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.

Read the full article.

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.

Read the full article.

Holiday House NYC hosted the opening of their Fall 2021 ‘Coming Together’ Tabletop event on Wednesday, December 8^th at The Elizabeth Taylor Mansion, helping to raise critical funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).  Founder and breast cancer survivor, Iris Dankner, was joined at her exciting and festive live showcase by co-chairs Queer Eye For The Straight Guy’s Thom Felicia, Amy Lau and Jean Shafiroff. Over 200 guests walked throughout the stunning three-floor space, while enjoying bites from Elegant Affairs Caterers and sips from Tito’s, Danos and Wolffer Estate.

The evening featured the talents of designers including Austin Gray Design Group, Badilla Painters x Rio Hamilton, Barbara Ostrom Associates, Beth Donner Design x Andrea Correale, Eric Haydel Design, Evan Mason Designs, Pembrooke & Ives, Kim Seybert, Leeann Lavin, Michele Safra, Mottahedeh, Purvi Padia Design, Sandi Berman x Deluxe NYC, Unlimited Earth Care by Frederico Azevedo, and Vanessa Deleon Associates. Each presented chic and cutting-edge holiday tabletop designs featuring the latest interior design trends.

Read the full article.

Who says newer is better? Three designers share their tried-and-true favorite products.

Prized Collection

Designer Purvi Padia taps Gabriel Scott’s Harlow series for a variety of lighting needs.

“I first came across the lighting brand Gabriel Scott about five years ago. They were still pretty new on the scene at the time, but I saw them on Instagram and loved their look. I was especially drawn to their Harlow series, and have used it a lot. I was especially drawn to their Harlow series, and have used it a lot. One of my least favorite questions is when people ask me to label my aesthetic, because I don’t want to pick a lane. I like to bring together different influences, and with these lighting fixtures, you can really do that. The Harlow collection includes chandeliers, pendants and sconces, all of which can happily live in modern or more traditional spaces.”

Read the full article.

Organization

Everyone is mad about organizing right now. Editorial Director Joanna Saltz chats with four designers about finding solutions that actually improve your quality of life (and your mood).

Joanna Saltz: I have a theory that in times of chaos, people crave neatness, and that’s why we’ve gotten so into organizing lately. Have you noticed that?

Dee Murphy: Definitely. With more people at home over the past year, we all want to find a place for everything or else it just keeps adding to the chaos. So whether it’s organizing drawers and doing the Marie Kondo edit or structuring spaces with custom storage, it’s about making it not feel like an absolute mess. For me, with my kids at home and desks in the dining room, we really needed to just rein it in.

Purvi Padia: When kids aren’t out of the house as much, your home is also where they’re playing, learning, doing everything, and so there’s a lot more stuff.

Jean Stoffer: From a kitchen perspective, people are using that space more than ever and realizing they need new equipment and tools. So that means organizing all that efficiently for cooking.

Jo: Beyond the kitchen, where else are people organizing?

Purvi: Well, rooms are being used multifunctionally now. People want the living room to be an office during the day and a living room at night, but they don’t want to spend hours transforming it from one to the other.

Download the article or continue reading online.

From the Rockaways to Los Angeles, designers are crafting interiors where creativity runs wild

Emerging from the challenges of quarantine life, many of us are leaning into our indulgent sides. This proclivity for pleasure can manifest in a variety of forms—think Netflix’s steamy hit series “Sex/Life” and the secret tunnel in Cara Delevingne’s exuberant Los Angeles pad.

In this spirit, some designers are crafting one-off spaces where their creativity can run wild. Unbound by the rules and constraints of the rest of the house, these spaces—often small—can have a big impact. In some cases, the juxtaposition of an aesthetically indulgent space and the rest of the home’s decor brings out the best in both.

AD PRO turned to some of the minds behind the trend to see how they walk the tightrope of statement-making design.

Portal Possibilities

Charu Gandhi, designer of the London studio Elicyon, intended to “create a room that was ‘other’ than the rest of the home, an experience for a visitor.” Early on, Gandhi says, the studio turned to the idea of a flora-and-fauna-centered theme, adding that the color pink “was an early inspiration.”

The home’s decor is serene, primarily cast in an ivory palette. But Gandhi explains that once you open the blond timber door to the guest room, “Boom! You’re in the jungle room. That is part of its pleasure. It does not hold back any punches and its impact is immediate and forceful.”

All the furniture was curated specifically for the project. Gandhi muses, “In fact, the iterative and playful process of pulling the furniture together is really where the magic came together.”

Purvi Padia believes that “residential luxury and style are not concrete ideas but rather creative works of art.” After a decade in the beauty and fashion industries, Padia got artistic when she turned to her own home.

When designing her Tribeca pad, Padia wanted a room for her children that was more playful and casual than the rest of the home. She explains that it was important that the room feel “youthful and whimsical, but since it lives literally in the middle of the floor plan on the lower level of the duplex, it acts as a passageway as well. So, I needed it to serve as a kids’ lounge yet also be chic enough to be a focal point of the home.”

The rest of the unit’s polished decor transitions in this connecting room’s contrasting play on light and dark. The room also boasts an African safari motif. “While we used contrast to create pop and interest, we kept the overall color palette neutral and incorporated a lot of texture, so as you transition through the home to the rest of the spaces, there is the common thread of neutral tones and rich textures,” Padia adds.

Read the full article.

There isn’t a bad room in the place.

Designer showhouses have long been a staple of the interior design world. And while we love touring them for inspiration—and they’ve been the setting for some of the most iconic design moments—they’re always somewhat bittersweet. At the end of a showhouse run, all of those beautiful rooms, complete with wallpaper, flooring, furniture, and window treatments, are disassembled and returned to whatever state they were in before their designers worked their magic. But that’s not the case with the Kaleidoscope Project. Opened this weekend in Lenox, Massachusetts, the project is a first-of-its-kind showhouse filled with rooms reimagined exclusively by designers of color. And at the end of its run as a showhouse on June 6, the space will return to its original function as The Cornell Inn. Talk about a dream getaway.

The project was the brainchild of designers Amy Lynn Schwartzbard and Patti Carpenter, who hatched the idea late last year. “It really stemmed from a conversation between Amy and me about bringing more diverse voices to the table and to the industry,” Carpenter tells House Beautiful. “Because all these voices exist—and you don’t hear from them enough.” When participating designer Jennifer Owen (a Berkshires local) heard of an inn whose proprietor was looking for a redesign, it seemed like kismet.

Schwartzbard and Carpenter began tapping talented designers of color from all over the country to make over the inn’s reception area, public spaces, and guest suites. Then, the designers set about revamping what were worn, tired interiors–with help from sponsors that include The Shade Store, Kravet, Caesarstone, ED by Ellen Degeneres, and Saatva, which provided mattresses for each guest room.

Read the full article.

A group of 23 BIPOC designers transformed a historic Berkshires hotel into a vacation-ready destination.

The Cornell Inn, a collection of historic guest buildings in the picturesque Berkshires village of Lenox, Massachusetts, dates back to the 18th century. Now, thanks to a new showhouse initiative called the Kaleidoscope Project, a group of 23 talented interior designers is reimagining the hotel and giving it a fresh new start.

But this is more than your average showhouse. Partners Amy Lynn Schwartzbard, Patti Carpenter, and Liz Nightingale enlisted 23 BIPOC designers to permanently overhaul 18 of the inn’s guest rooms, plus a lobby, a dining room, and the bar. What’s more, proceeds from the project will provide scholarship opportunities for young people of color interested in pursuing careers in creative fields. “It was time our industry showcased diverse talents of designers with unique points of view,” Schwartzbard told ELLE DECOR in an email.

The participating designers were given a theme and a corresponding color palette to work with: rest (neutrals), reflection (cool colors), or rejuvenate (warm hues). The resulting rooms have their own distinct ambience while still feeling part of a cozy, cohesive whole, from a traditional take on New England style in a bedroom by Shawna Underwood to a glitzy gold-and-velvet barroom by David Santiago. “All the designers knocked it out of the park!” Schwartzbard said. “And each of their rooms really reflect who they are.”

The revamped rooms will be on view to the public through June 6 (tickets available here); the following day, you’ll be able to book any of them for your own summer Berkshires getaway.

…

11: Lioness Room by Purvi Padia

This soothing guest room by Purvi Padia was designed solely for relaxation. “It was important to me that guests feel instantly transported to a vacation state of mind upon entering the room,” she said. To achieve that vibe, Padia selected textured neutrals such as the white wallcovering by Phillip Jeffries; the custom wooden nook is grounded by black accents such as the Rustica metal barn sliding door. And as in the rest of the showhouse, there is a higher purpose at work: Its name comes from Project Lion, an initiative Padia founded in partnership with UNICEF to serve children in India.

Read the full article.

The inaugural showcase invited 23 designers to reimagine the century-old Cornell Inn

The Cornell Inn, a picturesque New England bed and breakfast in Lenox, Massachusetts, has been “spoiling guests in the Berkshires since 1888,” as its website avers. As of this week, guests will be treated to even more splendor as the historical site unveils a full renovation in collaboration with the Kaleidoscope Project, a designer showcase representing a diverse roster of talent.

Twenty-three BIPOC designers from across the country were invited to makeover the century-old property, including 18 guest rooms and communal lobby, dining room, and bar, with proceeds from the event funding scholarships for youths of color interested in pursuing a career in the arts and design industry. “With the advent of the Black Lives Matter Movement, we in the design industry community sought to support our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) community in an actionable way,” says Patti Carpenter, cofounder of the Kaleidoscope Project and principal of Carpenter + Company, in a statement. “We are seeking to show the true colors present within our community and to create welcoming and inclusive spaces that reflect a broader design narrative.”

Unlike common design show house practice, where the arduous work that goes into the quick-turnaround designs is eventually wiped away, the final interiors of the Kaleidoscope Project are wallpapered, window-draped, and stylishly decorated for the long haul. Though the showcase is open for public viewing May 16–June 6, the designs will be enjoyed by guests at the inn going forward. With that in mind, participating designers decided to abide by the theme of “Restful, Reflection, and Rejuvenation” when renovating the space.

Read the full article.