F or Corey Damen Jenkins, designing a space featuring objects from the Visions of America auction series felt just like another day on the job. “My clients will often come to me with inventory in their estate and say, ‘some pieces are of a certain value and others are just important to us, but we need you to work with all of it,’” he shared.

Jenkins then relished the opportunity to bring “splashes of modernity,” he explained, to a gallery filled with American antiques.

His design philosophy has long been: “We learn from the past, and that informs the present. And opens the doors of the future.”

Sotheby’s New York

Now on View: Visions of America

12–19 January 2024

What was your impression of the auction objects? And what drove your choices for the space?

I love Americana design. Honestly, I love it all. Design, furniture, fashion – these are enduring symbols of the creativity that humans can produce. So when Sotheby’s gave me the catalogue of items to select from, the big thing was finding a commonality. What we ended with was using color as a throughline.

Is this similar to the way that you usually approach designing spaces?

I do it every day. A lot of our clients are heavy art collectors. They love to travel the world, picking up pieces. Now, a lot of times, the pieces are not necessarily expensive; they just have great provenance.

I’ve noticed a trend in design with the integration of antiques and thrift store finds into high-end homes. Would you say that’s what’s actually been happening in interior design these days?

That is one of the trends I am forecasting for 2024: embracing antiquity.

We talk a lot about generational wealth, and not everyone comes into this world with things that have been passed down. While there was a time when people didn’t want the credenza from their great grandmother, now people are saying that antique credenza from my great-grandmother has provenance. It has history and a story.

Leaning into these vintage items is a great way for people to build generational wealth. Regardless of whether it’s a high value or more moderate value, it is about the story. The vibe. The history.

Would you say the pieces that you saw in the catalogue fit well into your design aesthetic? 

Absolutely! I love mixing and matching antiquity and modernity. My entire office is just filled with great finds I’ve been collecting since I started working as a designer in the 1990s that have a range of hundreds years of antiquity from all over the world.

Were there pieces in particular you gravitated to? 

The bedroom has a very tall, clean, hideaway dresser. And several chairs from the collection, as well. It’s about mixing and matching it with some more modern pieces. I think antiques, when they’re done right, can be very hip. Very chic.

Were you always drawn to the mixing of antiques with modern pieces? Or was that something that grew as your practice grew?

No, I got that from my grandmother. Actually, my mother and my father’s parents – they both had a pretty hefty collections of beautiful antiques. They would just roll up in their trucks with all these beautiful things and bring them home. I’m grateful that my ancestors and my parents embraced antiquity from the very beginning and taught me the value of not everything having to be brand new.

Design is like a pendulum. For 20-plus years, you’ve been seeing a lot of beige and gray – which is beautiful and calm and serene. I think we’re about to go into another major 20-plus year cycle, where color and texture, pattern and maximalism will rise back.

And that’s really what our Visions of America showcase celebrates. It’s a welcome back for the classics.

_{Portrait of Corey Damen Jenkins by Andrew Frasz Photography, 2023. Courtesy the designer.}