Interior Designer Speaks Out on Black Decorating Trends

When I first saw Shane V. Charles’s Instagram posts describing ancient decorating styles taken from African diaspora references, it felt like he was describing homes I’ve always imagined but didn’t know the language of. In the last year and a half, the Chicago- and Los Angeles-based interior designer and founder of Mild Sauce Studio has developed a social media following of about 90,000 people on Instagram and more than 150,000 on TikTok in a wide variety of what he calls “internal identities” with the names he created such as Blaxploitation Glam, Bruennial and Pamill African. Her paintings give those who love traditional decor the language and vision of a style that she thought had always existed in black homes but had never been officially mentioned. He says: “Most of us did not grow up seeing ourselves in the way our homes and our surroundings were made.

If you want your home to reflect Trinidadian heritage, for example, Charles suggests Calypso Moderne, a style he says combines “Trinidadian carnival flair, Miami Art Deco curves, and the strong rhythm of calypso music.” Mississippi Delta Deco combines luxury gold and marble with blues-inspired tones for what she calls a “Chicago but also Southern twist.” The Haitian Revival uses Taíno influence and West African spiritual traditions with earthy textiles and hand-beaded textiles. “Think of postered walls and tobacco browns, beaded paintings, altar coffee tables, and art as a portal,” she explains in one video.

Charles’s work revolves around a question that is not easy to answer within the mainstream: What does black identity mean? look like a plan? In addition to his social media presence and professional creative work, he is publishing his first book, Internal Information (scheduled for June 2026), which presents 25 of his original interior design styles. Each offers a unique set of materials, palettes and design principles, as well as historical contexts. I spoke with Charles about why naming these practices is an issue and whether he hopes the book will change the conversation about internal identity. Our discussion has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The best thing about what you do is that your language is clear. Do you see your work as creating a new canon for Black interior design?

Shane V. Charles: That’s a tough question. Many people have worked in this area well before me, and will continue to work well after. But this job is part of it. I think the naming and design process make this study more formal and sustainable. Canonical construction changes the design from, as it were, standard circuits to instructional designs. We have always had this conversation: What is Black Design? Often, it is based on formal or informal – early use of whatever we have seen in Black homes or at a friend’s home. We used cube fabric, with no guidelines or references. We all love it, it’s graphic, it’s thrown on a pedestal, but the real question is, what does that have to do with identity? It is part of your everyday environment. What does it have to do with you? And what is the story? Or it’s just something that you feel, as an individual, has been used in Black homes, and you were like, I’ll use it too, it reminds me of my mother’s house. [Laughs.]

When did you realize there was a gap in the design?

We will use the cube fabric as an example. One of the hospitality companies I worked for [in my early career] it had its own line of furniture, and they introduced cube fabric, but with a twist, which is what happens. I saw the result, but I didn’t see the credit. Not for me, but for the material use, to point out the information in that method for what it really is, as opposed to its composite form. Those contributions in the area of ​​world design and understanding, wow, we’re really missing the mark to take more space here as a culture—that was my driving force.

So how did you go about building a digital audience?

Artists were already taking over the design world on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. And it was all kind of the same information regurgitated. That’s where I started. I said, I’ll just say what they say and get used to putting myself out there. I realized that didn’t feel real and wasn’t a reflection of my creativity, so I took a break, I stepped back, and I was like, I’m going to keep my clients and put that first. But then I realized that I have the opportunity to be completely creative in a way that the audience understands. Something as simple as sharing how I would organize a Red Lobster…and the floodgates opened. It was about making my own lens and hoping that work would work with the right people at some point. People were eager to learn more. They had scheduled an appointment with me non-stop. The views were amazing.

Can you tell me more about the book?

It is a combination of design methods and philosophies. Like, Bauhaus draws from Germany, and wabi-sabi draws from Japan—both are ever-present philosophies in the design world. They both have this universally influential character, that’s why when I say them, they feel them. The styles in this book are based on the same methods, practices, research and studies that were used to arrive at the influential structures we are used to describing.

Let’s talk about some of those methods. When I see Harlem Deco, I think of Art Deco as a jumping off point, of course. How do you come up with these ingredients?

I have Harlem Deco, I’m thinking about what happened during the Harlem Renaissance and how much that influenced a lot of people in terms of shape and color. Art Deco was important at the time, that’s how I came up with that name instead of calling it, like, Harlem Bauhaus. I married the Harlem Renaissance into the Art Deco movement and emphasized the importance of that culture. You can’t use Pan-African wabi-sabi…I mean, people can do whatever they want. [Laughs.] But will it be sensible and sustainable? My position would be no. I don’t know that it would carry the same weight. There are many factors that influence design language. So as long as we are willing to borrow from what already exists, it gives breadth, and it gives legs.

When discussing and designing rooms for black people, what principles or questions guide you?

Each customer, each project has its own direction and palette. I’m pulled in a billion different directions. Especially when it comes to interacting with my team. It is to learn more about the customer or the environment in which the site is located. What city or state is it? What is the background of this customer? How were they raised? What do they care about and what don’t they care about? There is a subtle historical meaning, and sometimes it is deeper than others. What kind of architecture are we talking about? So how do we integrate that language into the overall design? It is clear that the rhythm of space and the concept of color are natural elements that help drive the project. Those are the basics.

Are customers asking for custom designs based on your social media posts?

For a recent project, a client specifically requested Haitian Revival. The Haitian revival will look the other way in the book, and it will stay [into the client’s home] in another way. Now that there’s a name for it, this client, from Haiti who lives there, can say, ‘This is how I want this to show me.’ Instead of, ‘I’m Haitian. How can I bring a Haitian flag and put it on my wall?’

For people who encounter these words for the first time, what do you hope they feel or realize about them?

I hope they see themselves at work. My hope is that it gives breath to all that was not there, but also inspires us to take a place and take who we are as a culture and a nation.

Do you see naming these types of structures as an act of reparation, or is it a matter of putting Black people into the world’s architectural record?

I think “putting us” on the record implies that we’re not there yet. To me, this is like building your own table and inviting the conversation in. It goes back to the owners. I don’t know if we are getting back. It provides [decor styles] a definition they need to live and breathe. We did that it was to have this conversation, and we did it was part of it.

Which of the “inner identities” in the book feel most important to you?

Black Nouveau Fusion and Mississippi Delta Deco. Black Nouveau Fusion is what we have seen in movies like ATL. There’s this Chinese writing and a strong Asian presence in a lot of the furniture because of what was going on with furniture at the time. That is why it was so common in Black families. That makes sense because I’ve seen it grow. Mississippi Delta Deco has a strong cultural reference for me because it speaks to the migration of our ancestors from the South to the North. My mother came from Mississippi to Chicago, and her family had many references to this style of design. [in their living spaces].

If the industry were truly inclusive, how would interior design education look different?

One of my younger designers, who is also a Parsons student, talked about how entering an education system took away their creativity from a diasporic perspective, as it is Eurocentric. I challenge that because I see how we are emerging from this place, but there is a lack of inclusivity. I think that architecture schools will start integrating curricula from the diaspora, organized in a digestible and well-integrated way. The work is done. Are you ready to make it on stage? Creating this work took a long time, but it was fun because I was talking about the world I am in and the world I live in.