NYSID alumna Peti Lau ’09 (AAS) is the owner and principal of Peti Lau Inc., based in Los Angeles, California. A former opera singer who has lived all over the world, Lau garnered attention on the recent season of HGTV’s Design Star Next Gen. Her signature style, which she calls AristoFreak™, is globalist, romantic, elegant, eclectic, and entirely her own. Lau accumulated the experience that frees her to be daring by working at multiple design firms, including Cullman & Kravis, Jeff Lincoln, Huniford Design Studio, and iCrave. Her designs have been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Wall Street Journal Off Duty, Apartment Therapy, and NYC&G. 

A Fearless Mix of Patterns

Peti Lau designed this dining room, in a home set in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, for Alex Pall, half of the Grammy Award-winning DJ duo The Chainsmokers. Lau used to be an opera singer and she still thinks like a musician. She says, “A chord consists of three notes: base, medium, and high. I apply a similar principle to my designs in regards to how I pattern-mix with proportion and scale. I like to have three ‘notes’ of a pattern: small, medium, and large. This is how I create harmony between many eclectic elements in a space.” This technique lends her rooms unity and has made her fearless about combining eras and styles, for example, the juxtaposition of a contemporary crystal chandelier and a cheeky 1980s rainbow neon sign. Pall is an avid contemporary art collector, and Lau designed the interior of this home to show off his collection. Lau says, “I thought about the conversations between different artists and musicians that would take place at Alex’s table. I wanted the space to spark conversation.”

1. The black credenza from J Alexander Furniture has bronze disks that create a pattern of circles in combination with the tiny globes of the fierce-looking paperweight and the medium globes of the ’60s black and white lamp that both sit atop it. 

   2. Photo by Alex Prager, whom Lau calls, “Cindy Sherman for a new generation.” 

   3. Eighties vintage rainbow neon sign from Pasadena Antique & Design. 

   4. The black Nero Marquina marble accessories, such as the vase, add opulence. 

   5. These brass chairs have Holland & Sherry velvet on the seat and Edelman’s hair on hide on the back. The vermilion color evokes rock and roll, sexiness, and abundance. 

   6. Limited edition rug from the LA street artist RETNA picks up the pattern in the Kelly Wearstler Channels wallpaper and the zigzag of the neon sign.