Ken Pursley
The Pursley Dixon Studio Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Partner
Ken Pursley never debated having any other type of career outside of architecture. Growing up, he loved to draw and sketch. He landed his first job at an architecture firm when he was 16.
“The fact that I could find a career to get paid to imagine things was awesome,” he says. “I knew I wanted to design and create something new, and I still get to do that every day.”
For Pursley, good design is more of an emotional exercise than an intellectual one. The goal is for clients to feel a deep connection to their spaces and to live in ones that reflect their lifestyles. He also works to make sure each house he designs is memorable.
“One of the things we think about is details that leave a mental impression,” he says. “I want people to say ‘I went through that house and it had this cool thing I'd never seen before.’”
He draws inspiration from his travels, but also from what he calls humble things, like barns, that feel and look authentic.
“When I see something that speaks to me, I really take the time to look at it, maybe even draw it,” he says. “Whether consciously or subconsciously, I ingest that into my dialect as a designer.”
Pursley founded Pursley Architecture in 2005. He subsequently recruited his college classmate Craig Dixon to join him as a partner at the firm in 2012, and it became Pursley Dixon.
Craig Dixon
The Pursley Dixon Studio Partner & Director of Architecture
Craig Dixon grew up building forts and treehouses with his dad, a home builder with access to job-site scraps. Sometimes he tagged along with him to work.
“I was very intrigued by creating spaces all the time,” Dixon says. “But I realized while working with him that I didn't want to build the house, I wanted to design the house.”
Pursuing that conviction drew him to Auburn University, where he met his future business partner, Ken Pursley.
For Dixon, designing spaces that inspire is important, but he also emphasizes ensuring they give people an escape from the everyday world.
“You want to come home and have your cocoon,” he says, noting he always thinks about how coming home makes him feel when he’s working with a client.
Dixon approaches each architectural project with a sense of discovery, understanding how people want to live so that the spaces he creates fit in naturally with their lives. Every space has to have a purpose, though.
He’s designed his own home this way, saying it can be ‘big’ or ‘small’ depending on whether it’s just him and his wife, or all of their adult children at home.
For each project, he introduces an element to push the design boundaries just a little bit.
“You're not striving to do something you've done before,” he says. “But you're not trying to be unique just to be unique.”
@pursleydixon
Felipe Fisher
House of FGF
Principal Designer
Felipe Fisher credits much of how he designs beautiful spaces to what he’s learned as a ballroom dancer.
“Dancing taught me how to see and feel rhythm in everything with its flow, balance and intentionality behind every movement,” he says. “I approach design the same way. A space should guide you naturally, almost like choreography, from one moment to the next.”
For Fisher, good design is just as much about how a space looks as it is about how it feels to move through it.
That philosophy led him to create his interior design firm, House of FGF, allowing him to blend his passion for creativity with a career he loves.
One of his guiding principles is to design beyond trends, creating spaces that truly reflect each client. While he draws inspiration from everything around him, ultimately, everything starts with the client.
“I’m drawn to a mix of classic and contemporary elements, with rich textures and a sense of quiet luxury,” he says, “But my clients’ stories, their lifestyles and their energy are what shape the design.”
Fisher delights in finding one-of-a-kind pieces by browsing antique markets and sourcing from local artisans.
“There’s something incredibly special about finding a piece that brings character into a space,” he says. “It’s that balance of curated and unexpected that really makes a design feel complete.”
@fgfinteriors
Hugh Crump
Greenline Design Gardens on Green Owner
Hugh Crump has been in the landscaping business since he was a teenager. While his friends were working at fast food restaurants or grocery stores, Crump wanted to do something outside.
He didn’t expect to turn his lawn business into a long-term career, but landscape design and its ability to complete a property became his love.
“A house provides shelter and the lawn provides function and beauty,” he says. “I think that the lawn can be a point of emphasis, and the next level of detail.”
For Crump, creating a design that makes owners feel a connection that goes beyond their four walls is important. He says he’s constantly inspired by older gardens, like those along Queens Road West, with its canopy of oaks.
“One hundred years ago, someone had a plan to make this,” he marvels. “I wish they were here to be able to see it and appreciate it.”
As Crump built his business, he noticed he was spending more and more time trying to find finishing touches, like pots and accessories. His search for the perfect outdoor accents took him all over the Southeast. Last year, he opened Gardens on Green, a shop dedicated to those details.
“We were working really hard to pull together all the specific tastes of clients that fit with their architecture,” he says. “That was just not available in Charlotte.”
@greenlinedesigninc @gardensongreen
Garrett Nelson
Garrett P. Nelson Studio Principal
Garrett Nelson grew up in New Jersey in a town he describes as Norman Rockwell-esque, with its architecture and landscaping. He learned about architectural styles and different foliage on morning walks around the neighborhood with his father, a landscaper in town.
“It felt like a simple conversation at the time, but looking back, it was an education I didn’t fully appreciate until much later,” he says of the strolls. “His tutelage absolutely shaped my path,” Nelson says.
Nelson moved to Charlotte to pursue his degree in architecture at UNC Charlotte and never left. He founded Garrett P. Nelson Studio in 2007 for custom residential architecture.
“We think a lot about creating moments within a home, with subtle transitions, framed views and details that unfold over time,” he says of his approach. “There’s a balance we strive for, between structure and softness, refinement and a sense of whimsy, all in service of creating homes that feel both deeply personal and connected to the surrounding community.”
One of the things he’s most inspired by when designing a home is the front-facing experience. His goal is to create a house that gets people to stop and look when they’re walking by.
“Elements like front loggias, expansive glass, and thoughtfully layered rooflines help break down the scale of a home and create a more human, approachable presence within the streetscape,” he says.
For Nelson, beauty is everywhere. Remembering to take time to notice it is something he strives for every day.
@garrettpnelsonstudio
Lawson Campe
Greystone Hardscapes and Landscapes Owner
Lawson Campe built one of Charlotte’s preeminent landscaping and hardscaping businesses on his entrepreneurial spirit. He grew up in a household where his dad listened to motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Campe started a car detailing business in high school that he ran through college to pay for school.
He found his inspiration for landscape design in an unexpected way. In 2019, while living in his childhood home in Ballantyne, a neighbor’s house exploded, leaving their home unlivable. The explosion sent debris, including stone pavers, into their backyard. Campe used them to build small patios for his parents’ new houses.
From there, one of his parent’s friends asked him to redo their patio. That was the unofficial start of Greystone Hardscapes and Landscapes.
“Not being afraid to fail and being ready to learn is a big thing,” Campe says of his first job and one of his core business philosophies. “That's been a big driver on how we've got to today.”
“It’s art,” he says. “Being able to take something we can design from a blank space and transform that into a dream backyard that’s truly unique and custom is inspiring.”
Campe takes fulfillment in seeing the finished product and how people use it.
“What's so cool is the memories that can be created in these areas,” he says. “They’re just unmatched.”
@greystonehardscapes