Meet Claudia Juestel- an Interior Designer & Galerist and founder of Adeeni Design Group, an interior design firm that operates across countries.
Born and brought up in Austria into a family of artists, musicians and hoteliers, Claudia found herself immersed in the family business at an early age. After graduating with an Honors degree from one of Europe’s finest hospitality management and culinary schools in Salzburg, she moved to San Francisco to earn her BA in Fine Arts. Her interior design career started at Ralph Lauren and continued at a San Francisco hospitality design firm, after which she founded the Adeeni Design Group in 1999 that specializes in bespoke interiors. To date, she has also interviewed prominent architects and designers and has actively written about design and architecture.
During her initial years of growing up, Claudia has always been creative and liked to run out into the woods and play with her friends. A naturally- gifted artist, one would always find her drawing something or the other on paper but that’s not all- she also had to help out in the family business. Life was good for her in a beautiful place like Salzburg.
Helping her parents run the family business, blessed her with an entrepreneurial spirit. When she started working, she would always look forward to working with small businesses in hospitality, retail and design, while completing tenure at Ralph Lauren.
After graduating from art school, she decided to venture into interior design as she had so many ideas on a regular basis (little did she know back then that the combination of many of these ideas would lead her to success). After many years of hard work, Claudia opened her own design business called Adeeni Design Group where the idea of doing entirely bespoke interiors to reflect each client’s personality continues to remain the driving force, even today. About what lead her to this venture, she says:
“The idea of going interior design was born out of a realization that as an artist I always need to physically complete a piece before moving on to a new concept. In interior design, I have others realize my ideas. The pleasure of collaborating with talented artists and artisan continues to provide me with great pleasure every day.”
Her interior design firm Adeeni Design Group specializes in high-end residential and commercial interiors in the US, Europe, and Asia. Her projects are known for a sense of timeless warmth which navigates seamlessly between modern and traditional influences. Her team reflects her personalized approach which is highly collaborative and equally creative, resonating as ‘set design for life’- a process that enhances the use of space with elegance, comfort and style. In 2016, Claudia also opened a curated design & art gallery where she offers European Modernist art, décor, furniture, lighting and tabletop, as well as unique boutique brands, her own private label line and art and designs by local artists.
However, it took her a lot of challenges to overcome to reach where she is today- “When starting an interior design business, you don’t have a portfolio. It takes some time to show what you can do. Also initially, I did not have staff. I had to do everything myself- whether design, purchasing, marketing, or bookkeeping. Learning to wear many hats at the very beginning now makes it easier for me to supervise my employees,” she says.
Present challenges that Claudia is determined to work upon involve the confusion amongst consumers about real design or design as a commodity and understanding the value of hiring a professional with experience versus those who just pop up on the scene.
But none of these struggles has affected her business- today she has a loyal clientele, regularly features in shelter magazines and receives design awards for her work.
So what’s her mantra that has given her the power to envision her own success?
“Always buy the best you can afford and have patience. A good design is worth saving up for and truly worth the wait,” she says.