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Name: India Mahdavi
Position within company: CEO
Website: www.india-mahdavi.com
Tell us a little about your background in design (education, experience, etc)
- Ecole des Beaux-Arts / Paris: architecture
- School of Visual Arts / New York: graphic design
- Parson School of Design / New York: furniture design
- Cooper Union / New York: industrial design
- I’ve worked with Christian Liaigre for 7 years before launching my own company in 1999
How would you describe your personal design style?
Polychrome and polyglot.
Where does your design inspiration come from?
Mostly from my personal memories, nomadic childhood and travels.
In what direction do you feel that design is moving towards in a general sense?
Towards more classicism, more historically referenced.
Name five key themes to consider when approaching design in 2014 and beyond.
When I consider a project, I ask myself these 5 questions:
1. Is this project right for me?
2. How can I make a difference?
3. What am I trying to achieve?
4. How can I turn all the constraints of the project into strengths?
5. How can I visually translate the location in my project?
If you could offer one piece of advice when it comes to design, what would it be?
To read my book “home chic”.
How important do you feel Design Awards are as recognition of designers talents and achievements?
A Hotel project is a teamwork between a Client, an Operator and a Designer. This award is the recognition to the whole teamwork because a successful hotel demands the symbiosis of all three.
What projects are you currently working on?
Residential projects in Europe, a restaurant for a French chef in Paris, a department store in Rome, and developing my collection of furniture and petits objets.
What are your aims and goals for the next twelve months?
To work on other hotels and locations I’ve never been to.
Final thoughts; tell us a little more about yourself
Your most treasured possession? My passport
Your favourite holiday destination? Siwa, Egypt
Your favourite hotel/ restaurant/ bar? The Claridge’s in London / Jean-François Piège restaurant in Paris / le Bar Français (Café Français, Place de la Bastille, Paris)
Your favourite book / film / song? 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami / Grand Hotel by Edmund Goulding / Hotel California by The Eagles
Your favourite food and drink? Mediterranean food with Chasse Spleen red wine
If you weren’t a designer, what would you be? A photographer. A filmmaker. An artist.