No. 08 - Design Direction with Linnea Schooley

A path from an interior design studio to a lifestyle brand

Design Direction is an interview series that highlights people in interior design or a design-adjacent industry and showcases different paths that people can take with their design career!

If you are demographically close to me, then you’ve likely been targeted by a Jenni Kayne ad. It’s always their cozy-ass Cocoon Cardigans or their Oak Essentials no-make-up-skincare line. It’s like they know I live in cold and rainy Portland and that I’m terrified that my fine lines are showing 🙈! I generally gravitate towards color and pattern with my design style and, yet, Jenni Kayne’s neutral looks get me EVERY 👏🏼 SINGLE 👏🏼TIME 👏🏼. When I was just starting out in design, I was seeing and hearing Jenni Kayne pop-up here and there. I first noticed their clothing line, which was filled with slouchy, cozy basics (neutrals, of course) and then came their oak furniture collection and their rug collaboration with Lulu and Georgia. At some point, it felt like all the well-known interior designers owned something from Jenni Kayne. Mules, anyone? There’s definitely a cult following and, since then, they’ve expanded beyond clothing and into a full-fledged lifestyle brand with furniture, skincare, and interior design! That brings me to today’s guest, Linnea Schooley, who is currently the sole interior designer at Jenni Kayne Home!

Like me and Carrie, Linnea was also a student in the UCLA Extension Interior Architecture program; we were all there around the same time! Not only did we go to school together, but my first design job in LA was at Ginny Macdonald Design, which ended up being just a few doors down from Katie Hodges Design, where Linnea worked. I’ve been following her career since my days in LA and her design eye and aesthetic is as dreamy as they come. Think earthy, soft and warm neutrals with lots of texture (a perfect match for Jenni Kayne!) and I just want to live in all the projects she gets to work on!

In today’s issue, I’m sharing how she took the next step in her design career by making a slight pivot from working at a traditional design studio to being the sole interior designer at a lifestyle brand. We were able to get into the nitty gritty of how to navigate design school and what to look for when you’re on the hunt for your first design job. There are so many practical tidbits in this interview that I’m SO excited to share!

Let’s get into it :)