Founder, Sherry Shirah Design
When Sherry Shirah describes her design approach to a new client or contractor, she likens it to songwriting: “We’re going to go off and write individual lines to the song, but there’s always going to be a refrain … Even though there’s a unique element to each room, there’s a cohesiveness.” The universal language of music seems a perfect medium to communicate Shirah’s knack for connecting distinct pieces with an underlying thread. If the audience is any indication (her designs have appeared in Architectural Digest, Rue Magazine and The Wall Street Journal), Shirah has been writing hits. The path to design entrepreneur has been non-linear. Shirah’s roots are New Orleanian (four generations on her mother’s side), but her family relocated to Atlanta when she was young. Glimpses of the future appeared in Shirah’s tendency to redecorate before hosting sleepovers: “If I didn’t like where my parents had a specific chair, I would put the chair away … That had to have driven them nuts [and] should have been a sign.”
After college, Shirah worked for an architecture and interior design firm but felt trapped behind a computer. She moved toward marketing and public relations and ultimately product development in the tech sphere. “I got a lot of great business experience,” said Shirah. “Then it dawned on me one day during an introspective life moment… that I didn’t want my boss’s job and didn’t want to be doing this forever.”
In a leap of faith, Shirah pivoted toward her longstanding passion for design. One of her first projects was renovating the historic shotgun home she bought in New Orleans. Rue Magazine featured the renovation, giving her fledgling business an early boost. An art enthusiast, Shirah enjoys guiding clients through the process of selecting and placing artwork, whether longtime collectors or those with a blank canvas. She gravitates toward projects that allow her to “bridge old world and modern” elements and create spaces highly personalized to each client. Shirah recently exercised this talent in an undertaking she calls “Project 1834,” a historic French Quarter home that blended a reverence for the property’s history and Vieux Carré setting with the client’s love for modern lines. She incorporated antique Spanish pieces and “kind of went wild with French fabrics” to create a look that brought her client to happy tears on install day. “That just shows me — you’re creating a life experience for somebody,” said Shirah. “It might be furniture and draperies and rugs … but it’s more about the feeling and the experience you’re giving somebody. When it comes together, and they have that visceral, spiritual reaction … that’s really what we’re looking for.”
Shirah tries to stay focused on doing high quality work and creating a meaningful experience for everyone involved. “One client jumped on one of our project calls and said, ‘This is my favorite call of the week.’ I want every client to say that. Once you get that client having fun with you and immersed in it — and they trust you — you can really shine.”
