Move over for the interior design genius of young phenom Baylor Pillow, founder and principal designer of Oxford-based firm Beep Design Consulting.
Written by Sonia Thompson
Photographed by Lindsay Pace Photography, Taylor Square Photography and Baylor Pillow
Baylor Pillow is measuring, moving furniture around, hanging artwork, envisioning. Most of all, on this particular job site — at Magnolia Cannabis Dispensary on West Jackson Avenue in Oxford — he’s hurrying.
Pillow’s consulting firm, Beep, was hired to create the interior design of the new space, and this large commercial project must be finished by a hard deadline. Despite shipping delays, canceled orders and a tight turnaround, he’s going to make sure the store looks perfect by its grand opening.
For Beep Design, that look varies by client to some degree, but all of Pillow’s work has the hallmark of his signature style: a sophisticated use of color and layered textures. Think your chic, rich aunt, but without the stuffiness.
“For me, it’s about finding the yin and yang,” Pillow, 23, said. “I hate an over-coordinated look. I don’t like anything to match, but I like everything to have the same vibe.”
As his Beep Instagram page says, he aims to create interiors that prioritize “comfort, socializing and livability.”
“As long as everywhere you sit, you have somewhere to put a drink and a light,” Pillow said, “the room works.”
Growing up in Greenwood, he always felt an appreciation for beautiful objects and put-together spaces. He attributes some of that to his mother, who he describes as a skilled shopper, and to his godmother, who is an interior designer, too.
“I think there is a certain amount of being from the South that things are done well,” Pillow said.
He started college at Emory University with a desire to major in art history, but his parents didn’t think that was overly practical or lucrative, so he expanded to a dual major in art history and economics. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2021, and the combination proved the exact right mix for starting his own business at such a young age.
The first iteration of Beep (a play on his initials and perhaps even a subconscious nod to his hurry to make things happen), began as a side hustle creating websites during his senior year of college.
“I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term, but I got some clients, and I was like, OK, people think I have good taste and I can navigate running a business,” he said.
From there, he connected with Oxford-based photographer Ann-Marie Wyatt, who at the time in 2020 was opening White Studio Creative, a marketing agency specializing in cohesive branding. Wyatt brought Pillow on as creative director, where he worked with clients looking to elevate their brands with logo and website design and professional photography.
“He’s such a Jack-of-all-trades; he’s good at everything he attempts to do,” Wyatt said. “And he’s so young! It’s amazing how well-rounded he is. He’s so good with aesthetics. He helped us with styling photo shoots, just everything all the way around at the White Studio. He’s really good at being able to walk into a room and say, ‘This is how things need to look.’”
A White Studio meeting with one client in particular became the most crucial of his career so far.
Toni Capomazza, owner of La Rousse Salon and Zoe on the Square, was looking to reimagine Zoe and turned to the White Studio for help. Pillow worked on her account, and he impressed her.
“Baylor far exceeded my expectations,” Capomazza said. “He basically handed me the vision for a full interior redesign of Zoe, not only the marketing plan we initially met about. I loved everything he proposed so much. It had the exact feel we wanted to achieve.”
It was then that Pillow’s vision for the current model of Beep as an interiors firm came into focus.
“Toni said, ‘You need to redo Zoe,’” Pillow remembers.
So, he did.
Zoe’s pink and coral-colored inter-twined serpent wallpaper, the luxurious red and green dressing-room drapery with a bold tiger print, the sophisticated feel of the space in general: all Beep.
The business took off from there. Annie Haymans hired Beep to create the interiors of her Byrd House Café (a little bit of a Scandinavian look mixed with classic white penny tile and a fun navy- colored grout). He then scored a handful of consulting jobs from customers just walking into Byrd House and Zoe who liked the spaces. Those projects ranged from Oxford to New Orleans to Atlanta, and even one in southern California. A job in Tennessee is wrapping up. And he has about 10 more projects in the works, a mix of residential and commercial spaces.
His services range from creating interiors for entire new houses to clients who just need help refreshing one room. Pillow welcomes all types of projects with enthusiasm, but cautions that he is not a full-service design firm. “I’m just one man,” he said, laughing. “I cannot assemble all your furniture.”
But he continues to take on jobs that excite him, and draws inspiration from some of his favorite designers, including Rita Konig (“Everything she does is so comfortable”); Ashley Whittaker (“She does the uncoordinated look so well”); Suzanne Rheinstein (“She’s really mellow, someone I look to when I need to dial back a little bit”); and Katie Ritter (“She can do anything; she has great range”).
Eventually, he sees a future for Beep that is less limited by geography. He imagines a home-base office in the South while traveling nationally and internationally for clients. But for once, he’s not in a hurry.
“Oxford is the kind of small town everybody wants to live in,” he said. “It has a lot of taste.”