Inside Designer Shawn Henderson’s Manhattan Apartment, Where Creative Alchemy Unfolds

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.”

His Greenwich Village home—shared with his partner, real estate agent Pino Fortunato, and their Yorkie-poo, Max—offers a handsome case study. Seated in one of two Danish-inspired club chairs, Henderson gestures at the blackened-steel valances that house sheer drapery panels. “They’re a feminine thing, but I wanted to butch it up.” As evidence of his newfound love of saturated hues, he points to the sleeping loft, painted a bold Yves Klein blue and accessible via a porthole inspired by Louis Kahn’s architectural cutouts and James Turrell’s Skyspaces. “I’ve embraced more color in my own personal life—and specifically in this apartment.”

Growing up the youngest of six siblings in upstate New York, Henderson always knew he wanted to be an interior designer. “I literally ran the house,” he recalls of his fascination with decoration and space. “Nobody could put anything anywhere without my approval.” To this day, he still loves to move pieces around, experimenting with new layouts while retaining a sense of order—another obsession. Whereas his line of compartmentalized leather trays for Il Bisonte is aptly named There’s a Home for Everything, his forthcoming collection of ALT for Living rugs is called Negative Space. Fortunato affectionately rolls his eyes when Henderson insists he is finished rearranging. In the designer’s defense, however, their home is primed for reinvention. Set in a historic complex designed in part by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh—best known for the Dakota and the Plaza—its compact bones welcome some well-timed drama and smart planning. A semicircular saffron curtain creates a sense of arrival in the foyer while lending intimacy to the adjoining dining area, where yellow 1960s chairs by Joseph-André Motte surround custom-made butternut tables. Other smile-inducing moments include the central kitchen, wrapped in a favorite faux-bois wallpaper, and the cork-­covered powder room and laundry closet.

Distinguished by those whitewashed brick walls, the living room also yields a heightened spirit of occasion, with its “tremendous,” as Henderson puts it, 1970s glass-and-brass chandelier, bold artworks, fine upholstery, and intimate groups of seating. Though the greatest element of surprise might just be found in the bedroom, cocooned (walls, headboard, and all) in padded charcoal wool. Monastic and monochromatic, the scheme provides the ultimate foil for the parade of colors outside. Living in the neighborhood, he confides in earnest, “is just butterflies and rainbows.”

This story appears in AD’s December issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.