A Woman's Instinct: Casa Marcelo's Abigail Marcelo Horace on Trusting Herself, Developing a Design Language, and Giving Back

Portrait by Nick Glimenakis

By Patrick Dimond

Abigail M. Horace began her interior design journey as a teen after watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Interior Design from the New York Institute of Technology in 2010, she began her career in the NYC interior design high-end residential field. Abigail founded Casa Marcelo in 2018 as a response to creative burnout and a lack of representation and work-life balance in the NYC Interior Design Industry.

She is inspired by nature, historical architecture, design explored during travels, and family. Abigail is a wife and a mother to a 4-year-old and a newborn son. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, “me-time,” and discovering new music. In her interview with Patrick Dimond, Abigail talks about developing a design language and giving back, advising those just starting their career to learn what not to do, just as much as learning what you want in a career.

PD: Tell me about your foundational years. Where did you grow up, and what did you do as a kid?

AMH: I had a wonderful childhood; my parents are Dominican and Panamanian, so being first-generation Americans, we spoke Spanish in the home. When I was young, my parents were new to the States, so we were always sightseeing. I was always out and about with my father, who is a hobbyist photographer. He enjoyed taking pictures of the World Trade Center, which was his favorite place to go, and right next to the World Trade Center, there's Battery Park, which had the best playground.

He generally loved taking pictures of classic New York City architecture and took us to many of those buildings, and that exposure helped shape my idea of design. I also grew up playing a lot of instruments; I played clarinet and piano, and I danced.

How did you get to exploring design?

I went to the Harlem School of the Arts; we would go there every Saturday, and my day would be full of activities. My sister is a vocalist, my mother's a vocalist, my brother's a jazz pianist, and my other sister was a dancer. So we were all in that field, and all very creative, and music is still a big part of my life today.

Once I got to junior year in high school, I was like, “It's time to get serious about a career.” It's a cutthroat world, especially for dancers, and that wasn't the way I wanted to live, but at the same time, once I got into design, I was like, “Oh, people are doing this here too. Not scraping by as much, but you know, you're maxed out on work with the low salaries they give you.”

Brooklyn Renaissance Apartment. Photography by Nick Glimenakis.

Does your upbringing inform your aesthetic? For example, were you inspired by those trips back to Panama and the DR?

I get inspired by artisans—the people who do things with their hands, weavers. The Mola is a woven art by an indigenous group to Panama, the Guna tribe, and they are known for their hand-woven objects. I appreciate custom work and people who make things with their hands because I feel like it's an underappreciated art. People often want mass-produced objects, and I can see the value of organic design. I think it's minimalistic, and many Caribbean countries are portrayed as loud and vibrant spaces. But from my experience, I've experienced effortless spaces that use the surrounding nature as materials.

When you were in design school, what did you learn about yourself?

I learned I need to trust myself, push myself, and not just go for the basic idea. I decided to scrap everything during my final thesis because of what a professor told me during a critique; I started from scratch and loved the outcome of what I did.

“A woman’s instinct is their greatest tool, and we should all trust ourselves to use it more, especially in the creative design career.”

— Abigail Marcelo Horace

How did you get your start working in the built environment?

As a first-generation college student, I put myself through school, and, as a black and Latina woman, I always felt I needed to set myself up for success. So I started working in my first year of school, and my first design job was at an Ethan Allen showroom. I used to organize materials, and I was an assistant.

It was a whole bunch of women in their fifties and sixties [laughs]. But it was a fun experience, and that was my start. Afterward, I went to another company called cubicles.com and worked for a kitchen design company shortly after. That period of my life was strange because I felt like I was going from job to job, and I was trying to gain community.

Can you expand on that?

I never felt like I fit in, which I felt throughout my career, but I was trying to find what worked for me. I did a few freelance projects for a corporate architecture firm and worked for WeWork. I worked for another woman who traveled and did projects abroad, and I was able to travel with them. When I got to Dumais, I was probably 23 or 24 and decided to hone my skills there.

Dumais laid the groundwork for me, and that experience gave me the most training. Kevin Dumais is an excellent leader and a fantastic boss. I learned how a good employer operates; until then, I had been in many toxic environments. From my experience there, I knew that a good employer is encouraging, patient, and believes in training their staff instead of being critical of them.

How did you eventually go out on your own?

I had my first child while working there, and priorities changed for me; that's when I was looking to move, and the opportunity at Hendricks Churchill came up. So all those little jobs spanned ten years before I got to Hendricks Churchill. I was tired of moving and wanted to settle in my career, and I thought that was where I would be for a while, which was naïve. They said they were family-friendly, and things didn't work out. Eventually, I branched out to work for myself. At that point, I had enough training and knowledge to pull this off on my own.

I imagine your work must have evolved during your time at those studios. I know Hendricks Churchill and Dumais have a very established aesthetic and following. How did all those languages inform your current design vocabulary?

That's a good question. More than anything, I realized how to refine my designs and ask detailed questions. When I worked for Dumais, he thought of every piece in a room, from the layering of the rug to space planning to what's on the wall, to where the lamp is and what fabrics are on the pillows.

He would approach a space and, right out of the bat, be like, okay, we're going to do some artwork here. How high is it? Does it look good behind this fabric behind this sofa, but with this rug? He thought of everything, and that's when I got excited about design.

I know how to think; I know how to overthink [laugh]. I overthink everything. So that's detailed design, and that's what I tell my clients, I'm here for you to do all the thinking. You don't have to do any of the thinking because I've already thought about it.

East Harlem Bachelorette. Photography by Nick Glimenakis.

Upper West Side Rainbow Nursery. Photography by Nick Glimenakis.

What is on your mind the most, and where are you in your career today?

What's on my mind most at the moment? [laughs]

[Laughs] Is it an insane question?

No, what's on my mind most is that everyone wants to be an interior designer. It's encouraging because when I started school, nobody knew what an interior designer was, and people would always ask me what an interior designer did.

A lot of people don't know what kind of drawings we make. I'm noticing that design is often watered down through social media and design influencers. There's a lot of content being shared in three-second reels, and it's so much more than that, you know?

Clients come to me and assume we can complete a project in a short timeframe. And I have to explain my processes, and if they want to collaborate with a serious designer, then they will have to invest more time.

I understand that everybody wants to be a designer. But still, I find so much value in gaining experience by working for somebody and not just saying, “Oh, I have a good eye.” There is so much more to it than that, and I find myself being disappointed that social media overly simplifies our industry.

I own my own business, and I have an office in Falle Village, Connecticut. I'm hiring more staff, and I'm trying to think about the future of my studio and the kind of team I want to put together to support everything we're doing.

What is the biggest challenge that you're facing right now? How do you manage disappointment or perceived setbacks?

My biggest challenge is getting full home projects and marketing myself in this area. There's a monopoly by a handful of designers in the northwest corner of Connecticut, and breaking into that group has been difficult, especially in a non-diverse environment.

I have found that marketing myself to a younger demographic has been challenging. Sometimes, people don't understand the value of our services; to that end, it's been challenging convincing people that what we do is worth the investment. The way I handle these setbacks is to view them as learning opportunities.

When starting my career, I would tell myself that it didn't matter if I was working in a toxic environment. I learned from that, so I never want my studio to be like where I worked and felt undervalued or berated. That is what we can do as young leaders in the field. When I take on clients, I have to ask myself if I'm trusting my instincts so that I know from the start that the relationship will be mutually beneficial.

“Success to me is being able to be abundant financially, enough to give back to your community at a macro or micro level. Any business needs to show its philanthropic side, and that’s how you know you have really made it.”

— Abigail Marcelo Horace

All that advice is invaluable to anyone starting a career in this field because I know it's riddled with setbacks. I've come to the belief that the folks who end up being the best designers are those who have not been given everything and are constantly told no. Yet, those people are typically the most dedicated and willing to take design risks and, more importantly, trust in people.

What are you most excited about right now?

I'm most excited about a few new projects that are full home projects. I have been doing 1-2 room projects for a while, and I've finally landed a few full-home designs, which I am thrilled about, and will set the tone for the business in the coming years.

Who are you admiring now, and why?

I admire all the young women who are part of the great resignation. I wish I had the guts to cut the cord sooner, but I was climbing this invisible, inaccessible ladder. However, I have no regrets about my path. I give kudos to all the women who will not tolerate gaslighting, low and unequal pay, little flexibility, and disrespect in the workforce. I commend them all for searching for their own path and trying to live life with work on the side.

Bohemian Rhapsody Bronx Apartment. Photography by Nick Glimenakis.

What is the impact you'd like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And what does success in that look like to you?

I used to think I wanted to make a great impact on the world, philanthropically, and I still do in some form, using design. I grew up doing lots of volunteer work and want to continue as I grow in my business. However, on a micro scale, I think I would be happy if I offered representation for another Black or Latina girl who wants to head into this field. When I was in college, I didn't see anyone who looked like me, and now I feel like I see a substantial amount of Black and Latina designers. I am happy to be part of the group who have risen up during the past few years.

Success to me is being able to be abundant financially, enough to give back to your community at a macro or micro level. Any business needs to show its philanthropic side, and that's how you know you have really made it.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

Anyone starting their career in architecture or interior design must have tough skin. There are many creatives with different personalities in this field. That means you run into working with difficult people, artist types who won't budge on design, and in general, toxic environments that have no work-life balance. Take every opportunity to learn, even if the work experience is not great. Learn what not to do, what you don't want in a job, and what you do want.

My advice for women would be different in that they should not be afraid to jump around from job to job to find what they want. We are frequently labeled unstable if we do this in our careers, but I don't think exploring is wrong. I also feel that women should not limit themselves; they should speak up, know their worth, stand by it, and trust their gut feeling.

A woman's instinct is their greatest tool, and we should all trust ourselves to use it more, especially in the creative design careers.