Meaningful design shapes more than spaces — it shapes how people feel and interact with the world around them. It sparks curiosity, evokes nostalgia, creates a sense of pleasure and belonging.
“We’re always looking for the story first — without a story, there is no project,” says Dani Miller, principal designer and new owner of Lauderdale Design Group.
For Dani, who acquired the award-winning interior design firm in December 2022, that story is about blending legacy with vision. Having started as an intern 12 years ago, she stepped into the leadership role established by founder Joy Lauderdale, bringing fresh energy to a business with deep roots in Knoxville’s design landscape.
Since the transition, Dani has grown the team and relocated LDG from downtown to the south waterfront. The former warehouse at 2216 W Blount Ave. has been reimagined as a think tank for creatives and is also home to recording studio Auralation, video production company The Frame Theory, and animation and post-production studio Elastic Pictures.
We met with Dani at the space to talk about what makes design matter, her new view of the city, and how LDG is evolving with Knoxville’s urban growth.
From Intern to Owner
“It’s just been an amazing journey,” Dani says, “And I just feel like we’re just getting started. In the last two years, we’ve lovingly thought of ourselves as a 20-year-old startup. We were taking the foundation that Joy developed for the company and infusing it with new talent and new ideas, but using that foundation that was already there.”
Dani’s relationship with Lauderdale Design Group started in 2012 when she joined as an intern while studying at the University of Tennessee’s College of Architecture and Design. She took on the role of interior designer before leaving for opportunities in New York City, where she worked on Cadillac’s global rebrand. Dani, who grew up in small-town Clarksville, was dazzled by the big city buzz. But Knoxville remained her first, and truest, urban love.
“Knoxville has the culture piece that these major metropolitan cities have,” she says. “We have interesting restaurants, we have interesting entrepreneurs and small businesses, and we have things like Big Ears that bring even more culture in. It’s special here, and I really believe it.”
So when Joy asked Dani if she was interested in coming back to become design director, Dani didn’t hesitate. And later, when Joy asked her if she wanted to buy the business, Dani’s answer was easy: “Absolutely.” The buy-sell process took six months, during which the two women worked closely to ensure the transition was seamless. “Our goal was that we’d be good businesswomen, but we would still be great friends,” Dani says. “And we did. So, we’re really proud of that.”
LDG quickly expanded, hiring top talent and growing to a six-person team—all women, and all UT grads—with plans to add a seventh soon. “Good people bring good people,” Dani says. “And your team is your value. It’s because of your team that you’re able to do great work.”
Dani places a high value on reinvestment, both in her team and in the community. She recently took the team on a retreat to New York City to explore markets, visit design-forward spaces, and bring back fresh ideas to Knoxville. She encourages her team to share their expertise through community service and volunteering on boards.
Dani also emphasizes the importance of a healthy work culture, being the mom of a 2-year-old daughter herself. “We work hard, but we’re big believers in ‘work hard and go home.’ We do 40-hour work weeks, and I’m really proud of that,” she says. “In the design community, it’s common to pull long hours. We’ve worked hard to staff appropriately so we can be fully present when we’re at work and then go home and be with our families.”
Settling into South Knox
Today, the team at LDG is hard at work around a long communal table in the center of their new space. Dani slides the loading dock garage door open, letting in a crisp autumn breeze that invigorates the room. The space itself is thoughtfully designed to inspire creativity and collaboration. Bright and airy, it’s a clean canvas where a buffet of inspiration—pops of color, piles of paint and fabric swatches, and multimedia mood boards—is scattered for the designers to draw from.
“We are first believers in the influence and the impact that design has on people, and that’s what we do all day, every day,” Dani explains. “Having a space that fosters collaboration and sparks creativity is so important. What’s wild is we’ve had so many clients walk into our office and give us projects because they’re like, ‘Oh, you get it. I want my place to look like this.’”
Dani has always gravitated toward urban spaces, and she advocated for LDG to move downtown from its original location in Louisville in 2013. They started on Summit Hill then moved to the 100 block of Gay Street. Dani explains that the latest relocation, to the South waterfront, didn’t feel like leaving downtown but rather expanding its reach into an area that’s fast becoming an integral part of the city’s core. Just a short walk from the LDG office, you can see Neyland Stadium and the Sunsphere across the river.
The river isn’t a boundary anymore, but it might be a bridge to what’s next for this city. LDG is proud to be a part of that. “I still believe us to be downtown and I think this part of downtown will be the thing in five years,” Dani says. “It’s amazing to think that in 2012, when I lived off Sevier Avenue, there was nothing going on over there. Now, it’s the hub. I see this as the future of downtown, one of the future corridors.”
What’s Next for LDG
The future for LDG is rooted in reinvestment—reinvesting in its team, the community, an expanding downtown footprint, and the connections and relationships that sustain their work.
LDG’s foundation has always been in commercial work, with UT as a cornerstone of its portfolio. Those projects include the 1,200-seat Rocky Top Dining Hall, two residence halls, Audiology and Speech Pathology, Thornton Athletics Student Life Center, Natalie L. Haslam Student Life Center, Blackburn-Furrow Golf Clubhouse, Delta Gamma Fraternity, and more in the works. Dani credits their continued success to the care and commitment the team brings to each project. “We put so much heart and soul and care into our projects that they say, ‘We can trust that Lauderdale will do it again with excellence next time,’” she says.
In addition to their commercial work, LDG is diving into hospitality and full-scope residential design. The new Central Bottle in Happy Holler is one example of how the team is exploring these more intimate and experiential spaces.
For Dani, the heart of the work is about crafting spaces that make people feel something. Applied more broadly, design can be a vehicle by which we create communities that celebrate authenticity, heritage, and forward thinking. “People reside and play and explore in places that spark curiosity and make them feel a sense of intrigue, a sense of home,” she says. “Meaningful spaces and meaningful design give you those feelings.”
