Sept. 23, 2007 — Smartly painted shutters and the pleasing green of potted palms let on that the formerly bleak Berne Ice Plant alley has taken on a new identity.
Once inside Innovations by Design you have no doubt. And it's imaginative.
First, there's a display of glass marbles arrayed on the long counter. "It gives people something to do when they're waiting," says Stacy Bourne, the innovative entrepreneur. "Everybody loves them. They make designs, hearts, the UVI logo. You can tell who's been here."
Innovations by Design was surely not what Bourne had in mind when she moved here in 1990 fresh out of Tulane University, with a degree in architecture, to work with Green and Associates, her first professional job.
"Chris [Green] left the island after I'd been here about two years," she says. "He left me a couple projects to finish. To be honest, I thought I'd be here a couple years, in and out. And here I am 17 years later," she laughs. "The Virgin Islands has been very good to me," she says. "I have no complaints."
Innovations is but one of Bourne's three businesses. The Bourne Group, LLC architecture and urban design, and The Firms: Resourceful & Virtual Offices complete the triad. The spiffy Berne Ice Plant offices are, in fact, a Bourne project.
Innovations by Design just sort of evolved, Bourne says. "It's just the tip of the iceberg," Bourne says. "This is what I do so I can afford what I really want. Architecture is my passion. That's where my heart is."
Bourne recalls how the moneymaking "iceberg" began to take form. "When I was first here, there was one copy business on the island and they made terrible color copies," Bourne says. "You just couldn't get a professional job. We had a color copier of our own then, and I began to see the need for a copy center.
"Customers kept asking me if I could help. It wasn't something I was interested in," she says. "But people would say, 'can you do this?' I would think 'no,' but I'd do it anyway. If enough people ask for something, I'll find a way to do it."
The business took on a life of its own, growing from paper copies to T-shirts, coffee mugs, stickers, flyers, postcards. "The technology has grown so much in the last few years, always making it easier," she says. The company offers digital color printing, graphic design, office services, prints banners, booklets and brochures.
Bourne keeps her staff to a minimum. "I like to sleep nights," she says. "I have an administrator who handles everything from our Havensight office, and Joyce Husky does all our graphic design out of her home. I have one other architect and two office staff."
She moved to the ice plant location in 2005 after learning that the Long Bay road project would be starting in a couple years. "I knew how difficult that would be for my customers, so I did a survey and found most of my clientele come from the west end of the island. This location is perfect."
As a result of the move, The Firms came into being, occupying the second floor. It affords all the luxuries of a real office with none of the upkeep and aggravation. Clients get a receptionist, signage, utilities, use of a meeting room and a good sized conference room with comfortable chairs — where Bourne sits and talks of her ideas.
Her energy seems boundless; she doesn't let any dust gather under her feet. "Two months ago, I started mailbox rentals with 400 boxes," she says. "We package, ship, sell stamps, we're receiving agents; we have overnight services from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., except Sunday. The service is a perfect fit with the virtual office domain."
Upstairs, the offices run from insurance to an interior design firm. At the end of the hall is Bourne's own bailiwick.
She throws open the door on what looks like chaos. The carpeted floor is filled with piles of papers and boxes anywhere from four to 12 inches high. "I actually know where everything is," she says. "See, there's some pretty cool stuff," she says pulling out a box of glass samples with all manner of things embedded in them — bamboo, wood, grass. "Aren't they great?" she says. "I love shopping, and this is how I get to do it."
She guides us to the archive room, stuffed (neatly) with binders and blueprints for the myriad projects she has worked on. The walls are filled with renderings of past projects, including the handsome West Indian Co. administrative building, where she designed a 7,000-square-foot addition to the existing 5,000-square-foot West Indian-style building.
"We're still working on this," Bourne says, indicating an attractive raised pavilion holding booths for vendors. "This is for Coki Beach. It was supposed to be a six-month project but we've been working with Historic Preservation who had issues about the cemetery there that we have to work around."
Bourne is very active in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She is a seven-year past president of the local AIA chapter. As a member of the AIA diversity committee, she is a passionate spokesperson for advancing opportunities for minorities.
"Older white males comprise most of the AIA membership," she says. "Out of thousands of architects, there's about 208 licensed black female architects."
While juggling her other businesses, Bourne took time out in 1998 to go back to her home town, St. Louis, Mo., where she earned her master's degree in architecture and urban design at Washington University School of Architecture.
The Bourne Group can be reached at 714-1430. Innovations by Design and The Firms at 776-8047.
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