{"id":10024354,"date":"2026-06-08T11:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/re-arranging-things\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T12:20:37","slug":"design-colin-king-re-arranging-thins-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/design-colin-king-re-arranging-thins-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-Arranging Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Text Sarah Wetzlmayr | Production & Creative Direction Dzenana MUJADZIC | Production Assistant Miri MARIJANOVIC | Photography ROBERT RIEGER<\/a> | Makeup & Hair SABINE REITER<\/a> | Head of Styling Emilia TERESA, Stylist Anillo S\u00dcR\u00dcN | Aetna.Club<\/i> | AETNA.CLUB<\/a><\/p>\n

Interior styling, in Colin King<\/a>\u2019s case, may be understood as a matter of intuition, quiet and a certain degree of friction\u2014the point at which a room begins to feel as though everything is in its right place. That does not mean things have to remain there forever. For the New York-based interior stylist and product designer<\/a>, what matters are the relationships between objects: an arrangement that retains its coherence even as it changes. His approach might be seen as a flexible network of connections and fine lines, within which life is allowed to unfold. And has to. A portrait of a designer<\/a> whose creative process is guided by intuition.<\/p>\n

\u00bbEverything I do is instinctual. When I try to describe my process to people, I\u2019m like, it\u2019s not a process, it\u2019s a feeling\u00ab, King, who describes himself as a \u00bbrearranger\u00ab and \u00bbquiet adjuster\u00ab, tells us at the beginning of our meeting. Although his orderly, harmonious and at times minimalist interiors might suggest otherwise, King emphasizes his affinity for the unpredictable\u2014and his fondness for moments of surprise: \u00bbI love being surprised. But I feel like when you get to see as much as I do, it\u2019s hard to be surprised.\u00ab Indeed, Colin King, one of the most sought-after creatives in his field, has seen a great deal\u2014including numerous homes of prominent figures that he has designed and furnished. In parallel, he has made a name for himself in recent years not only as a set stylist for photo productions, but also through collaborations with global interior brands. For the former professional dancer, nature and art remain his most important sources of inspiration. \u00bbArt fed my soul. Bratwurst handled the rest,\u00ab he typed into his phone as an Instagram caption at the end of his trip through Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Chapter
\u00a9 Chapter; Photo: Robert Rieger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the cover shoot, we meet Colin King inside the Wotruba Church<\/em>, a brutalist structure built in the mid-1970s on the outskirts of Vienna. His slender fingers trace the building\u2019s rough concrete surfaces as he tells us that he served as an altar boy during his childhood in Ohio. What stayed with him from that time, he says, was above all an appreciation for ritual. A sensitivity to processes and arrangements now shapes his work as well. As one of the world\u2019s most renowned interior stylists, he understands that everything has its place \u2014 and that it is worth trusting one\u2019s intuition and remaining present in the moment. The same applies to saying \u00bbyes\u00ab at the right time, as he explains in our conversation. For a period, however, he pursued this approach in a rather extreme way. \u00bbI kind of live my life in extremes. I\u2019m either saying yes to everything or no to everything. I\u2019m extremely visible or extremely hidden. I think my whole life is just going to be about moderation and finding that middle ground.\u00ab After a brief pause, he continues: \u00bbAt the same time it happens quite often that the things that I almost said no to end up being really special. They surprise me. And then the things I said yes to because I thought that they are going to be amazing tend to be the ones that never work out or don\u2019t meet my expectations.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\"Interior
\u00a9 Arranging Things, Colin King; Photo: Rich Stapleton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

King’s frequently portrayed Tribeca apartment became a creative exploratory space for the interior stylist over the years, shaping his identity and sharpening his aesthetic eye.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Expectations, King suggests, are a subject in themselves. Ideally, he says, one should have none at all and simply surrender to uncertainty. In a city like New York, he adds with a laugh, there is hardly any other way. Colin King, however, grew up on a farm in Ohio before deciding, as a young adult, to move to New York to study classical dance. He worked as a personal trainer, including with Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham, and found his way into styling almost by accident\u2014long before he even realized that stylist was a profession. The fact that he had no experience in the field may have been his greatest \u00bbsuperpower\u00ab, he explains. Even today, he continues to work against allowing the many experiences he has since accumulated\u2014and the expectations that often come with them\u2014to get in the way of his intuition. \u00bbExperience can definitely hinder intuition. But if I relied on what had worked in another home or on another set, I wouldn\u2019t be able to listen to what the particular home wants from me. But that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. A big part of my job is listening. I think that in the end it\u2019s about balance because it\u2019s also helpful to know the things that don\u2019t work. Which flowers don\u2019t photograph well, for instance. Of course, people often come up to me who have seen something I\u2019ve done and want exactly the same thing for their house. I can only ever reply that I\u2019m happy to help them achieve that particular feeling, but it won\u2019t look exactly the same.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\"Capsule
\u00a9 Arranging Things, Colin King; Photo: Adrian Gaut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2023, West Elm, in collaboration with Colin King, launched a 41-piece capsule collection of furniture, textiles, and accessories \u2014 photographed at the Schindler House on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the architectural icon built by Rudolph Schindler.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What he means by this becomes clear when leafing through \u00bbArranging Things\u00ab<\/a>, the book he published in 2023. Not only does it offer numerous insights into the breadth of his aesthetic approach, it also outlines the parameters and influences that shape his work. He reflects on the importance of light and shadow, on nature as a source of inspiration, and on the value of resisting the urge to fill every apparent void. The book reveals the full range of his creative practice\u2014including a selection of sets he designed for editorial shoots in international magazines as well as projects created for renowned design brands. Alongside editorials, brand collaborations and the design of private homes, Colin King\u2014who now also runs his own studio in New York\u2014serves as Artistic Director-at-Large at Beni Rugs<\/a>, designs objects for the Danish design house Audo, creates textiles for the Australian brand Cultiver, and develops capsule collections for companies such as West Elm and Zara Home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EVERYTHING FALLS INTO PLACE<\/p>\n

Colin King works without a fixed formula. Despite the precision his profession requires, he is not concerned with predictability\u2014what matters more are liveliness and a degree of unpredictability that he consciously allows. For the New Yorker by choice, this trust that everything has its place replaces the idea of perfection: he trusts the moment in which moving a vase or an object transforms a room from quiet unease into comfort\u2014\u00bbeverything falls into place\u00ab, as the English phrase aptly puts it. \u00bbI think that there is something beautiful about not chasing things and letting them come to you. And trusting that they will come to you. It\u2019s rarely the end result that makes me feel the most reward, it\u2019s usually the process leading up to that. There is a similarity to dancing when that happens. When I am not thinking of anything, my phone on Do-Not-Disturb and I am dancing around the room, letting the objects draw me to where they want to be and who they want to be with\u00ab, Colin King notes in a calm voice.<\/p>\n

\"Chapter
\u00a9 Chapter; Photo: Robert Rieger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the cover shoot, we meet Colin King in the Wotruba Church, built in the mid-seventies on the outskirts of Vienna \u2014 photographed by Robert Rieger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In his own life, however, King also consciously seeks out moments of productive unease and discomfort. This was also the case when he moved out of his much-photographed loft in Tribeca. \u00bbI don\u2019t think it\u2019s about constantly reinventing yourself, but I do think it\u2019s important to keep developing and to step out of your comfort zone again and again\u00ab, he says. In Colin King\u2019s case, and in the context of his move, the latter is to be understood not only metaphorically, but quite literally. He sold almost all of the objects that had been in his former apartment. Tabula rasa was the stated aim, yet the emptier the loft became, the more paralyzing the undertaking felt. \u00bbI put my identity into this apartment and I really built something there. I built my career there, I built this point of view. And when I left that space, I not only started questioning who I am, but also what I like. I felt like that point of view was faltering a bit, and I didn\u2019t really actually know what I liked anymore.\u00ab<\/p>\n

At first, it sounds rather paradoxical, yet for him the desire for unease and a certain degree of \u00bbweirdness\u00ab went hand in hand with a search for quiet. The wish to press pause for a brief moment and truly breathe became increasingly present. \u00bbIt wasn\u2019t exactly intentional at first. But over time, the stillness became its own kind of studio. A place where ideas could stretch out. Where I wasn\u2019t styling to fit someone else\u2019s frame. I was learning how to sit within my own\u00ab, Colin King writes in his second Substack entry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PERCEIVING INSTEAD OF HOLDING ON<\/p>\n

Colin King published the first text on September 9 of this year. \u00bbThe Last Layer\u00ab<\/a> is the title of the collection of personal essays, which King himself describes as an \u00bbinterior monologue \u00ab. \u00bbLess polished. More personal. Slightly less concerned with whether you think I\u2019m a genius. Slightly more concerned with whether the candle is off-center in a meaningful way.\u00ab So far, he has published a new text every Tuesday. The title of the blog refers to the part of the styling process that King enjoys most, because it is the layer where most of the emotion resides. Or, put another way, the layer that ultimately carries the story. He puts it like this: \u00bbThis Substack is named after the part of design I care about most: the final 10 percent. The instinct. The pause. The slightly off-center object that changes the mood of the room. And maybe your day\u00ab.<\/p>\n

\"Styling
\u00a9 Arranging Things, Colin King; Photo: Rich Stapleton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Minimalistically staged earth tones \u2014 and a deliberately off-center, delicate plant, showcasing Colin King’s preference for \u00bboff-centered objects\u00ab; styling for the Seventh House gallery in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In conversation with Chapter<\/em>, he emphasizes that composition plays a central role in this\u2014allowing objects and things to enter into a dialogue with one another. \u00bbWhen things are not in relationship to each other, I don\u2019t find them quite interesting. When they\u2019re not living harmoniously, or even with tension, it doesn\u2019t move me. I have no emotion. I almost feel like there\u2019s something wrong. Sometimes I feel like I don\u2019t like an object, but when I see it in connection with another object, I change my mind.\u00ab For this reason, he also enjoys working with existing pieces owned by his clients. \u00bbI learn from the things I didn\u2019t choose myself.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Examples of the importance of dialogue between several objects can also be found in \u00bbArranging Things\u00ab. One image of the kitchen in his former New York apartment, for instance, shows the possibilities that emerge around the extractor hood and stove. Or that bookshelves do not always\u2014and certainly not exclusively\u2014have to be used for books. If the connection is not immediately apparent, it can be worth stepping away for a moment and then looking again \u00bbwith fresh eyes\u00ab.<\/p>\n

\"Chapter
\u00a9 Chapter; Photo: Robert Rieger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

And while Colin King\u2019s work is, of course, concerned with finding answers to design questions, he refuses to subordinate beauty to mere functionality. As he emphasizes several times in conversation, this by no means excludes the imperfect or the unpredictable\u2014quite the opposite. In the past, he says, he has heard criticism far more often for his supposed aversion to color than for his play with irregularities. \u00bb50 Shades of Beige\u00ab are simply preferable to him to making things loud in terms of color. Anyone who meets Colin King, however, will quickly notice that the key to a certain lightness may also lie in not taking oneself entirely seriously at all times. His writing, too, offers numerous examples of this. Among them is his wry self-description as a \u00bbspokesperson for furniture moving pads\u00ab. What is certain is that behind the many layers of the \u00bbrecovering people pleaser\u00ab, which include absolute professionalism, lies a core of self-irony. His mischievous laugh, which escapes him again and again, also suggests that there may be more impishness\u2014and more color\u2014to him than one might assume at first glance.<\/p>\n

EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION?<\/p>\n

At the end of our conversation, one term keeps resurfacing: \u00bbstylist\u00ab\u2014a professional title that, at times, does not quite do justice to his work. \u00bbI find it interesting that many people feel that the term has something diminutive or dismissive about it\u00ab, Colin King says. \u00bbI almost took pride in being a stylist, because for me, styling was so much more than shopping or placing objects, it was art direction and thought, creative direction and collaboration with all of these amazing creatives and photographers. And it really felt like I was composing, almost painting and just creating art. I really wanted to reclaim it and redefine that term. Now I feel like I\u2019ve gotten a little looser, because I think that we\u2019re all just creative people finding our own voices. I think I\u2019ll always be multidisciplinary and always be doing a little bit of everything. It feels like being a hummingbird going to different orchards and flowerbeds. I am just jumping around and listening to what calls me. I don\u2019t sit around waiting for someone to tell me who or what I am.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\"Apartment
\u00a9 Arranging Things, Colin King; Photo: Adrian Gaut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Isamu Noguchi, Charlotte Perriand, and Jean Prouv\u00e9; styling in the apartment of
\nJeffrey Graetsch, founder of the Raisonn\u00e9 gallery in New York.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That had not always been the case, he adds. As in dance, his work as a stylist is also about letting go. Colin King pauses for a moment before beginning to explain: \u00bbI find so many parallels with where I\u2019m at now and my life as a dancer because ultimately dancing is about trusting your body and trusting that you know the steps you practiced in rehearsal. And then there is this moment where you do have to let go because if you\u2019re too controlled, people will notice and it\u2019s actually not that interesting to watch. There were only a few moments of joy I experienced when I was dancing, because it was so hard for me to let go and just be in the steps without thinking about the steps. I think as creatives, it\u2019s like the longest journey from the head to the heart, but that\u2019s where we have to be operating from, because otherwise there\u2019s a dishonesty in the work because it feels too controlled, too contrived.\u00ab<\/p>\n

One question remains: which of the two terms might better describe his career so far\u2014evolution or revolution? Those who follow Colin King\u2019s work would probably first choose the former. But is there not also a quiet revolt in the love of tablecloths that seem, at first glance, too short? One that is not loud or heavy-handed, but corresponds instead to the softness that his interiors also radiate? And that can also be found in his movements and in the way he speaks? The answer is probably \u00bbyes\u00ab. Perhaps, however, this kind of categorization does not matter all that much. What matters more is the feeling that everything, somewhere, has its place.<\/p>\n

FIRST PUBLISHED IN CHAPTER \u2116XIII \u00bbIDENTITY\u00ab<\/a> \u2014 WINTER 2025\/26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text Sarah Wetzlmayr | Production & Creative Direction Dzenana MUJADZIC | Production Assistant Miri MARIJANOVIC | Photography ROBERT RIEGER | Makeup & Hair SABINE REITER | Head of Styling Emilia TERESA, Stylist Anillo S\u00dcR\u00dcN | Aetna.Club | AETNA.CLUB Interior styling, in Colin King\u2019s case, may be understood as a matter of intuition, quiet and a certain degree of friction\u2014the point at which a room begins to feel as though everything is in its right place. That does not mean things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10024346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,336,337],"tags":[361,340],"class_list":["post-10024354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interior-design","category-articles","category-carousel","tag-colin-king-en","tag-interieur-design-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10024354"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10024358,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10024354\/revisions\/10024358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10024346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10024354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10024354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapter.digital\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10024354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}