Our Artist

Gregory Morris / Owner 

Gregory Morris is an artist and designer whose work lives at the intersection of art, architecture, and place.

 Born in Pensacola, Florida, and shaped by early experiences in service and craftsmanship, Gregory brings a deep respect for materials, history, and process to everything he creates.After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and went on to lead creative work for more than three decades at some of the world’s most recognized brands. His career spans advertising, design direction, and historic property restoration—always guided by clarity, beauty, and human connection.

In 2011, Gregory founded Slippin' Southern (now Haven America), a studio dedicated to handcrafted wooden works inspired by nature and heritage. His designs have reached 36000+ homes nationwide, each piece made with intention and quiet reverence for craft.

Now based in New Orleans, Gregory continues to make art every day—creating for historic spaces, residential clients, and commercial clients, building by hand, and crafting work that feels timeless and elegant.

Haven America began not as a brand, but as a feeling.

After twenty-five years in advertising in Chicago and Washington, D.C., Gregory Morris and his wife returned south and purchased a historic 1800s farmhouse in North Carolina. Life slowed. Days were spent repairing old floors and worn walls, learning the language of age and material. And somewhere between sanding beams and patching plaster, something familiar returned. Southern words began slipping back into daily life—Hey y’all. Shug. Darlin’. They would laugh and catch each other, saying, “You slipped Southern.”

Those early words formed the heart of Slippin’ Southern, a name born directly from that moment in time. Gregory began cutting those words by hand, drawn instinctively in the script he had loved his entire life. Typography became a way home. What started as small wooden word signs—Hey Y’all, Sweet Tea, Gumbo, Big Daddy, Howdy—carried memory, humor, and warmth. But water has a way of calling things forward.

As years passed, Gregory’s work began to turn toward the coast—toward open horizons, maritime forms, and the quiet symbolism of the sea. As farmhouse décor became familiar and mainstream, the work moved deeper and more timeless.

By 2014, Slippin’ Southern evolved into Haven America, a broader expression of place shaped by tide, tradition, and craft. Historic coastal forms emerged: folk whales, minnows, crabs, and nautical silhouettes inspired by maritime history and working waterfronts. These shapes felt meaningful—less decorative, more elemental. Objects meant to live easily in light-filled homes, near water or simply longing for it. We still get comments today that the folk whale they just ordered is a couple's gift to remember their trip to Nantucket.

Today, Haven America creates more than 500 designs in 27 colors, each piece still made by hand. Natural wood ensures no two are ever alike. Grain shifts, glaze settles differently, edges soften—each surface carrying its own quiet variation, like driftwood shaped by tide and time.

Our Story

We're Located in NOLA

Artwork handmade everyday by artist Gregory Morris in Haven America's Studio