Building Bridges: A Career in Design through the Power of Connection
The hallway outside Purdue’s design studios was impossible to ignore.
Student models were scattered on tables. Sketches lined the walls. Ideas, half-finished and wildly ambitious, were everywhere. For Maria VanDeman, a 2009 graduate of interior design in the Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance, it was electric.
“This is creation in action,” she remembers thinking. Art, architecture, creativity, and problem-solving all coming together in one place.
VanDeman arrived at Purdue eager to explore the possibilities of interior design, but it was the environment of the program itself that cemented her passion. Studio life meant long hours, shared ideas and constant collaboration with classmates working toward the same goal.
“There was something really special about being surrounded by people who had the same passion and were working toward the same mission,” VanDeman recalls.
That sense of shared purpose left a lasting impression. The friendships and professional connections she formed in those studios would become some of the earliest threads in a network that continues to shape her career today.
“If I could tell students one thing,” she says, “it would be to get involved in everything you can. Study abroad, field trips, networking events. When you’re inside the walls of Purdue, you have this incredible access to opportunities that you might not fully realize until later.”
The Power of a Network
After graduation, VanDeman’s career evolved as she worked across multiple firms and design specialties. Her work eventually took her to Miami, where she gained experience in healthcare design and later joined a global design firm specializing in workplace environments.
Each step forward, she says, was shaped by one key factor: relationships.
“Your network is incredibly powerful,” VanDeman says. “The people you meet along the way often open doors you never expected.”
It’s one of three principles she often shares with young designers: be persistent, build your network and stay flexible about where your career might lead.
A Leap into Something New
In 2017, VanDeman decided it was time for another change.
After nearly a decade working directly in design firms, she began exploring a different side of the industry and joined commercial furniture company OFS as a manufacturer’s representative.
The move shifted her perspective. Instead of designing spaces herself, she began supporting the designers who did, helping them find the right products and solutions for their projects.
“I remember thinking I would never go into sales,” she says with a laugh. “But it ended up being a really natural transition.”
The role allowed her to combine her design knowledge with her love for building relationships. She found herself connecting with designers across cities, learning about their projects and helping them bring ideas to life.
Today, VanDeman serves as director of design strategy for OFS, where her work now extends far beyond traditional design roles.
She hosts the OFS podcast “Imagine a Place,” where she interviews designers and industry leaders about their work, their purpose and the stories behind the spaces they create.
For VanDeman, storytelling is central to design itself.
“Designers come up with amazing creative passion projects,” she says. “But if we can’t communicate the story behind them, people may never fully care or listen.”
That belief in storytelling also inspired another creative project: a children’s book called Design Your World. The book follows a young girl discovering how design can shape the spaces around her, and ultimately her own future.
By introducing to kids that they have the agency over their environment, VanDeman hopes to broaden awareness of the profession and encourage more diverse voices to enter the field.
Shaping the Future of the Industry
As her career has progressed, VanDeman has also become deeply invested in mentorship and leadership within the design community.
She regularly brings designers together to discuss challenges facing the profession from leadership gaps to the evolving role of technology.
While conversations about artificial intelligence and workplace shifts dominate many industry discussions, VanDeman remains optimistic.
“Technology will change the way we work,” she says. “But the human side of design—relationships, communication, storytelling—that’s only going to become more important.”
She now serves on Purdue’s Interior Design Advisory Board.
During a recent visit to campus, she found herself inspired by the same energy she remembered from her student days.
“The students are so eager and optimistic and just hopeful,” she says. “The optimism is a beautiful thing that I think we need more of in this world.”
Building Bridges
When asked what she’s most proud of in her career, VanDeman doesn’t point to a particular project or title. Instead, she talks about people.
The colleagues who became friends. The designers she reconnects with year after year at industry conferences. The classmates from Purdue who remain part of her professional world.
“They say don’t burn bridges,” she says. “But I think about it a little differently. Where can you build bridges?”
For VanDeman, design has always been about more than the spaces themselves. It’s about the connections formed along the way and the people who help shape the journey.