From the cross made with funeral flowers to the engravings in the barbershop, Usher’s collection tells the story of the superstar’s private life and passions
By Jewel Wicker | Photography by Frank Frances
Before launching her namesake interiors firm, Nicole Fuller was working as a model when she first met Usher at the Greenwich Hotel 17 years ago. Their friendship grew into a professional relationship three years later when the designer officially launched her studio and the musician hired her to upgrade the furniture in his Atlanta bachelor pad.
The pair have since collaborated on five homes, including Usher’s current house in Atlanta, a Georgian-style estate that appears on AD’s September 2026 cover. “I did not design one thing in that house because it was just pretty, or because it went with a color palette,” explains Fuller. “Every single material, stone, and texture, was chosen because we talked about it together, and it has a story,” she said. To achieve each detail, Fuller leaned on her art and design world connections, including tapping several local artists to bring the project together over roughly four years.
Here, she provides details about some of the most personal spaces in the house.
The cross in the study
In one of the most sentimental odes in the home, the pair encased dried flowers from Usher’s grandmother Tina’s funeral into a cross-shaped windowed display. Fuller worked with local contractor Mike Hammersmith to transform the home’s original brick wall into an insulated, backlit memorial. “Once we came up with the proper scale and placement, he filled in the wall around the outside and the inside. Then, we framed out the cross with our suede upholstery panels and created this really beautiful reveal detail where you can see the light shine through at night,” explains Fuller.
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