourself and just do you, do what you want, it’s so much easier. Doors open up. Opportunities happen when you carve your own path. It’s hard to not compare yourself to others when you graduate, like, oh, these people got jobs before me, or these people are working at this firm and I’m not. Just do what you want to do. I feel like that’s what I’m doing, I’m doing what I want to do, especially in this new role I carved out for myself. It’s very freeing when you learn to do that.