The Edit · New York
A selective, sourced guide to the American line of descent: antiques met with a tailored, present-day comfort.
New York is where the English and continental traditions were turned into something distinctly American: collected, comfortable, and not afraid of the present.
Much of the city's antique-led decoration traces to one house, Parish-Hadley, the firm of Sister Parish and Albert Hadley, whose alumni and heirs include several of the names below. The result is a recognisable American manner: serious antiques layered with art and real comfort, in rooms meant to be lived in rather than admired from the doorway.
The list follows the Standard: each name is here for a body of antique-led work, with sources noted and caveats stated plainly. Inclusion is editorial and unpaid.
Bunny Williams & Elizabeth Lawrence; the collected American room.
Founded by Bunny Williams in 1988 and renamed Williams Lawrence in 2023, under Williams and Elizabeth Lawrence, the firm carries one of the most influential American traditional lineages. The work is layered and comfortable, built on a long familiarity with antiques, gardens, books and collections: rooms assembled over time rather than installed at once.
A scholar-decorator of American antiques.
Thomas Jayne founded Jayne Design Studio in 1990, after training in American material culture and the decorative arts at Winterthur, fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum's American Wing, Historic Deerfield and the Getty, and time at Christie's. His work is among the clearest American cases of decoration built on history, objects and the living use of the past.
Continental antiques, tailored for today.
A former partner at Parish-Hadley, Brian J. McCarthy founded his New York firm in 1992. It belongs here for its stated expertise in continental European antiques and for several historically literate commissions, among them the private quarters and State Rooms at Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador's residence in London.
Modern-traditional rooms with serious antique use.
Founded in 1984 and still working in New York, Cullman & Kravis belongs here as a modern-traditional firm with a real record of using antiques, art, textiles and custom work in layered residential interiors. Leadership now includes founder Ellie Cullman with design partners Lee Cavanaugh, Alyssa Urban and Sarah Ramsey; the firm's own description stresses antiques of varied periods and origins alongside modern art.
Designers are selected for a body of work in which old objects carry the room (period furniture, decorative arts, original surfaces, patina and provenance), not for fame, billings or press. Where a designer sits at the edge of the standard, the caveat is stated rather than hidden. Inclusion is editorial and unpaid; no designer pays to appear. The full method is set out in About & Editorial Policy.
Last reviewed: June 2026. If an entry is wrong or out of date, the corrections page explains how to tell us.
Who are the leading antique-led interior designers in New York?
Vecchio Lusso's New York edit names Williams Lawrence (the firm of Bunny Williams and Elizabeth Lawrence), Thomas Jayne, Brian J. McCarthy and Cullman & Kravis. Much of the city's antique-led decoration descends from the firm Parish-Hadley, whose alumni and heirs include several of these names. Each is here for a body of work in which real antiques carry the room.
What defines the New York antique-led style?
New York is where the English and continental traditions were turned into something distinctly American: collected, comfortable, and unafraid of the present. Serious antiques are layered with art and real comfort, in rooms meant to be lived in rather than admired from the doorway. It is traditional decoration given a tailored, present-day ease.
New York is one chapter. The full reference runs from London and Paris to Los Angeles and beyond.
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