A CASE STUDY IN

STYLE Don Ricardo Massenburg uses his bold taste for color and patterns to create visually striking rooms for his clients

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B Y J ESSIE AMMON S RUMB LEY | PHOTOG RAPHY B Y B ET H M A N N

t all started with headboards. Well, sort of. In 2012, Don Ricardo Massenburg was furloughed from his job as an early childhood program researcher at UNC-Greensboro. He leaned into the uncertain break as a chance to focus on his side project: interior design consulting alongside a friend and former colleague from Durham Public Schools, where Don began his career. “I decided to make a headboard a day,” Don says, chuckling. It was a way to make tangible creative progress during an ambiguous time. It

Don draws inspiration from nature, art and textiles. “I love fabrics, I love upholstery, I love drapery,” Don says. “I can go in a fabric store or a rug store and pull out fabrics and design a whole style right there. And I love mixing my patterns.”

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april 2020