Starting From Scratch

At the Manhattan home of designer Shawn Henderson, a blank slate gives way to a masterful mix of marvels, textures, and moods

- DAVID FOXLEY

The brick wall was exposed, so it all felt very blank and architectural," says designer Shawn Henderson standing in his one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. "I had this fantasy of moving in and not doing anything-just a mattress on the floor." At that, the AD100 talent laughs. Far from the minimalist aesthetic he initially envisioned, the decidedly layered interiors unfold with the type of contemporary creative alchemy on which he has built his namesake firm of more than two decades.

The specific ingredients of that signature style are, he admits, difficult to pin down. "I'm just not that way," Henderson reflects on trademark stamps. It was only when laying out his first monograph, subtitled Interiors in Context (Phaidon, 2021), that his distinct approach to color, texture, and scale came into focus.

"Whether they skew more modern or traditional, those elements carry through in every single one of my projects to create spaces that feel balanced, serene, and comfortable."