Before Zeina Halwani ever helped a Michigan homeowner rethink a room, she learned how furniture could go from an idea on paper to something people lived with every day.
Growing up in Lebanon, Halwani spent much of her childhood around the furniture manufacturing business her father had built from the ground up. By the time she was a teenager, she was working alongside him, designing pieces and then watching them take shape.
“I saw how he poured his heart and soul into building it,” Halwani says. “It helped shape who I am today.”
It gave her an early education in furniture – how it is constructed, how materials affect quality, and how design has to work in the real world. For Halwani, who was also an artist, the environment helped turn a natural passion toward drawing, color, and creativity into a career.
She eventually earned a master’s degree in interior architecture from Lebanese University. Then, in 2000, her path changed direction.
Halwani moved to Michigan with her husband and their two young sons, leaving behind the country where she had been educated and begun her career. As she looked for a place to establish herself professionally in Michigan, she returned to something familiar: furniture.
“I know how good furniture is built,” she says. “I know what quality is and what luxury furniture is.”
Her research led her to Gorman’s Home Furnishings and Interior Design. What appealed to her was the opportunity to work with furniture while also using the broader design and architectural training she had spent years developing.
ZEINA HALWANI
Twenty-five years later, Halwani’s Michigan career has grown considerably from there. She has consistently ranked among Gorman’s top salespeople and today serves as general manager of its Southfield showroom. Through her own Zeina Designs, she also works on projects that can encompass flooring, tile, ceilings, lighting, plumbing, and other elements that shape a space long before a sofa or dining table arrives.
That distinction is important to Halwani. She is an interior architect as well as an interior designer, which means her work can begin with the bones of a space.
When working on a new home, for example, she can review architectural plans before construction begins, looking at the placement of doors and windows, furniture layouts, and the way people will actually move through a room. A window that makes perfect sense from the exterior may create a problem inside. A doorway might interfere with a furniture plan. Catching those issues early can prevent compromises later.
“I work with the client and listen to their story – what they have, what the challenge is,” she says. “I’m there to make it happen.”
Listening, in fact, may be as central to Halwani’s approach as any technical design skill.
Her philosophy is that a home should reflect the people who live there rather than reproduce a photograph from a magazine. Before making recommendations, she wants to understand how a client lives. Do they entertain? Do they work from home? What colors do they naturally gravitate toward? Is their taste traditional or contemporary? If a couple is designing a home together, what does each person want from it?
“Listening and understanding the lifestyle helps create the vision,” she says. “It’s your home.”
DESIGNED BY ZEINA
That approach has also kept Halwani from becoming overly attached to trends. She sees their value as inspiration, but not as instructions.
After years of gray-and-white interiors dominating residential design, she is seeing more homeowners gravitate toward warmth again — wood, texture, richer tones, and more personality. For expensive pieces and permanent elements, she generally favors choices that can endure. Artwork and accents can bring in more color and change as a homeowner’s tastes evolve.
Sometimes, when Halwani can’t find the artwork she has in mind, she simply makes it herself.
For Halwani, her Lebanese background shaped an understanding that a beautiful space still needs to make people feel comfortable in it.
“My heritage taught me that beauty and hospitality belong together,” she says. “A space should be like your identity — beautiful, but make people feel welcome, comfortable and connected.”
That philosophy has traveled beyond residential projects. Halwani has worked in commercial design as well, including community spaces at McLaren Hospital in Pontiac.
That instinct to create has carried through the different parts of Halwani’s career. More than two decades in, she is still looking for opportunities to learn, take on new challenges, and help others develop.
These days, that includes helping younger designers build careers of their own.
As general manager at Gorman’s Southfield showroom, Halwani sees leadership and mentorship as an increasingly important part of her role. She wants younger designers to develop not only an eye for design, but also the patience and ability to listen that come from years of working directly with clients.
“I want to continue to help the future generations and give back,” she says. “It’s important to help young designers and our team grow.”
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