Food for Thought

Ho Sang Shin
Advertising Design ’95

I like to design rooms that are traditional yet informal, where you can wear a tuxedo or jeans. When I have a dinner party, I treat the plate like a room, using really simple, clean lines. I start with potato blinis with egg and onion mayonnaise, sour cream, and for the top, I shave an avocado and add caviar. I’m not a professional cook, and I can’t judge the taste. My biggest concern is to make the food visually appetizing. Where do I get inspiration? Once, when I was designing a room for a show house, I found this turquoise vase that I liked, so the room ended up being all beautiful turquoise and white. My company does mainly residential work, and I’ll use a client’s sentimental pieces, or fabrics with incredible textures or colors. To get inspired to cook, I go to the market for fresh veggies or cheese— something organically grown, so you see what it should taste like—or I’ll notice interesting shapes or colors, like beautiful red beets. Those colors inspire me to do a plate.

Shin’s firm, Antine Shin, designed interiors for The Point Resort in the Adirondacks. Shin’s work has been featured twice in the Kips Bay Decorator Show House, and twice on the cover of Interior Design magazine. His late partner, Anthony Antine, who founded the company, also graduated from FIT. Shin’s recipes were recently featured in (201) magazine.

What inspires you? Email the editors at hue@fitnyc.edu.