The daughter of a Mexican mother and a Louisiana Creole father, Caren Rideau is the founder of the Kitchen Design Group, an interior design company, a vintner, and an author.
Rideau received a degree in Interior Architecture after completing a five-year program. She went on to study architecture as well. Without knowing which route she would ultimately choose as her career, she gained insight and inspiration while leafing through interior design and architecture magazines and reveling in the beauty of the designs.
Interested in understanding the behavior required to enhance and create functional, aesthetically pleasing spaces, she accepted an apprenticeship as a kitchen designer. The following year, she moved to Los Angeles, California, where she has been doing kitchen designs ever since—and after designing more than 500 kitchens, it’s safe to say, Rideau is right at home.
Design Inspiration
Interestingly, Rideau doesn’t pinpoint her designs to a particular style, although her employees tend to disagree. She takes inspiration from nature—and through her education, she completely understands the evolution of appliances which have become more complex and refined over the years.
To tackle her projects, Rideau begins with a functional approach. Then, she moves on to the aesthetics after understanding which functions she needs to highlight. “The aesthetics come into play based on the ‘how,’ or the client’s direction, and then I’ll add to that, of course. I can’t help myself, ” she says.
When it comes to convincing clients to let go of items that no longer serve their lifestyle or mission for the redesign process, Rideau opines, “We can hold onto a piece or room that meant something so much at the time, and we think, ‘I don’t want to give that up’ or ‘that was so expensive.’ But then we start to think, ‘Oh, it has been 15 years. Do I really need that piece anymore?” She continues, “You have to free your mind from that connection for bigger things to happen.”
Creating Space for Greater Representation
Rideau sits on the board of the Design Leadership Foundation, which developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The nonprofit program is geared towards college-aged students eager to learn more about architectural interior design and landscape.
The pilot program launched at the University of Mississippi has been successful. The board’s goal is to expand the program to more universities this year, hoping to promote diversity and inclusion in architecture and interior design. The amenities of the program include receiving computers and access to internships. Participants also receive stipends to cover travel expenses which help them get to and from their internships.
For Rideau, she understands the circumstances and obstacles BIPOC people, in particular, can face while studying and working in the architectural design field, including the fees associated with the courses and, at times, feeling unseen. “It was daunting when I was going through it as a woman of color,” she shares. She empathizes with the disappointment of being a woman of color, opening countless magazines and not seeing anyone that looks like you.
She admits that progress is being made in regard to diversity and inclusion but feels there’s a lot more work to be done to create a long-lasting and powerful foundation for future generations. She continues, “I can say that 25 years later, it’s changing—and I see the change, and that creates a lot of hope.”
Getting into Wine
She was introduced to wine by her godmother, Iris Rideau, the first Creole-American winemaker to own and operate a winery in the United States. In 1995, when she started her vineyard, she enlisted the younger Rideau’s help. Before she had the added responsibility of managing a design business, she helped her godmother develop her vineyard for approximately a decade.
During her time at Rideau Vineyard, Caren met her long-term partner Andrés Ibarra. When Iris retired from business and sold her vineyard, this left a space open for her goddaughter, inspiring Caren to create her own wine brand with Ibarra called Tierra y Vino.
While working for Iris, Ibarra built a relationship with La Prensa Vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley, allowing him to bring his expertise working with the grapes into the winery. “It’s a beautiful 45-acre vineyard. It’s a pretty magical spot,” exclaims Caren as she confides that almost all their grapes come from that vineyard today. “For us, we’re small, and it’s the easiest way for us to have estate grapes without having that [massive] investment.
Rideau explains that are two types of vineyard experiences. “A lot of people are enamored with ones like we see in Napa Valley, California, filled with endless caves and pristine barrels and nothing on the ground.” She continues, “Ours is more for artistry—artistic grassroots where the owners are the winemakers and the people that you see in the tasting rooms. They’re both great, but we’re the artists and behind the scenes.”
It’s reminiscent of being a guest in someone’s kitchen and watching them cook an elaborate meal. She states proudly, “You can see the equipment—and we’re making really good wine in it.”
Words by Quia Bethea
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Cuisine Noir Magazine is the country’s first Black food publication, launched in 2009 and dedicated to connecting the African diaspora through food, drink and travel. To read the rest of this article and more, visit www.cuisinenoirmag.com.
