Karina LeSage is the type of person who is so clear and direct in her appearance and aesthetic that you can’t help but think you know her just from looking at her. But meeting LeSage, you are struck by her spirituality, her thoughtfulness, her wisdom. Not surprisingly, both of these aspects are fused into her interior design aesthetic, which I saw this week at her Seward Park home office. Sparseness and complexity. Minimalism and eclecticism. Whoever thought those two things could go together?

LeSage did. And she’s killing it. She has created an aesthetic for her design business Composition Home that feels clean and highly curated, yet disarmingly intimate at the same time. Her home is composed. It’s spare and minimal. And yet, sprinkled throughout, on windowsills and in kitchen nooks, are tableaus of tiny shells from tropical beaches, collections of vintage plates from estate sales, miniature wooden cities from Hong Kong. Ask LeSage about any single object or piece of furniture, and you’ll soon discover that each one holds a story—a memory of a person or a place or a process—and the history behind her belongings just as important as their outward appearance.

But oh... the objects… I died a little bit when I walked into her kitchen and saw her vintage plate wall (pictured below), the milkglass one with the scalloped edges is the twin sister of my favorite plate at home. LeSage has an eye for combining the unexpected to make beautiful compositions. She makes even the most kitchy of knickknacks (I spotted one of those concave porcelain Jesus plates that fool your eye into thinking it’s 3D) integrate seamlessly.

And she does all this through her commitment to living with intention. There’s not a plate or a chair in her house that feels extraneous. This is part and parcel for LeSage the designer, and LeSage the person. She’s direct, and in our conversation she cuts right to the heart of the matter about what it means to be intentional about how you choose to live and the space you make for yourself in your home.

Today, she helps people find this clarity through Composition Home. LeSage will help design your space and find the perfect piece of furniture, but she’ll also help cull your home of unnecessary possessions. Then, she’ll refurbish that chair you bought at an estate sale way-back-when but never had the time to fix up. Oh, and then she will design you a custom vintage lighting fixture. Like its owner, Composition Home is an amalgam of many things, a host of services that are all designed to simplify your life and make it more beautiful.  

Here are five things LeSage taught us about design (and life):

1.  Intentionality is key. Surround yourself with objects selected and displayed with a purpose. You can direct your path with intention.

2. Try something until it works. LeSage is self-taught and a huge proponent of learning by doing. There’s a huge amount of satisfaction to be gained from that.

3. Express yourself, whatever that means to you. Fashion, food, your hair, your home: every area of your life is an opportunity for creative expression. 

4. Things are better when we do them together. LeSage often collaborates with fellow designers and stylists on everything from popups to sourcing vintage objects and curating events.

5. Process over perfection. Find value in the story behind a piece of furniture and in the love you put into refurbishing it. The “flaws” are what give something character and meaning. “This chair (pictured below) was chewed by a dog or something, see the feet?” LeSage pointed out. “But it’s beautiful!”