Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1543536
After his parents divorced, the family moved to Texas, where his mother's clients became his first exposure to design. At 22, she volunteered him for a full townhouse renovation despite his having zero experience. The project was chaotic, he admits, but it set his course. His mother's faith in his abilities gave him a sense of self-worth long before he had the résumé to justify it, and that confidence carried him through early renovations for clients he met while working in fashion sales and later in design showrooms across DFW. A job loss led him to Los Angeles, where he worked in the fitness apparel industry but continued taking small, ambitious design gigs, including furnishing a San Francisco condo. While in California, he absorbed everything he could from the designers he encountered, including David Phoenix and Kelly Wearstler, weaving those experiences into the evolving foundation of his own aesthetic. After returning to Dallas, he made the leap into full-time design in 2022. Bringing the Kips Bay space to life demanded equal parts inspiration and scrappiness. Bernard didn't have a large budget, so he approached the project with hustle, gratitude, and the willingness to knock on every door. He spent days visiting showrooms across the Design District — Allan Knight, Twelve Twenty, Holly Hunt, The Shade Store, Craighead Green Gallery — and was struck by how generous everyone was. "People really wanted to see me win," he says. "I didn't expect that level of support." He also felt a wave of encouragement from the Black design community. Corey Damen Jenkins — a past Kips Bay designer himself — congratulated him on his work and offered words of encouragement at the Kips Bay preview party. And, when Bernard mentioned he didn't have the budget for professional renderings, Dallas designer Ashley Ross stepped in, offering her CAD skills and steady reassurance. "She reached out, saying, 'Tell me what you need. I'm here,'" Bernard recalls. "That meant so much." F o r a l l i t s p o l i s h , creating his K i p s B a y r o o m w a s f a r f r o m e f f o r t l e s s . Bernard admits he was overwhelmed more than once — by the budget, the deadlines, the installation logistics — but he made a conscious choice about how he wanted to move through the process. "I didn't want any negativity in that space," he says. "I wanted to do everything with the love I was feeling." He credits that outlook to his mother, who created a home where all his friends wanted to be. "My mom's energy was everything," he says. He titled the Kips Bay space The Long View, as a nod to the path that brought He titled the Kips Bay space The Long View, as a nod to the path that brought him here — "a little dark, a little moody, with moments of light." 83