When Shawn Henderson was in design school, his teacher asked the class if anyone wanted to be a famous interior designer. He was the only one who raised his hand. Henderson was already on his way, having unknowingly learned how to run a business “by osmosis” throughout his childhood, watching his father run a restaurant and several other companies. That knowledge would come in handy in 2003, when, after working for established New York interior designers like Birch Coffey and Thad Hayes, he started his own firm. “I knew what I wanted to do from an early age, and I always had an arbitrary goal of having my own business by the time I turned 30,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “I was 31, and it just felt like the right time to do it.”

Two decades later, Henderson is managing a team of 14 people, his work has been published in numerous shelter magazines and a 2021 monograph released by Monacelli, and his firm has garnered a roster of high-profile clients from around the world. Over the years, he has found himself shifting away from a rigid design approach of creating interiors that fit his exact aesthetic to a more relaxed one that involves more collaboration with clients. “It’s so important for me that they are a part of the process, and that they feel like their space is a reflection of who they are and how they want to live,” he says. “I think some of my better work is actually where clients are engaging with me and have a little bit more knowledge of design.”

Henderson has let go of his pursuit of carving out a visually recognizable design niche—with people opening up a magazine, for instance, and being able to tell right away that a space was his work. “I’ve come to terms with the fact that my work is adaptable, and that is so important for me as a designer and [is in keeping with] my desire to keep learning, growing and evolving,” he says. “I think it’s more about the feeling that I create in interiors. Some will skew more modern, some mountain house and some more country, but there’s a sense of appropriateness to the space that I want to create. That’s why I called my book Interiors in Context, because it’s all contextual, right?”

Crucial insight: Henderson learned some of his most valuable lessons working for a few firms before going off on his own, and he urges aspiring designers to consider doing the same. “I talk to people all the time who want to switch careers and get into interior design, and I give them as much advice as I can,” he says. “One of those things is to go work for somebody—be their librarian, be their intern. Do whatever you can to get in the door and start learning and growing and absorbing everything.”

Key quote: “I am more settled and in my skin and present [now than when I was younger]. I think there’s such beauty that comes with age and growing and getting older. Ultimately, the onus is on me to decide who I want to be, how I want to run the business and what kind of message I am sending out there. It’s important for me to be respected and to be respectful. If I communicate that way with my team, I hope that they will carry that on and do that to others as well.”

This episode is sponsored by Ernesta and Ethan Allen. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Thursday Show

In a special predictions episode of The Thursday Show, BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus, host Dennis Scully and a roundup of past guests forecast what the year ahead will bring for the design industry.

Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.