Young Huh Interior Design: Meet the AD100 2023 Debut

When Young Huh met an interior designer at a cocktail party in 2001, it was an aha moment for the Fordham University School of Law grad who knew, deep down, she didn’t want to be a lawyer. She enrolled in Parsons School of Design and established her own New York– based firm in 2007. Today her projects range from a historic Tudor in Illinois to a 19th- century country house in Dutchess County, New York, and a resort in Turks and Caicos. Her forthcoming product lines include tile for AKDO, hardware for Modern Matter, and wall coverings for Fromental. The common thread is a look that tempers classic references with contemporary finesse. Case in point: her blockbuster 2019 artist’s loft for the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, where she mixed French antiques and classical busts with a bold, Cubist-inspired wallpaper. “I’m obsessed with the idea of keeping what is old and making it work today,” says the designer. “It’s important to respect history but to always innovate.”

What are the most exciting public spaces you've visited in the past year?

This past spring I was able to spend some time in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. I was just amazed by how beautiful the landscape and gardens were—meticulously kept rolling hills, and everywhere you looked there were beautiful gardens and well preserved buildings. I visited buildings dating back to the 1200s! It makes me sad to think how Americans love knocking down our old buildings rather than maintaining them. I learned that there is nothing more beautiful than a mature garden and the grace of an aging building that still stands proud.

What is the best piece of career advice you've ever received?

There are two pieces of advice I will never forget: Matthew Patrick Smyth told me when we were doing a show house, ‘Don’t look to your left and don’t look to your right. Look straight ahead at your own vision.’ Basically he was saying don’t worry about what everyone else is doing! Keep doing you! The second is, when I asked Bunny Williams how to become a good gardener, she answered, ‘You’ll get good at it when you care and are interested.’ She had got me! I hadn’t really put in the effort yet. It still makes me laugh.

How active are you on social media? How has social affected your practice, from both the creative and business sides?

I am fairly active on social media though I can’t spend as much time on it as I used to. It has become an important component of our business. I would say that prospective clients tend to contact us because of our Instagram more than any other method of publicity. I do my own social media, and the benefit of that is that people seem to feel they know me when they contact me so there are fewer hurdles to getting to know each other and feeling comfortable with each other. They have heard my voice and seen me on video.

When did you know you wanted to make a career in design? What led you to that revelation?

I started out in the law but I knew the first week of law school that it wasn’t for me. I just never quite fit into the culture, but I didn’t know what the alternative was. My husband encouraged me to really look outside of the box and think about creative fields. Then one day I met a designer at a cocktail party and it was like I was struck by lightning. That's what I wanted to do.

What type of project or type of space are you dying to design that no client has ever asked for?

I have a fantasy of creating an old fashioned Korean estate with multiple outbuildings, complete with papered sliding doors and tiled roofs, all centered on an open courtyard. But the buildings would be encased in bolted glass and full of whimsical, chic, modern amenities. I am obsessed with the idea of keeping what is old and making it work today. It’s important to respect history and to keep our history, but to always innovate.

View the entire AD100 2023 list, which is featured in AD***’s AD100 issue. Never miss an issue when you*** subscribe to AD.