India Mahdavi is today considered one of the most charismatic and innovative figures in international design. Architect and designer based in Paris, she was born to Anglo-Persian parents and spent her childhood between the United States, Germany and France: a cosmopolitan path that became an integral part of her aesthetics. Her multicultural roots have allowed her to develop an open and transversal gaze, capable of drawing on different languages ??to create a visual universe that escapes canonical definitions.
Training and early career
India Mahdavi’s education reflects this international attitude: she graduated in architecture in Paris (DPLG), and then moved to New York, where she perfected her preparation in industrial design (Cooper Union), graphics (School of Visual Arts) and furniture design (Parsons School of Design). After her studies, she worked for seven years as artistic director at Christian Liaigre , helping to strengthen the aesthetic vision of the famous French fashion house.
In 1999 he opened his studio in Paris, a creative laboratory where architecture, interior design and product design dialogue naturally. From that moment, her career took an international path, leading her to design some of the most iconic interiors of the last two decades.
Color as a design language
If there is one element that makes India Mahdavi’s signature immediately recognisable, it is the use of colour. For her, color is not a mere ornament, but a real narrative language .
«For me colors are like people. They have to start a conversation, argue, get closer, move away.
This idea of color as “dialogue” is reflected in each of his projects: the color palettes become actors that stage emotions and dynamics.
«I believe that color is the identifier of a space. It’s like when you take a photo and remember that place because of the strong chromatic association: for me, that is the color.»
Its interiors, therefore, are never anonymous: they remain imprinted in the memory precisely because the color becomes a distinctive sign, an identity marker.
Iconic projects: from Mexico to London
Over the course of her career, India Mahdavi has designed interiors that are today considered true points of reference for interior design. Some examples:
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Condesa DF to Mexico City
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Hotel on Rivington in New York
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Monte Carlo Beach Hotel in Monaco
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Bar Coburg and Hélène Darroze’s restaurant at Connaught in London
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Suite at Claridge’s in London
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Hôtel Thoumieux in Paris
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Hôtel du Cloître in Arles
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Café Français in Paris (in collaboration with M/M Paris)
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L’Apogée Courchevel (with Joseph Dirand)
But it is with The Gallery at Sketch in London that Mahdavi definitively enters the history of contemporary design. Its iconic pink tea room, with velvety seats and soft geometries, has become one of the most photographed spaces in the world, consecrating the place as a social and cultural phenomenon. This project represents in an exemplary way India’s ability to transform a space into a shared experience, made to be lived and immortalized.
Showroom and design philosophy
In 2003, India Mahdavi inaugurated its first showroom on Rue Las Cases in Paris , dedicated to high-end furniture made in France. In 2011 he opened a second boutique, this time designed for small, ironic and colorful objects, which tell the more playful side of his work.
«I’m a monomaniac when it comes to emotions. I want people to feel happy, joyful. Life has become so difficult, and many of my spaces are tied to entertainment experiences: why not go all the way?
This statement explains well the heart of his philosophy: creating spaces that generate happiness , which transform living into a sensorial and cultural experience.
Awards and recognitions
India Mahdavi’s talent has been celebrated internationally with numerous awards:
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Designer of the Year at the Scènes d’Intérieur / Maison et Objet fair (2004)
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Inclusion in the prestigious AD100 List of Architectural Digest (2014), which selects the 100 most influential designers and architects in the world
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AD Award 2014 by AD Spain, with a special prize dedicated to international creators
Books and publications
India Mahdavi does not limit herself to designing spaces: she has also told her own creative universe through books that have become reference texts for professionals and enthusiasts:
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Home Chic: Decorating with Style (2012, with Soline Delos) a manual that invites you to personalize your home with style and character.
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India Mahdavi (Monograph, 2021) a collection of his most famous projects, enriched by sketches and photographs.
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Home: Donner du style à sa maison the French edition of Home Chic .
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Téhéran. Portraits de villes a sentimental journey to the city of his childhood.
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Contributions to collective works such as Living in Color: Color in Contemporary Interior Design , where he delves into the role of color in contemporary living.
«I don’t know if I amwas attracted to the color or whether the color was attracted to me. But there was something calling to me.”
This quote, taken from one of her interviews, summarizes the almost magnetic relationship between the designer and colour, which becomes her stylistic signature.
Villa Medici: dialogue with history
In 2023, Mahdavi was the protagonist of a special project at Villa Medici , home of the French Academy in Rome. Here he reinterpreted historical environments through his vocabulary of colour, light and sinuous shapes, creating an unprecedented dialogue between past and present. The result is an example of how design can be a tool of cultural mediation , capable of respecting historical memory and, at the same time, projecting it towards the future.
India Mahdavi, the queen of color
With over twenty years of career, India Mahdavi is today one of the most influential and recognizable designers on the global scene. Its interiors are visual stories, in which each element contributes to building an emotional experience. From a hotel project to a capsule collection of objects, his signature remains joyful, chic and cosmopolitan .
The recent collaboration with the artist Stèven Coëffic, presented at Paris Design Week, is just the latest example of how Mahdavi manages to combine art, design and pop culture in a language that continues to evolve.
