12.10.25

Their Legacy Lives On: Celebrating the Lives and Lasting Influence of Our Colleagues

Design professionals must demonstrate competence in order to advance our profession. These two professionals did just that, and generations of designers to come will benefit from their contributions. Both of these leaders died suddenly and long before their time, with active projects still on the boards. We honor them with these memorials, remembering that individuals, like you, make a difference in the design industry.

Kathleen Elash Pray

Kathy Pray (passed 2025) served the profession of Interior Design for over 40 years. A native Californian, she graduated from Cal State Long Beach in a customized Home Economics degree (1975), and achieved a Master in Arts in Communication Management from USC in 2000. She pioneered the transformation of the design profession beginning in the mid-1980’s and remained involved throughout her career. She served as VP Communications to the IBD Southern California Chapter, IIDA National Director and Chapter President, and Executive Editor for IIDA’s ‘Perspective’ magazine which she co-created. Later, she created ‘Reveal’ for the Southern California chapter. Believing in unity, she additionally served to create inspiration for the profession, the Design Green Awards program which brought together many of the disciplines of architecture, design and engineering. She was also named Executive Director for the Architectural Foundation of Los Angeles. She had a close relationship with national design magazine editors and the AIA. Her employers included: Sherman Design Group, Cannell Heuman, SRA, Kaneko Laff, Gensler, Interni, Neil Stanton Palmer, Environmental Contracting, FORMICA and PBS Engineering. She is survived by her daughter, Meredyth Pray. The Southern California Chapter and marketplace, and IIDA as a national organization, was forever changed by her lifetime of contributions.

Paula Holtkamp Krake

Paula Holtkamp Krake (passed 2022), a University of Cincinnati alumni, was an instrumental member of the first IBD board of directors formed by a number of designers from large firms practicing large scale commercial interiors projects in the Los Angeles marketplace. She served as VP Programs (1987-1989) introducing controversial topics that attracted design principals, members and non-members alike, channeling a leap in chapter growth by 300%. She lead the inaugural Arts & Crafts exhibit on the (red tile) first floor of the newly constructed Blue Whale at the Pacific Design Center, and contributed to the first Calibre Awards. Her preparation and set up for the programming was unmatched in design profession history. Her previous employers included Herman Miller, Tim Walker Design, and PHH Environments prior to founding Krake Design Studios in Pasadena. Later, she served for over a decade as Director of Programs for the Urban Land Institute in Los Angeles, an enviable position, affecting the development of land use. She is survived by her husband and design partner, Hans Kristian Krake, and her daughter Audra Krake Fraser. The Southern California chapter and the greater design profession was forever changed by her many contributions, leading to the emergence of IIDA.