CYNTHIA MCFARLANE
Design begins with understanding people.
Cynthia McFarlane is an interior designer, former global advertising CEO and creator of Design From Within™—a human-centered approach to creating homes that reflect who we are and the lives we're actually living.
We've been taught to design from the outside in.
We begin with images. Styles. Trends. Rooms we admire and things we want to own.
But a beautiful room can contain all the right things and still feel strangely disconnected from the person who lives there.
I believe the more meaningful place to begin is from within: with identity, lived experience and the life a home needs to support.
Because when those things are understood first, aesthetics become more than a collection of beautiful choices. They become an expression of something personal.
That belief became Design From Within™.
A different starting point for design.
Design From Within™ begins before we talk about style.
It explores three interconnected dimensions - Identity, Narrative and Intentionality - to understand not simply what someone likes, but who they are, what has shaped them and what they want their home to make possible.
It isn't a formula for what a home should look like. It's a framework for making more meaningful design decisions—ones grounded in the person who will ultimately live with them.
EXPLORE DESIGN FROM WITHIN™ →
Understanding people has always been the work.
Long before I became an interior designer, I spent more than two decades in global advertising and strategy, working across countries, cultures and some of the world's most recognized brands.
As President and CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Latin America and later Chief Strategy Officer at Newlink, I led businesses, built multidisciplinary teams and managed complex work across multiple markets.
The work was ostensibly about brands. But at its core, it was always about people.
What matters to them? What do they value? What shapes the choices they make? What creates an emotional connection? And how do you translate those insights into something that feels relevant and true?
Those questions required more than strategy. They required listening, bringing different perspectives together, creating clarity where there was complexity, and guiding people toward a shared vision.
When I moved into interior design, I discovered something that surprised me.
We weren't asking enough of those questions.
The design conversation often began with the room: the architecture, the aesthetic, the inspiration image.
I wanted to begin with the person.
That shift in perspective ultimately became the foundation for Design From Within™ and continues to shape the way I approach both the people and the complexity behind creating a home.
A home tells a story, whether we intend it to or not.
The places we live accumulate pieces of us.
Where we've been. What we've inherited. What we've collected. The people we live with. The rituals we've developed. The things we've outgrown and the things we can't imagine leaving behind.
And our lives don't stand still.
A home that was right ten years ago may no longer support who we are today. A move, a marriage, children leaving home, a new career, retirement, or simply a change in what matters, can create a disconnect between the life we're living and the space around us.
Design can help reconcile the two.
For me, that is where the most interesting conversations about home begin.
Ideas &
Conversations
I’m interested in the intersection of people, identity and place—and in expanding the conversation about design beyond what things look like.
Through writing and conversation, I explore how our homes reflect us, how they influence the way we live, and why understanding ourselves can lead to more meaningful design decisions.
FROM THE JOURNAL
Thoughts on home, identity and intentional living.
Why Beautiful Homes Can Feel Wrong
The Chapter of Life Your Home Should Support Now
Why True Luxury Has Nothing To Do With Price
A CONTINUING CONVERSATION
Design is ultimately about how we choose to live
I believe our homes can tell us something about who we are, what we value and where we're going next.
Design From Within™ grew from that belief—and from a lifelong curiosity about people, the choices we make and the environments we create around ourselves.
Cynthia McFarlane
Interior Designer · Former Global advertising CEO · Creator of Design From Within™
© 2026 Cynthia McFarlane