A Life of Looking, Collecting & Design

SoenHaus did not begin with the idea of opening a store. It grew out of a lifetime of looking closely at things — clothing, furniture, textiles, art, architecture and the small objects people choose to live with.

I grew up around style. Some of my favorite family photographs are from the 1960s: my parents dressed beautifully and very much of their time, and photographs of me as a child show someone making sure every little thing coordinated. I didn't understand it as design then. It was simply part of the visual world around me.

An Eye Formed Early

That interest followed me into art history, design and eventually a career in branding, creative direction and interiors. Living and working in major cities exposed me to fashion, galleries, museums, architecture and very different ideas about how people live.

Looking back through photographs from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, I can see the same curiosity that eventually became SoenHaus. Fashion was never simply clothing to me. A chair was never simply somewhere to sit. I was interested in proportion, material, construction, color, history — and in the personality an object could bring into a room or an outfit.

Collected Along the Way

Travel made that curiosity even stronger.

I spent years exploring places rather than simply passing through them. In Turkey and Morocco I could spend hours looking at rugs and textiles, talking with dealers and negotiating over tea. On early trips I bought pieces small enough to carry home in a backpack or suitcase. In other places I found ceramics, clothing, jewelry and objects that simply stopped me.

I wasn't building inventory. I was building a life around things I loved.

Over time the rugs became larger, the furniture more serious, and the collection deeper. Some pieces were used in my own homes and design projects. Others stayed with me for decades simply because I could not imagine letting them go.

From a Personal Collection to SoenHaus

SoenHaus grew naturally from that collection and from more than three decades working in design.

Today the shop brings together vintage designer furniture, fashion, handwoven rugs and textiles, jewelry, unusual objects and a small selection of contemporary gifts that I believe belong in the same conversation.

I don't buy according to a formula, and I am not interested in filling a store with more of the same. I choose things individually — for their design, craftsmanship, usefulness, history, humor or simply because they have that difficult-to-define quality that makes you look twice.

Many pieces have stories. Some came from my own collection. Some remind me of places I have traveled, designers I have admired or periods in design and fashion that continue to feel relevant.

That is really what SoenHaus is: decades of looking, collecting and living with design, gathered into one small shop in Southern Utah.