San Francisco native Vaughan Woodson grew up learning the trade from her late mother and beloved San Francisco designer, Sudie Woodson. Captivated by the world of design, school age Vaughan would often play hooky in order to tour a construction site, shop at the design center, or explore the unique homes her mother designed.

After graduating from UCLA, Vaughan moved to the East Coast to begin her design career in earnest. While studying at the New York School of Interior Design, she worked as a junior designer at Cullman & Kravis. From there, she was hired as a senior designer for Mariette Himes Gomez, who remains an inspirational design influence today.

Hoping to bring a fresh aesthetic back to the family’s California design firm, Vaughan returned to San Francisco in 2000. She and Sudie established the mother-daughter design team, Woodson and Woodson. After Sudie’s passing in 2001, Vaughan made the decision to continue designing under the existing firm name in order to honor her original design muse and partner-in-crime.

Vaughan keeps her approach to design authentic, engaging and thoroughly modern. Her design sensibility lies in the notion of simplicity: “To me luxury is defined by simplicity. And that doesn’t mean that everything is beige. Good design happens when, before anything is specified or designed or purchased, attention is initially focused on the elements in a room that need to go away. It’s called editing. It is an art. I love paring down because that’s when the space’s own organic beauty emerges. Editing is a process that is thoughtful and scientific in many ways, and it yields successful results every time.”

Woodson & Woodson’s portfolio is filled with thoughtful, curated spaces. As Vaughan explains, “there is no singular style for which we are known. Over the past two decades, we have designed family homes, bachelor pads, pied-a-terres, country dwellings, Manhattan view condos, Bahamian sprawling compounds…all have their own flavor and appeal.”

Humor, candor, and years of experience make up the unique brand of Woodson & Woodson.