Sheri Kesten

Sheri Kesten’s road into interior design wasn’t always clear. She started out in the licensing business, serving as a link between artists, their creations and companies and soon found she was happiest when creating.

“My favorite part was dealing with fabrics and coordination, and it was a good tie into interior design,” she said.

Her mother founded one of New York’s largest interior design showrooms, called Jean Sheldon Design, and in the mid 1970s the whole family decamped to South Florida where they set up anew and Sheri began working on projects across the region. It wasn’t long until she began traveling abroad purchasing elegant accessories and accent pieces alongside peerless glasswork from Murano.

All along it was her mother’s lessons and not trends that guided her.

“A piece, a room, always has to be beautiful but it’s form and function,” she said. “You want a home to be inviting, you don’t want a museum, you don’t want people to be afraid to come in and sit down.”

That sometimes means working hand-in-hand with clients and their visions and preferences to help guide them to a final product that both fulfills their needs and desires while also fitting the design principles that have helped make Kesten an industry leader.

Judith Norman, and it’s 45,000-square-foot showroom, are key to that task.

“It’s a place I’m proud of, it’s the first place I take a client when I’m starting a new project,” she said. “I have a high-end practice and you can’t always expect clients to visualize something from a catalog, I can bring them to Judith Norman and truly make them feel what their home will be like.”