Sloane Brings Her New, Experiential Design to Harlem with Essence Homecoming 35th Birthday Showhouse and Carol's Daughter Flagship Store

Courtney Sloane, the award-winning international interior designer, whose extraordinary sense of style and aesthetics have cast her influence in the worlds of entertainment, media and popular culture, transforming her into a “cultural trendsetter,” has become dynamically immersed in the ongoing renaissance of historic Harlem, New York.

Sloane, a former contributing editor (contemporary living) at Essence Magazine and a long-standing member of the “Essence Family,” has been charged with the interior design of a brownstone in Harlem and contributing to the creation of the Essence Homecoming 35th Birthday Showhouse, in honor of the publication’s 35th anniversary. The Essence Showhouse, located at 153 W. 120th Street (between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard) will officially open its doors to the public on Sunday, October 9 and will remain open until Tuesday, November 22nd.

Sloane, President and Founder of Courtney Sloane, LLC and Alternative Design, Inc. (her own interior design firm based in New York City) was charged with celebrating the heart and soul of the “Essence Woman” and three-dimensionalizing those qualities in a nurturing, beautiful environment that will completely resonate with the Essence reader. Capturing the “essence” of what they love, what they do, what they eat, what moves them – for themselves and their families. "It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the Essence family for the past decade,” says Sloane. “It’s wonderful to see how we have grown from the pages of the magazine into a three-dimensional environment which honors and tells the story of how African American women live. For me, it totally aligns itself with my personal design philosophy and the diverse culture fuse." The Showhouse, involving the restoration of three dwellings — two single floors and one duplex — in a Harlem brownstone, is being done in partnership with the Abyssinian Development Corporation (ADC), the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Harlem-based architect Zevilla Jackson Preston and guest designer Keita Turner.

As of September 15, Sloane’s design work could be seen at the new, flagship store for Carol’s Daughter’s located on Harlem’s historic block at 24 West 125th Street. The new 1600 square-foot space is positioned at one of the most idyllic locations in America. Sloane used her “wholistic” approach to design and branding, elevating conceptual store design and brand integration to an entirely new realm. Sloane ensured that the warmth and invitational nature of the brand resonated throughout the retail environment by making sure every detail of the space encapsulates the spirit and substance of Carol’s Daughter. "The story of Carol's Daughter and Lisa Price made for a great narrative to build an experiential retail environment and which the product and the essence of the brand created a complete shopping experience that totally embraced the customer," says Sloane. Through Sloane’s designs, she helped the brand achieve its goal of making a lasting impression with this vibrant, flagship store – organic, yet fitting in with the neighborhood and the legendary 125th Street location.

About Courtney Sloane

Sloane has won unanimous praise from a roster of clients who range from well-known personalities (Queen Latifah, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, Jay-Z, Damon Dash, among many others) to some of the world’s biggest corporations (Sony Music, Disney, The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, BET, Essence Communications, Fila/Enyce, Def Jam Vibe Magazine), just to name a few.

For her many and varied achievements in the competitive world of design, Courtney Sloane has been featured on the covers and recognized by New York magazine (as one of its elite “99 New Yorkers of 1999”), Interiors and Interior & Sources magazines, House Beautiful (who named her “one of the nation’s top 101 designers” for three consecutive years, 1997 to 1999), the Decorating & Design Building (who named her as one of the “emerging designers of the millennium”). Sloane works have been the focus of coverage in The New York Times, O, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Elle Décor, Hamptons, HG&C, Essence, Lucky, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Daily Variety. The Washington Times declared Courtney Sloane to be “way ahead of the pack… truly a designer for the millennium.”

In 1996, Courtney Sloane began a three-year stint as contributing editor at Essence magazine, dispensing advice and informational services in her monthly column, “By Design.” Another publication benefited from her expertise, when the renovation of Vibe’s Lexington Avenue offices won New York magazine’s Best Lobby In New York City award for 1996. That same year, Courtney Sloane won her first major award from Philadelphia’s prestigious Moore College Of Art & Design, honored alongside noted women designers Clodagh, Eva Jiricna, Debra Lehman-Smith, and Lauren Rottet. It was a significant commendation for the young African-American Jersey girl, in the company of senior members of her profession with decades of background experience between them. In 1997, she became a member of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s Professional Designers Advisory Committee.

As the work continues, Courtney Sloane has begun to “give back” to the community, via philanthropic activities and various non-profit ventures. After being chosen by DIFFA/Steuben as one of eight designers to create vignettes representing Steuben glass for display in May 2000 at the opening of the flagship store in Manhattan, she later participated in numerous DIFFA events to benefit AIDS. She was chosen to design the Arthur Ashe Institute For Urban Health annual commemorative award that honors contributors to sports, health and humanity. She serves as benefit chair of the African-American Design Archive of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, in New York.

On the academic side, Sloane was educated at Rutgers University, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and Pratt Institute. She has presided on the Pratt Institute’s Interior Design Advisory Board since 1999. She was Principal For A Day (a PENCIL program) at Manhattan West Art Institute and keynote speaker at their graduation ceremonies in May-June 2000, respectively. Her work was featured in several books (and exhibit) including Women Designers In the USA 1900-2000: Diversity And Difference, produced by the Bard Graduate Center For Studies In the Decorative Arts. She has served as guest speaker at many design schools including New York School Of Interior Design and was invited to do the esteem Hiller lecture by the Design & Environmental Analysis Department at Cornell University (where the topic was “Making A Difference By Design”).