Sarah Cooper’s home is filled with finds that bring back memories of her travels
To travel is to change. Each new culture and custom we experience makes us a better, more expanded version of ourselves. We take with us a new appreciation for the things we lack, embracing things we didn’t know existed outside our own worlds.
Just as we leave a place with new qualities and broadened horizons, we also leave with mementos of our growth. A woven textile from one place, a piece of furniture from another, a work of art from halfway around the world, each a tangible reminder of what we’ve experienced. It’s this idea that inspired designer Sarah Cooper’s own home. Tributes to her travels are throughout the house, reminders of the places she’s been and the person she is because of them.
Every adventurer’s journey begins somewhere, and for Cooper, it began at home in Louisiana. She was born in Baton Rouge with an inherent admiration for craftsmanship, eclectic beauty and the intentional art born of someone’s imagination. That appreciation eventually led her to pursue design across the country and abroad, first at the University of Tennessee and the Rhode Island School of Design and later at the Paris American Academy in France and New York’s Parsons School of Design. Each experience enriched her understanding of design, exposing her to new ways of thinking about the spaces people inhabit.
Those influences would follow her back across the Atlantic and shape the next chapter of her creative career in memorable ways. Cooper worked for years in the television industry in Knoxville as a production coordinator and associate producer for networks including Animal Planet, ESPN and HGTV. As her talents grew, so did the screens where her work was featured. She eventually moved to Los Angeles to work in art departments designing sets for major film studios like Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox.
Cooper’s work in media and residential design has more overlap than might be expected. Both require a clear vision and the ability to coordinate countless moving parts, people, materials and creative elements that don’t always naturally align. The goal in both realms is to bring them together into a cohesive whole.
“At the end of the day, you’re creating a story from inception to completion. You want that story to have the vibe and the energy the client wants to feel,” she says. “Whether it’s a set or someone’s home, you want to create a unique, personable, enveloping interior for your story.”
The eternal jetsetter never lost her wanderlust, but she eventually felt called home to Louisiana, where she established her own firm, Cabell Cooper Design. For Cooper, settling down was less about giving up travel and more about creating a home base in a place that feels integral to who she is. “I feel a true connection to southern Louisiana,” she says. “The art is interesting and it’s culturally rich, and the food is delicious. All I can say is that I feel it visually, auditorily—it hits all my senses in all the right ways. I just feel drawn to this place.”
In finding her home back in Louisiana, Cooper has also made a home for the pieces of the world she gathered throughout her adventures. “I have all these pieces from dear family members and my travels, and they tell you about my history and my heritage and who I am as a person,” she says. “I’m very individualistic about my design. I love color. I love fabric. I love texture. I always have. But that’s my personal style. When I’m designing people’s houses, I want it to be their oasis—for it to talk about their story and their way of life.”
Her own story and history of travel have shaped her approach to design, especially through diverse, eclectic influences not commonly found in the United States. “Traveling always gives me a different perspective on design,” says Cooper. “When I go to all these places, I get to see different textiles and furniture and architecture, and it stays in my mind. Almost subconsciously, they’ll eventually come out in my designs.”
Those influences extend beyond aesthetics, giving Cooper a particular appreciation for pieces that carry the heritage and craftsmanship of the places where they were made.
“The pieces I have in my home are true custom pieces that are just brimming with culture, interest and mystique. Every one of them has a history,” she says. “They’re done by the human hand and have depth of character. They have their own essence and spirit. You can feel the human connection to them. That’s what’s meaningful to me.”
It’s a philosophy that she brings to her clients, incorporating meaningful belongings already precious to them in her designs. “If they have paintings, if they have rugs, if they have photographs from their lives, I want to incorporate those things,” she says. “I don’t want to go out and find all new stuff because their space is about their story, and a lot of their story is already there.”
We may return from our travels with souvenirs, but we bring home more than the things we carry. New perspectives and influences follow us, eventually finding their way into the lives and spaces we create. For Cooper, those pieces exist alongside the photographs, heirlooms and belongings that hold the memories of the life she’s had closer to home. Together, they tell the story of the places she’s been, the cultures that have shaped her, and the person she’s become along the way.
This article was originally published in the November 2026 issue of 225 Magazine.
