When Young Huh met an interior designer at a cocktail party in 2001, it was an aha moment for the Fordham University School of Law grad who knew, deep down, she didn’t want to be a lawyer. She enrolled in Parsons School of Design and established her own New York– based firm in 2007. Today her projects range from a historic Tudor in Illinois to a 19th- century country house in Dutchess County, New York, and a resort in Turks and Caicos. Her forthcoming product lines include tile for AKDO, hardware for Modern Matter, and wall coverings for Fromental. The common thread is a look that tempers classic references with contemporary finesse. Case in point: her blockbuster 2019 artist’s loft for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, where she mixed French antiques and classical busts with a bold, Cubist-inspired wallpaper. “I’m obsessed with the idea of keeping what is old and making it work today,” says the designer. “It’s important to respect history but to always innovate.”
What are the most exciting public spaces you've visited in the past year?
This past spring I was able to spend some time in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I was just amazed by how beautiful the landscape and gardens were—meticulously kept rolling hills, and everywhere you looked there were beautiful gardens and well preserved buildings. I visited buildings dating back to the 1200s! It makes me sad to think how Americans love knocking down our old buildings rather than maintaining them. I learned that there is nothing more beautiful than a mature garden and the grace of an aging building that still stands proud.
What is the best piece of career advice you've ever received?
There are two pieces of advice I will never forget: Matthew Patrick Smyth told me when we were doing a show house, ‘Don’t look to your left and don’t look to your right. Look straight ahead at your own vision.’ Basically he was saying don’t worry about what everyone else is doing! Keep doing you! The second is, when I asked Bunny Williams how to become a good gardener, she answered, ‘You’ll get good at it when you care and are interested.’ She had got me! I hadn’t really put in the effort yet. It still makes me laugh.
How active are you on social media? How has social affected your practice, from both the creative and business sides?