FASHION-FORWARD STONE

Corey Damen Jenkins partners with Aria Stone Gallery on a runway-inspired signature slab collection.

BY TERRI PROVENCAL

From left: Corey Damen Jenkins. Photograph by Nathan Schroeder; Corey Damen Jenkins at Aria Stone Gallery. Courtesy of Aria Stone Gallery; A room designed by Corey Damen Jenkins features an arresting wallcovering in cobalt blue. Photograph by Werner Straube.

Detroit-turned-New York interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins is rarely in repose. Between expertly designing clients’ forever homes; appearances on HGTV’s Showhouse Showdown, the Rachael Ray Show, and MasterClass as an instructor in a ten-episode streamer; building an entirely new website; and several new CDJ collections with industry partners, it’s no wonder Architectural Digest named him to its AD100 list, as did Elle Décor to its A-List.

For starters, 2022 collection collaborations include MaitlandSmith, Hancock and Moore, Kravet, Akdo, and Leftbank Art, which uses Jenkins’ own Mouths Wide Open series, a collection of lead and ink portraits emphasizing the mouths of humans in their beautifully diverse open state. And in March, Jenkins introduced a “fashion runway-inspired collection” with Aria Stone Gallery.

Among the superb slabs in the Corey Damen Jenkins X Aria Stone Gallery collection are the highly sought Calacatta Vagli Macchia Marble, the showy Calacatta Picasso Marble, the striking Zebrino White Marble, the mystical Avocatus Quartzite, and the arresting Oceano Fantasy Quartzite, all from Italy and Brazil.

Jenkins understands he is primarily introducing stone into kitchen and bath design, utilitarian in nature. However, he asserts, “The biggest opportunity to really make a big fashion statement when it comes to pattern play and color and that whole runway effect is with stone. And because there’s going be so much of it, it’s going cover that entire island. It’s going to cover that entire countertop, that whole bath, shower stall, wall enclosure. So with Aria, I think they have really put together these fashion-forward brilliant selections of stone that in themselves could be framed as abstract art.”

His ability to achieve not only gorgeously inimitable but also lasting design extends to choosing the right brand partners. “I think that for us the big thing really is to partner our brand with brands that have a similar worldview and are dedicated to creating materials and furnishings and products that enhance the beauty of homeowners’ and designers’ projects,” says Jenkins. “It’s all about diversifying our reach, diversifying our development as it pertains to different product categories.”

Irrepressibly stylish, Jenkins looks at design through a fashion lens. “I think Aria draws me in because they have a real eye for what I consider to be fashion-forward stone selections. I do look at the fashion runway constantly. I look at the works of Jean Paul Gaultier and Balenciaga, Elie Saab and Valentino.” Jenkins assimilates to like-minded creative genius, which is why he is known for a layered approach. “These visionaries do that on the Parisian runway with their models, the breakthroughs they make with textures and materiality and color and pattern. You know all of that eventually influences and trickles over into the interior design column.”

As the author of Design ReMix, his aesthetic is one of pattern, layers, and texturing, but also extraordinary color mashups. For unlikely color combinations he looks to flowers and is often found combing New York City’s flower district. “I like looking at the design of our planet and looking at what is present there naturally, and some of our most bold and crazy color palette combinations have come directly from flowers or the plumage of birds or other animals, landscapes, forests… I always feel like if it works there in nature, it should work in a home. I do believe that.”

A lover of art, and an artist himself, Jenkins is convivial and kind. His offices depict his joy of life with well-traveled finds. But most importantly for his clients, he’s unafraid. “I’ll mix in rococo with modernity in a heartbeat and think nothing of it.” P