Interior designer Young Huh has built a career on interiors that feel layered, intelligent, and deeply personal – spaces that balance cultural reference, craftsmanship, and a quietly confident sense of drama. Based in New York, her work is known for its ability to move effortlessly between eras and aesthetics without ever tipping into pastiche, combining exuberant color, considered architecture, and an instinctive understanding of how people actually live.
But Young’s path to design was anything but straightforward, taking in shoebox dioramas, an unsatisfactory Barbie Dream House, and an unexpected detour into law before creativity finally won out. In this Layered Lives conversation, Young Huh reflects on the formative moments that shaped her eye, how experience has sharpened her instincts, and why emotion, storytelling, and risk now sit at the heart of her work – culminating in an exuberant new room for this year’s WOW!house.
Homes & Gardens: Can you describe the first space that shaped your sense of design?
Young Huh: When I was a little girl, my favorite thing to do was to design little dioramas in shoeboxes. They'd be little home vignettes, and then I'd make bigger ones for my dolls to live in. I remember being very disappointed by my Barbie Dream House, because it wasn't really a dream house at all! I was always trying to figure out ways I could get my doll into a house with curtains and proper bedding, and I had a lot of interest in pretty things. I was always altering their dresses and adding things like beading.
Homes & Gardens: That's so creative! To see something most kids would accept and want to improve it aesthetically.
Young Huh: I actually got into a lot of trouble for this – my grandfather once bought me a fabulous doll from Japan that was wearing an incredible kimono. And I just thought that the kimono was so tight and would look better with a low-cut neckline, so I cut a deep V in her outfit. My mom was horrified that I had ruined my doll!
Homes & Gardens: Did you decorate your room in a similar fashion?
Young Huh: No. In fact, I always say that I became a designer because my parents wouldn’t let me paint my room! They had done it in a yellow, and I just knew it was the wrong shade of yellow, yet they wouldn’t let me repaint it. I'd even ask to do the inside of my closet, and they'd say no. They were very controlling, so as soon as I got to college, I started to enjoy my own personal space.
Homes & Gardens: How did you decorate your dorm?
Young Huh: The first thing I had to have was a giant life-size poster of the band The Cure. It was so big it was almost like wallpaper – it was over-scaled, and very dramatic. Then I paired it with some Laura Ashley bedding, so you could say that I've always enjoyed the mix between modern and edgy and traditional. I felt I also needed Laura Ashley curtains and went to the store but they were expensive, so I had the idea to buy Laura Ashley sheets, remove the hem, slot in a rod... and there you go, I had curtains! I was always messing around with stuff.
Homes & Gardens: And were there any people who were helping to shape your sense of style?
Young Huh: I went to Cranbrook for middle and high school, and that opened my eyes to good design, as the whole thing had been designed by Eero Saarinen and his wife, from the building down to the curtains and dishes. I was able to see traditional and modernist ideas come together. It was like having an experience of that perfect Barbie Dream House I'd always wanted. Seeing the perfect architecture and wonderful gardens that supported it, and how everything down to the silverware matched was incredible. They stopped allowing us to use the silverware just before I started, as some very entrepreneurial students were stealing it to sell.
Homes & Gardens: Clearly, you were always creative and fascinated by design, so how did you end up studying law?
Young Huh: Law was a detour, it's true. I was an English major, a subject I'd chosen because my parents said that as an Asian-American girl, the only jobs that people would hire me for were as a doctor or a lawyer. I was bad at math, so they gave up on medicine and pushed me into law. I loved art history, but my parents said that wouldn't get me to law school, so we compromised on English. I didn't know there were other career paths I could take. My parents' view was narrow, so that was why I went to law school. But in my first week, I knew I didn’t fit in.
Homes & Gardens: How did you transition from law to design?
Young Huh: My husband told me not to let my education be a burden to me, meaning that I didn't have to follow that path just because I was on it. And you know, it's not all bad. I actually use some of that legal knowledge in my work now. Did I have to go to law school? No. But it's useful at times.
I was taking a break from work and raising children, and I thought I would be a stay-at-home mom, but I started to get depressed, and my husband said I needed to do something. He pushed me to take all these personality tests and kept telling me I should be creative. I did them all, but still couldn’t put the pieces together of what career would be a good fit. Then I met a designer at a cocktail party in 2003, and it was a lightbulb moment. I worked for him for a few years, and then in 2007, I started my own business.
Homes & Gardens: Which project felt like a turning point in your career?
Young Huh: Early on, I worked for a lot of fashion people, and then the projects would get published in magazines and not mention me. I started to think that my work must be good in order to be published, but clearly I needed nicer clients who would mention me too! So things just grew incrementally, working for people I knew, and getting calls from their friends, and then getting press for the first time, and that brought a bigger audience.
Homes & Gardens: Have you noticed your taste shift or evolve over time?
Young Huh: Taste is interesting. I have the same taste now as I've always had, and the same ability to discern and think and see things in the way they need to be seen. But I also have more knowledge and experience, which is how you get to have a good sense of scale. You know, there is always a first time you install a chair that is too big, that looked good on paper but not in person. And knowing how to avoid that comes from experience. Interior design is a trade, and you hone the trade through experience – you don't become a master of it overnight. You start to develop a sixth sense for what will work.
Homes & Gardens: Has your relationship with color, pattern or ornament changed as your sixth sense has grown?
Young Huh: It’s become more exuberant. I feel less inhibited to take design risks now.
Homes & Gardens: Looking back at your earlier projects, is there anything you notice yourself doing differently now?
Young Huh: The thing that really changed is that I understand how important interior architecture is now. I'd never really thought about that before, but it's the structure that tells the story. It's not enough to just put in curtains and furnishings and make a Barbie Dream House; you have to respond to the style, shape, and structure of the architecture.
Homes & Gardens: Your work often references different eras and cultures without ever feeling nostalgic or literal. How do you decide what to reference?
Young Huh: It’s dependent on the client and the story we’re trying to tell. We think about the client's story and how they want to feel and live, and that determines what we reference. Some people love minimalism and texture, while we have one client who wanted to showcase her Italian background by pulling in some Italian antiques. They felt familiar to her and supportive of her identity, and that's the fun of interior design, to use different types of antiques and eras and vibes. I love it, it's great to exercise different aesthetic muscles.
Homes & Gardens: Are there particular designers that you keep returning to as your work has evolved?
Young Huh: I love the work of Lorenzo Mongiardino. The amount of craftsmanship and how many artisans he employed, and how the work of those artisans was so important to his overall vision. I also love the work of Bunny Williams, who is so thoughtful about hospitality and comfort. There is a combination of beauty and practically and when you go to her house, you have an incredible sense of welcome. And also, Albert Hadley, you look at his projects now, and they could have been done today. They’re timeless.
Homes & Gardens: You're currently working on the WOW!house exhibition that will be open in the UK in June. What can you tell us about the room you're creating?
Young Huh: I'm so honored to be working with Benjamin Moore as the partner for my space. I'm actually working on a new book of my work that will be out next year, and every single project has a Benjamin Moore color in it – we're super fans of its paint! So we knew for WOW!house we had to use as many colors as possible without it being too much – I mean, it could still be too much, but it’ll be thoughtful, at least!
Color is about bringing joy and exuberance and happiness, and I was inspired by the painted panels of historic palaces and the way they were there solely to create rooms of beauty. My room is called the Benjamin Moore Minhwa Salon, and Minhwa means 'Korean folk art,' so some of the panels will be papered in variations of a wallpaper I did with Fromental that was based on Korean folk art. It should all bring a lot of exuberance.
Homes & Gardens: Lastly, when you think of 'home,' what images or feelings come to mind?
Young Huh: Home should be supportive of your life. It's the place that embraces you, and is where you can be peaceful and inspired and energized. So you need different zones for those different needs. Something that is really important to me is that you can’t have everything be quiet, there should be some inspirational moment that makes you feel excited about life – something in your home that makes you think that you're ready to tackle the day and be your best creative self.
It's clear that Young didn't take a straight route into interior design, but that her passion for making spaces better than when she found them was evident as a little girl. By understanding architecture, scale, and historical references, she is able to create schemes that are as exuberant as they are polished, as smart as they are decorative.
Young Huh's Benjamin Moore Minhwa Salon will form part of this year's WOW!house exhibition, where a roster of international designers create a room each and let their imaginations and creativity run wild. Running from June 2 to July 2, 2026 at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour in London.
