SAN FRANCISCO — Though interior design celebrity Vern Yip ordinarily decorates high-profile spaces like Oscar parties, he was dressed down in jeans and lit with a smile last Friday morning in the heart of the Tenderloin district, a low-income neighborhood long blighted by drugs, crime and poverty.
There, Yip celebrated with neighborhood residents the unveiling of Chinatown Community Development Center’s Tenderloin Family Apartments’ community room, which he designed in partnership with Bank of America’s initiative to renovate community spaces.
As a former familiar face on TLC’s home improvement swap show Trading Spaces and as the current host of HGTV’s Deserving Design, Yip is no stranger to giving back to the community. As on Deserving Design, where he surprises inspirational people with home makeovers, his work in the Tenderloin reflects his philosophy of giving a hand (and maybe a light fixture or two) to those who need it the most.
The Tenderloin community room’s facelift exemplified Yip’s belief that transforming space can transform lives. In this case, the room’s design was about “figuring out how to celebrate life … and bring together the community in this one place,” Yip said.
With his signature style of clean lines and attention to detail, Yip turned the gray, dilapidated interior into an energizing, functional space with new flooring, seating, a kitchen, multimedia upgrades, a sense of warmth from glowing light fixtures, a bright orange color scheme and a flourishing tree mural.
Yip’s vision created a welcoming place where affordable housing could represent more than just four walls and a roof.
“Great design does not belong to just the top rung of the socioeconomic sector of society,” said Yip, who also partnered with Bank of America to renovate the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland’s Meltzer Clubhouse in West Oakland, Calif.
Yip’s community projects give people hope just as he, too, needed hope in his own life to pursue his dreams.
Yip, who grew up in a Washington, D.C., suburb, had not always intended to be a designer. “Like many Asian American parents, they encouraged me to go into medicine because they felt like I had the personality and the disposition to be a doctor. And so I didn’t want to disappoint them,” Yip said.
He went to the University of Virginia as a pre-med student and earned degrees in economics and chemistry. He was accepted to medical school, but right before school started, “I really began to feel like there was no way I could do it. I needed to kind of ’fess up and deal with what was really in my heart.”
Fortunately, his parents were supportive, and he earned both a Master of Architecture and M.B.A. at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
While seemingly unrelated, his days as a pre-med student have helped in his success.
“You have to be very creative as a chemist, and you have to be able to think in the abstract,” Yip said. “Your mind gets trained to start thinking in different ways to handle different kinds of problems, and I find that incredibly helpful. I love the fact that I’m an interior designer, but that I’m an interior designer who also has a wide breadth of knowledge in other academic areas.”
He has since come a long way from his first job designing men’s public restrooms. Today, Yip is one of the most popular interior designers on television and continues to run a successful design company in Atlanta between appearances on television shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show and Live! With Regis and Kelly.
As an Asian American male in a profession few would associate with people of color, he stands out — though he doesn’t think of himself as a role model. But he concedes, “I do like the fact that I am Asian American and other Asian American kids out there can see that you don’t necessarily have to pursue traditional professions to be successful.”
His great design sense along with his contagious friendliness and likeability have made him very popular, but off-screen, “I’m probably the most boring guy you’ll ever meet,” said Yip, who is 39 and married. “I like to hang out at home, hang out with my dog. I lead a very quiet life. At a party, I’m the one who wants to be in the kitchen hanging out in the corner.”
Planning his next design project, perhaps.
dear vern yip, hi my name is nataly beacham . I AM 7 YEARS OLD . AT SCHOOL I STAR LEARN ABOUT THE PRESIDENTS OF UNITED SATES THE GOOD LEADERS THEY ARE ,BUT I DON’T THINK THAT WE NEED TO BE A PRESIDENT TO BE ABLE TO HELP OTHERS , SO I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU HOW I WANT MY MOM TO WIN A MAKEOVER . FIRSTEBALL I WANT TO TELL YOU A BIG SECRETS, MY MOM LOVES TO WACHT HGTV, SHE CAN STAY AL DAY IF SHE CAN HAVE TINE AND ALSO SHE LOVE ALL THE SHOWS .MY MOM IS A GIRL SCOUT LEADER. SHE IS A VERY HARD WORKER. MY MOM WORKS ALMOST 20 HOURS A DAY . SOME TIMES MY MOM HAS TO TAKE CARE OF THOUSENDS OF KIDS……………….. ALSO THEY CALL HER YELLOW PAGES , DO YOU KNOW WHY?… IT’S SIMPLE BECAUSE SHE ALSO HELP ALL THE MOMS GIVEN SOURCES SPECIALY AT THE PARENTS THAT DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH, SHE DOES MORE THAT ANY OTHER LEADER, BUT IF THIS IS NOT ENOUGHT SHE ALSO VOLUNTEERS HER SELF IN MY SCHOOL EVEN KNOW IS SHE IS TIRED SHE STILL GIVEN HER SUPPORT FOR OTHERS , SHE WORKS FOR THE PTA. BUT I DON’T FINISH YET, SHE ALSO HELP THE OLD PEOPLE WITH CARING AND ALSO KIDS IN HER OWN CONTRY COLOMBIA SENDING TOYS AND CLOTHS SPECIALY FOR THIS SEASON. i’M REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW SHE BE ABLE TO ACHIVE ALL OF THIS. SHE IS INVOLT ALSO IUN THE COMMUNITY AND CONTINUED HELP. MY MOM NEED TO DO AL OF THIS BY HER SELF BECAUSE SHE IS SEPARATE, MY DAD UNFORTUNATLY IS SICK BECAUSE HE DRINK A LOT AND THATS WAY SHE WORK ALSO A LOT. i REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW SHE CAN DO ALL OF THIS ,LOVE ME A LOT AND LOVE OTHERS.
SO PLEASE GIVE A MIRICAL COME TRUE.. LOVE ,NATALY
Hi. We looked and looked for a place to write to you, and had the hardest time, perhaps this will get to you Vern. Our mom loves your show, most of the time she cries before your episodes are over. Our mom has 6 children 5 boys and 1 girl, ranging in ages from 19 to 1. All are from the same mom and dad. wow, ha? Our dad works in the oilfield and is out of town quite a bit, my mom watches 4 children in our home and does medical records on her computer. We have a nice house, but whenever she watches your show, she says she wishes you could come to our house and help us. We are so proud of our mom and we really feel she deserves your help. She is always so nice and so happy, we would love to see her face if you came to our house. No matter what, she loves your show and how you go into homes and help people in so many different ways. Thank you for listening, Matthew 19, Mitchell 17, Kezia 15, Jacob 12, Jonah 9, Kade 1. The Kvernum Family.
Vern
You MUST meet my sister and her husband. She LOVES to decorate and I think she has a wonderful eye for design, color and well everything. She is always looking for ways to change their modest home, and most of the time she does it very very well. But this time, she/they have started their kitchen make over and I think they are in over their head. They are on a limited budget always have been but some how they manage to make everything look like there was no budget. But this time health issues got in the way, durning the remodel, that of course hurt the budget again.
So I really want to do this for her/them – as they both have the biggest hearts ever and are ALWAYS HELPING OTHERS – I WANT IT TO BE THEIR TIME NOW.
THANKS
ANNE