WELL AP Blanche Garcia integrates wellness with innovative interior design

The smell of cut wood is unmistakable. When it drops from the table saw, it floats a seemingly sweet and warm fragrance through the air. Whether it’s your first or five hundredth time on a construction site, that scent is more than just sawdust and a warm metal blade. It’s the smell of creation—the scent of building something greater than just the sum of its parts.

For Blanche Garcia, WELL AP, interior designer and owner of B. Garcia Designs in Montclair, NJ, her time on construction sites sparked a passion that would drive her through her entire career. It all began when she was just 12 years old. Alongside her mother, she travelled around the United States doing volunteer work for nonprofit building projects and learned to love the brilliance behind building a space in which people can thrive.

From that day forward, she’s had quite the career. From co-hosting a television show on the Travel Channel to her incredibly successful interior design firm, Blanche has been creating artful interiors and influencing construction projects for more than 24 years. But it was in an unlikely place—30,000 ft. above sea level—where she first discovered an innovative approach to human health and how to incorporate it within her ongoing interior design work.

“I was on a flight back from filming a show I was co-hosting on Travel Channel at the time and I saw an article in a magazine speaking about WELL and what it was about. I noticed that Deepak Chopra was associated with WELL as well, which interested me because I practice mindfulness and believe in a healthy body and soul and that design and mindfulness are connected,” She recalls. “I was in the middle of writing my first book, Empowered Design, which speaks about the connection of mind, body and soul to how I approach the design process. WELL seemed like the natural next step to my education.”

That was just the beginning. After returning home, Blanche sought to learn more about the WELL Accredited Professional (AP) credential, the WELL Building Standard and how healthy strategies could inform her interior design decisions. In the WELL AP credential, she found a connection between evidence-based strategies for health and her own approach to creating artful interiors to prioritize well-being.

Wellness interior design and a commitment to sustainability

For Blanche, promoting health and advancing sustainability best practices has been an ongoing goal in her daily life—both professionally and personally.

“Wellness is an approach to life. To me, it’s very much how I take care of myself and where I can pause and be present. I practice daily meditation and connect with nature on the regular,” She notes. “I am also mindful about our resources and try to recycle and take public transportation to job sites and into the city when possible. We also try to re-use materials while renovating our mid-century home.”

With the WELL AP credential, Blanche was able to identify opportunities where she could incorporate the wellness lifestyle from her day-to-day life into her professional work. By leveraging the research-backed concepts found within the WELL Building Standard, she learned to integrate novel solutions for biophilic design, circadian lighting, movement interventions, nourishment and more into the property and projects for which she’s designing.

The future of health and interior design

But as the needs of people everywhere continue to evolve and change, Blanche recognizes that the interior design industry must change with them. For that, the WELL AP can help—now more than ever before.

“With what has been going on with COVID-19, clients are paying closer attention to their homes and their environments. I am seeing a lot of automated plumbing fixtures and lighting for sanitary reasons. Also a higher demand for retreat-like spaces within and in the backyard spaces. This is also true for hospitality and commercial spaces,” She stresses. “People are realizing that the world is changing and they’re looking to renewable materials to give them a sense of permanence so they are contributing to making this a better place than when they found it.”

For those still on the fence about WELL and what it can do for them, Blanche encourages people to take the leap and find out. To her, being a WELL AP means different things to different people and their professions, but she notes the power of being involved with the world’s leading community of changemakers and health advocates.

“Being a WELL AP means that I am part of a movement that considers design one part of a greater whole that serves humanity now and for generations to come. I tell people to just do it,” she says. “It’s an investment—not just for your career but as a way of life that will only enrich your experience.”