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Categories
Interior Design
Services & Specialties
Client-focused interior design
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RECOMMENDATION
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4.5]
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WORK QUALITY
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COST EVALUATION
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VALUE ANALYSIS
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ADD YOUR REVIEW
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FR Review:
Rinat Lavi brings considerable knowledge and style to every project, but her role is more editor than author–she helps clients polish their personal taste to a professional shine. Expert in the art of mixing, she'll take a client’s favorite vanity mirror from an old apartment, match it with a reflective custom console and a bold print to create a pocket symphony of proportion, texture and visual rhyme. Given carte blanche and space to play, her style is a comfortable take on modern, with indulgences made for unique materials (Lavi's bathrooms, in particular, are sparkling jewelboxes). Generally however, interiors are portraits of the client–“when someone expresses their personality in a home, it’s never wrong."
Born in Tel Aviv, Lavi moved to the states as a teenager and has the affect of a fully fledged New Yorker (she was clad all in black when we met her on a job site). However, she retains both an affection for the clean-lined architecture of her hometown and a transplant's appreciation for the decorative filigrees of the Upper West Side (Bauhaus meets Beaux-Arts). After studying decorative arts at NYIT and NYU, Lavi spent nine years in the shop of a high-end residential decorator before opening her own studio in 2004. Since then growth has been even, with Lavi taking on occasional part-time help to handle roughly a dozen projects in various stages.
Lavi’s rate is usually based around a design fee and a standard markup on product, though it can be tailored depending on the circumstances. Clients note that she is a pragmatist (“even when the budget is large, there’s a budget”) and appreciate her ability to do more with less, like splurging on eye-level pieces while skimping smartly on shin-height fixtures. They also praise Lavi’s patience, diligence, and her ability to balance the realities of family life with the uplifting power of good design: “my home feels elegant, even if I’m just sitting around watching TV with my son.”
Representative Client Comments:
"Shopping with her is an education, it wasn't just shopping." "Rinat always finds a way to make something happen, whatever budget you have for the room." "She took my ideas and made them look so good!" "She understands the mom life." "I never felt rushed working with Rinat, we keep looking until something is perfect." "Our home is very livable and comfortable, yet beautiful to be in." "She's a real person, she rides the subway! I felt very comfortable with her." "I went to the Affordable Art Fair with Rinat and I feel like it really opened my eyes to a new world."
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