Diane Koo

What type of client benefits most from your style?
I have a fabulous sense of style and love fashion. My happiest clients appreciate my advice, my selection choices, and my personal recommendations.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
The living room is the center of my home– it’s where I relax at the end of the day. I have decorated it with bright and elegant home furnishings. The large windows allow me to look out into the lush garden space. I have a cream velvet recliner sofa that is easy to fall asleep in.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I am very enthusiastic and excited to meet so many different people everyday! I love it when my positive energy can brighten a customer’s day– and even more when I can help them find what they are looking for.

What are your hobbies?
What I love most is to shop for new things. I am always looking for the latest trends in fashion, accessories, and home furnishings. I also love testing new recipes to share with my family.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
Although the internet is great for finding new and bold selections, I like to walk clients through our showrooms to guide them through the latest styles. The more customers are familiar with the latest trends, the more comfortable they feel with their decisions. I guide them to achieve their vision.

Fernand Roderick

Fernand began his creative life as an artist until the theatre world captivated him and sent him around the world from Europe to Asia and the Americas. His love for design started with theatre sets in creating moods for the story which continues today with clients worldwide.

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I strive to design unique interiors that will have a positive impact on my clients’ lives by offering a balance of creativity, collaboration and forward thinking with a structured, organized and detailed mentality; enabling them to deliver focused development, follow through and total completion to each aspect of the design.

Describe your relationship with your clients.
Great designs, whether personal spaces or commercial properties, begin with a comprehensive understanding of clients’ needs and expectations. My ability to develop client relationships are based on respect, trust, and confidence has been the key to my success as a designer.

Why should a designer work with an interior designer?
Skilled at creating beautiful designs under a variety of budgets, styles, timeframes, and requirements, I guide my clients through every phase of the design process. My mission is to assist both residential and commercial clients in creating timeless spaces. Whether classic or contemporary, across a vast range of styles, I balance colors, textures, and lighting to create a space that reflects my clients’ personalities and suits their design needs.

Esther Pasqualini

Been with Safavieh 12 years, owned an antique store and an avid collector of antiques and antique dolls and has 6 children

What is your favorite part of your job?
Getting to know my customers and being able to satisfy their vision.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
Putting together and decorating my own home and my friend’s homes. I enjoy beautiful things.

Why do your clients adore you?
My honesty, kindness and my warmth- I am here to do the best for them.

What are your hobbies?
Organization, Staging and decorating.

Iris Carias

Iris likes running and walking her dog. She speaks Spanish and has worked on projects both big and small. Iris has been with Safavieh for 4 years

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I really like to mix things up.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I like pleasing my clients and seeing their faces when a project is completed. Their expressions are priceless.

Why is Safavieh special?
We have styles and price points of furniture for everyone.

Why do your clients adore you?
I give them what they want. I create harmony because I’m patient, attentive and a good listener.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
A designer can clear up a client’s confusion. I am able to do this by guiding them and helping them select particular items and a color scheme.

What accessories are a must?
Window treatments!! They dress up and complete a room.

Melissa Sarhane

Melissa is Moroccan, she’s an artist and former custom design specialist for a rug company. Melissa speaks French, Spanish and English and has been at Safavieh for six years.

What is your decorating style/specialty?
Modern with a Moroccan twist and touch.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
Since I was 10 years old I’ve had a passion for art. Interior design is a marvelous extension and expression of my love for art and design. .

Why do your clients adore you?
I’m patient, responsible, charming and committed to assisting them with every aspect of their projects.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
I find that many people are afraid of color, so I always ask them, “Is there a particular color that makes you happy?” After that we talk about the many options for using it.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
A designer can help a customer to think outside of the box and expand the possibilities for their project.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I make sure to take care of all required measurements and I do all the proper research for them.

What attracted you to interior design?
I started with rugs, custom coloring them. This experience got me excited to design from the floor up to the ceiling.

Stephanie Stephens Gans

An army brat, Stephanie relocated 16 times and says, “Our furniture never caught up with us.” Stephanie was first a textile designer, and now she paints watercolors.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
I knew when I was nine years old that I wanted to become an interior designer. I love changing lives by changing interiors.

Why do your clients adore you?
Oh, that’s easy. I am talented smart and funny!

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
I suggest to them, “Always think bigger than you can imagine,” and then I help them to do so.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Working with a designer makes the process of interior design much more economical and offers a client many choices.

Natalie Brown

Natalie loves babysitting, adores her grandchildren and playing mahjong. Her husband is a representative of a leading furniture manufacturer. Natalie started working part time at Safavieh 11 years ago part time, which she says, “Grew into fulltime so I would stop eating and spending money.”

What is your favorite part of your job?
I enjoy working with my clients to help them create their own dream décor; especially in pulling a room together with just the right colors, furniture and fabrics.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
My family room. It is casual yet elegant; leather sectional, swivel chairs, whimsical accessories. It’s a room where everyone feels comfortably at home.

Why do your clients adore you?
I listen to their needs and wants and then I guide rather than push them in a particular direction. I tell them, “This is your house, not mine. It needs to be what you love.”

Describe your relationship with your clients.
Well, I think my relationship with my clients is a good one because they keep coming back!

Kosh Palmer

Kosh has been with Safavieh for nine years. She was born in India, schooled in England and went to design school in the United States, an obvious indication of her love of traveling. Kosh is fluent in English, Hindi, and French.

What is your decorating style/specialty?
Mine is a modern approach to neo classic period style and design.

What is your favorite part of your job?
Helping clients to decipher the vision they have for their space.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
When I was 19 visiting the Hermitage in ST. Petersburg Russia.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
A designer can help them bring their vision to life.

What accessories are a must?
For me its antique candle sticks and candelabras.

Beena Ramachandra

Beena is an extremely caring home gardener who loves tending to flowers and vegetables almost as much as creating inspired interior home design. Beena came to US from India 30 years ago has been with Safavieh for six years

What is your favorite part of your job?
Making the people I meet happy.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
At the age of 16, growing up in India, I became more and more thrilled over wearing colorful scarves and exotic jewelry. It wasn’t long before I knew that I wanted to bring fashion to furnishings as an interior designer.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
The living room is my favorite. It’s exotic, ethnic and filled with my mask collections that I have accumulated over the years while traveling all over the world.

Why do your clients adore you?
I listen to them.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
A designer can help customers avoid the problem of having a hodgepodge look to their home décor. With a little
assistance from a designer their ideas and décor preferences can work and flow together beautifully.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I help them to avoid making basic mistakes that they may not consider; mistakes that could possibly take away from the look and feel they are trying to achieve.

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
I like accent pieces to complete a look. A great chair can add punch to a room. Wall art can make a huge
impact when entering a room and can really help to complete the entire look of a room.

What attracted you to interior design?
Colors. I love colors. I grew up with spice colors and like to amalgamate them together.

Dwayne Thomas

Dwayne says, “I am a jokester. I like to make jokes and make projects fun and enjoyable.”
When he’s not working with clients Dwayne enjoys going to museums.

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I like to design with a timeless aesthetic coupled with some current trends to keep it fresh.

What is your favorite part of your job?
The end result; when everything comes together, the furniture, rugs, window treatments, accessories, and the client is overwhelmingly pleased.

Why is Safavieh special?
We have unlimited resources and possibilities at Safavieh that can please everyone’s taste and style.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
My very first client purchased everything that I had picked out for them. That’s when I knew that I had discovered my passion

Why do your clients adore you?
I make it enjoyable for them to spend their money.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort
zone?
I tell them to open their mind to their own possibilities. I break them out of their comfort zone one step at a time.

Regina Semeraro

What is your decorating style/specialty?
With a strong background in lighting, I have grown to love the element of lighting. To me, lighting transforms a space.. it’s the jewelry in a room. Another specialty is color, I love mixing colors that are fun and bold and using them to accent and define a space while giving it personality.

What is your favorite part of your job?
Coordinating. I love working with various patterns and textures to create a story while enhancing the space.

Why do your clients adore you?
I think clients can sense that I am doing what I love to do. I take the time to let them know what works best. I also listen to their needs and styles without pushing my own style on them.

Describe your relationship with your clients.
I like to build relationships with my clients, get to know them so I can deliver the most appropriate style and design that leave my clients breathless.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
Many of my clients tell me they want to change their style and be more fun and daring but they are stuck. So, I guide them to make small changes and gradually add. Simple accessories would be a good start.. baby steps are always best rather than drastic changes.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Many people have difficulty executing how they envision their space, not understanding how things coordinate together. I see a lot of fear in clients. With a designer, they can make choices with confidence with a designer if they do not trust themselves. Designers can think out of the box while assuring them of what works and what does not.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
When I take on a project, I provide direction, not leaving the customers to make their own decisions. If you show support and confidence, the customer will have trust in your guidance.

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
I love ottomans, I feel they enhance and fill in the space without taking over the room. When there are too many large pieces, the space can look overwhelming. Wallpaper is another feature that transform a room. There are so many fun patters and textures, I encourage all my clients to consider wallpaper as part of their design plan.

What accessories are a must?
Pillows, pillows and pillow! Another fun way to shape a space. Taking a neutral background and adding a few glittery and colorful pillows allows you to be creative. With accessories, you can change the color of your space easily over and over again.

Alise Vitale

What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part is helping my clients make their homes look beautiful and a place they enjoy spending time.

Why do your clients adore you?
I am very patient and easy to get along with.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
I explain to them that they want their home to be unique and standout, make a statement, not look like everyone else’s house.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Redesigning a home is a lot of work and can be overwhelming if you are not used to doing it all the time. Having a designer alleviates a lot of the stress because we walk you through it step by step and make it an easy process.

What are your hobbies?
I love to eat, I am such a foodie, hang out with family and friends, travel, hike, ski, dance, anything fun!

Maryvi Araujo

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I personally love modern style with lots of light colors but work with all my clients specific tastes and styles.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I like making my clients dreams come true by designing their dream rooms and whole home.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
My mother is an interior designer so I have been designing interiors all my life.

Why do your clients adore you?
All my design work is complete from ceiling to lighting to floors. I also am very patient and take my time making sure the design is perfect.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I have traveled taking Design courses in Germany, Italy and the Dominican Republic. I do a lot of international design work. Design is my passion, and I give all that passion to every project I do.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
My mother gave me a handmade rustic console and I constantly change the accessories so it always looks amazing.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
I let them know that every piece they choose is an investment not only is buying what’s beautiful, it’s making the right decision because that piece will make a big impact and I’m sure they will love it. I also customize each of my design work to make sure they fit each customer’s needs and styles.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
I can save a client money and stay under budget. Clients cannot image what the finished space will look like, but I can and guide them through each step.

What accessories are a must?
Mirrors and lighting are a must, they complement any style and make a space look elegant.

Cecilia Stalgis

What is your decorating specialty?
I love the challenge of helping a client find their own style if they are unsure. Or being able to read what my client is looking for.

What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is the planning stages, finding all the pieces to the puzzle to make it work and having a happy client in the end.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
I come from a family of Architects and Designers and have been around design all my life. I studied Architecture in Argentina for a while before moving to live in Europe. In the US I went to Parsons and I’m also a sculptor and paint so color and spatial awareness is second nature to me.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
The favorite room in my house is my living room, it’s elegant but also welcoming. And has been evolving over time, so it reflects the way I live.

Why do your clients adore you?
My clients like that I listen, I don’t pressure them to make a decision and I try my best to make them enjoy the experience and be happy with their purchases.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I come from Argentina. I am also a sculptor and do oil painting and water colors. I have designed furniture, clothing, jewelry and gardens as well.

Describe your relationship with your clients ?
Think clients appreciate my personality, how much attention I pay to them and that I try my best to give them something special but that fits into their lifestyle.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
An oil painting I got from a famous painter from Uruguay, I admired his work since I was a teen ager and bumped into one of his paintings in an auction.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
We are used to think of the project as a whole and can envision the end result and avoid costly mistakes.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
They can tell me what they want and I do the work for them or I help them find their style.

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
Love rugs and art work.

What are your hobbies?
Hiking, sailing, tennis, swimming, sculpting, painting, gardening, movies, art galleries, home improvement.

What accessories are a must?
Paintings and rugs are the things that makes a plain room more enjoyable. Other accents can be changes over time to make a room stay current.

What type of client benefits most from your style?
The one that benefits more from working with me is the one that gives me a bit of free reign and does not tell me everything they want… if you leave some space for a new perspective you may find out that the end project benefits a lot!

Irene Prieto

My name is Irene Prieto. A visionary and interior design artist. Form, light, colors, textures, and patterns make a space responsible for establishing harmony. I conceptualize everything, brainstorm, and make pivots if necessary to incorporate functionality and aesthetically pleasing spaces with a timeline and budget to meet my client’s interests and tastes. It’s what fuels me, makes me wake up in the morning to do what I love

Susan Zulauf

What is your decorating style/specialty?
My relationship with my clients is quite easygoing and fun. I try to be a good listener and help them pull their rooms together by brainstorming ideas with them.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
A designer takes the hardship out of creating the clients vision and helps tie the home together in a cohesive way. Create a flow.

What accessories are a must? ?
I find artwork and photos are a must in a room. They finish a room and give it great individual character. It’s not just the sectional, chair and coffee table, which might be the base pieces in the room, but all the extra special touches that make it interesting.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I have my own licensing and freelance business, Zulauf Designs, since 1995. Gallery art, photography and decorative art for manufacturers. Then I’ve owned and run 3 craft galleries over the course of 15 years in Ridgewood NJ.

Megan Osborn

What is your design style/specialty?
My aesthetic is classic with a bit of flare. I am all about creating warm and inviting environments. I like to create fresh, cohesive designs that fulfill my client’s needs.

Why should a customer work with me?
With more than 10 years of experience working in the high-end furniture industry, I have a refined eye for color, I have a deep understanding of design, and a passion for transforming spaces.

Why do your clients adore you?
I am easy-going and friendly. I make sure I understand their needs, and together we create a space that they will love and appreciate year after year.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I ensure all my projects are completed from start to finish by creating floor plans, selecting fabrics, finishes, accessories, and wall coverings all the way to furniture delivery. I will go to a client’s home to make sure the furniture is properly installed and the design is exactly how the client envisioned.

What are your hobbies?
I love spending time with my family in Upstate New York, I love swimming, downhill skiing, and watching Football.

Aya Abdelmoamen

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I love a timeless design coupled with elegance. I strive to help my clients achieve what they envision and bring to life the design they want for their home.

What is your favorite part of your job?
Walking through every step with my clients and bringing the design to life. It’s definitely seeing everything come together and how happy clients are with the end result.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
I had always been very creative and I remember when entering homes, I’d always imagine ways to freshen up the spaces or think of what I would do differently to make better changes to design the spaces. I’d found my passion and followed that career path.

Why do your clients adore you?
I’m patient and I don’t stop until my clients are absolutely in love with the end result. I also do my best to make the process enjoyable and fun.

What type of client benefits most from your style?
Clients who know what design style they like so I can create a design for them that fits their aesthetics. At the same time, the clients that are unsure of what they want and are willing to give me the space to limitlessly design and create spaces.

Describe your relationship with your clients.
Clients can see that I have a passion for design and they trust me, which builds a bond between my clients and I as I help them deliver exactly what they want.

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?I show them images of designs I’ve created or inspiration photos to help them visualize what they can create for their own space. I always tell them let’s work with one room and when you love the change and outcome, we can move onto the next.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
It makes their life so much easier. We take consideration of every step in the design process, from floor plan to design to installation and final product, which saves the customer from being overwhelmed. A designer will work with a customer and understand what they are looking to do and bring that vision to life, hassle free to the customer.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I work with my clients one-on-one and understand their vision for their home and bring that vision to life: from the floor planning, to creating an e-design so they can see everything before installation, to the installation process and putting everything together.

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
I love art work/mirrors, accent chairs, rugs, and accessories. These pieces can add element of accent or color in a room and are what complete rooms and pull everything together.

What accessories are a must?
For sure, art work, mirrors, end tables, rugs, chandeliers, and florals/plants. Piecing these together complete the look of the room and pull the room together. Accessories are the best way to add creativity and character in a room, and the best part is they are easily interchangeable.

SUZANNE ROGHANCHI

What is your decorating style/specialty?
Creating spaces that work together and function with ease and simplicity while at the same time looking like the space was created over time and reflecting the customers personality. Each room should be a balance of color, texture and function. Creating a space that looks perfect, cohesive and complete.

What is your favorite part of your job?
Meeting people and making what can be an overwhelming task feel manageable, fun and easy.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
I have always been around art and design, I can’t think of a time when I wasn’t designing my spaces.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
My favorite room is my great room, it is a warm yet sophisticated space, while at the same time completely approachable. Everywhere my lands is something that I love!

Why do your clients adore you?
I make the process fun, help them achieve results above what they dreamed of. It makes me so happy when they see the finished result and can’t believe that what them dreamed of is now a reality.

What type of client benefits most from your style?
I don’t believe in a style, I come to each project as a unique project. I pride myself on the diversity of what I create, each project is fun and exciting because it is unique to the people I am working with. My style is eclectic ish. My super power is in understanding spatial relationships, color and texture and being able to get it just right for each person I work with, and making the whole process less stressful and overwhelming, we have fun!

Describe your relationship with your clients.
collaborative!! I love the collaborative process, I don’t impose my style on the client, my clients are my partners, they feel heard and understood.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
Nothing comes into my space that I don’t love. Love has to be the rubric by which all pieces are selected. We like lots of things, and it can be hard to choose from such a large amount of things we like. But love, ah, that’s another story, love is what it is, and makes it so much easier to choose!

Why should a customer work with a designer?
As designers we have am much broader experience with rooms, product and how to put things together. We develop and enormous design vocabulary, we create poetry in space, we make an overwhelming process manageable and sometimes fun. Life is stressful enough, designing your home shouldn’t be.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
By truly listening to them.

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
I love to have at least one organic piece in each room.

Kristina Codi

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
With my dad working in the union, I was creating and building at a young age. After I finished my homework, a crowbar in hand ripping up wood floors was a day in the life. A sewing tutor, design degree from F.I.T., and a few design jobs from family & friends later, I decided to turn fashion to furnishings and pursue interior design.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I worked in the fashion industry for 8 years. I know how to sew, sketch and make garments in addition to designing interiors. I love everything about design. From creating something new to updating and keeping it’s original charm, it excites me!

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Working with a designer will take out the guesswork to avoid costly mistakes. It can be overwhelming on your own. I’m here to answer all design questions and ensure everything fits/ functions nicely in a space!

How do you make life easier for your clients?
Safavieh is a one-stop shop with a plethora of brands to select from. I take care of the hard work from layout to design while listening to the client to ensure I deliver a design they love.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I love setting the mood, ambiance and aesthetically pleasing environment through interior design. Getting to know my clients is always a pleasure and bringing their vision to life is exciting for everyone involved.

Elena Starr

Elena’s career began in the fashion industry after she graduated from Fashion Institute of Technology with a Bachelor degree in Fashion Design. Working as a fashion designer helped her to developed an eye for color and texture, sense of balance and style. She traveled to Europe and Asia, attended shows, experienced new cultures, and stayed at the best hotels around the world. All of that had shaped her as a distinguished interior designer and is reflected in her designs.

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I create one-of-a-kind spaces that reflect the unique people living in them. My goal is to understand my client’s vision and translate it into a timeless, livable space that is tailored to THEIR style, needs and budget; a space they will love coming home to, working in, and sharing with family and friends.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I consider myself lucky to do what I love, and the ability to meet so many wonderful people along the way, build not just beautiful interiors, but also trusting relationships with my clients that often turn into friendships.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
Coming back home from my travels all inspired, I would redesign my living space again, and again, and again… I’ve helped to design homes for my family and friends. And after over a decade working in fashion, it led me to a new career in Interior design, which I enjoy now since 2017.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Common misconception – working with an interior designer is a luxury. WRONG! My trained eyes can help you see possibilities you might not have considered. I can help you to determine which of your goals are realistic for your project and your budget. I can help you to avoid a potential cost of mistakes, that you may not see upfront. And, I will save you time by following up on your orders, tracking, coordinating, scheduling and final installation, so you can focus on life’s more important things!

Lisa Steinberg

Lisa’s interior design career began at Victoria Hagan Interiors on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, where she was hired as a Junior Designer. Only four years later, she rose to lead Senior Designer managing the largest project her office had ever seen to date. Casa Apava, a grand oceanfront property in Palm Beach, Florida. The client had extended an invitation to President Clinton before even closing on the property, and Lisa and her team were able to complete every detail of the 12,101-square-foot estate just in time for his arrival.

The excitement of the Casa Apava project prepared Lisa for her next move into the world of hospitality. As Project Manager for Baldinger Architectural Lighting, she had the honor and thrill of collaborating on such beautiful properties as The Wynn Encore, The Cove at Atlantis, and the Palazzo, Las Vegas. The combination of hospitality project management and high-end residential design guided Lisa’s development into the creative design professional she is today. With her innate ability and extensive experience, she is able to understand all the subtleties and nuances of each distinct design style and weave them together seamlessly.

Lisa’s designs are elegant and enduring, and her vision is stylistically diverse. She believes in creating homes that reflect the uniqueness of the people that live there. In her words, “my goal is to understand my client’s vision and translate it into a timeless, livable space that is tailored to his or her own personal style, needs, and budget.”

Lisa considers herself very lucky to have a career doing what she loves.  Everyone she works with enters with their own vision, which she helps them unravel and translate through the language of design. As Lisa puts it, “My training and expertise should be used to your advantage. I can help you see possibilities you might not have considered. The interiors we create together will always be beautiful, but more importantly they will be personally tailored to your tastes.”

Lisa also helps determine which of her clients' goals are realistic for a specific project and budget, as well she helps them avoid the costly mistakes (often with scale and proportion) that many people don’t recognize until it is already too late. And finally, she gives her clients the luxury of time by scheduling, coordinating, and tracking orders, so they can focus on life’s more important things!

Book Your Design Consultation through Safavieh Norwalk

Angie Kraus

What is your decorating style/specialty?
My specialty is blending & repurposing one-of-a-kind items that clients don’t want to part with. My style is eclectic & happy!

What is your favorite part of your job?
Creating beautiful & funtional solutions that make my clients happy that we worked together.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an interior designer?
I knew back in my Barbie doll playing days. When I began creating furniture for them out of my mom’s discarded egg cartons, tissue boxes & anything else I could get my hands on! This was before Barbie invented furniture, cars, pools, etc! I’ve always loved the home & interior decor, always!

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
My living room, which houses an amazing 135 yr old 2-pc Victorian era fireplace mantle. There is an open top hutch with antiqued mirror, fret work, spindles, & shelves. I’ve mingled in some lovely French pieces. I have some very cool accessories & my favorite item of all, lots of mirrors!

Why do your clients adore you?
Because I am honest, I listen and I never steer them wrong.

What type of client benefits most from your style?
The client that is confused & not sure of their style.
They benefit the most and can’t thank me enough.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I am a happy-go-lucky girl! I love when my enthusiasm rubs off on my clients!

Describe your relationship with your clients?
Warm, inviting, friendly, sort of like a “close friend” vibe. I love when they are totally comfortable & know they can rely on me. I am inspired to work harder.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
Too many to list. I cherish my home & every little handpicked item that tells my story

How do you encourage clients to make bolder choices or step out of their comfort zone?
It’s a process. We work up to that point. I never force or push my clients. When the project is completed, I remind them that our success is due to our team work.

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Designer’s open doors to people’s creative spirits. We give them ideas they never thought about. We lend guidance, support, knowledge & expertise like no one else can.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I take on the load factor of their project. They just have to say, “yay or nay”

What are your favorite pieces of furniture/ accent pieces?
Hands down, I ADORE mirrors. Safavieh has the most beautiful selection of mirrors. Some of Safavieh’s mirrors & accessories take my breath away! I LOVE this stuff!

What are your hobbies?
I love to garden, walk, bike ride, travel, cook, read, play tennis, take care of my family. I love living life!

What accessories are a must?
Mirrors, artwork & paintings, unique & eye popping table top

Gary Sapirstein

What is your favorite part of your job?
Meeting great people and helping their visions become a reality for them to enjoy.

How is your favorite room in your home decorated and which room is it?
My living room is soothing and relaxing contemporary environment. It has everything at my disposal to melt away the stress of the day.

Why do your clients adore you?
I’m humorous, caring, and most of all listens to their concerns.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I have almost fifty years of furniture knowledge and experience! After graduating from NYU, I became a wholesale furniture representative in the NY Metro area for well-known manufacturers. After realizing I enjoyed working with retail customers, I co-founded the soon to be “largest independent furniture showroom” in the Bronx, NY. With great success, opened additional retail showrooms I joined the New York Home Furnishing Association and continued my industry enthusiasm.

Describe your relationship with your clients
Always friendly and honest. Enjoying a professional rapport.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
Antique love seat handed down to me from 3 generations of my family

How do you make life easier for your clients?
Keeping their purchases reasonably simple

What are your hobbies?
Playing my musical instruments. Traveling

What accessories are a must?
Wall art, items of color complementing the area.

Marian Messiha

Why should a customer work with a designer?
To save money and time, Buying furniture on your own often turns into a long trial and error process, but working with a designer who understands your vision and goals makes it easy to find furniture that perfectly suits the space itself and within your budget and time frame. Finally, you will feel harmony by how all pieces of furniture fit together and along with your favorite style.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
I think this is what we all do in Safavieh, the clients can find everything in one place.

What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part is when I receive positive feedback from the client after finishing my work.

What type of client benefits most from your style?
The client who trusts me.

What are your hobbies?
I love music, I enjoy singing, reading, drawing and traveling.

Lauren Gerdjikian

What is your decorating style/specialty?
I specialize in customized elements, from upholstery &
case goods to drapery & bedding. I love creating something
special to make a space feel personalized. I have an
appreciation for so many genres of design, so my personal
style tends to be layered and eclectic, tied together
using color theory. I love working with texture, shape and
scale to create a dynamic but balanced space.

What is your favorite part of your job?
I love making fabric selections and seeing how different
options come together to become something amazing.

When and how did you realize you wanted to be an
interior designer?
When I was young I didn’t care much about playing with
dolls, I was mostly interested in arranging the dollhouse!
I’ve always loved styling vignettes and accessorizing, it
reminds me setting up a still life in art class. Even as a
teenager friends and relatives asked me for design advice.
I have always been the friend that will help move
furniture around and help you try out a crazy idea.

Why do your clients adore you?
My clients love working with me because I ask them the
right questions, listen to their answers and devise a plan
to solve their design dilemmas.

Tell me something interesting about yourself?
I love color theory and art history; my art background
influences everything I put together. In my free time I
love to weave wall hangings, rug punch, paint murals, and
visit art museums.

What is one item in your home that you cherish and why?
My favorite furniture piece is a vintage Art Deco vanity
with a large round mirror. I’ve always wanted one and when
I came across it online, I jumped on it!

Why should a customer work with a designer?
Not only can a designer source beautiful & unique
products, but a designer can also prevent expensive design
mistakes from being made.

How do you make life easier for your clients?
With endless choices for any element of a project I
streamline the process by selecting options that make
sense, both visually & functionally.

What accessories are a must?
Almost every room needs a good lamp. Proper lighting is
essential to the mood & functionality of the space. I love
pillows to add softness and a bit of interest. Decorative
boxes are wonderful for concealing everyday clutter.