Corey Damen Jenkins On His New Book, YouTube Series + More

The Wonderful World of Corey

The designer expounds on several forthcoming projects, including a new tome, a YouTube series and an in-the-works lighting collection.

The day I interview Corey Damen Jenkins, he’s just unboxed an advanced copy of his second monograph, Design Reimagined. “The idea was to create a jewel box of a book,” Jenkins explains, pointing to its linen casing printed in a Kravet Couture peacock pattern, a decadent surprise beneath the jacket. “We wanted the entire read to feel like an interior design experience.”

The artistic decision offers a metaphor for Jenkins’ talent for cross-pollinating the many facets of his design practice, which includes a growing licensing division focused on product collaborations. Fall launches alone encompass an expansion of his Kravet line with fresh colorways and wallcoverings, tripling the size of his furniture collection with Hancock & Moore, and the debut of an Art Deco-influenced lighting suite with Eichholtz, adapted from hundreds of hand-drawn sketches Jenkins dreamt up over the years.

And then there’s his new YouTube series. Also named Design Reimagined, the show brings the chapters of his book to life, with snappy episodes devoted to breaking down the anatomy of a single room in a didactic manner that showcases “the joy and complexity of interior design, which often go hand-in-hand,” Jenkins muses.

With his crisp suits and megawatt smile, this symphony of extracurriculars may appear effortless, but it’s a labor of love that entails knocking on door after door “until you find a window to crawl through,” laughs Jenkins. “We’re swans with wands,” he continues. “Things look graceful on the surface, but under the water there’s chop. What’s driving me is the responsibility I feel to create opportunities for others and to educate about design in an unvarnished, authentic way.”