Today we’d like to introduce you to Bea Pernia.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Venezuela, and my exposure to the diverse natural landscape and timeless architecture of Caracas inspired my approach as a designer. I’m very inspired by natural materials, especially when you start combining them. I like to play with a fine line of juxtaposition that makes things work. All types of stone, porcelain, marble, fabrics, metal, a lot of different types of woods. Then, you begin to incorporate color. It’s the combination that completes the creation. My experiences in South America also honed my appreciation for a spectacular view, a trademark of many of my projects. In Venezuela, whether you’re on the beach or in the mountains or in the city, you’re always surrounded by great views. That became very important to me. Now, through my designs, if you don’t have a great view, I will create one. Such was the case with a multimillion-dollar luxury residence on Miami Beach’s Venetian Island. It was a gorgeous house with a basic street view. When my clients expressed that natural elements were important to them, I created a vertical garden encased in glass that rose up two stories so that, throughout the home, they would see a lush garden rather than the street.
In college, I studied liberal arts, music, and design, and it was a job that I had during that time at the Design Center of America that I realized my passion for creating custom furniture pieces. As I worked to develop this passion, requests for my pieces began to flow in. My friends and family began to ask my advice on their interior design projects because they appreciated my artistic vision but also my ability to accurately envision their projects in 3D.
I founded BEA Interiors Design in 2000 in Miami’s Design District. It has now grown into an internationally recognized firm and a family of creative and innovative interior designers who are committed to excellence and unparalleled design. I have conceptualized and furnished multimillion-dollar private homes and condominiums, boutique hotels, commercial spaces, and hospitality concepts, and have additionally executed select high-profile design collaborations with renowned artists including Federico Uribe and graffiti artist Kobra.
My commercial, residential, and hospitality projects include the award-winning sushi restaurant Hiyakawa in Miami as well as the Roc Hotel in Tulum. I have also been the recipient of awards including Muse Design Awards, Loop Design Awards, and Build Architecture Awards. I currently live and work in Miami’s Design District area with my GoldenDoodle Rufus – affectionately dubbed “the CEO” of BEA Designs.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I lost my parents at age six, an event that taught me indispensable lessons about embracing flaws, survival, and resilience. It taught me that we need to love ourselves first and follow our passions to be happy in life, to overcome obstacles, and find solutions to every problem. More importantly, the creativity that blossomed going through that situation might have never been aroused otherwise. Like many people in creative fields, my passions were evident from day one. As a child, my main focus was to create a harmonious environment around me. I would paint, make music and write songs, re-create furniture and, unconsciously, transform empty spaces into functional rooms in order to keep myself busy and focused.
While much of my work is in the South Florida region, my projects have appeared from coast to coast in the United States, as well as the Caribbean, where I volunteered with FEMA to safely rebuild and restore the homes damaged by Hurricanes Irma in 2018 and Maria in 2019, as well as offer design strategies to increase resilience against future disasters. I was on the front lines helping to rebuild over 300 houses that were lost. Instead of focusing on the negative, I saw this as an opportunity- it was as an immense growth opportunity for every small business to rebuild and reach new national and international markets. It was a chance to develop imagination and to look for new opportunities. My work is laced with a spirit of giving, both literally and figuratively. The spaces are designed to give back to the user by invoking feelings and eliciting emotions, whether it’s the feeling of relaxation in a private home or a feeling of being transported in a commercial space.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an interior designer, I am known for my tailored, collaborative approach to working with clients. I interview my clients to get to know them, exploring their likes and dislikes. It can become a bit of an art to balance the preferences of, say, two people who live together in order to create a common ground that really resonates with each of them individually. My central question is always, ‘How do you want to feel when you get home?’ Then, I merge their response with things like their hobbies and the colors they tend to gravitate to turn renderings into reality. Home means comfort being comfortable in your space, no matter where you live. My main goal is to bring people together in an atmosphere where they can be relaxed and open. Once that’s established, you can make the space aesthetically whatever you want.
I am also known for my ability to push the limits of materials in unique and thought-provoking ways while developing organic forms. Recent projects include residential, commercial, and product design, as well as hospitality concepts such as hotels and restaurants. Drawing upon my multidisciplinary background and global experiences, I create spaces that stimulate the eye, stir the soul, and meet client needs well into the future by expertly applying her artistic sensibility to craft novel, harmonious aesthetics that follow my passion for interior and product design. Viewing each project as a unique opportunity to explore fabrics, leather textures, contrasts, shapes, and materials in order to realize the vision of the client, I often experiment with natural woods, lush textiles, leather, metal, and reflective surfaces. The outcome fuses natural elements with timeless elegance for a look that is at once clean and modern.
My work can be described as classicism-meets-modernism, I am firmly committed to using the latest technology to create her pieces and believes these new methodologies are the future of design, I am also the recipient of the Icon Design Award. The slats of wood used to create the wave-like ceiling of Miami’s Hiyakawa restaurant were made using precision cut using laser technology, which allowed me to achieve a look of perfection. My debut collection, “Circle of Trust” was also made with 3D technology, and selected to be featured at Art Basel 2017 as well as at the contemporary art auction, Anónimo, hosted at the Bass Museum of Art as part of Art Miami. For the nonprofit event, I designed a backdrop that offered an inventive twist on the traditional format, complete with a statement chandelier composed of latex, water-filled globes. At the 2018 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, I once again provided the concept design for Anónimo Vol. 5, this time in the newly completed, 43,000-square-foot Faena Forum for 2018’s “Aesthetic Dimension Design,” which celebrates and promotes Mexican and Latin American designers through contemporary art. This year, I will be participating in Design Miami 2021 where I will debut a collection of marble furniture, titled Atus, in collaboration with Arca marble. I have applied my artistic sensibility to conceptualize a collection that merges materials, such as stone and wood, into stunning structured assemblages through which healing energy is transmitted, thus creating a harmonious and positive environment. The collection includes multifunctional desks or dining tables as well as chairs made of contrasting turquoise marbles stone and natural oak wood.
Contact Info:
- Email: bea@beainteriorsdesign.com
- Website: https://www.beainteriorsdesign.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beainteriorsdesign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beainteriorsdesign/
Image Credits
Gabriel Matarazzo
