{"id":228472,"date":"2025-10-20T22:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/228472\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T22:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:14:11","slug":"shawnee-native-gets-national-pub-for-his-interior-design-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/228472\/","title":{"rendered":"Shawnee native gets national pub for his interior design work"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Mill Valley High School alum is getting national attention for his interior design work as he\u2019s striking out on his own in New York City.<\/p>\n

In September, Jason Chen, a 2017 Mill Valley graduate, was included in Architectural Digest\u2019s 2025 class of New American Voices<\/a>,\u00a0 which recognizes interior designers the publication says are on the brink of stardom.<\/p>\n

Since moving to New York soon after graduation eight years ago, Chen has been making a name for himself as a designer, first interning at Knoll<\/a>, a modern furniture, textile and accessory firm, and later, working for the New York-based design firm Billy Cotton<\/a>, creating designs and environments for apartments, houses and businesses throughout the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope my work embodies a sense of earnest authenticity. Sincerity and truthfulness are attributes I strive for in every project \u2014 I want the visuals to read as genuine and true to the home, the client and my own vision,\u201d he said in comments to the Johnson County Post.<\/p>\n

This year, Chen opened his own interior design practice, Studio Chen<\/a> and is currently designing projects for both homes and restaurant concepts across the country.<\/p>\n

Chen\u2019s love for design started early<\/p>\n

Growing up in Shawnee, Chen caught the bug when was six years old, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just always loved to draw and to draft. My favorite things were always more inanimate things like buildings and boats, things all little boys love,\u201d he said in an interview with the Post.<\/p>\n

That passion was new to his family, as his mother worked as a research scientist and his father specialized in therapy and rehabilitation for the blind.<\/p>\n

When Chen started attending classes at Mill Valley, he found a place to hone that craft in the school\u2019s Advanced Placement Studio Design classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a skill that people (said) \u2018Jason\u2019s really good drawing.\u2019 And so, I tried to make the most of it, and I enjoyed it. So the AP studio courses were a good place to hone in on that and to see if they could materialize into something more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Working in a smaller class also meant Chen found a community that shared a love of designing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arts department was very small. I think our Studio Arts class had less than 10 individuals in it. Even though my (graduating) class, I think, was 400-something,\u201d he said. \u201cJust sharing in a community that had the same interest, I really wanted to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JasonA room designed by Jason Chen. Photo courtesy Jason Chen.
\nChen moved to New York in 2017<\/p>\n

The design projects that Chen worked on in Mill Valley\u2019s Studio Arts program served as a springboard for him moving to New York to attend the Pratt Institute,<\/a> a prestigious private university in Brooklyn that specializes in practices like interior design, photography and fine arts.<\/p>\n

While moving from Kansas to New York was a big step, Chen said keeping an open mind was key to not feeling overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom was like, \u2018You might be so great at Mill Valley, but there are going to be so many kids there that are excelling in design,’\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cI was like, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m not going to come in with this preconceived notion.\u2019 I was just trying to keep my expectations as open as I could, to just be a sponge.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Pratt, Chen said he found a mentor in one of his professors, Karen Stone, who helped him get an internship at Knoll.<\/p>\n

While interning and designing furniture at Knoll, Chen said his skills continued to expand, where he wasn\u2019t only interested in creating pieces of furniture but also designing the spaces they would occupy and the flow of the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny to see how my sensibilities translated from something like furnishings, particularly designing the furniture, over into the actual arrangement of the furniture and the specifications of it on a larger scale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chen moved up the ranks over the past five years<\/p>\n

As Knoll started downsizing in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chen said he felt the urge to work for a smaller studio.<\/p>\n

His work at Knoll had caught the eye of a designer at Billy Cotton, a firm whose focus was more on interior design, and he got a foot in the door. There, he excelled.<\/p>\n

From 2021 to 2025, he worked his way up from being a junior designer to ultimately, working as a project manager. In that time, he said he got greater insight into what makes a successful designer, from having a shared vision to clear goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of what I\u2019ve learned also goes back to just having excellent communication with your clients, being transparent with them, learning how to how to engage with them and interact with them in these settings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"JasonA room designed by Jason Chen. Photo courtesy Jason Chen.
\nChen struck out on his own this year<\/p>\n

As Chen built up his portfolio and reputation at Billy Cotton, he felt a calling to take more control over what projects he took on.<\/p>\n

As he was wrapping up his final projects for the firm in late 2024, he said he thought it was a good point to start his own practice.<\/p>\n

At Studio Chen, he\u2019s taken on work that includes designing the interior of a home in Massachusetts and a dining concept in New York.<\/p>\n

While he was busy with those projects, he was trying to figure out a way to announce his new venture. When Architectural Digest contacted him to be featured on their New American Voices list, he knew that was the right time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis New American Voices feature, where they introduced my work, it was really the introduction of my firm and of the practice, which I hadn\u2019t put out there yet. So I was really very fortunate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chen still channels Midwestern sensibilities<\/p>\n

When the Architectural Digest piece was published, Chen said he heard a lot of encouraging feedback and comments from people back home in Shawnee.<\/p>\n

That kind of response gives him encouragement and pride for what he does, representing the hard work and friendliness that comes from growing up in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m committed to building strong, transparent dialogue with my clients throughout our collaboration. These are Midwestern sensibilities that I think are refreshing and often undervalued in this industry. They ground my practice and set the tone for how I work,\u201d he said in an email to the Johnson County Post.<\/p>\n

Other Shawnee community news: \u2018A fixture in the community\u2019 \u2014 3&2 Baseball Club celebrates 75th season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Mill Valley High School alum is getting national attention for his interior design work as he\u2019s striking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,138046,460,134,16015,4048],"class_list":{"0":"post-228472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-de-soto-area","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-shawnee-mission-area","17":"tag-top"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}