Calling all architects, landscape architects and interior designers: Architizer's A+Awards allows firms of all sizes to showcase their practice and vie for the title of “World’s Best Architecture Firm.” Start an A+Firm Award Application today.
Interior design transforms daily life. Whether focusing on commercial, residential or hospitality interiors, these designers work with a broad range of elements to shape how we feel. Utilizing design colors, materials, finishes, furniture, environmental graphics and more, interior designers focus on experience. Some of the world’s most famous interior designers have spent years building up a brand and product lines, as well as developing relationships with diverse clients rethinking what it means to live and work today.
Making the most of specific styles and specialties, interior designers work with patterns, textures, colors and more. The following list of designers showcases some of the top talent working today. Drawing from a varied range of influences, cultures and traditions, these interior designers are respecting history by reinterpreting it. Building upon a legacy of character and personalization, they are leading the charge to rethink interior environments. Each of the following ten firms are creating new atmospheres for daily life.
Gracinha Viterbo
Lisbon, Portugal | Founded 1971
Hotel Albatroz in Cascais, Portugal, Photography by Francisco Almeida Dias
Gracinha Viterbo is one of Portugal’s renowned interior designers. She had a French education and British design training. A world citizen and global traveler, Gracinha is a style expert and her 20 year career has led her to believe interiors are a powerful tool of emotional empowerment along with its aesthetical impact.
Gracinha likes to hear the clients and take them on a unique, personalized and mindful experience. In 2008 Gracinha and her husband — Viterbo´s managing partner Miguel Vieira da Rocha — took the creative lead of Viterbo Interior Design, providing continuity with the Viterbo Portuguese Style Legacy.
Albion Nord
London, United Kingdom | Founded 2017
Townhouse design at Chelsea Barracks, Courtesy Albion Nord
As an interior design studio based in London, Albion Nord is creating spaces with a sense of place and curating the objects within. As the studio states, their spaces balance sensuous elements of styles old and new, creating an effect that’s both distinctive and timeless. Whether they’re designing a country estate or an artisan-crafted coffee table, they take extraordinary care over every last corner.
Each space utilizes materials that are full of personality, and they include carefully curated artworks and antiques with rich with memories and stories. The result: spaces that have their own life and energy.
Alda Ly
New York, New York | Founded 2017
HealthQuarters in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood, Courtesy Nicole Franzen
ALA was founded in 2017 when a groundbreaking co-working platform, The Wing, tapped Alda to design its East Coast and California locations. ALA continues to serve a growing number of entrepreneurs and startups as well as established organizations looking to rethink traditional retail, healthcare, office, and cultural spaces.
The New York-based studio’s long list of clients includes Bloomberg, Rent the Runway, ThirdLove, functional medicine provider Parsley Health, the retail platform Bulletin, and social-action technology firm Blue State Digital. The studio’s projects share ALA’s minimalist and playful design vocabulary, and seamlessly combine comfort, wellness, smart planning and fresh interior design concepts.
Sheila Bridges
New York, New York | Founded 1993
New York’s Hudson Valley Home, Courtesy Frank Frances
The creator of the Harlem Toile pattern, Sheila Bridges founded her own interior design firm in 1994. As Creative Director and named “America’s Best Interior Designer” by CNN and Time Magazine, Sheila has thoughtfully designed residences and offices for many prominent entertainers, entrepreneurs and business professionals including the 8,300 square foot Harlem offices for former President Bill Clinton and his staff. Sheila Bridges Design, Inc has also completed projects at Columbia University and Princeton University, bringing Sheila’s signature design aesthetic to interior spaces at both of these prestigious academic institutions.
Nate Berkus
Chicago, Illinois | Founded 1995
Home Design, Courtesy Nate Berkus
Nate Berkus established his interior design firm at the age of 24. Since designer Nate Berkus established his award-winning interior design firm, his approachable and elevated philosophy has transformed countless homes around the world through his design work, home collections, books, television shows and media appearances. Ever since Nate’s first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002, he has become one of the world’s most recognizable interior designers. Berkus has partnered on product lines with Target, Kravet, the Shade Store, and Framebridge.
Kelly Wearstler
Los Angeles, California | Founded 1995
Sunset lounge of the Viceroy Anguilla, Courtesy Kelly Wearstler
Kelly Wearstler’s design is driven by a deep passion to articulate a unique story and formidable point of view. She builds a singular, synchronized experience built on an “alchemy of design.” Founded in 1995 as an interior design studio, the Los Angeles-based company has evolved into an interdisciplinary global lifestyle brand with experiential residential, hospitality, commercial and retail portfolio pieces.
In 2009, The New Yorker declared Kelly Wearstler “the presiding grande dame of West Coast interior design,” and since then her reach and influence have grown far beyond California. The studio’s work also includes product designs and brand collaborations.
Bobby Berk
New York, New York | Founded 2006
Sandalwood, Pardee Homes, Courtesy Tessa Neustadt
Bobby Berk is best known as the design guru on Netflix’s Queer Eye, but his rise to fame didn’t happen overnight. After years in the creative and design field, he took the leap to start his own brand. Epitomizing hip, urban luxury, Berk’s designs reflect a stylish and youthful spirit that perfectly fits any lifestyle. In 2006, Berk started his own company and opened his first showroom in lower Manhattan the following year. Years later, in 2015, he launched his full-service bespoke interior design practice for residential, commercial, and hospitality clientele.
Peter Marino
New York, New York | Founded 1978
The Getty, Courtesy Peter Marino
Peter Marino is the principal of a 160-person, New York–based practice founded in 1978. Working globally across a broad range of project types and scales, Marino is widely credited for redefining modern luxury through equal emphasis on architecture and interior design. The practice is recognized for its award-winning residential, retail, cultural, and hospitality projects worldwide. Marino has designed stores for luxury fashion and jewelry brands including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Bulgari, Hublot, Dior, Fendi, and Graff.
Justina Blakeney
Los Angeles, California | Founded Jungalow 2009
Home Decor Design, Courtesy Justina Blakeney
L.A. designer Justina Blakeney turned her eclectic, plant-filled style into an impressive following in interior design. She is the founder and creative director of home décor brand, Jungalow and the author Jungalow; Decorate Wild! and The New Bohemians book series. Justina’s popular collections featuring her hand-painted artwork span across home decor, furniture, stationery, textiles, travel, kids, and accessories. Justina believes that good design increases the quality of life and that creativity is the key to having an amazing home. She believes that living energies, such as the people, the pets, and the plants, are what make a house a home.
India Mahdavi
Paris, France | Founded 1999
London’s The Gallery at Sketch, Courtesy Rob Whitrow
India Mahdavi is an Iranian-French designer. Over 20 years since launching her own studio, Mahdavi has built a name for herself by working on large hospitality projects, luxury collaborations, and launching her own furniture line. Described by The New Yorker as a “virtuoso of color” and “a possessor of perfect chromatic pitch,” she has become renowned for saturated spaces and designs for Ladurée outposts in Los Angeles, Japan, and Geneva. She is known for a range of projects, including the pink interior of London’s The Gallery at Sketch — one of the most Instagrammed restaurants in the world.
Calling all architects, landscape architects and interior designers: Architizer's A+Awards allows firms of all sizes to showcase their practice and vie for the title of “World’s Best Architecture Firm.” Start an A+Firm Award Application today.
