About Us

While in college Jan decided to turn her hobby into her career and switched her major to interior design. After graduating and working a few years for another CT. interior designer, Jan founded Design Essence. Her love of space planning and working with color combined with her innate sense of scale and proportion has brought hundreds of clients to just where they want to be. In 1996 she opened her retail studio in Old Saybrook CT. to further bring her design vision to life.   Ed Blonder joined his wife in 1992 after changing careers and transferring his many talents to Design Essence, becoming the perfect complement to Jan’s vision. Together with their long established network of vendors, artisans, and tradespeople, very special interiors spring to life.