There’s an argument to be made that home is infinitely more important to Jen Rubio, cofounder and chief brand officer of luggage brand Away, than the average person. The irony of it all is that until recently, she was very rarely ever there. But when she is, she revels in the comfort of her tailor-made space. “Coming home to a place that’s really mine and gives me a sense of home is so important to me,” says Rubio, whose typically hectic schedule demands frequent cross-country flights (often to visit fiancé Stewart Butterfield, CEO and cofounder of Slack) and on-a-whim treks abroad for Away business.
To custom-outfit the apartment, which is perched in the middle of Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, Rubio enlisted New York–based interior designer Tali Roth. “Tali was amazing to work with,” says Rubio. “She really taught me so much about what a room needs.” The feeling was mutual, as Roth explains: “Jen reached out to me on Instagram; she basically said, ‘I like your style and you seem funny, and I want to be able to have fun while decorating.’” With players in place, step one was to establish proper space allocation. “It’s the most important step,” notes Roth. “It dictates the kinds of pieces that will work harmoniously in the space, and once Jen selected the floor plan she liked best, it was about manipulating those shapes and finding the perfect balance of pieces with a variety of textures.”
“My only real stipulation to buying art, and that extends to my furnishings, is that I have to love it,” says Rubio. Anchored by an imposing custom steel and marble table surrounded by vintage, earthy Pierre Jeanneret dining chairs, Rubio’s dining room also features an adjacent Peter Gronquist piece, and a Lindsey Adelman Drop System chandelier in a verdigris finish hangs above.
Upon entry into the apartment, one is faced with a gallery of nude drawings commissioned by Rubio from emerging Vancouver artist Tori Swanson. As one walks farther into the home, an eclectic array of artwork—Ed Ruscha’s Jet Baby, a signature curved painting by Peter Gronquist, an Annie Morris sculpture, a David Hockney screen—appears. Nearby, sculptural furnishings—an Apparatus sconce, a Lindsey Adelman light fixture, Pietro Russo’s Libelle floor-to-ceiling cane shelving—reveals Rubio’s deep affection for buying pieces that speak personally to her rather than directly to one another. “I wanted my home to feel dynamic and be a living, breathing thing,” she muses. When making certain art purchases, Rubio turned to art adviser (and AD contributor) Liddy Berman for cues. Roth weighs in, saying, “Jen’s art is incredible. We certainly designed with it in mind in terms of scale and vibe, but I like to view art as its own entity and not something that is glued to a space or unmovable and unchangeable.”
These days, the luggage mogul can often be found cuddled up with her dog Busy on one of her two circular RH sofas. Her ever-evolving girl pad certainly finds truth in the notion that absence does, in fact, make the heart grow fonder. “My home feels like a collection of the things I love,” Rubio says, “and I love coming home to that.”
