Sherry Hayslip Brings Passion for Learning, Visionary Ideas to Interior Design

Visionary design takes a lot of inspiration, and a fair degree of risk. Playing the middle ground usually makes for unimpressive spaces.

Dallas interior designer Sherry Hayslip, ASID, IIDA, brings 30-plus years of inspiration to her work, and creates marvelous residential and commercial spaces. She knows how to walk that fine line of risk for extraordinary results.

“Being completely safe seldom results in the best design; I always want to include something a little unexpected or even outrageous,” Hayslip said. “One reason I love design is because it opens so many doors to new experiences, fascinating people, unexpected collections, and interests.”

Hayslip is the owner and principal designer of Sherry Hayslip Interiors, a firm she established in 1974. Since then, this passionate creative has dedicated herself to continuing education and learning.

“I can’t help myself! There is an endless amount of knowledge out there, and I want to absorb as much as I can before I start forgetting it,” she said. “The world of design is constantly changing, and I find it fascinating to try and see where it has been and where it is headed.”

Hayslip’s creative inclinations were evident at an early age. At her first summer babysitting gig, she rearranged her employers’ furniture every day. In college, she studied art history, literature, and philosophy.

“After endless education, taking more and more classes with no real idea of how to apply any of it, the fog cleared unexpectedly,” she said. “Six months before I was to graduate from S.M.U. with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, I woke up at midnight, sat up, and declared out loud, ‘I want to be an interior designer.’ Somehow, I could finally see that interior design blended everything I had studied and all of my passions. So then I went back to school to study design specifically.”

Later in her career, Hayslip studied at the Parsons School of Design in Italy, the National Institute of Design, the Cooper Hewitt graduate studies program in Italy, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design summer programs, and most recently, the Bard Graduate Studies in Decorative Arts in New York City.

“A marvelous teacher and architect, Joel Saunders, who was teaching for Parsons during an Italian summer respite from his usual teaching at Princeton, really changed the way I look at design,” she said. “His first assignment to us, as we sat outside the Pantheon in Rome, was to go inside this ancient structure. We were to look carefully and then to draw the meaning of the Pantheon. Just thinking of design in the context of larger meanings profoundly affected me. I have tried to continue doing that ever since.”

Hayslip says her goal is to create a space that is functional for her client, while also providing them with a unique, one-of-a-kind space that is designed for their specific needs, style, and desires.

“In a sort of way, I want to see with their eyes and create something which delights and satisfies them, but exceeds anything they could have expected,” she said. “For me, solving the puzzle of budget, style, timeframe, and personal desires is the best job anyone could have.”

The ideal client is one who comes to her with a bit of an initial vision.

“I love a client that wants to collaborate on mutual ideas to create something amazing,” she said. “This client would have superb taste, trust, respect for my expertise, and be open to experimenting.”

Over the years, Hayslip says she finds herself returning again and agin to things that to me seem timeless and adaptable in design.

“Fabrics like hand-printed Fortuny cotton, classic furniture inspired by Jean-Michel Frank or Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, objects crafted of natural materials such as rock crystal, amazing art glass, whether by ancient Romans or Dale Chihuly – elegant beautiful objects with history which I always try to blend with the best of current design,” she said.

An award winner many times over—her projects have received national and international recognition, including Interior Designer of the Year at the 26th Annual ARTS Awards and honors at the 2010 International Design & Architecture Awards—Hayslip says she doesn’t take a single one for granted.

“It is always a wonderful feeling to be recognized for the work that goes into a project,” she said. “The best feeling though is when I can share the honor with my project managers, or when I tell the client that their home won and see the sense of pride and joy on their faces.”

Hayslip and her husband Cole are supporters of the arts: The Dallas Bach Society for Early Music, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Dallas Symphony, and the Dallas Opera. Her design nonprofit work includes Dwell with Dignity and DIFFA.

“We love Dallas, its arts and its tremendously generous spirit, and we participate as often as we can in supporting these great organizations and others,” she said.

The Dallas design community has changed for the better over the years, Hayslip says. What once was pretty territorial and secretive has become much more open and friendly.

“I am continually impressed by the DFW design community and the talent that we have in our city,” she said. “There seems to be a flood of young design talent bringing fresh ways of approaching design—I am very interested in seeing how our industry evolves as these designers depend more and more on the Internet, as the craftsmen we all depend on become more scarce. In a way, instead of the old school reserve and competitive atmosphere, now there seems to be a real sense of camaraderie now, a sort of feeling that we are all together behind the barricades of coming changes. Viva le designers!”