Peti L.
Peti Lau is an International Interior Designer based in New York City with over a decade of residential and commercial experience. She has worked with top interior design firms including Cullman & Kravis, Jeff Lincoln, Huniford Design Studio, and iCrave. She holds a degree from the New York School of Interior Design, and has studied historical architecture and interiors in London. Her designs have been featured in multiple magazines, including Architectural Digest, Wall Street Journal, Apartment Therapy, NYC&G (New York Cottages and Gardens), where she was profiled as a “Rising Star”, RubyLux, Decorilla, Houzz, and One Coast Magazine. She has been featured as a finalist in both New Trad of Traditional House, and Innovation Designer 2016 for NYC&G.
Peti Lau has developed a signature style she coined AristoFreak™. Peti expresses her worldly inspirations with eclectic colors, patterns and textures to create romance and moods in all of her spaces. AristoFreak™ emerged from Peti’s early career in Thailand, Mauritius, and Europe through her adventures as an expatriate, influenced by her love of art, travel and lifestyle. Her curiosity for exploration ultimately led her to the concrete jungle of New York City. AristoFreak™ evolved through the ideology of “old world charms” adapted for modern living.
Over the past decade, Peti Lau’s projects have brought her to locations such as Los Angeles, London and Brighton in U.K., Koh Samui Thailand, India, and Mauritius. Her eclectic style has attracted a wide range of clients including celebrities, restaurants & bars, a rainbow themed villa, a Fifth Avenue Pied-a-Terre where Ernest Hemingway once lived, and a San Francisco Victorian Townhouse.
What drives you to design?
I love and live for design because it's not only about looking good. It's about how spaces subconsciously creep in and something may function in a way that was planned and you many not even realize it. Form first, then the beauty excited the eye. It's a team. They both have to work together and that's what I think is great design.
Not only does it have to be beautiful; it has to be smart!
Tell us your biggest design secret:
My biggest design secret is that one should learn the rules and then break them. Breaking them to me means really listening to that gut instinct.
For example, when I am installing a pair of sconces, I sometimes don't have the opportunity to measure it's exact placement and will hang them based on my eye and gut. I wait for the moment when my gut says, "Ok, that's ti. Right there. That's where it should be. " Sometimes that can be challenging but I've learned that every time I listen to my gut, it never lies.
Describe your ideal project:
Where I had a client that absolutely understands my vision, trusts me and together our tastes and collaboration create a magical space.