Inside Foster/White Gallery this month, the familiar white walls of Pioneer Square’s longtime contemporary art space look a little different. Furniture has been moved in and wallpaper lines the walls. The show, Make Yourself at Home, transforms the gallery into a living space where art is meant to be experienced, not just seen.

The concept was co-created by Reflection Marketing founders Danica Bernabe and Roisy Rickel, along with Foster/White Gallery, to bring together three Seattle design studios—Mutuus Studio, Memento Interior Design, and The Residency Bureau—for a collaborative experiment at the intersection of art and home. Each designer was given a section of the gallery and access to Foster/White’s collection, with one challenge: create your own interpretation of “home.”

For Amy Vroom, founder of The Residency Bureau, that meant leaning into the energy and ease of shared connection. Her room, In Good Company, is inspired by the kind of gathering where anyone can feel at home—where you might not know many people at first, but conversation, laughter, and comfort come easily.

Amy Vroom, The Residency Bureau

“There was a space I was in with a group of friends where everyone would gather later in the day to meet up, make cocktails, tell stories, and laugh a lot,” she says. “It was a space that just felt good. That’s the idea I wanted to bring to life in this exhibit. It was a feeling. It was about being in good company. About connecting—or disconnecting. And just enjoying the people around you. I think it’s an ideal we all strive for in our own homes.”

The Residency Bureau’s “In Good Company.” Artists featured in the room (left to right): Stephanie Robison, Robert Marchessault, Guy Laramée, Rachel Maxi, Casey McGlynn, Cody Cobb, George Rodriguez, Ilana Zweschi, Janna Watson.

Photo by Hailey Aitkins, Nota Lux / Foster/White Gallery

Vroom’s walls are covered in patterned wallpaper, punctuated with colorful pieces from Foster/White’s collection. The effect, she says, is to remind visitors that art and decoration don’t have to compete. “You don’t have to choose between solid walls with artwork or wallpapered walls without,” she says. “The two can go hand in hand, as long as you pay attention to the scale of the pattern.”

The concept of home takes a playful turn in The Art of Play, the installation by Paige Smith, founder and principal designer of Memento Interior Design. Her installation imagines a joyful gathering place alive with sound and color. “The only purpose or function was joy,” Smith says. “Fun, gathering, playing, conversing—not having to think about the functional rules that are important when creating a space that people actually live in.”

Paige Smith, Memento Interior Design

Her inspiration began with a painting called Pyre by artist Ilana Zweski, an abstract work in bright pink and peach hues. The piece, layered with handwritten algorithms, became the emotional core of her design. “The artwork drove the tone of delighting in color and infusing a room with all the senses,” Smith says. “You can see the incredible works—painting, photography, sculpture—each artist with their own display of creativity.”

Memento Interior Design’s “The Art of Play.” Artists featured in the room (left to right): Von Coffin, Rachel Maxi, Jeffrey Milstein, Janna Watson, Ilana Zweschi, George Rodriguez, Chase Langford.

Photo by Hailey Aitkins, Nota Lux / Foster/White Gallery

A custom table anchors the room, inspired by Mahjong, a multigenerational game Smith learned from her 85-year-old mother. The hand-carved piece, created by Seattle maker Eileen Xu, became a collaboration built on shared stories. When Smith described her Mahjong-inspired concept, built around color, play, and connection, Xu recalled playing the game with her own mother and grandmother. She shaped the table with her signature curling wood design, a nod to mahua (麻花), the twisted pastry often shared during Mahjong gatherings in China. “There are many connections around Mahjong in my space,” Smith says. “It was a great way for me to spend time with my mom, who loves to play games, and also enjoy the design element of these colorful pieces while being with people I care about.”

For Kristen Becker, architect and cofounder of Mutuus Studio, the idea of home came through stillness and storytelling. Her Conversation Room balances natural tones and tactile materials like stone, wood, leather, and even oyster shells, against bold contemporary art. “Beauty reveals itself once a home is lived in,” she says. “It’s not about perfection but about creating a framework for living that feels natural and welcoming to spark conversation.”

Kristen Becker, Mutuus Studio

Becker, a designer with a background in dance and theater, often builds narratives into her spaces. For Conversation Room, she imagined a fictional client who lives with art as part of daily life and has a deep appreciation for design. “We took cues from the volume of the room and the existing brick walls in the gallery to create a space that was both contextual and soulful,” she explains. “I love to arrange and place objects next to one another as if they are characters in a story. There are a few hidden threads in the vignette that we hope invite conversation.”

Mutuus Studio’s “Conversation Room.” Artists featured in the room (left to right): Henry Jock Walker, Michael Wolf, George Rodriguez, David Leventi, Tony Angell, Casey McGlynn, Guy Laramée, David Burdeny.

Photo by Hailey Aitkins, Nota Lux / Foster/White Gallery

The result, Becker says, is meant to slow people down. “In this age of being bombarded with ideas, images, and screens galore, it’s important to not only notice what your eye is drawn to but also to be attuned to the physical objects that surround us,” she says. Susan Wheeler’s sculptural root chair sits beside a vintage Roche Bobois leather sofa, a quarried stone coffee table, and a moody glow from Mutuus Made lighting. “The room we created is a true collaboration. Even though we were the curator, the character of this room is entirely the result of the particular combination of vendors who offered to be part of this exhibition.”

Each designer’s interpretation reveals something distinct, and together, the rooms form a conversation about what it means to live with art. “We’ve each taken different approaches, but every interpretation allows the artwork to shine in unique and interesting ways,” Vroom says. “All our rooms would feel naked if we didn’t have the amazing collection from Foster/White to complete the design.”

That dialogue between art and design is exactly the point. Foster/White gallerist Zoë Hensley says the show explores how art and design shape one another, and how both influence the way people experience a space. “Working with interior designers allowed us to bring art off the white gallery walls and into environments that feel intimate, lived-in, and personal,” she says. “Rather than art as something to simply observe, it invites reflection to become part of the personal stories and moments that make a space feel like home.”

And like any good art installation, the show asks visitors to slow down and feel. You can wander from one “home” to another, stepping into three different worlds, imaging the lives within them. Every detail—whether a painting, a table, or the curve of a chair—becomes an expression of feeling or idea, revealing something about the people who might live there, the creators behind it, and the viewer taking it in.

Make Yourself at Home debuts at Pioneer Square Art Walk on Thursday, November 6 and runs through November 22 at Foster/White Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.