NEW

TALENT
The design world isnt what it
ASHLEY
WHITTAKER
used to beand thats probably
The self-described
for the best. Social media has become youthful traditional
not only a creative outlet for a new decorator sees Insta-
generation, but also a crucial way to gram as advertising.
Clients feel like they
find clients. An innovative young know youyour style,
jeweler exhibits her wares not just at the your humorbefore you
usual trade fairs, but amid the 766 likes
even meet, she says.
@ashleywhittakerdesign
avant-garde innovators at Design 25,100 followers
Miami. And a communal studio space
in Manhattan provides a new
template for how designers can work,
both together and apart.

SHOOTING STARS
In the six years since Instagram burst into the App Store, the TILTON
social-networking site for the visually oriented has become FENWICK
the clickbait of choice for interior designersBunny Williams
has 129,000 followersand, for young decorators especially, Editors have reached
out to Anne Maxwell
a source of new clients as well. Ive met so many people on
Foster, right, and Suysel
Instagram, says Mark D. Sikes, whose preppy, all-American dePedro Cunningham
style has earned him 75,500 fans. Its less polished than a after seeing posts
professionally produced design portfolio, but it puts you liter- of their projects in
ally into the hands of the public, showing them who you are progress. A rule: Not
and what you love. Here, 10 design firms talk about the power too many kid photos.
858 likes
(and pitfalls) of Instagram. K ATHRYN O SHE A-E VANS @tiltonfenwick
42,800 followers

909 likes

K APITO RYAN KORBAN

MULLER
New York Citybased
On Instagram, they mix Korban approaches
their own workairy, Instagram with wit:
tailored roomswith He has posted a living
posh urban exteriors. room swathed in cash
We try to break the and one with a fur ham-
mold every time, says mock. Recent projects
Alyssa Kapito (right, include a Balenciaga
with Vivian Muller). store in Madrid.
1,369 likes
@kapitomullerinterior @ryankorban
61,300 followers 82,800 followers

72 ELLE DECOR
NEW TA LEN T

1,137 likes

MARK D. SIKES NICK OLSEN

The L.A. designer with This former Miles Redd
a passion for blue associate calls his feed
and white has found a hodgepodge lodge
that posts on gardens of inspiration. I love
and big Federal- and color and texture, but
Georgian-style houses humor is a must! Olsen
garner the most likes. says. I take this seri-
And never say anything ously. But I never want
negative, he says. it to read as serious.
305 likes
@markdsikes @nickolsenstyle
75,500 followers 17,100 followers

1,376 likes

GR ANT K. PALOMA
GIBSON CONTRER AS
The San Francisco dec- Contreras says she has
orator says naturally lit been hired by Instagram
shots and images of his followers, but just as
Westie, Wesley, bump often they want details
up engagement. An about the rooms she
editor he met through designs: the wallpaper,
Instagram is publishing fabric, furniture. I post
his first book in 2018. once a day, she says.
913 likes
@grantkgibson @ladolcevitablog
80,000 followers 67,200 followers

479 likes

HERNANDEZ SAR A GILBANE

GREENE
A client resisted the
Duo Joshua Greene blue-and-orange pal-
and Katrina Hernandez ette I proposed for her
take a low-key online dining room, says Gil
approach. The plat- bane. So she posted the
form trains you to be scheme, it got 500 likes,
your own PR machine, and her client was sold.
but the narcissism is out Instagram, she adds,
of hand! jokes Greene. is a great third opinion.
546 likes
@hernandezgreene @saragilbaneinteriors
11,200 followers 18,900 followers

74 ELLE DECOR