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Eight Palm Beach Interior Design Studios and What Each Brings to a Home

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Every Palm Beach house comes with a history. Some were drawn by Addison Mizner or John L. Volk. Others face the ocean and went up a few years ago. Which studio suits your home depends on which of those houses you own and how your family plans to use it.

This guide profiles eight studios with Palm Beach work. For each one you will find the principals, projects you can look up on the studio’s own website, and an Instagram post to browse.

1. International Designers: French creative direction and furniture made for the house

Rita Chraibi, French interior designer and founder of International Designers, seated in a white suit
Rita Chraibi founded International Designers and leads the studio’s creative direction.

Rita Chraibi founded International Designers and serves as its Creative Director. The studio has offices in Paris, Greenwich, New York and Miami, and Rita shapes the concept of each house from the first floor plan.

Her rooms draw on French Art de Vivre: how a family hosts dinner, where guests gather, how light crosses a room through the day. Maison Royale, her atelier in Paris, makes furniture and millwork for each residence, sized to its rooms. Antiques and collected art sit beside these new pieces.

Her portfolio includes the Louis Vuitton Private Residence at Steinway Tower in New York and private homes in Greenwich and South Florida. In Wellington, in Palm Beach County, the studio is designing a French château-inspired estate. The work renovates and extends the house from seven bedrooms to twelve junior suites, with Rita designing both the interiors and the facade. The images released so far are renderings.

Rendering of a French château-style equestrian estate with horses on the forecourt, designed by International Designers in Wellington, Florida
Rendering of the French château-inspired estate International Designers is designing in Wellington, Palm Beach County. Work in progress.
  • Suits: owners who want one creative lead, French references and furniture designed for their rooms
  • Principal: Rita Chraibi, founder and Creative Director
  • Offices: Paris, Greenwich, New York, Miami
  • Website: https://intdesigners.com

See how Rita approaches Palm Beach residences

2. Kemble Interiors: restoration with color in landmark houses

Mimi Maddock McMakin, a Palm Beach native, founded Kemble Interiors in 1982. Her daughter Celerie Kemble is her partner and runs the New York office. The Palm Beach office sits at 294 Hibiscus Avenue.

The firm’s website credits McMakin with a mix of whimsy and respectful restoration in estates and clubs designed by Mizner, Volk and Urban. Her team helped restore Louwana, a Mizner house named for its former owner, Marie Louise Wanamaker Munn. Kemble designed the lobby and rooms of The Colony hotel, and its website lists six Palm Beach Home projects and a Palm Beach Penthouse.

Call Kemble if your house has original detail worth saving and you want pattern and comfort a family can live with.

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3. Leta Austin Foster & Daughters: five decades of decoration on Via Mizner

Leta Austin Foster opened her Palm Beach firm in 1975 and added a New York office in the 1990s. Her daughters, Sallie Giordano and India Foster, design with her. In 1990 she restored space in a building Addison Mizner designed and opened a shop there. The studio and the shop share 64 Via Mizner.

The studio avoids trends. Its rooms mix antiques, fine art, wallpaper, rugs and pieces commissioned from specialist artisans, in styles from traditional to contemporary. Its website shows a Maurice Fatio villa in Palm Beach and a Palm Beach oceanfront house. Leta’s own apartment on Via Mizner wears Les Jeux Orientaux, a wallpaper from her collection with Waterhouse Wallhangings.

Owners who want layered rooms with a strong decorative voice should ask which of the three designers will lead their project.

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4. Scott Snyder Inc: classical interiors that follow the architect

Scott Snyder established his firm in 1984, and Architectural Digest has named him to its AD100. His website says the company is best known for its Palm Beach interiors. His work outside Florida includes Manhattan apartments, Southampton estates and Connecticut houses.

Snyder sets out to complement and preserve the architect’s original intent while meeting each client’s needs. Classical proportion, tailored furniture, antiques and art run through the work. His portfolio lists two Palm Beach residences, Ocean Villa and Waterside.

Bring him in when your house has a clear architectural pedigree and you want the interiors to honor it.

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5. Rinfret Ltd: Greenwich comfort for Palm Beach family houses

Cindy Rinfret has run Rinfret Ltd for thirty years, with bases in Greenwich and Palm Beach. Her two Rizzoli books, Classic Greenwich Style (2006) and Greenwich Style: Inspired Family Homes (2013), set out her aim: rooms that feel luxurious and comfortable at once. Her daughter, Taylor Mattos, joined in 2020 after roles that included de Gournay in Paris, London and New York. The team includes an in-house architect.

For the 2024 Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach, held in West Palm Beach, the studio designed a room with de Gournay and the artist Robin Grubman. Its portfolio includes Coral House, and its projects for the Hilfiger family appear in the book Hilfiger Homes from Vendome Press.

Ask Rinfret for whole-house projects that match yours and how Cindy and Taylor divide the work.

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6. David Lucido: collectible twentieth-century design

David Lucido opened design studios in New York and Palm Beach in 2020. Before that he led interiors for a private estate, with projects spanning homes, aircraft, yachts and restaurants. Architectural Digest named him one of its New American Voices in 2022, and he has consulted on The Mercer Hotel in SoHo.

His rooms pair collectible twentieth-century decorative art and design with custom furniture. Proportion, color and the dialogue between objects drive each scheme. His website features a Palm Beach Estate, and Ori Harpaz photographs the studio’s work.

Pick Lucido if you want a house full of distinct objects, each with a story.

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7. Lisa Erdmann Interiors: furnishing around the way you live

Lisa Erdmann grew up in North Palm Beach. She graduated from Middlebury College, attended Parsons School of Design and FIT, and spent seven years at Donghia Furniture & Textiles in New York, rising to Director of Product Development. She founded her firm in 1994 and keeps her office on South County Road in Palm Beach.

She begins with how clients entertain and unwind. Her work covers furniture plans, textiles, lighting, custom drapery and the placement of pieces a client owns. The firm has designed rooms for Red Cross Show Houses and the Kips Bay Palm Beach Show House.

If you spend months of the year away, ask how she runs procurement and installation in your absence.

See recent rooms and projects on Lisa Erdmann Interiors’ Instagram.

8. Marc-Michaels Interior Design: scale, sourcing and a seventy-person team

S. Marc Thee and Michael J. Abbott founded Marc-Michaels in 1985. The firm employs about 70 people and has designed for St. Regis, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin hotels. Its two-story source library covers more than 16,000 square feet of fabrics, finishes, woods and stones.

Services run from space planning and interior detailing to material specifications and the selection and procurement of furniture, fixtures and equipment. The portfolio includes two Palm Beach projects, Iconic Palm Beach and Artful in Palm Beach.

For an estate with many rooms to furnish at once, ask who will lead the design and how the team splits procurement.

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Matching a studio to your house

Start with the architecture

Find out who designed your house and when. A studio that has worked on houses by the same architect will know which details to keep and which to change.

Decide what stays

List the furniture, art and family pieces you plan to keep before the first meeting. Ask each studio to show you a project built around a client’s collection.

Check the address on every project

A portfolio labeled Palm Beach can include the town, West Palm Beach, Wellington or Jupiter. Ask where each house sits and whether the work is finished or under way.

Match the team to the job

One bedroom and a twelve-suite estate need different teams. Ask how many designers will work on your house, who leads, and who handles orders, deliveries and installation.

Plan around the season and the building

Condominium boards set their own rules on contractors and work periods, and seasonal owners leave for months at a time. Agree on the schedule, the decision points and who signs off while you are away.

Get the scope in writing

Ask for a written proposal that covers fees, custom furniture, procurement, installation and anything outside the job. Share it with your architect and contractor.

Questions owners ask

Which of these studios have an office in the Town of Palm Beach?

Leta Austin Foster & Daughters works from 64 Via Mizner, Kemble Interiors from 294 Hibiscus Avenue and Lisa Erdmann Interiors from South County Road. Rinfret Ltd and David Lucido list Palm Beach bases on their websites. International Designers has no office on the island. Rita works with Palm Beach clients from the studio’s offices in Miami, New York, Greenwich and Paris.

Is a house in Wellington or West Palm Beach a Palm Beach house?

The Town of Palm Beach occupies a barrier island. Wellington and West Palm Beach are separate municipalities in Palm Beach County. This guide names the town for every project off the island.

Will my interior designer work with my architect and contractor?

Expect it on any large project. Kemble Interiors, for example, states that McMakin works under the direction of licensed architects and contractors. At International Designers, licensed local professionals handle architecture, engineering and permits where a project needs them.

Can furniture be made to order for my rooms?

Several studios here design custom pieces. International Designers develops furniture and millwork through Maison Royale, its Paris atelier, sized to each room. The agreed scope sets which pieces get made and who coordinates production and installation.

How do I start a project with International Designers?

Send us the property’s location, its approximate size, the rooms you want designed and your timing. Plans and photographs help us understand the brief.

Plan your Palm Beach residence with Rita Chraibi

Rita Chraibi leads the concept and creative direction of each International Designers project, from the floor plan to the last piece of furniture. Tell us about your house and we will arrange a private consultation.

Request a private consultation

International Designers provides interior design, conceptual design and creative direction. Licensed local professionals provide architectural, engineering and permitting services where a project requires them.

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