Acclaimed Interior Designer and Author Young Lee Huh ’87 Returns to Cranbrook

Based in New York, Huh is known for warm, sophisticated interiors that bring together vibrant colors, rich patterns, custom surface treatments, and global influences. Her studio has designed residences for notable clients, and her celebrated showhouse installations have helped establish her as a leading voice in contemporary interior design.

Huh began at Kingswood in seventh grade and quickly found a community where she felt at home. “I absolutely loved it!” she recalls. “Being in an all-girls environment was perfect for me. The smartest and funniest girls were the most popular rather than the prettiest. The high school was a wonderful blend of academic rigor, artistic inquiry, acceptance, and beauty.”

Her path to a design career was unconventional. After earning her J.D. from Fordham Law in 1994 and practicing law, Huh eventually followed her creative interests into interior design. Looking back, she sees her Kingswood education as an important foundation for the way she approaches her work.

“Studying art was transformative,” she says. “My English and history classes taught me the ability to think independently, to question what is true, and to think outside the box.”

Huh also remembers the teachers who made a lasting impression, including ceramics teacher Susie Symon, weaving teacher Lynn Hazard, and Dr. Fred Roth, who introduced her to drama. She particularly remembers discovering Raymond Carver in John Hazard’s class: “Mr. Hazard had us read Raymond Carver, which resonates with me now!”

Her memories of Kingswood extend beyond the classroom. “Hanging out by the Cranbrook quad, walking along Kingswood Lake and along Daffodil Hill between classes” were among her favorite parts of school life. The campus itself also gave Huh an early, immersive education in design.

“At Kingswood, you could see how integrated every element of design was,” she says. “The blending of Finnish modernism and Arts and Crafts architecture, the wall treatments, rugs, furniture, even the silver went together and made a single design statement.”

“And then you had a completely different Arts and Crafts environment at the boys’ school and at Cranbrook House. Seeing all the different styles on one campus and experiencing them over the years was an experiential course in design.”

That early exposure to the relationship among architecture, art, furnishings, color, and environment resonates throughout Huh’s work today. Her new book, A Mood, A Thought, A Feeling: Interiors, published by Rizzoli, explores the emotional and instinctive approach she brings to creating interiors. Its title reflects three central aspects of her design philosophy.

“I believe that in order to create a truly beautiful home, one ought to know how they want to feel in each of their rooms,” Huh explains.

Huh’s instinctive, deeply personal approach to design reflects the curiosity, independent thinking, artistic inquiry, and appreciation for beauty that she developed at Cranbrook Kingswood. Members of the Cranbrook community are invited to meet this accomplished alumna and hear more about her creative journey, her design philosophy, and her new book.