HOME PORTRAIT
Homes That Grow With You
Worth & Wing and the Art of Living Well on Martha's Vineyard
By Diane Alter, Photography by Arletta Charter
On Martha’s Vineyard, architecture is never just about shelter. It is about restraint, respect, and a deep awareness of place. Every road, every stand of trees, every windswept bluff carry memories. From the whimsical gingerbread cottages of Oak Bluffs to the stately whaling-era homes of Edgartown to the untamed beauty of Aquinnah, the Island demands that designers listen before they build.
For Worth & Wing, that listening begins long before construction drawings or finish schedules. It begins with conversation, observation–and always, with a pencil and paper.
Founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife team Kristen Ellsworth Wing and William Wing, the Vineyard-based design firm has quietly built a stellar reputation for creating homes that feel both timeless and current. Their work is rooted in New England vernacular–classic shingle-style forms, gabled roofs, familiar proportions–but infused with a modern, transitional sensibility that prioritizes flow, function, and how families actually live today.
“We’re always thinking about longevity,” Will said. “Not just how a house looks when it’s finished, but how it will feel five, ten, twenty years down the road.”
That philosophy has guided Worth & Wing across a growing portfolio of new construction, renovations, and additions, primarily on Martha’s Vineyard, with select projects throughout New England. While each house responds uniquely to its site and client, a consistent throughline emerges: thoughtful architecture that belongs–quietly confident, deeply contextual, and built to evolve alongside the people who call it home.
A Vineyard Beginning
Kristen, a washashore and native to Southern Maine, started spending time on the Vineyard as a young girl visiting family. She later attended Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, earning a bachelor’s degree in interior design. It was there, during her college years, that she met Will, who was studying architecture.
Will, a native of Central Massachusetts, came to architecture through both education and experience. Before attending Wentworth, he worked in construction and framing–hands-on knowledge that still informs how he approaches every project today. “It’s one thing to draw a building,” Will said. “It’s another to understand how it actually goes together.”
While still students, the pair secured internships on Martha’s Vineyard, working for Breese Architects and Interior Studio Martha’s Vineyard. What began as a summer opportunity quickly became something more permanent. After graduating during the recession-era slowdown of 2009, Kristen accepted a full-time position with Breese Architects on the Island. Will followed soon after.
Looking back, both credit those early years as foundational, not just professionally, but personally.
“It’s something you appreciate even more in hindsight,” Kristen said. “Being exposed to residential design on the Vineyard at that stage shaped and solidified how we think about architecture in our current practice.”
Building a Practice and a Partnership
Worth & Wing officially launched in February 2015, though the early days looked less like a formal business and more like late nights and leap-of-faith optimism. For the first several months, the couple juggled full-time work while moonlighting on their own projects, building a client base one conversation at a time.
“We said yes to everything,” Kristen recalls with a laugh. “Every project, every opportunity.”
That willingness paid off. As word spread, so did the work. Within a year, Worth & Wing became their full-time focus.
Now, more than a decade in, the firm operates as a team of four, and with a clearer sense of balance. It has always been important to Kristen & Will for Worth & Wing to grow organically and to provide a “boutique experience to our clients”.
Both Kristen and Will come from families of entrepreneurs, a background that made the leap into business ownership feel less daunting. Still, launching a firm on an island–with its logistical challenges, tight-knit community, and fiercely protected landscape–required both adaptability and patience.
Now parents to two young children – Josephine, 6, and Jonathan, 4 months – and homeowners themselves, the couple move through the same daily rhythms as their clients, with a firsthand understanding of the pressures, joys, and small negotiations that shape a home.
“We understand decision fatigue,” Kristen said. “We’ve lived through renovations ourselves. That empathy really shapes how we work.”
Designing for the Island
Martha’s Vineyard offers an unusually broad architectural palette. Unlike Nantucket, with its tightly prescribed aesthetic, the Vineyard embraces diversity–historic sea captains’ houses, mid-century modern experiments, and contemporary residences tucked into the woods.
That openness allows Worth & Wing to work fluidly within a range of styles, while still maintaining a distinct point of view. “We’re deeply rooted in New England vernacular, with all its styles and idiosyncracies” Will said. “But we’re not interested in freezing it in time.”
Their aesthetic is best described as transitional–bridging classic and contemporary. Exteriors often reference familiar Vineyard forms, while interiors lean cleaner, more intentional, and more functional. Storage is integrated, circulation is carefully considered, and spaces are designed to work year-round, not just during summer months. The firm’s process reflects that thoughtfulness. Every project begins with a site visit and an in-depth conversation about the clients’ lives: how they gather, how they host, how they envision the home changing over time. Zoning research follows, an essential step on an island where environmental protection and land-use regulations are paramount. Only then does design begin–by hand.
“We almost always start with two different schemes,” Kristen explains. “Hand-drawn, not on the computer. It opens up conversation in a way that digital drawings don’t.”
Mink Meadows: A Study in Restraint
One recent project on the Mink Meadows Golf Course in Vineyard Haven illustrates Worth & Wing’s ability to navigate constraint with creativity. Set directly along the fairway, the property came with strict guidelines: natural materials only, no painted finishes, limited tree removal, and carefully controlled construction timelines.
Rather than viewing the restrictions as limitations, the design team embraced them.
“The palette we chose forced us to focus on form and texture,” Will said.
Cedar shingles became a canvas. Subtle patterning beneath windows, thoughtful massing, and precise detailing gave the home character without relying on color. Window placement balanced views of the course with privacy and protection from errant golf balls. Old-growth trees were preserved, and the house was oriented to respect both the landscape and the rhythms of the golf course itself.
The project also expanded Worth & Wing’s collaborative network, bringing together a talented local builder (Eliedson Ribeiro – MED Home Construction), a New York-based interior designer (Thom Lussier – Cafiero Lussier), and a Vineyard landscape design firm (Jenny Slossberg – Garden Angles). The result was a house that feels seamlessly integrated into its setting–visible, yet never intrusive.
“It was one of those projects where everyone brought something special to the table,” Kristen said. “That’s when the work is most rewarding.”
Aquinnah: Bringing Order to the Organic
If Mink Meadows was about precision, a renovation project in Aquinnah was about clarity. Set on a sprawling, wooded seven-acre parcel, the original house had been built over time by a contractor-owner, resulting in a charming but disjointed interior. Families would arrive and quickly sense the home’s layered history, with circulation that reflected years of additions rather than a single, guiding logic.
The solution began with rethinking the entry sequence. From there, the project grew to include a new primary suite, an almost full gut renovation, and a reorganization of circulation that finally made the house make sense, all under the watchful eye of builderr Jed Smith Carpentry. “The goal wasn’t to erase what was there,” Will explained. “It was to bring consistency and intention.”
The clients’ eclectic taste–rich with color, art, and whimsy–added wonderful layers of character and personality. Timber framing, varied materials, and expressive elements required careful coordination to feel cohesive rather than chaotic.
The result is a warm and inviting home that supports large family gatherings while still feeling grounded in its natural surroundings–a place where generations can come to gather.
A Community Effort
Worth & Wing’s work is deeply collaborative, extending beyond clients to include builders, artisans, landscapers, and tradespeople–many of whom they have worked with for years.
“There’s a real sense of community here,” Kristen and Will said in unison. “We’ve built relationships that go beyond a single project.”
That spirit was on full display at the completion of the Mink Meadows home, when the owners hosted a celebration for everyone involved–from electricians to designers.
“That is always the goal,” Kristen said. “We want to be invited to that party at the end.”
Today, Worth & Wing finds itself at a meaningful point in its evolution. Former clients return as their lives change, children grow, grandchildren arrive, and houses need to adapt once again.
“That continuity is incredibly rewarding,” Kristen added. What excites the duo most about the future is not a particular style or trend, but the opportunity to continue designing homes that feel personal, grounded, and enduring.
“I hope people feel thoughtfulness when they walk into our houses,” Kristen said. “That someone really considered how they live.”
On an island defined by both history and change, Worth & Wing continues to sketch a careful middle ground–homes that respect what has always been here, while quietly making room for what comes next.
For more information about Worth & Wing and to see more of their work visit: worthandwing.com , Phone: 508-687-9504, E-mail:office@worthandwing.com, www.instagram.com/worthandwing.