A portfolio of renderings in tow, Corey Damen Jenkins began his design career with the goal of knocking on 1,000 doors to find his first client. After being laid off from his auto industry job in Detroit during the Great Recession, he pivoted to his true passion: interior design. “[If] I saw a house being constructed or I saw a hotel being renovated, I would pull up with my little satchel of sketches and drawings and color boards and knock on those doors. I would ask for the resident, architect, the homeowner, whoever,” Jenkins tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “I went through a ton of rejections, lots of doors slammed in my face. I had a couple of situations where people let their dogs out to chase me off the property. I had some people call me some very unsavory names. And then there were people who invited me in to just drain me of all my ideas—and when I would post the letter of agreement, they would ghost.”
After several months of shoe-leather prospecting in the freezing Michigan winter, Jenkins landed his first clients behind the 779th door. He had the renovation project professionally photographed, put it up on his website—and just weeks later, HGTV called and cast him on his first television show. After a steady upward climb, being tapped to outfit a library in the 2019 Kips Bay Decorator Show House created a surge of momentum for his firm. The designer officially moved his offices to New York during the pandemic, and is now on the Elle Decor A-List and among the AD100.
Still, Jenkins hasn’t slowed down or stopped to rest on his laurels. His second book, Design Reimagined, just hit shelves; an upcoming collaboration with Eichholtz will soon take him on a promotional tour through several different countries; his thriving YouTube channel continues to drive interest in his work; and he currently has rooms on view at this year’s Kips Bay in New York and the Flower showhouse in Nashville. “I love design. I am obsessed with it. I am an Aries. [We are] the leaders. We are obsessive about being in control and taking care of everyone else—we are the caregivers,” he says. “In my case, I really am all in with everything I do. And I also have to really give love to my design team. I think that there’s something to be said for principals when we empower our teams to be out there with us—not hiding their talents, not putting them under a lampshade, but really taking them with you to High Point Market and bringing them onstage when you are being interviewed, letting people interview them. When you empower your teammates to share the microphone with you, it takes nothing away from you as the lead vocalist.”
Crucial insight: The billing policy at Corey Damen Jenkins & Associates follows what the designer refers to as the “Mariah Carey principle”: “Mariah is a gifted vocalist, but she’s also a really gifted songwriter, so she’s paid a fee to write her songs. She’s paid a fee to record the songs in the sound booth, and then anytime she performs the songs live in concert on a stage somewhere, she’s paid a third time. You’re not paid just for writing the song. You’re paid three different times for three different services,” he says. “So for interior designers, a lot of times, we ask for a flat fee. The design concept [is equivalent to] creating the song, writing it. Now you have to go out and perform it—get the contractors in place, pull all the different workrooms into place. [And finally] you have to install the house well. Now you’re performing live—you have to go out there and make it a physical, tangible reality. So why are you charging a flat fee for just writing the music? You should be billing hourly for making the music, to bring it to life and to perform live.”
Key quote: “From the very beginning, my model with our clients has been: ‘My job is not to save you money; my job is to help you spend your money wisely. And if you spend your money wisely, you will save money.’ No one loses more money faster than those who are trying to not spend money. When homeowners try to skirt the process, not hiring a designer, trying to DIY it themselves, no one has worse outcomes and more headaches and more buyer’s remorse over the decisions they’ve made without professional guidance than those who are trying to cheat the design process. So I tell clients from the very beginning, ‘This is not going to be about me looking for the best way to get your house done on a cheap level. It’s about really leaning into luxury and beautiful interiors.’”
This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Hector Finch. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The Thursday Show
Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including a new salary report from ASID, changes at Afternoon Light, and a look at Kips Bay on its 50th anniversary. Later, event planner and designer Rebecca Gardner shares insight from her career, alongside tips for crafting the perfect party.
This episode is sponsored by Chelsea House and Newport Brass. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
