Studio DB Makes Every Home Tell a Story
The firm’s husband-and-wife founders, Damian and Britt Zunino, explain why they avoid fussy interiors, embrace creative differences, and view every project as a complex puzzle worth solving together
It was a designer meet-cute. Damian Zunino was working for CookFox Architects on converting fish market buildings in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. As he cleaned bricks with cornmeal, dust filled the apartments above, one of which belonged to Britt, a former snowboarder who was working in fashion merchandising for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. He went upstairs to apologize, sparks flew, and the rest is history.
After Damian leaned on Britt’s retail expertise for a store commission in Sag Harbor, the duo launched the interiors firm Studio DB in 2007 and married two years later. Nearly two decades in, the husband-and-wife team have emerged as one of New York’s go-to firms for polished residences imbued with the comforts of domestic ease while deftly merging the eclectic and exquisite. No two interiors look the same—one may pair blissfully lush de Gournay wallpaper with funky terrazzo floors inlaid with stones sourced from the client’s climbing trips. Others may sport rows of arcade machines. “It’s about gathering information to solve what’s essentially a complex puzzle,” the couple tell Galerie. “The most successful projects are with clients who have a point of view.”
What arises from collaborative push-and-pull makes the satisfaction of the grand reveal that much sweeter. Such is the biggest takeaway from their debut monograph, Drawn Together: Studio DB—Architecture and Interiors (Rizzoli), a stylish tome offering an intimate look at the couple’s all-embracing yet contextual approach to fashioning deeply personal homes, including their own. They chronicle the multi-year journey to creating the perfect country house for their then-growing family of six in idyllic Dutchess County, New York, and unpack the personal history behind their Union Square loft, which was once owned by Damian’s architect father who filled it with inflatable vinyl furniture in the ‘70s and which they lovingly transformed into their own city hideaway.
This spirit of openness and hands-on experimentation remains a through-line to their practice, which they spoke about with Galerie in an interview that has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Relationships with clients are very important to us. We ask questions about their routines, what could be better about their lives and how they occupy space. We start with inspiration images not only from architecture but from fashion and jewelry, anything that sparks a reaction. Negative responses are as helpful as positive ones. It’s about gathering information to solve what’s essentially a complex puzzle. We’ll lay materials out so they can feel. The more information we have, the more the results reflect them.
The most successful projects are with clients who have a point of view and are vulnerable enough to tell us what they like and don’t like. It doesn’t happen with every client. Creatives are often great to work with because they work on a team and bounce ideas off of people, which becomes super fun. They respect the process!
Most of our projects are for families. We have four kids, and we definitely bring our personal experiences to that. Conversations about how people raise their kids can be very informative. Some parents are structured and others want wide open spaces for their kids to build forts. We just want people to come home and say “Oh, this is me. This is home.” It shouldn’t feel like somebody decorated it for them. It should feel personal. We’re trying to tell their story through design. Of course we have formulas—we love color, pattern, and details—but it should feel specific to who the clients are.
Client relationships are a two-way street. We’re often learning from them. We were able to create mudrooms for clients because we did it for ourselves and understood how it’s much easier if every kid has their own storage cubby for shoes and backpacks. Our oldest will soon be 20 and our youngest is 10, so we’ve really gone through the stages.
We don’t like “fussy.” We don’t want to create something beautiful that you can’t touch and looks like a museum. You shouldn’t have to cover everything in plastic. You can have sophistication and livability at the same time.
Family influences our work every day. Our kids all have strong opinions. One’s a minimalist, another loves maximalism, one’s practical and creative, and our son designed his own moody, antique-filled room. When we renovated our office, one of our daughters rejected every wallpaper we showed her. It taught us to listen. We can create wild climbing spaces for kids, but you want balance—play spaces and quiet spaces where they can escape. One of our daughters has anxiety and sometimes she needs space without stimulation. We usually ask clients if they want to include their kids in the design process. They’ll usually come in for a meeting where we’re showing the kid their space.
We view creative differences as blending our strengths. That’s what gives our work its character. We only had one chance to get our house upstate right, but we kept having kids so the program kept changing. There were lots of ideas but nothing felt right. We kept pushing each other to find what felt like the right direction. The design just came together one night, and we both loved it. Our favorite part of our home is the courtyard. It connects us to our surroundings. When the kids were younger, we’d hang up sheets, watch movies, eat dinner, and sleep out there. Camping for city people!
We often push manufacturers beyond their limits. We fell in love with Apparatus when they launched at ICFF and use their fixtures a decent amount. For a project with a double-height living room, we wanted a scaled-up Cloud pendant but their glassblower said no. We asked if we could produce a custom version with more globes at a much bigger volume, but the scale didn’t feel right. Gabriel [Hendifar, founder of Apparatus] went back and forth with us collaboratively until the glassblower was able to figure it out. That was the first Cloud XL! With Beni Rugs, we wanted a layered rug with different pile heights. They had never done that. We even flew to Morocco to see it on the loom.
Comfort is a state of mind; it’s different for everybody. We find comfort in family and moments of being around the table or fireplace. It’s when you can just exhale, sitting with coffee and thinking, “I really like my house.” We try to take those feelings and capture them in design.
Success happens when clients walk in and say “this feels like home.” The children get excited about their rooms. There’s a sense of ease. Even though it’s a brand-new space, they flow right into it. The best part is that big reveal when it all comes together. Our editor on the book, Philip Reeser, changed every mention of the word “house” to “home” to remind us that it’s a feeling, not just a structure. And that’s exactly it—we’re creating homes, not just decorating spaces.
