source : laura hodges studio
Design, home interiors, and renovating is my thing. It has always been my niche and area of expertise. It’s also my business, my passion, and why I love sharing on the blog with you all five days a week! I know that is why 99% of you follow along, show up to read the blog, and choose to comment or engage. I get that you come here for interior inspiration, and I LOVE that because it’s why I post in the first place. While I’ve been donating, educating myself, and being proactive to assist in bringing equality, love, and justice to my friends of color, I wanted to think of design related posts that felt applicable and relevant here on the blog during this time. We’re all here for design and there is an insane amount of talent and inspiration to be found in the black community. I shared a list over the weekend on Instagram and it was well received, so I figured expanding with a blog post made more sense and would be a permanent resource for everyone! If you’re into interiors and design, click through for 25 black designers I really enjoy following. This post is a long one, but a good one packed with inspiration!
My friend Medina posted some stories yesterday that stuck with me when brainstorming today’s blog post. She said, “There is a lot more to me than being a black woman.” She then professed her love for design and DIY, her Muslim religion, her family, and so many more incredible things that make her the remarkable person she is. I don’t want this post to come off as “you should follow these people just because they’re black”, but rather because, in addition to supporting the black community and diversifying your feed, these people are amazing at what they do. They’re multi-faceted, they’re passionate about design, they’re insanely talented, and they’re individuals with an interior aesthetic I truly enjoy and appreciate. Ready for some design goodness?
Shavonda Gardner
→ follow ←
Kennesha Poe-Buycks
→ follow ←
Nicole White
→ follow ←
Medina / Grillo Designs
→ follow ←
Carmeon Hamilton
→ follow ←
Catherine + Bryan
→ follow ←
Nicole Gibbons
→ follow ←
Justina Blakeney
→ follow ←
Erika Ward
→ follow ←
Coco Cozy
→ follow ←
Halden Interiors
→ follow ←
Sheila Bridges
→ follow ←
Ishka Designs
→ follow ←
Joy Moyler
→ follow ←
Laura Hodges
→ follow ←
Corey Damen Jenkins
→ follow ←
Lee Litumbe
→ follow ←
Darryl Carter
→ follow ←
Shakoor Interiors
→ follow ←
Beth Diana Smith
→ follow ←
Michel Smith Boyd
→ follow ←
Keita Turner Design
→ follow ←
Rayman Boozer
→ follow ←
Leydon Lewis
→ follow ←
Randall
→ follow ←
Talk about some talented people, right?! Give them a follow.
As a privileged white woman, I honestly feel inadequate discussing important race issues, not having personally dealt with a struggle I’ll never know. I try to speak my mind, stand up for what I believe in, and help the cause for my friends of color in the best way I know how. Although I haven’t experienced much hate in regards to the issue (in comparison to others), I have received messages that I’m being too quiet. Others that I should shut my mouth. I’ve also received messages that the words I’m saying aren’t correct or perfect. Then there are the messages telling me what to say. I know I could never please everyone, but I just wanted you all to know this… I’m doing my best, in my own voice because I know this matters.
I’ll be pausing my posts this week to listen and learn, but I’ll also be advocating and brainstorming additional ways I can help in my own, unique way with my specific skillset. I use my channel and blog in an honest, authentic way and I’ll never change that. Let’s promise to all be kind to one another and spread love during this dark time and look for the light.
I hope you were able to discover some new designers to follow in this post! Maybe there are some friendly faces in the mix you already know and love? As always, I’d love to hear your favorites in the comment section below! Do you follow any people of color you think I’d love? Like many others, I have plenty of work to do myself and welcome diversity to my feed now and always.
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Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 6:31 amThis is a wonderful collection of great design. Thank you taking the time to use your position as a platform of positivity and support. Thanks for sharing and providing more eye candy from some very talented women.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 4:53 pmThanks Sarah! It’s my pleasure. xo
Stacy
June 2, 2020 at 6:50 amI’m familiar with a few of these accounts but there are MANY new faces here for me. Thank you for bringing them to my attention, I’m thrilled to support some beautiful new follows!
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 4:55 pmLove hearing that, Stacy!
Peggi
June 2, 2020 at 7:23 amThank you, as always, for the inspiration and authenticity. Troubled and troubling times. Have a lovely, productive week.💜
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 4:58 pmAlways happy to share design inspiration and the talented designers behind it :) I hope you have a lovely week to, Peggi (despite the troubling times). xo
Jamie
June 2, 2020 at 8:42 amThank you for this post. It is sincere and helpful. I will enjoy checking out each one of the designers you highlighted. I have been naive, and am just learning about internet algorithms, so I am happy to start changing mine. So many of us have a lot of learning to do.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 4:59 pmThank you, Jamie. I’m glad it came off as I had intended. We all have lots of learning to do… and that’s ok! We’ll put in the work and keep learning.
Danna
June 2, 2020 at 9:03 amSo many beautiful designers. I am not familiar with any of these but would love to sit down and look through them. Thank you for sharing. Looking at beauty in design is one of the few things that is feeding my soul right now.
I am sorry for the hurtful words. I have a lot to learn. We as a country have a lot to overcome.
I follow Just Destiny at https://justdestinymag.com. Beautiful blog; sweet family!
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 4:59 pmLove hearing that. I’m with you, Danna… finding beauty in design is also feeding my soul this week. We all have lots to learn and overcome. Thank you for sharing Destiny with me- I just followed her :) xo
Liz
June 2, 2020 at 9:21 amHi Sarah. Thanks for showcasing some great designers. Sorry you’ve taken any heat on this issue. One thing, you might consider it a compliment that you have readers who feel comfortable enough to engage with you on the tough subjects. Keep being you either way because you are right you’ll never please everyone. As for people telling you what to say I disagree. I’ve noticed there seems to be a script out there and I personally find that patronizing.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:01 pmThanks for the new perspective Liz! It’s a tricky place to be in, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I definitely don’t want to regurgitate a script and I will always speak from my heart. Lots of love! xo
Traci
June 2, 2020 at 9:50 amThank you for sharing these amazing designers. Some of which weren’t on my radar up until now. I also thank you for speaking up. As a black woman and long time follower, I appreciate that you didn’t choose silence.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:03 pmI’m glad to hear that, Traci! It’s my pleasure and I really appreciate your kind words. It has been tough to find my voice when I feel so inadequate, but I want to show up and show my support. Lots of love! xo
Colleen
June 2, 2020 at 10:05 amThere is so much beautiful design and inspiration here 😍 I’m totally smitten with Nicole White and that jaw dropping black and white kitchen. Wow! Love Erika Ward too, her kitchen reveal on the ORC last fall was stunning! Such wonderfully talented people you have highlighted here Sarah! I’ve just have to take a break from the backyard craziness, pour a very tall glass of wine and immerse myself in all the beauty and fabulousness 😊 Have a super fantastic week 😎
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:04 pmNicole is amazing! We’ve been on a couple design trips together and she is SO hilarious and incredible in person. Her design skills are an added bonus to her awesome personality. Hah! I also love Erika Ward’s aesthetic. She has an incredible eye for design. Enjoy your very tall glass of wine after all that yard work :) I bet it’s looking amazing out there! xo
Jennifer Scott
June 2, 2020 at 10:20 amThank you Sarah! I appreciated the way you articulated your feelings in this important post. As white people, get so many mixed messages and sometimes stay silent due to fear of our own. Thank you for inspiring me to speak up!
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:07 pmThanks Jennifer! I was feeling very anxious to hit the post button on this one, because I didn’t want it to read in the wrong way. I totally feel your fear. I’m trying to listen, learn, and know that in the process of speaking up and using my voice- I’ll make mistakes along the way. We all will because we’re human and we’re learning together. We just have to course correct and keeping moving forward. Hang in there! xo
Italy
June 2, 2020 at 12:17 pmThese are some beautiful designs. I wish you would include a little description of what kind of design each person does or what inspires you about their work. I really liked your descriptions in that post you did a while back about design blogs that you as a blogger follow, and it would be helpful to do that here since many of these names are new to your readers. It would also help this feel more authentic. (Not that it’s not authentic, I’m sure it is. It would just help reinforce that point you made at the beginning about these being great designers to follow because they’re amazing at what they do, not just because of their race.)
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:13 pmHi Italy! Such a great point and feedback I’d love to elaborate on. Thank you so much for the suggestion, BTW! Each blog post has an SEO formula, so that it is more searchable and accessible. In an effort to fit as many designers into this post as possible, it became quite long. The SEO software doesn’t like super duper long posts, so you have to keep it under a word count minimum. I began writing the descriptions and tidbits about each designer and only made it to #12 before it flagged the post, so I ended up editing the descriptions out. I think a better solution for the future might be to break this post into two or three smaller posts and include the tidbits in those. Lesson learned on the super long list format… my apologies! I’ll try to keep lists at 10-12 so I can provide a description for each designer’s personality and aesthetic. Such an awesome point! I appreciate it :)
Leslie B
June 2, 2020 at 12:25 pmWow what a great list of designers Sarah. Thanks for the info.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:13 pmThank you, Leslie! xo
Melanie T
June 2, 2020 at 12:30 pmKeep on being your authentic self. You are perfect as you are. By highlighting designers some of us may have never known about you are taking a sincere and appropriate response to current events. I don’t think anyone expects ( or should expect) you to use your design focused blog to speak about anything but design.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:14 pmThank you so much, Melanie! I really appreciate your kind words and support.
Lur
June 2, 2020 at 2:25 pmThanks for your honest post. I appreciate that you spoke up and highlighted these amazing designers.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:14 pmThank you! It is my pleasure and the least I can do. I’ll try to work on more of these roundups and lists that support Black Designers and Makers in the interior industry.
Cacey
June 2, 2020 at 3:56 pmThank you for sharing this list and supporting these designers. I greatly enjoyed this post.
Sarah
June 2, 2020 at 5:21 pmI’m so happy to hear that, Cacey! xo
Brenda
June 3, 2020 at 7:00 amFabulous post!
Sarah
June 3, 2020 at 8:14 amThanks Brenda!
Laura
June 3, 2020 at 9:59 amLove this post. I’m your follower for many reasons but this post articulates the BEST reason. Thank you! And now I have more designers to follow! Yay!
Sarah
June 3, 2020 at 10:01 amThank you so much for being here, Laura! So happy you were able to discover some amazing designers :) xo
Lauren
June 3, 2020 at 4:26 pmI can’t wait to sit down and jump into the meat of this post! I too have been doing self reflection and working to educate myself. In the process I realized that I need to diversify my fliers if I ever can hope to see another perspective and hear information I normally wouldn’t. So as always, this post is perfectly timed! I appreciate that you are using your platform to try; that’s all we can do as we move forward, and it won’t be perfect. You’re doing great Sarah! Don’t be discouraged by the negative. 😘
Sarah
June 4, 2020 at 9:36 amI love that, Lauren! My thoughts exactly. I can certainly do a better job! As always, I truly appreciate your support. I hope you’re having a good week, friend. xo
Keita Turner
June 6, 2020 at 12:50 pmHi Sarah! Thank you so much for sharing examples of my work along with so many of my friends and colleagues. Your support is invaluable and much appreciated! – Keita Turner
Sarah
June 6, 2020 at 1:14 pmIt is my pleasure Keita! I will do better to support you, as well as other BIPOC friends and colleagues in the design industry. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. xo
Anne H
June 8, 2020 at 1:25 pmWhat a wonderful roundup of some super talented designers, Sarah! I was familiar with some, like Shavonda, Justina and Medina, but so many of the names are new to me. Shavonda I found via YHL and after her interview on their podcast started working at diversifying my Insta feed, but many of the ones I followed still weren’t showing up much. Ugh. Algorithms. But I definitely have more work to do, too.
I agree with Italy’s suggestion of including a short description about how they in particular inspire you, but it sounds like you’re already going to do that in that future, so thank you in advance!
I, too, took some time to listen, learn and start unlearning some long ingrained biases, that for the most part have been unconscious, but that doesn’t make them any less damaging. I wrote some of my thoughts on my blog on Friday and I plan to go into more depth and specifics on future posts, but unlike your fantastic blog, not many people read mine (LOL) so I really appreciate that so many of the bloggers and people I follow, especially industry leaders with larger audiences, are sharing designers/makers/artists/business owners, etc. who inspire them.
In that vein, I had found Veronica Solomon via the Fall ORC you participated in and fell head over heals for her gorgeous, glam style. I’m glad to see that ORC has become more diverse in recent rounds, as well, because I learn about so many awesome designers through that platform.
I’m so glad you didn’t listen to the haters and that you shared what felt right for you. We all have a lot of learning to do and we’ll make mistakes, for sure, but that’s *how* we learn. (In fact, I had to google BIPOC when I saw it here, so yea, I definitely have a lot to learn.) I hope others who may think we’re learning wrong or not fast enough, will take a deep breath and see if what they’re saying/doing is helpful criticism or if it’s just cruel.
Thank you for sharing, Sarah. Always.