Jungalow’s Justina Blakeney on how to bring her wild approach to design into your home

Justina Blakeney’s penchant for bright, bold, free-spirited creativity is at the center of all aspects of her work, whether it is writing bestselling design handbooks or creating her own handcrafted interiors collections. The LA-based founder, creative director of home-interiors brand Jungalow and author of The New Bohemians design guide has cemented her position as one of the most high-profile purveyors of vibrant bohemian chic. This signature style incorporates a lively, multi-layered approach to shades and pattern, new and vintage, alongside personal pieces discovered on her travels and also items of her own design. The overall aim of her process, she says, is to bring positive, personal energy into people’s homes.

Blakeney’s new book, Jungalow: Decorate Wild, is both a celebration of and a handbook to the Jungalow aesthetic, bound in an appropriately vivid and beautiful coffee-table tome. The brand was born out of her desire “to inspire creativity, to celebrate the human/nature connection” and “to decorate wild”. The term, coined by Blakeney, refers to her belief in a limitless and unrestricted philosophy of design.

“Decorating wild is all about having fun and getting in touch with the places, things, colors and scents that make you feel inspired, alive and creative,” she shares. “I didn’t so much develop it, as it developed me; I just leaned in to what I loved – nature, bright colors, bold patterns – and the concept was born.”

“This approach to design is wild, untamed, natural and innate,” says Blakeney. And it’s something she believes anyone can tap into. “We all have a spark of creativity in us – some have spent more time nourishing the spark, so it shines bright, but the spark is always there. When we create homes that harness and nurture that creativity, it helps us all be more imaginative, inventive and even more productive. It makes me feel energized when I step into a space that is welcoming and inspiring.”

The book, which she hopes will “encourage [readers] to tap into their own creativity and express their own unique, wild style,” covers all the elements and techniques that new or existing experimenters of this kind of carefree attitude to design need to know. From taking bold choices with color and pattern, to bringing the outside in and garnering inspirations from our own lives and experiences, Blakeney’s advice is personal and practical, as she shares insights into the way she has created her own spaces.

“You can start by first tapping into your own fond memories of places you’ve been to that lit you up from the inside,” she says. “Next, think about the colors, textures and even the scent of those places and start weaving those into your own home. Let those memories be your inspiration for your own unique style.”

The whole idea, she says, is just to “allow yourself to be your most creative self. That means giving yourself permission to experiment – to layer, to mix and match, and just to have fun along the way.”

A key element of Blakeney’s playful teaching of design is to inspire an active breaking of the rules so often laid out in methods of interior design. “[What’s] the first rule to break? All of them!” she laughs. “Design is supposed to be personal. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.”

Blakeney credits the influences of her creative philosophies to her upbringing and her background of being Black and Jewish – her father is African American and Native American, and her mother is of Eastern European Jewish descent. “Growing up, I struggled with my identity, but as I got older, I learned that my parents, and my ancestors, broke the ‘rules’, mixing Black and white, rich and poor, Jew and gentile. This rule-breaking has made me who I am, and I see so much beauty in it, so it always informs my designs.”

Blakeney also has a vivid appreciation of the beauty she sees in nature, which is a significant focus of her design process. “Nature is always a source of inspiration for me. I love naturally occurring patterns, colors and textures,” she says. “I also love ephemera. The design and details from other eras captured in an old postcard or vintage poster transport me to another time and place and get my creative juices flowing.”

“Most of my approach to design is rooted in nature, which is both constant and always evolving. Just as there are seasons in nature – some colors change, some forms shrink or expand, some things go away and reappear a few seasons later – there are trends in design. But ultimately, my design ethos stays centered in Mama Earth.”

Jungalow: Decorate Wild is out on April 6