It seemed like a standard assignment for interior designer Purvi Padia: a 5,600-square-foot luxury loft in Tribeca, owned by a family with three small children. But the clients — both keen philanthropists — lobbed her an additional request: They wanted the common areas to do double duty, to function both as a cozy family hideaway and a workable venue for hosting benefits.
The ask didn’t faze Padia. She’s been fielding similar requests lately from wealthy New Yorkers across the city, who want to go beyond conventional entertaining to focus on opening up their homes for formal, charitable events.
“There is now a subset of my clients who ask me to design spaces with the intention of entertaining people they might not know that well,” she explains. Handily, that includes Padia herself, a fervent UNICEF supporter who has thrown bashes for the charity at her own home — where she has workshopped the techniques that she now applies to her clients’ spaces.