Tina Cranfield
Photo: Tom Schmuki
I started out my professional career in the garment business. Lucky and blessed enough to graduate from Parsons School of Design on the Deans list. My awards at this school include The Norman Norell award, and the Calvin Klein Golden Thimble award. My first job was interning with Donna Karen, after which I worked for Carole Little for St. Tropez West in LA as a designer in charge of St. Tropez Wear.
I started my own women's apparel company, Tina Hagen, after four years of working at St. Tropez West. Tina Hagen grew to a 21 million dollar a year business that thrived for thirteen years.
It was at this time I purchased an old run down monster of a house in Windsor Square, right outside of downtown LA. The house had been built in 1915 for the Van Nuys. it was badly in need of restoration and renovation. That is where I got the bug to re-do houses.
After I sold that house I purchased another landmark property in Pasadena by the architects Green & Green. Far from being a craftsman it was wedding cake in nature, but once again falling apart. I restored and added onto the original structure, adding a pool and landscaping appropriate for the house and the neighborhood.
My next big project was a Victorian house on Point Dume, in Malibu CA. It had been built in the early eighties and looked it. Several of the photographs on this site are taken from that house after renovation.
During this same period I began buying apartment buildings, one right on the beach in Santa Monica, built in 1912, two closer to down town Santa Monica, built in 1913. I also bought an 8 unit apartment building, built in 1956 on Pacific Coast Highway, In Malibu. All of these commercial properties I renovated, restored, improved the tenancy and rent roll. In addition to renovations I managed these properties myself.
My next adventure was a property in South Carolina, just outside of Charleston in a community called Dunes West. This house was so dark,cramped and ugly, built in 1978 and not worked on since.
I was then offered a job designing bedding with Dian Austin Couture Home, back in California once more.
I have since moved to Tennessee where I live a fun and peaceful life with my husband Dr. Robert Cranfield and our two dogs Sadie and Martha. When Bob and I met I was a closet smoker, smoking on and off for years. He encouraged me to try electronic cigarettes. I was shocked how well the product worked, and haven't had a cigarette in more than four years. Bob and I saw this business as something we thought would thrive due to the success that myself and many of his patients had in switching from combustible tobacco products to vapor products.
We opened Smoke & Mirrors Vapor House in 2012 and leased what had been a yogurt shop. We renovated the store, giving it a throw back, southern look. I was responsible for the artistic direction of the store and brand. We sold the business in 2016.
It was at this point I decided to get more serious about doing what I have done on my own properties for other people. I am just finishing an full time interior design curriculum at NYIAD, in New York City, and am concurrently in a full time course at Tennessee College for Applied technology studying Auto Cad and Revit focusing on Architectural Drafting. I have also recently finished an online course in Sketchup
My computer aided drafting skill include Adobe Illustrator, Auto Cad, Sketchup, Layout, Revit, and Photoshop. My Interior Design skills include, Floor Plan, Illustration and Implementation, Renovation and Restoration, Contractor Negotiations and Scheduling. I also have experience in Excel Spreadsheets, Management, Budgeting, Branding, Purchasing, Coordinating, Time Management, Customer Service, Communication, Advanced Problem solving.
Can be a team leader and a cheerleader.