Celebrating Black designers
`Iconic Home's' author discusses the styles portrayed and how to choose a collaborator of your own
As June Reese was interviewing interior designers for “Iconic Home: Interiors, Advice, and Stories From 50 Amazing Black Designers,” she was picking up plenty of design tips for herself, too.
“I’ve implemented them into my own business and my own home,” says Reese, a Houston-based designer who launched her company, House of June Interiors, four years ago.
Part of a larger project of the same name launched by the Black Interior Designers Network, the “Iconic Home” book was published last month by Abrams. Kimberly Ward, the founder of Black Interior Designers Network and the Iconic Home brand, was a mentor to Reese before dying in 2017.
“Iconic Home was another one of her babies,” Reese says of the brand best known for its show house collaboration with Architectural Digest. “It’s evolved into this celebration or place to promote Black designers.”
From the lush, colorful interiors of Jungalow founder Justina Blakeney to the chic minimalism of Adair Curtis, the designers featured in “Iconic Home” offer a wealth of insight no matter what one’s ideal home aesthetic is. “Even though there are different design styles,” says Reese, “there are design principles that, when executed well, make a space a good space no matter what aesthetic it falls within.”
Reese recalls a nugget of wisdom shared by the late Nike Onile, the founder of Studio Ode in Toronto.
“She said that she designed spaces that fill your senses,” Reese says. “I don’t think we think about that enough. We think about the aesthetic, but to think about all of the different senses in your work is really profound. It’s another way to approach it than I think most of us do.”
“Iconic Home” also offers a look into the varied philosophies and processes of interior designers. Reese mentions David Quarles as an example. The Memphis-based designer leans into his synesthesia, a condition that causes one’s senses to cross over; in Quarles’ case, he associates colors with music, so he finds inspiration in his clients’ favorite songs or playlists they would like to hear in the specific space.
There are plenty of inspiring stories in the book, but the list of designers was tough to whittle down. Reese surmises that the initial list included about 300. To winnow the contenders down to a workable number, she looked at factors like location, experience and visibility as well as aiming to represent a variety of styles.
“There are a lot of major designers in this book, but there are also a lot of smaller designers or younger designers or people who aren’t as advanced in their career, like myself,” says Reese.
“I’m still developing my style,” she says. “But I think that the overall ethos and the way that I approach interiors definitely contributes to the book.”
Although Reese didn’t set out to become an interior designer, she dabbled in the subject in high school via a class her boyfriend was taking. When it came time to apply for college, she wanted to study journalism.
“That didn’t work out,” Reese says, so she looked for a different career path, which led her to study interior design. “In 2013, I started taking my own clients and doing internships and it developed into this firm and career,” she says.
Reese has her own advice for those looking to hire an interior designer. “If you are looking for a designer, I think that the biggest question is how they work with clients,” she says. “Everybody is different. Clients aren’t always the same. All of us aren’t the same. We operate differently.”
Some, like Reese, work in close collaboration with clients. Others might take note of what the client does and doesn’t like and run with it.
While she says that looking at budgets is a “no-brainer,” there are some specific questions you should ask, like what a designer’s minimum is for a retainer. “A lot of us do have minimums of what our retainer is,” she notes.
You should also inquire about the designer’s process and time frames. “A lot of people come to us and think that we’ll start now and I’ll have finished home in four weeks. You might have a finished concept in four weeks with the way that we work,” she says.
No matter where you are and what you’re looking for, those are some of the key questions that can help you find an interior designer who is the right fit for your project. “Figuring out how the designer operates, what their process is like and how they charge and what they charge is a really important way to figure out who the designer is for you,” says Reese.
And if you need some inspiration, “Iconic Home” is a good place to start.