Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chuck Chewning. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Chuck, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
I was fortunate to be born into a generous and loving family.
We valued nurturing relationships, and my family members gave one another gifts outside specific gift-giving occasions such as birthdays or holidays.
Early on in my career, I learned to never speak in the singular “I”, but instead in the plural “we” as success is the result of a team, not necessarily the individual.
I try to express gratitude to the people around me – friends, family, and colleagues. Particularly in the workplace, I feel it’s important for me to share the successes that our team helps accomplish.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Chuck Chewning has more than thirty-five years experience in luxury residential, hospitality, and preservation interior design. Today he runs his own design business, Charles H Chewning Interiors based in coastal Georgia. Chewning’s attention to conceptual design development, documentation, and management in the interior design field is coupled with the cross-cultural experience he accumulated from years of living in London, Milan, and New York City.
Chewning has won awards for his work at The Prince de Galles in Paris, The Grande Bretagne in Athens (Architectural Digest, March 2004) the One & Only Kanahura in the Maldives, as well as the Hospitality Design Award (2006) the European Design Award (2003 and 2004) and the Golden Key Award (2004 and 2006.) His contributions to the design world have been recognized in countless publications including Blue Cameron’s 2014 book Conversations: Up Close and Personal with Icons of Fashion, Interior Design, and Art.
Chewning joined the iconic American lifestyle brand Donghia in 2008 as creative director, a position he held for eight years in New York City. Here Chewning implemented his vision for enhancing and elevating the brand’s legacy globally. In 2015, he designed and curated the exhibition, Angelo Donghia: Design Superstar, at the New School of Interior Design.
In 2013, Chewning completed the much-celebrated restoration of the historic Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy. For his design, the Gritti was awarded the International Hotel & Property Award and was featured prominently in Architectural Digest (May 2013). The Gritti Palace recently won an Haute Grandeur Global award and was named best hotel in Venice by Travel + Leisure 2020 World Hotel Awards.
In 2014, Chewning became design director of Studio Rubelli, the interior design division of the Rubelli Group where he worked on prestigious hospitality and residential projects around the world including Longcross, the English country house in Surrey of a royal family, a new showroom in Paris for the Rubelli Group and the restoration of Palazzo Berlendis in Venice, Italy.
By 2017, Chuck decided to move full-time to what had been his weekend retreat home in Savannah, but interest from new clients in addition to steady requests from regional, national, and international clients caused him to open the doors to a new studio in Savannah, Georgia, Charles H Chewning Interiors.
Chewning completed the restoration of the prestigious c. 1916 Armstrong Mansion in Savannah’s National Register Historic District for the Kessler Collection, which won the Historic Savannah Foundation‘s President’s Award.
His work was also featured in Elle Decor’s October 2019 Collector’s 30th Anniversary issue.
Recently the firm has completed a Creole-inspired residence in Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton South Carolina that was featured in Southern Home, as well as a Georgia-inspired home at The Ford Field & River Club in Richmond Hill, Georgia. Currently, the firm is working on the Georgia Capitol building, renovating a Georgian estate in Tuxedo Park, Atlanta, a new residence on one of historic Savannah’s most majestic squares, and a luxury high-rise condo in Miami, Florida.
In the fall of 2022, Chuck opened a retail store in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia called Courtyard by Chuck Chewning. The store features tabletop, gifts, accessories, new and vintage finds for luxury outdoor living, found at courtyardlifestyle.com.
An alumnus of The Savannah College of Art and Design, Chuck became the first recipient of the SCAD Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008, and wrote a forward to the Assouline book SCAD: The Architecture of a University.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I credit much of my professional skills and knowledge to my first job, working in international hospitality design at Hirsch-Bedner & Associates. There, I was able to travel around the world and work with clients from a variety of cultures.
Another quality is curiosity – the desire to always learn. I’m a voracious reader, which keeps my mind active.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
In the past year, we’ve built upon and expanded our brand, which had previously been related to our design studio, Charles H Chewning Interiors. By opening a new retail presence, Courtyard by Chuck Chewning, we now have a more public and accessible “face” to our brand of liveable luxury. Assembling a new team with the skills needed to accomplish our expanded design studio and the new store has been very rewarding.
Contact Info:
- Website: chuckchewning.com, courtyardlifestyle.com
- Instagram: chuck.chewning, chc.courtyard
Image Credits
Head shot of Chuck Chewning: Dan Biggerstaff
