Ramsay Gourd

Architect, Designer

designer ramsay gourd

“It always surprises me, that moment when I just ‘click’ with clients and find a hidden connection between us, when they give me, as a design professional, permission to express what they see as beautiful.”

 

By Anita Rafael

A house is not a home unless you can make it truly your own — your taste, your style, your nest. But to get an architect to create all that throughout every phase of a project, a client must be willing to give up their deepest secrets about what they love most and how they want to live. Ramsay Gourd, of Ramsay Gourd Architects and Ramsay Gourd Home in Manchester Center, has mastered the fine art of the relationship. You have seen his fabulous interiors on the cover of recent issues of House Beautiful and Design New England.

 

HIS HOMETOWN

“I grew up in Wilton, Connecticut, in a family of artists.”

 

ON HIS STYLE

“I am a contextualist. Everything I create comes from external emotional responses. I want to capture exactly who my clients are and give them something better than they initially thought they could have.”

 

MOST AMAZING COLOR ON EARTH

“It doesn’t have a name. It is that color that shifts red into orange depending on the light. I’ve used it as a lacquer on a wall.”

 

HIS LATEST PASSION

“About four years ago I launched a new business designing fabric, furnishing, and wall covering. I describe it as ‘fresh classics for modern living.’ It’s about understanding the fundamentals of classical design, you know, proportion, scale, texture, and why that works, those elements that make a design enduring, and then making something new that is relevant for the context of the 21st century.”
interior design illustration by ramsay gourd

ON HIS CLIENTS

“I see myself as a portrait-maker. I never want anyone to walk into their home and say ‘This is so Ramsay Gourd.’ I want them to say ‘It’s so me.’ I find out who my clients are at their core, and in the process, I always discover how interesting they are. If I do my job right, it’s going to be an intimate relationship. We’re going to get to know each other really well. Many people become my clients for life, which is great. They say, ‘Why would I go to anyone else? He gets me.’”

 

ON HIS INSPIRATION

“My clients inspire me. They have a history, and because of where they came from, what they’ve done, where they’ve been, and their personalities, they bring so much with them. Every project has its own DNA that influences the final result.”

 

PENCIL AND PAPER OR COMPUTER

“I am old school. I think with a pencil.”

home interior designed by ramsay gourd

BEST FIND EVER

“My greatest find was a flame mahogany game table, 19th century, American Empire style, that I found at Brimfield.”

 

IF NOT AN ARCHITECT

“I’d be a sculptor.”

 

DESIGN-WISE, HIS PRIZED POSSESSION

“There are two things, and they’re very nostalgic. One is the painting that my great-grandfather did of my grandmother, and the other is a nickel Stanley insulated pitcher. My other great-grandfather was William Stanley.”

 

LAST WORD ABOUT HIMSELF

“Blessed. I get to do this every day.”

 

DETAILS

Ramsay Gourd Architects | www.rgavt.com
Ramsay Gourd Home | www.ramsaygourd.com
802-362-1480 or [email protected]
7190 Main Street
Manchester, Vermont 05254
1 Mill Street
Burlington, Vermont 05401