Interior architect Casey Keasler grew up on a construction site – literally. When she was 11, her parents bought an 1860s Victorian for $11,000. For Casey, it was the start of a lifelong love affair with the architecture, interiors, and the way a room comes together: “I don’t know if this is an interior designer thing or not,” she says, when we ask her what she notices about a room before anyone else. “I would say the details – just a sense that comes with experience and doing a project over and over again, getting beyond the bigger picture to see how the tile meets the drywall meets the wood meets the stone, and that juxtaposition of those different materials.”
Just one year later, at 12, Casey decided to become an interiors expert – an ambition she realized with the founding of Casework, her design studio, in 2015. Now, she leads the development of residential and creative commercial spaces ranging from a 550-square-foot attic space in a 1912 Craftsman home to an award-winning showroom at the famed Chicago Merchandise Mart. Then there’s the ongoing (re)design of her own home, a 1966 residence known as the Ranchalow (you can follow her progress on Instagram). “Any homeowner knows that it’s always a work in progress – my spaces are constantly evolving,” she says. Her current to-do: her kitchen renovation. “I have a few things left to do – some of the work I’ll do myself, and other pieces I’ll hire out, but I like doing that work because it’s what I grew up doing, but also because it informs my design process and gives me respect for my general contractors,” she says. “It also brings a higher-level attention to detail in my process – I have a very hands-on approach to the work that I’m doing, and I can see how the details really come together. Hopefully I’ll have that kitchen finished really, really soon and be able to share it with you all.”
Wallingford Primary \ Photo: Rafael Soldi
Hightower showroom \ Photo: Petra Ford
Alpine Noir \ Photo: Mikola Accurandi
Work Co \ Photo: Nicole Mason
For more from Casey – including how her childhood dream of working in interiors matches up with the reality and the most memorable design element she’s ever brought to a space – tune in.
Headshot by Nicole Mason.
Diana Ostrom, who has written for Wallpaper, Interior Design, ID, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets, is also the author of Faraway Places, a newsletter about travel.
Milkshake, DMTV (Design Milk TV)’s first regular series, shakes up the traditional interview format by asking designers, creatives, educators and industry professionals to select interview questions at random from their favorite bowl or vessel. During their candid discussions, you’ll not only gain a peek into their personal homeware collections, but also valuable insights into their work, life and passions.