There are but a few notable long-term professional pairings in the design world. For Stephen Sills (left) and James Huniford, who founded their Manhattan interiors firm in 1984, the key to viability has been not only a shared aesthetic and sensibility but, as Huniford says, “a great capacity to build off each other’s ideas.” Their signature mien is “eclectic and edited”— any given interior might have early-17th– and late–18th–century French and English pieces juxtaposed with Modernist examples by such names as Eyre de Lanux and Eugène Printz. Sills and Huniford do not look to one period but are redefining classicism with contemporary materials and textures—parchment, shagreen, limed oak, tooled leather—and enlightened spatial concepts.

Collaboration is central to their process. “The public’s access to design resources has very much expanded,” remarks Sills, “and we find that our clients are bringing more of their creative thoughts to the table. For us, the most desirable clients are ones who know how they want to live and who trust their own instincts.” Sills Huniford Associates designs about half of the furnishings for each of its projects. Since 1995 the practice has had its own line, Dwellings, which carries fabrics, lighting and furniture, as well as vintage pieces the two partners collect on their travels. “In everything we do,” says Sills, “it always comes back to the elements of atmosphere and point of view.”

Sills Huniford

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