Purvi Padia is a New York City-based interior designer who founded her design firm in 2008. Her firm focuses on integrating both modern and classic elements to high-end residences throughout the country with a focus on New York City and the Hamptons.
With thirteen years of experience, she brings a unique and fresh unparalleled level of expertise to each project. Purvi Padia is an expert when it comes to tablescapes and entertaining. We recently sat down with Padia to approaching tablescape designs and her favorite ways to spend summer out east.
Regarding your interior design background, how do you organize your ideas for tablescaping?
I very much think of the table as a mini space I’m designing and take into account the same elements – proportions, silhouettes, layout, textures, mood and functionality.
What are your favorite pieces to use/attract the most attention when designing?
Any piece in a tablescape can be the statement element. That’s what makes tabletop so fun. You can always change it up – it’s low commitment! Sometimes I’ll make the focus a set of intricately designed dishes and everything else will be understated.
Other times, I’ll use the dishes as core grounding elements and play with height and shimmer through dramatic candle holders and tapers. And yet, other times, it can be all about the floral statement with gauzy fabrics. That’s precisely what I love about tabletop – you can create different moods and stories daily – it’s like fashion in that way.
An interior designer, philanthropist, and hostess extraordinaire— Purvi Padia wears many hats.
After spending a decade of her career in the beauty and fashion industry, Padia set out to begin her namesake residential interior design firm in 2008 with a focus on both New York City and the Hamptons. Through her design work, the NYC-based designer has not only mastered aesthetically balanced and effortlessly elegant homes, but also family spaces and impeccable tablescapes for memorable entertaining.
On the philanthropy front, the mom of two turned her passion into purpose by joining a number of non-profit boards, including UNICEF USA, whom she partnered with in 2018 to found PROJECT LION— a unique initiative that has helped over 850,000 orphans in India in the five years since its launch.
We caught up with Padia below to talk everything from her favorite kids movie to what’s on her nightstand and what she would do if she had more hours in the day!
Designing a home for adults is one thing, but when it comes to adding a kidfriendly space into a home, a whole new set of challenges arise. Of course, you want it to be a functional space for the kids to learn, create and play but most parents would agree that designing a playspace that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing is no easy feat. That’s why we turned to Manhattan-based Designer Purvi Padia to help understand how to create a playful space for kids that isn’t a giant eyesore for adults.
Purvi Padia spent ten years in the beauty and fashion industry before opening her namesake residential interior design firm in 2008. Padia has designed some of the most stunning living spaces in New York City and has the awards to prove it. In 2012, Padia’s design work won her the Best of Remodeling Award from Houzz and in 2020, Padia won the Best of Manhattan Award in the Interior Designer category from the Manhattan Award Program.
We were lucky enough to sit down and chat with Padia recently and she told us exactly how to easily create a fun place for kids that’s not an eyesore for adults.
“I am UNICEF. You are UNICEF. We are UNICEF,” was the mantra consistently shared amongst each speaker at this year’s UNICEF gala. As an organization that promotes sustainable living for children globally, last night’s efforts were no different. This year UNICEF lit up the night at Chelsea, Manhattan’s The Glasshouse, displaying the faces of children whose lives the organization has successfully impacted as guests made their way in. Moving videos shared the powerful numbers behind the work of UNICEF and the dedication it takes to achieve them.
One particular voice that served as a symbol of success was that of Faatiha Aayat, the 11-year-old youth advocate and founder of the non-profit CHIL&D. Aayat who began her path to success at UNICEF’S day of the girl, found her voice because of the efforts of UNICEF and wants to continue to share the gift of giving with children much like herself. In the theme of paying it forward, this year, the organization honored Purvi Padia with the Spirit of Compassion Award for her dedicated passion for tirelessly shaping the lives of children.
November 30, 2022 — What better way to celebrate Giving Tuesday than UNICEF’s annual gala?
Society’s chic philanthropy set flocked to The Glasshouse last evening to celebrate the amazing, unparalleled impact UNICEF has on children’s lives around the world, and in particular, Spirit of Compassion Award honoree Purvi Padia.
My goal is to create spaces that feel authentic and effortlessly curated. I prefer to not follow trends but rather merge a variety of design genres resulting in spaces that have a sense of unexpected cohesiveness.
What are your top tips for millennials decorating their new Hamptons home?
To be true to what inspires them and to avoid following trends. Your home is an extension of your own personal style!
Tell us about your product line with your daughter, Reven!
House of NeveRland has been a wonderful way for us to strengthen our bond and challenge each other. I love watching her creativity. The innocent ambition of a 10 year old is such a beautiful thing to experience.
Samantha Gallacher, Purvi Padia, Amanda Freeman, Tony DiMasso and more make up an impressive coterie of professionals
In every GRAZIA Gazette issue, we highlight a coterie of professionals who embody success, culture, change, and the art of living well. In the latest GRAZIA Gazette: Hamptons, we’re highlighting a slew of Hamptonites who are the top of their game in everything they do. Meet them all, below.
Amanda Freeman
A graduate of Duke University and former talent agent and trend forecaster, Amanda Freeman is the founder of Stretch*d and SLT, the 50-minute Megaformer workout with a following of A-listers including Scarlett Johansson, Hailey Baldwin, Nina Agdal and Chrissy Teigen.
Emilia Fazzalari
As co-founder and CEO of Cincoro Tequila, Fazzalari oversees the day-to-day activities, including production, marketing and a successful nationwide rollout. Since launching in 2019, Fazzalari has helped the brand sell over 1.5 million bottles of the award-winning tequila. She’s also an active member of the Trust Board of Boston Children’s Hospital and Trustee of Giving | Grousbeck Fazzalari charitable foundation.
Danielle Bernstein
A native NewYorker, Bernstein has amassed a fan base of over 3 million Instagram followers thanks to her popular WeWoreWhat brand and philanthropic arm, WeGaveWhat. Founded in 2010, the fashion blogger turned business mogul is also a New York Times best-selling author and former Forbes’ “30 Under 30” recipient.
Purvi Padia
When she isn’t designing breathtaking homes and table scapes, Padia is focused on helping improve the lives of the 1.5 million orphaned children in India through LION, a subset of UNICEF that she launched in 2018.
Purvi Padia’s Bridgehampton Home is a Bespoke Retreat.
There are a multitude of ways that the architecture and interior decoration of a vacation compound of generous proportions in the Hamptons can go wrong. As an interior designer, Purvi Padia was well aware of the perils and pitfalls. So when she and her husband found the perfect plot of land in Bridgehampton some time ago — five acres on a quiet lane with views of Sagg Pond — she knew there was only one sure means to ensure that their future home would be a masterpiece. Rather than cede creative control of the project, she would choose an architect with whom she could collaborate — ultimately, she tapped Blaze Makoid — and she would design the interiors herself.
After all, no one was more familiar with her family’s wants and needs than she was. And then there was her own trained eye and cultivated sense of style. “I had a clear vision of what I wanted the house to look like,” explains Padia, who imagined three connected pavilion-style structures. One of them — a flat-roofed building with soaring twenty-two-foot high windows on one floor — is the 17,000-square-foot compound’s center of gravity. That space is book-ended by two gabled structures that are two stories high, one for the family of four and the other for guests and staff, respectively. There is also a pool house.
Purvi Padia cut her teeth in corporate design, working for beauty and fashion brands for 10 years before realizing it wasn’t the right fit. “I always felt something was missing—that there had to be a way for me to feel more professionally fulfilled,” she explains. “Since I was a little girl, entrepreneurship was a dream of mine—and while I loved fashion and beauty, I soon realized interiors were my true passion.”
So she went back to school, graduating with a degree in interior design from Parsons School of Design and going on to launch her own firm in 2010. “I take pride in delivering spaces that feel truly curated,” says the Ohio native. “The thing that matters most to me in design is that every piece feels special and evokes beauty and joy.”
Needless to say, she doesn’t believe in following trends. “I don’t worry about design styles or eras—my only concern is creating a cohesive space that feels authentic,” she notes.
Padia’s greatest source of inspiration? “My children,” she smiles. “They are a constant reminder to inject joy into my work and to always keep things in perspective. Their optimistic outlook on life and philosophy of endless possibilities inspires me not only to push the boundaries in my design work but also in my life as a whole.”
Below, the designer reveals her favorite paint color, why she loves TikTok, and the fellow creative she admires the most.
Get to Know Purvi Padia:
Tell us…
What’s underrated in decorating?
Listening to your own voice and collecting an assortment of pieces that all resonate with you even if they don’t all “go together.”
Name an inexpensive decorating trick that can make a big impact.
Furniture arrangement in a room is so important. No matter the pieces you have, if they aren’t placed properly to play up proportion, silhouette and lighting, you won’t get the desired feel.
Location: New York City & Bridgehampton
Aesthetic: Casual Elegance, Luxurious, Eclectic
Kassatex: How did you start designing?
Purvi Padia: I started in the beauty fashion world straight out of college and worked as a buyer for Bloomingdale’s. I was there for a short while and then was recruited by one of the brands I bought for which was in the entrepreneurial stage. The CEO at the time gave me this huge job as the head of sales and marketing – I was maybe 22 years old. I couldn’t believe he put so much faith in me, but he believed I could do it, and that was my first real exposure to a start up and I think many years later, it’s actually what gave me the courage to start my own company. It was a crazy learning experience. While in marketing, I had the opportunity to learn about the design world as well and I quickly realized showroom design was actually the favorite part of my job. I decided to study at Parsons in NYC in the field of interior design and then launched my firm in 2008.
