How a trip to Italy reignited a passion for design

Early in 2024, Jamie Rajf, a marketing lead at a big-box retailer in Toronto, took a leave of absence from her job in search of inspiration. She left her fiancé, friends and family behind for six months to attend design school in Florence, Italy.

Ms. Rajf, 33, considers herself a measured sort of person – not quick to make drastic life changes. Yet, living in a new country to get hands-on training in interior and furniture design wasn’t out of left field. It was a dormant obsession waiting to re-emerge.

In this series, Reimagining Wealth, we explore the evolving definition of wealth in today’s world. Here’s Ms. Rajf on what she gained from her adventure in Italy and how it’s influenced her life and career:

Where did your fascination with furniture and design begin?

I can think back to being a kid at Ikea. I loved going into those [showrooms], just seeing how a room could be designed. There were instances when I was 12 or 13 where my parents would wake up and I had moved my bed across my room. I would design and redesign [my room], and sometimes I’d wake up with things from my shelves on top of me because I’d be reorganizing in my sleep.

I got some big antique, mid-century pieces when I was in university. My mom came up for the weekend once and we went to a bunch of different vintage shops in London, Ont. – this was before mid-century modern furniture had such a resurgence. I got a giant credenza, a giant table and a chair for $200. Then, I collected vintage items for years because I loved to thrift and go antiquing. When I got laid off during the pandemic, I started selling the items I had collected through my shop, Good Day Vintage.

What led you to take a leave from your job and go back to school to learn about interior and furniture design?

A year and a half ago, my partner and I were vacationing in France. We were close to the [France-Germany] border, so we went to the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. I loved every single moment of it. Vitra had exhibitions where you could read about different designers and their process of how they designed an object and what it meant historically or textually. I came back from that trip thinking, my god, I want to do this.

How did you land on a program in Florence, Italy?

I gravitated to the Florence Design School because it was a way to get more of a working education as opposed to a formal education, because it’s at an actual architectural firm. The class sizes are really small – five or six people per class. You’re face to face with your professors who are design professionals working on projects coming through the firm.

Tell me about living in Italy.

I always wanted the opportunity to live somewhere else. I felt like I missed my window, you know, being in a relationship, having a great job. I’m not about to quit everything and move to Europe. But living in Italy really was wonderful. It was beautiful. It wasn’t without its challenges, some of which I welcomed because I wanted the experience and challenge of living abroad: having to learn a new language, get a phone plan, get an apartment and figure out how to get fresh prosciutto from the grocery store.

I think that there was some self-doubt that I could actually handle it. I couldn’t find soap that I liked for months until I discovered by accident that the equivalent of Shoppers Drug Mart was around the corner from my apartment.

It was hard being away from my friends and family because I was sitting alone in an apartment for a lot of [the time]. I ended up pushing myself to go to events and meet people and develop friendships outside of school.

What was it like to study Italian buildings and furniture?

It was awesome. Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, so [there were] tons of beautiful buildings, designed by monumental and iconic architects.

I had a class on Italian design where we learned about influential design companies based in Italy. Then, we would either go to their office or a showroom and actually explore their products. That was my favourite thing. With furniture design, there’s something about being able to touch the materials. It’s so different from just looking at a picture of a chair on the internet.

What do you think you got out of the experience?

I learned a lot. I’ve gone from having really crummy sketches on paper to being able to do very high-quality renders. I’ve learned how to take a design problem and break it up into actionable steps.

I think this year has taught me that you don’t just learn a skill and then suddenly you’re doing it. It’s a constantly evolving process.

I’ve also learned that to be successful and a good furniture designer, you need to constantly be finding beauty and fun in everyday things. There’s a lot of humility when you’re learning new skills, especially when you’re not really young. You have to stay very humble and you have to be very curious.