Interior Design Studio — Stewart-Schäfer

Our philosophy

These spaces should be uncomplicated yet highly curated, in which every item is purposeful and adds its magic as another layer of the home’s story.

We care deeply about every single detail, and how these all come together as a sum of many parts. A careful consideration and integration of light, materials, nature, and history results in homes that equally respond to their context, but are not bound by style, genre, or location.

When building from scratch, we take a fully holistic perspective to ensure architecture and interiors blend seamlessly with each other and their context. For renovations, we feel the soul of the home and find ways to bring out its innate qualities through combinations of design elements, gestures, materials, and objects—always following the waves of inspiration to achieve the best results.

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Our values

We fully appreciate the level of responsibility and intimacy that comes with designing someone’s home. We therefore conduct ourselves with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, frankness, and respect, reassuring our clients that they can trust us to conceptualize and complete their home with the utmost care, and within their budget.

We care deeply about working with genuine, like-minded people to help us craft spaces for living that honor the story and soul of the building, and go beyond expectations to deliver exceptional quality. We therefore work with loyal vendors, suppliers and tradespeople that share our values, and look for clients that love and appreciate great design as much as we do.

These values have resulted in well-established relationships with our collaborators and longstanding friendships with our past clients, and we’re confident that this will continue well into the future.

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Interior Design

We also offer a full range of interior design services, which encompass space planning, material selection, custom furnishings, and decor, for the interiors of everything from Connecticut cottages through to an expansive New England home. As well versed interior designers, we ensure that each client fully understands the design process and is guided through every stage of design development.

As with our architecture work, we carefully manage and oversee each interior renovation or spatial overhaul, and are fully ingrained in the process from start to finish. We source objects, materials and fixtures for interior design from all over the world, using our extensive knowledge and connections to aggregate the perfect elements for each project. Anything we can’t find, we make custom, including large-scale built-in furnishings all the way down to hardware—all made by the very best people in their industries. Combining functionality, quality and beauty, our attention to detail is apparent in every space we design.

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Fabrication

We are lucky to collaborate with amazing vendors all over the world who fabricate custom pieces for our projects, from ceramics in Rome, to woodworking in upstate New York.

We design and prototype kitchens, cabinetry, and other millwork in-house instead of buying off the shelf, which means no middle-person and no markups. This adds an extra layer of value to every project we work on. The process involves a pre-design phase, during which the requirements and parameters are set, then concept and design development, before shop drawings are generated in order to bid and build beautiful pieces. We utilize our wide network of fabricators to find just the right person for the job, and manage the process throughout, ensuring exceptional quality and timely delivery.

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Residential

We bring 20 years of experience to our residential projects, for which we work on architecture and interior design in tandem across a variety of project types to create incredibly cohesive and holistically designed homes. In each of our ground-up, renovation and extension projects in New York, Connecticut and beyond, we use our intuition and high taste level to conceptualize and execute timeless and unique spaces.

As one of the top residential interior design firms in our region, we’re acutely aware that our clients rely on us to deliver their dream home and put their money in our hands, and we take this extremely seriously. Therefore, we only take on a few projects a year to allow us to concentrate fully on the job at hand, and provide the highest level of service.

In every home we design, we carefully consider texture, lighting, fixtures, details, and the myriad special features that bring a timeless style and luxurious feel. Whether in a luxury living room with an intimate furniture arrangement, a light-filled workspace designed for focus and concentration, or a bedroom tailored for ultimate relaxation, we strive to ensure that each space has its own moment, while still naturally flowing together and appearing cohesive as a whole. Combining architecture and interior design services under one umbrella, we don't label ourselves as interior designers, interior architects, or a residential architect, but rather as holistic designers who consider all facets of residential design together.

Process

Applying the discipline that comes from working in commercial design to all of our residential interiors projects, we work closely with a variety of different vendors—all whom we deeply trust and respect—throughout the design process to fabricate and install each element of a home at the highest quality and best value. Our level of project management for residential design ensures that everything from construction to furniture and art is handled with the utmost care and attention.

People

For the Stewart-Shafer team, the relationship and social interaction between interior designer, vendor and client is crucial for creating great interior design. No matter the project type, the collaboration between our firm and our partners results in innovative and inspired architecture and interior design that can enhance a location, and that's worthy of publication in titles such as Architectural Digest and House Beautiful.

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Commercial

With a wide array of experience executing multiple store rollouts for premium brands across the US and abroad—including luxury labels like Thom Browne and John Varvatos, and boutique shops such as Lovely Bride—we offer a full range of commercial interior design services for designing and executing retail stores.

From lease signing to store opening, we put a great deal of consideration into the process and outcome for each retailer's commercial interior design project: fully integrating branding, understanding the price point, and guiding customers through spaces and experiences using clever layouts and visual elements.

We’ve shaped entire brands, and have worked closely with in-house creative and interior design teams, as well as vendors all over the world to facilitate, large-scale commercial space rollouts. We also design custom furniture, fixtures, and lighting for any commercial interior design project. The breadth of our commercial services includes:

Lease negotiation consulting
Click-to-brick branding
Space planning and spatial layouts
Store rollouts
Fixture packages
Brand image
Visual merchandising
Custom furniture and lighting
Mechanisms and hardware
Pop-ups and activations

Pre Design Phase

For any new commercial interior space, we research and assess the existing conditions and code requirements, then discuss thoughts, ideas and options with our clients before we begin the design process. This allows us to put forward initial concepts that prioritize aesthetics, well being, and future-focused design, which also align with a client's budget.

Schematic Design Phase

As seasoned commercial interior designers, we always consider the layout, functionality, natural light, and other conditions of each new space as part of our schematic designs. Through the use of high-quality materials, our goal is to ensure the designs for commercial spaces are visually appealing and create a lasting impression, while remaining code compliant. We value client feedback throughout the process, at this and in previous stages.

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Christine Stucker

Founder / Creative Director

A creative powerhouse, Christine Stucker’s exceptional taste and intuitive visual eye allow her to shape unexpected and highly sophisticated spatial experiences.

Chris studied Fine Art and Design at the University of Kansas, and spent the early part of her career as an artist, before a natural progression into furniture design and fabrication. Senior positions with renowned luxury brands including John Varvatos and Betsey Johnson soon followed, where she gained invaluable knowledge in executing retail concepts, producing bespoke furniture, and sourcing unique decor. Meanwhile, her time spent managing Demisch Danant gallery—which specializes in furniture inspired by 20th-century French design—further developed her appreciation for the entwined and inseparable relationship between art and design; beauty and function. A result of constantly traveling for education and inspiration, Chris exudes worldliness and self-assurance, yet retains the directness and no-nonsense sensibility that only comes from 17 years as a New Yorker. As co-founder of Stewart-Schäfer, Chris is the creative risk-taker, bringing together her remarkable perception of color, texture and materials with an innate sense for space, narrative, and detail.

James Veal

Founder / COO

James Veal’s refreshing viewpoint stems from an aversion towards dogmatic design and his ability to think outside the box to develop innovative spaces.

After studying business in Cambridge, England, James worked in construction and project management, honing his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. After yearning for more creative outlets, he began to travel the world and help brands glean inspiration from unique sources. It was during this time that James developed his photography practice and captured an array of cultural inspiration that Stewart-Schäfer continues to leverage. Later, James followed his passion for design and curation to New York, where he worked in production to create distinct moods and environments for notable fashion photographers such as Mario Testino. Wanting to give permanence to these fleeting yet powerful photo shoots, James transitioned towards creating long-lasting interiors. He co-founded Stewart-Schäfer in 2009 with the aim of helping clients evolve past conventional modes of thinking to reinvigorate their visual brands.

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James Veal’s refreshing viewpoint stems from an aversion towards dogmatic design and his ability to think outside the box to develop innovative spaces.

We are a forward-thinking interior design and architecture studio that believes in the seamless integration of multiple disciplines in space design. Driven by passion and guided by a design-centric philosophy, our studio embraces a people-first approach. We believe in the power of collaboration between various design disciplines to create harmonious and innovative spaces that prioritize the human experience.

Our Philosophy

timeless living room design with natural lighting

We believe in a nonlinear approach to design that disrupts limitation and stirs imagination. (Read More)

We strive to create timeless and unique spaces that are purposeful and detail-oriented, and that perfectly balance function and beauty.

Our Values

living room interior design by Stewart-Schafer in Easton CT

We take a people-first approach to our thoughtful, emotive work. (Read More)

Always at the forefront of our practice are the people with and for whom we are working.

Our Services

Services

Architecture

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Interior Design

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Fabrication

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Virtual Consultation

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Sectors

Residential

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Commercial

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View Our Work

Interior design by Stewart-Schafer - exterior view

Founders

Christine Stucker

Founder / Creative Director

Christine Stucker owner of Stewart Schafer Interior Design Firm

James Veal

Founder / COO

James Veal owner of Stewart Schafer Interior Design Firm

Testimonials

Stewart-Schafer has been our trusted partner for over 3 years as we have worked together to build out our physical retail footprint in the United States. From conception through execution, Stewart-Schafer took the time to understand and infuse our brand and mission. As a result, they helped us rethink how we could deliver our premium brand experience in a new and innovative way

Tom Patterson

CEO and Co-founder
of Tommy John

Stewart-Schafer designed and built one of our most iconic stores in NYC. They managed to work in a difficult environment, kept costs in check, and delivered a stellar result... heartily recommended.

Jay Sternstein

Head of retail
Thom Browne

They completely understood our style, and translated that to every fixture, color choice, and design scheme. They stayed on budget and time, and in fact they were early with part of the process.