Growing up in North Dakota, I was not exposed to a lot of beauty. Flat prairie lands, harsh winters, suburbia, and a culture that overall cared more for utilitarianism than thoughtful design. As a child I longed for visual stimulation which I found through painting, drawing, photography, and consuming an unreasonable amount of film and television. 

 

While my parents were certainly not aesthetically driven, I routinely recall coming downstairs on weekend mornings to discover my father had rearranged all of the furniture in the house, noting it “felt better this way.” I believe I inherited this desire to arrange and rearrange, amplifying comfort in every space I’m in. To this day I rearrange the furniture in my home constantly, I believe there is no one right answer to how a room should be furnished or decorated. If our homes are a reflection of self and we are always changing, growing, and evolving, so too should our environment. 

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After moving to New York in my early 20's and later Los Angeles where I currently reside, I honed in on my visuality by working as a Visual Merchandiser for brands such as Acne Studios, American Apparel, Max Mara, Shinola and Buck Mason. It was in doing this work that I learned the devil really is in the details. In my current visual work, I look to evoke emotions of comfort, home, and sensuality; forming spaces around this intention. 

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It was in my mid 20's that I began to apply my visual skillsets to environments outside of my work. I was 26, six months into my transition, and I had just moved into a dark and dingy 1920's studio in Hollywood with virtually no natural light.  It is here that the foundational principles of how I decorate a space came to life. Work with, not against the architecture, honor its history but embrace eclecticism, collect what you love, buy vintage when you can, function in harmony with form, add a lamp over there and turn off the ceiling light, create sanctuaries where you can, and always design with sex in mind. In a world where millennial grey open concept homes with recessed lighting and soulless kitchens feel omnipresent, it is my intention to bring back sensuality and warmth.  

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- Jordan Volness

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