My Palace in Dallas: Loi Doan (Kaerukeki)

“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

Welcome back folks, It has been a WHILE! Many things happened after my last piece that took place in Taiwan as many of y’all know. (If not, now you do! ) We are officially halfway through 2023 and things are only about to get better for all of us I’m sure of it! I’m happy to see how the habits we’ve nurtured during the pandemic are now integrated into our lives. We love staying in now and HOME has become a much more important concept for everyone who is finding peace in being alone and enjoying their space.

This is the exact idea that gave birth to this project, I want to know, I want to see, and more importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after this unprecedented year, they can be artists, comedians and they can also be the people you meet daily on the street (which is quite hard cause apparently people in Dallas don’t walk at all). What is it that they do? What are their stories and what does their Palace in Dallas look like?

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Loi Doan! An interior sensation taking over Instagram, TikTok, and my little interior-loving heart. I’ve been following him for a while and I didn’t even realize we are in the same metroplex until I ran into him at a chair design exhibition hosted by our friend! From the soft yet playful palette to all the fun knickknacks and funky objects in his place, I am more than excited and honored to share our chat and his amazing taste In everything with you.

Hello Loi! Thank you for taking the time and giving me the opportunity to meet you in your amazing place! Before I bomb you with questions, would you like to tell people a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do?

My name is Loi and I’m a full-time content creator and interior decorator based in Fort Worth Texas.I make content for myself, brands, and home DIY things. Sometimes I’d be out, consulting and decorating for my clients, so yeah that’s basically what I do.

I’ve been a fan of your content for a long while and didn’t even realize we are in the same city until recently! Could you tell me what was that journey like for you and how did you get to where you are now?

I graduated a couple of years ago, moved out of my parent’s house as soon as I turned 18, and lived with my friends for a couple of months before finally getting my first apartment. I’ve always been a huge fan of IKEA and always had this dream of having my own home decorated with my own furniture whenever I go there. My first piece of furniture was actually that folding table from IKEA! It was where everything started for me. I love thrifting too so finding pieces like art or frames, which is where most of my things came from, it creates this cozy and homey vibe to my space.

Later on, I fell in love with plants. So I’ve been following Hot House Jungle and found benjiplant through that and fell in love with plants and decorating which brings me a lot of joy. I blew up on Titkok around 2019-2020, but back then I was just making content with fun audio like everyone else instead of interior-related content. I moved to Fort Worth after consideration and wanted to be in a city without all the noises and fast pace like Dallas.

A year after I MOVED again and found this unit, I fell in love with this model unit and I talked the manager into giving me this unit which was originally a model unit for touring. The giant sliding door and the semi-open concept kitchen cabinets are really hard to come by, especially in places like downtown. The price was good and it was everything I’d ever wanted.

I recently quit my job to be a full-time content creator after things have been picking up at a steady pace, I’ll miss my co-workers but I really want to pursue this dream and keep going on this journey that I am so grateful to have with social media. With my lovely adopted kitties along the way of course.

It’s been three years since the pandemic hit and I’m glad to see both of us rose up and did many incredible things during and after. What did you do to stay centered and sane? Did any of those new habits carry over now that things are back to normal?

The first thing I got into was plants. I felt connected with Mother Nature by taking care of them, Doing so and collecting rare plants was a huge part of what I did during those two years. sadly it did not carry over after I started working at a plant shop and I felt disconnected from them, however, I did have a lot of DIYs like plant stands or the growing tubes for propagating. I am looking to add more to my current space but you can say I went from collecting rare plants to collecting rare furniture. *laughs

Another huge part was thrifting, I love reading furniture books so whenever I go thrifting I always try to Google search what they could be and see if they could be rare furniture and love a good deal with them *laugh.

So yeah, plants, DIY, thrifting and anime were really what got me through those crazy few years. I’d say my job too back then but that was what got me insane working in a ramen shop and all.

As an incredible creative yourself, I’m sure you have your fair share of traveling experience and exposure to different art/interior scenes across the states. What do you think sets DFW’s interior scene apart from all the other huge art/interior hubs like NY or LA?

My extensive travels and exposure to various art and interior scenes across the states have given me valuable insights. What makes Dallas' interior scene stand out from big hubs like NY or LA is its unique blend of traditional charm and modern innovation. Dallas combines different styles, drawing inspiration from its history while adding modern touches. This creates interiors that are both inviting and cutting-edge. Additionally, Dallas nurtures a tight-knit artist and designer community, promoting collaborative and locally inspired creativity. This mix of tradition, innovation, and community spirit truly sets apart Dallas' interior scene in the art and design world.

throughout your creative journey, is there any specific source which you draw your inspiration from?

The antique malls, there are so many things to look at and I go there every day. It’s 5 min away from me and occupied by many different cool vendors. I’m constantly inspired by looking at how all the vendors set up their booths or cubicles differently and I’d take that inspiration home to make it my own. It could be any style from minimalism or maximalism, cause you don’t usually get the chance to visit people’s places and see how they decorate like how Ikea did with their showrooms. It’s literally “We got Ikea at home” and it’s 5 min away from me!

Are you a DFW native? As a creative being in this city and spending quite some time finding your creative identity and building up a place you call home, what do you think of this city?

I think it feels a lot different than the big cities, like everywhere is different obviously but it’s a lot more homey than NY or LA. We do have a huge thrifting scene like the antique malls and all, which is a unique scene here since everything in my house is mostly thrifted. DFW especially Fort Worth is kind of like the shadow of Dallas and when I first moved here I was scared by this idea of how conservative it is but people here are genuinely so nice. There’s a lot of art scene here too and for an artist like myself I feel like I am in the right bubble, for now, it’s so hot here I still would like to move out eventually. *laughs

As I look around, I can see a lot of your taste in a tangible form! I can’t even begin picking out a favorite one so now the hard part is, what would you say is your most prized possession?

This table definitely! This table is 3D printed, made by myself, and inspired by the Tavolo Morbido Coffee Table from studio Mignone and it was retailed for $5,000. Starting out with interior decorating I couldn’t afford this but this was the only piece I wanted as my coffee table so I thought “You know what I can just do it myself!”. I designed the legs in Sketchup and sent them to a 3D printing lab, went through hell thrifting this $10 glass tabletop, and painted them myself. I started out with a green/white combo but it wasn’t working (ugly) so I went for primary, they turned out so well and matched my rug perfectly! This is definitely something I’d pass down to my kids or friends in the future.

This donut lamp is another prized possession from the Ikea Sabine Marcelis collab. It’s sold out everywhere and I literally fought my way to get this piece. I remember it was raining and I had to snatch it off the moment I saw it, from not being able to get in the store, couldn’t find the piece on the shelf and ran to the register as fast as I could after snatching it off. There were only 2 of them in stock that day! Sabine Marcelis is my favorite designer of all time and knowing that she did a collab with Ikea. I knew I had to get them.

As far as my favorite one goes, it would be this baguette lamp. It is real bread! Made in Japan by Yukiko Morita, they baked the bread and I believe they poured resin over it after to preserve it. Every piece is unique since no baked bread can look identical! I just love having weird and fun things where people coming to my house would go “wtf is that”.

Next to it is this Alessi kettle I’ve been wanting for so long, it’s retailed for $300 and I found one at the antique mall for $65!

Oh my god, we didn’t even talk about this chair! THIS is my first ever designer furniture thrift on the Facebook marketplace. This is the Artek rocket bar stool made in 1975 by Eero Aarnio, I could be wrong about the year but this is the original wooden one in this color and I got this for $35 Can you imagine?

We obviously have to talk about the orange table and the blue tube cat chair I made! I’m sure people probably already saw them at the chair fair before, this is another DIY piece I am really proud of.

And we are almost at the bottom of my list of Qs for today, for those who are interested in getting into this business or starting something of their own. What suggestions or advice you would like to give them or wish you had known sooner?

As a content creator and interior decorator, my best advice to followers in the same field is to welcome failures as crucial steps towards growth. Every setback offers a chance to learn, improve skills, and better grasp the creative process. Seeing failure as valuable experience, instead of the end of the world, helps aspiring creators build resilience, nurture creativity, and reach higher levels of success.

To wrap this interview up, also because I am curious personally, what’s on the horizon for Loi? Are any “Big things coming” in the works for you? What would you like the world (whichever random soul stumbled upon this article) to know about?

I’m currently building my own website and in the middle of designing my own decor line. Now that I’ll be working as a full-time creator I want to start creating my own brand and making something from scratch all on my own.

More YouTube videos, trying out long format content now I have more free time for filming and planning everything out. Go big or go home you know, even though I’m always at home. *laughs I want to make things that last long, look cute, limited amount, and with my own identity attached to them.