The Inner Life of a Designer: How Carol Swift Creates Spaces That Truly Reflect Her Clients
What truly makes a great designer? Is it an eye for color, an instinct for space, or an ability to follow the latest trends? For Carol Swift of Swift-Morris Interiors, design is not about imposing her vision onto a space—it’s about translating the essence of her clients into an environment that feels like home.
Since founding Swift-Morris Interiors in 1983 with English cabinet-maker Neil Morris, Swift has built a reputation for deeply understanding her clients. “Some designers come in, do your home, and you have to accept their look—you move into the designer’s work,” she says. “I think the most important quality, one that’s missing in a lot of people who want to be designers, is being able to read the client. You have to tap into their energy, understand how they live, and figure out the things that will make them feel comfortable in a space.”
It’s a skill that goes beyond good taste. True design, according to Swift, isn’t about imposing a signature style onto a home. It’s about uncovering and translating the homeowner’s wants, even when they struggle to articulate it themselves. “It’s that feeling when you don't know what you want until it finds you,” explains Swift.
To describe what she does, Swift often uses an analogy: great design is like giving the perfect gift. “I’ve had friends say that I know them better than their own families do. For me, a truly thoughtful gift is one that speaks to the person’s soul. It’s something they will cherish, something that fits them so perfectly that they can’t imagine life without it,” she says. “That’s what I do with interior design.”
For Swift, understanding a client goes beyond what they think they want in a space. She believes personal style isn’t something a person is born with—it’s something they accumulate over time through experiences, exposure, and instinctive attraction to certain aesthetics. Her role is to uncover that personal style and bring it to life.
Her approach extends beyond aesthetics—she believes that design should create a sense of ease and belonging for her clients. “You have to find all the maybes,” she explains. “You have to think about how they live, whether it’s how they host guests, what makes them feel comfortable, what style suits them. I want to fill a room with beautiful things that mean something to them; I want to create a home that truly fits them.”
“I think a lot of people are intimidated by design because they don’t know how to mix elements or how to make a space feel cohesive,” she further explains. “So they’ll go into a store and buy a whole matching set of furniture, thinking that’s the solution. But true design is about layering things—textures, colors, eras, and moods—until they feel right.” It’s a process that requires deep attention to detail. Swift describes herself as someone with an insatiable curiosity, which allows her to read people in ways they might not expect.
Her own background reflects this philosophy. Before co-founding Swift-Morris Interiors, Carol’s life took her through an array of experiences that inform her design work today. She studied with master glassblowers, taught art at a school in Xalapa, Mexico, and worked at a gallery in Edinburgh and London. Her role at Bloomingdales, New York’s most prestigious retail store, where she ran her own department “Past & Present” deepened her knowledge of antiques, and fine furnishings.
Her ability to balance the masculine and the feminine, the practical and the sentimental, the structured and the whimsical, is what sets her apart. It’s also what gives her work a timeless quality. “I visit projects I designed 20 years ago, and there’s very little I would change,” she notes. “That’s because I don’t go for fads. When people choose bold design just for the sake of being different, it often feels outdated very quickly. A well-designed home should evolve with the person living in it. It should grow with them.”
Truly, Carol Swift’s rooms feel deeply personal to the people who live in them. She brings a level of insight that transforms a house into a home—where every piece, every fabric, every detail reflects the lives of those who reside within its walls.
