About Chérie Jones
Interior Designer. TV Producer. Presenter. Explorer
Chérie’s Story
Chérie learned from an early age how our homes and environments have the power to influence the way we feel after her family moved from South Africa to the UK.
This life-changing move at age eight away from everything familiar, sparked her passion for home and design. She began to discover how she could turn her home into a personal sanctuary.
With her mother’s help, she tackled her first design project at the age of ten, converting a dilapidated horse stable on the grounds of their home in the English countryside, and transforming it into a sunny sanctuary for her and her brothers.
Chérie has lived on four continents and moved more times than she can remember. She believes that home is more than a place – home is a feeling, and you can take the story of your home wherever you go.
Chérie lives in Tokyo with her lovely husband in an urban nest with sweeping views of the city. The timeless wisdom of Japanese culture and its aesthetic concepts such as Wabi Sabi, seeing the beauty in imperfection and embracing simplicity, have brought a deeper dimension to her life and work.
She happily admits to being a paradox – a homebody with a passion for travel.
“The first winter rains. From now on my name shall be Traveller."
- Matsuo Basho
Interior Designer & Entrepreneur
Chérie began her journey in design by styling shoots for television, magazines, and luxury retailers before moving into interior design. She’s been fortunate to work with wonderful clients around the world on a myriad of interior design projects ranging from a polo lodge in South Africa to a luxury penthouse in Tokyo.
Chérie’s worked with some of South Africa’s most prestigious publishing companies, including the country’s leading English magazine, FairLady, as their public relations and promotions manager. She later formed her own public relations company representing clients such as Fairlady magazine, Marie Claire magazine, the South African Broadcasting Corporation and Forecourt Television Network.
A love of African design and a desire to support local artisans from her homeland in South Africa, led Chérie to launch African Sanctuary, a retail shop and interior design showroom in Chicago, celebrating contemporary African design.
TV Producer & Presenter
Chérie was the Production Manager for South Africa’s largest television network, the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s Special Projects Division, SABC3, producing their biggest live events and television broadcasts, including The United Nations’ 50th Birthday with President Nelson Mandela. Meeting President Mandela was an extraordinary honour and career highlight and the event was broadcast live across the globe.
Chérie’s produced TV commercials for numerous production companies in South Africa with clients such as Coca Cola and Fiat.
In the United States, Chérie was the executive producer for The Down and Dirty Show, a weekly online series featuring a broad range of design topics for the Emmy Award-winning Live Lab Company. The show reached No1 on BlogTalk Radio and had over 7 million downloads.
A seasoned on-camera presenter, Chérie has presented hundreds of TV broadcasts for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, as well as for independent TV shows.
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