Jose Solis

Background

About Jose Solis

José Solís Betancourt grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, spending his childhood immersed in drawing and painting. His love of art led him to study architecture at Cornell University, a discipline that still informs his approach to interior design. After honing his craft at Skidmore Owings & Merrill in Washington, D.C, and then working with The Saladino Group in New York, he launched his own practice in 1990. Two years later he partnered with designer Paul Sherrill, forming the internationally recognized firm Solis Betancourt & Sherrill. Solís Betancourt approaches design like a set designer staging an opera: he creates a layered architectural backdrop that allows his clients’ lives to unfold gracefully. He insists that a room should be beautiful even before furniture or art is added, and he draws inspiration from Renaissance art and Palladian symmetry. This classical foundation, paired with meticulous attention to materials and custom‑designed furnishings, defines the firm’s serene, sophisticated projects. Based in Washington, Solís Betancourt leads a team known for balancing elegance and livability. The firm’s residential work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Traditional Home, House Beautiful, The Washington Post and The New York Times Magazine. They have been honored on the AD 100 list and House Beautiful’s “100 Top Designers” multiple times. Their monograph Essential Elegance documents twenty years of projects. Splitting his time between Washington, D.C. and New York, Solís Betancourt continues to deliver refined, client‑centric interiors while mentoring younger designers and collaborating with architects and artisans around the world.