For immediate release
Media contact: Jessica Olshen, 212.477.4600, jessica@jbocommunications.com
New York, New York—October 2010—Contemporary, classic, stylish, timeless . . . While each of these adjectives apply to her work, Purvi Padia shies away from categorizing her interior design aesthetic, preferring instead to talk about her clients and the ways their homes both reflect and enhance their lives. Bringing her background as a fashion executive and training at the Parsons School of Design to bear on a lifelong passion for design, Padia is proud to formally launch Purvi Padia Design. The interior design practice, newly open in Manhattan, will focus on residential projects. www.purvipadia.com.
Padia’s work ranges from impressive sweeping spaces like a gracious Tribeca loft to the most informal of interiors, like a downtown bachelor pad and a cottage at the beach. An unfussy though meticulous attention to detail is immediately apparent, discernible in the placement of a rare antique accessory or the quiet inclusion of exquisite custom upholstery. Perhaps most crucially, every Padia project is characterized by the sense that it is uniquely suited to the needs of the people who will inhabit it.
“A room should feel like the people who will live, work, and play there,” said Padia. “If the client’s personality and needs aren’t the first inspiration, it won’t feel as authentic or inviting as we want. We spend time working with clients to identify what’s most important to them and go from there.”
This intensely personal approach has earned Padia a reputation of creating smart designs for clients experiencing transition in their own lives. Padia has worked with couples sharing a home for the first time, and young families have become a specialty. Rather than turning the living room into a romper room—or, at the more severe end of the spectrum, making home a play-free zone—Padia works with clients to make their living space reflect the whole family’s needs. This can be tricky in urban settings where space is at a premium and rooms and furniture often need to do double duty; reconciling chic style with child safety, Padia creates spaces that work for dinner parties and play dates alike.
“Designing a home can be a great way to make room for each other—both literally and figuratively,” said Padia. “It’s challenging and fulfilling to design interiors for new families, or to take an existing space and adapt it to help facilitate the more profound changes going on in clients’ lives.”
Padia’s design sense is inspired, not surprisingly, by her own ideas about home and homecoming. Born in Manhattan, Padia grew up in the Midwest but always felt a connection to the city and a certainty that she would be back. Now a passionate New Yorker, Padia describes how she was hooked early on the cultural diversity and architectural heritage of the city. While the celebrated landmarks of the city provide a familiarly uplifting backdrop, it is instead the “wealth of non-traditional beauty” on offer in its less well-known neighborhoods that Padia finds particularly exciting.
Travel has been a second major inspiration in her practice. The designer has traveled extensively, particularly in Asia, and the experience is apparent in the eclectic selection of textiles and objets d’art that enliven her projects. The Tribeca loft shows a broad Asian influence in the custom bamboo dining table, the incorporation of rich materials like stone and bronze, and decorative artifacts like an authentic Chinese oil pot and an elephant sculpture from India (elephants signify strength and good luck in India; this particular totem made the trip back in Padia’s personal luggage). Another project in development features a more subtle influence from India in the celebration of color—vibrant hues in the wall coverings and accents will add character and vitality to an otherwise deliberately understated design scheme. A second project in the design stage, a house in the Hamptons, takes a cue from Bali. The interior plan features robust natural materials and muted colors, all designed around the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor space.
“I feel so fortunate to live in a city that inspires me every day, and to be able to experience the differences of other cultures as well,” said Padia. “I don’t know what I look forward to more, embarking on an exciting voyage or coming back home.”
For more information, please visit www.purvipadia.com or contact Jessica Olshen at 212.477.4600 orjessica@jbocommunications.com.
