Funny story about Nest Studio founder and interior designer Jessica Davis. Back when Daniel and I were living in Brooklyn, before we bought a home, I had become obsessed with Pinterest and had pinned a photo of this kitchen (pictured above) that I loved in a house I loved that I had seen online. Years later, we moved to a suburban New Jersey town and, shortly after that, new neighbors moved into this beautiful Victorian down the street that needed a lot of work but clearly could be a stunning home once again. That neighbor ended up being Jess – who sold the home I had once seen online and was in the process of putting her touch on this new house. She and her family have moved, this time to Atlanta, where she has worked her magic all over again. Her expertise is sought after by newspapers and magazines and her work has been published numerous times. And now she’s sharing details, process and her design dreams with The 256 Project!
Jessica Davis
Q. What made you decide to get into interiors? What about design appeals to you?
A. My path to interiors has been somewhat circuitous. I knew at a young age that I wanted to design spaces, and probably, more specifically, homes. I spent a lot of time drawing floor plans and looking at design magazines. In college, I studied art history and focused on residential architectural history and then worked on Bob Vila’s TV show “Home Again” as my first job out of school. It was there that I realized that I really wanted to be on the design side of the projects I was seeing. I went back to school for a Master’s in Interior Design after which I worked in hospitality design for Wilson Associates for close to 9 years designing hotels, casinos and resorts. I left to start my hardware firm Nest Studio and have gradually done more and more residential work which ultimately is what I love to do the most. It’s funny, I’ve been circling the residential interiors world for a while – whether it was by writing about residential design in school or doing hospitality interiors or designing hardware for residences – and now I’m really getting more into designing actual residences, which is so fun.
Q. You had quite the childhood, having been born in Australia, being raised partially in Hong Kong and then moving to Texas. And your mother is Chinese, your father is white, and you are multilingual. Does this multicultural upbringing inform your work? If so, how?
A. Completely. My parents collect Chinese antiques. They have chairs that are close to 500 years old that we would actually sit on! In the West, we consider anything 50 years old or more an antique, which is kind of laughable if you look at how far back design culture goes in the East. My parents also have a lot of modern art they have purchased in various places and my dad collected rugs on a solo trip on the Silk Road before China opened up. They mixed these items with Midcentury Modern furnishings and, while I didn’t really appreciate all of this as a child, these influences run deep in my own design aesthetic. I also love learning about how different cultures use their spaces and appreciate how different societies view and use space. I think this helps me think about my own clients and their spaces from a unique perspective.
Q. What I loved about your aesthetic in that first NJ home was how you expertly layered brights and patterns with a sense of modernity and comfort, and still let the spaces breathe. There was plenty of white and neutral and natural light. Nothing felt overwhelming. So, this is a big question, but how do you pull that off?
A. Gosh – I am still trying to master the mix! I think this is the hardest part of design and honestly I think it’s something that makes residential design in some ways more challenging than architecture or designing hospitality or office spaces. Making a space feel personal, curated, lived in, layered and still fresh is the ultimate challenge. I am constantly studying what other inspiring designers are doing to pull off cool, mixed and slightly off-kilter spaces.
Jessica Davis’ living room in her Atlanta home / Photo by Emily Followill
Q. The same can be said for your new home in Atlanta. I love the living room, especially. Can you share with us your thought process for designing that room and giving it that layered and eclectic feeling that also looks natural and comfortable?
A. Thanks! This room was the biggest challenge. We don’t have a separate TV/family room so we had to incorporate the TV in this space but it’s also a long room so I had to think through dividing it into multiple seating groups. You can see it from the dining, kitchen and hallways so it had to tie all the rooms together. Luckily, I have a lot of art that I have either made or collected (via artists, garage and estate sales, etc.) that made for a nice way to incorporate the TV into a gallery wall. The other key was that, even though our last house was Victorian, my furnishings were always pretty eclectic so they translated pretty well into our new space. As I placed things, I realized there were things I needed to change or that didn’t work – such as adding lighter pieces or less pattern. After experimenting with a rug I had, I figured out that I needed a more neutral, lighter rug to counter balance the business of the gallery wall and all the wood.
Q. You’ve lived in quite a few different styles of homes over the years. How do you approach designing your home each time?
A. I like to respect the architecture with the bones of what I’m doing. So I try to reference the original style of the home in cabinetry, flooring choices and other finishes. At the same time I think it’s fine to depart from the style of the home, especially when it comes to furnishings and lighting. In our last Victorian house, I used a super modern chandelier in the dining room. In our current Midcentury Modern house, I used a classic MCM material, terrazzo, on the floors but still mixed things in that are more traditional, such as a traditional caned chair or gilt-framed oil painting.
Q. Do you have a dream home design scenario?
A. As I have moved around, I have honed in on this a little bit more. I am an Art Deco and Bauhaus nut. I think my dream home is a boxy space with lots of steel framed windows on corners and maybe on curves (classic deco). I have dreams about vistas over rolling pastures (more of a dream home site scenario), a pool surrounded by a lawn and maybe an alleé of trees. Funny how most of my dream home has really revolved more around the exterior than the interior.
Q. You started out in hospitality and interior design. Why did you decide to start your own business? And why did you decide to focus on hardware, specifically cabinet pulls and knobs?
A. I designed my first hardware collection while I was still working in hospitality. I couldn’t find what I needed and a friend of mine who has a lighting factory was able to make it for me. But I never realized what I designed as a one off would turn into a production run, a Shopify store and then 60 showrooms around the country and internationally. So, in some ways, I sort of fell into it. At some point I realized this was a niche market with not a lot of players and maybe I could make a mark in the hardware world (as opposed to soft goods where there are so many players and constantly changing trends).
Q. I love your products and have been a fan of yours for years. Most people wouldn’t think twice about their cabinet hardware and then you come in with all the creativity in the world to design some seriously stunning pieces like the ram’s head and peacock pulls from the Fauna collection. What is your creativity and designing process like?
A. I get a lot of inspiration just from life in general, from pipe fittings to architecture to jewelry and nature. I do find that I do my best designing on planes and trains (COVID has certainly put a damper on that!). I am still super old school and sketch everything by hand, but then I have a team that helps me move these into 3D CAD drawings. Depending on the item, we might do a 3D print to check shape, size and proportion, or go directly to brass prototypes. More often than not, I’m thinking about hardware in suites. So I might come up with one design first but then I think about what sister pieces are needed if one were to outfit, say, an entire kitchen in that suite of hardware.
Kids’ bedroom in Jessica Davis’ Atlanta home / Photo by Emily Followill
Q. What’s next for Jess Davis in the world of design?
A. I would love to do have a line of furniture, either private label or maybe a licensed collection with, say, CB2 (I love how well-designed their pieces are for a really reasonable price point). I’d also love to have a retail or showroom location at some point to showcase all of the amazing artisans I’ve collaborated with and found over the years.
Q. Now that we are home practically 24/7, what does home mean to you?
A. Well I already worked from home, so that hasn’t changed but it does mean that I’m now working from home next to my husband and with a learning pod of four kids barging in on conference calls during “recess.” That said, work travel has come to a halt for me. I used to be up in NJ every other month visiting my office. It’s been challenging not being able to go, but my employees have really stepped up to the plate and put new systems in place for working safely remotely and in the office.
Thanks to Jessica Davis for sharing all about her creativity and design process in the Designer Spotlight series! For more Jess Davis, check out her IG here, Atelier Davis here, and Nest Studio here. And to catch up on the Designer Spotlight series, check out my interviews here.
