Design Diligence

To be as successful and helpful as possible, Bridgehampton-based designer Roxane Mosleh took the time to learn the nuts and bolts of her business. Along with a degree in interior design at the SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, Mosleh also holds a real estate license and is an agent with Saunders. Behind her formal education, meanwhile, is a family background in investing and construction. “There are so many interior designers that don’t know one thing about construction, they furnish and only furnish,” she says. Mosleh, on the other hand, offers a financial appraisal of a home before diving into a project. “I am able to assess a property’s value and work with a client on home improvement with my knowledge of materials and construction,” she explains. 

This comes in handy when, for example, a homeowner wants to change out their flooring, a job that seems simple, with a decision between wood and tile, but gets complicated when the new floor height prevents a door from opening. “Anytime you change the surface area of a home it is going to impact another area of the home, so hiring an interior designer who doesn’t understand construction could be disastrous,” Mosleh says. 

To further bolster her roster of services, she sometimes works with a team of contracting professionals, often including architect Christopher Caruso, formerly of the firm Barnes Coy who now works independently in the Hamptons and South Florida. This allows Mosleh to assess the full scale of a project, whether it’s ground-up construction or a renovation. 

In her recent portfolio is a new pool house in Southampton, along with the restoration of a 1980s home from architect Ralph Kast on Shelter Island – a particularly extensive undertaking, Mosleh noted. “It could have been a new-build, there was not one surface that we didn’t touch,” she says. The house, which was not ready to be photographed as of press time, will now have a steel roof, contemporary Italianesque interiors, a lacquer kitchen and glass details in its stairwell. 

When it comes to her design aesthetic, Mosleh is proud of her college training and says she often uses her knowledge of art history and the iconic painters and sculptors in her work. “Interior design in my opinion,” she says, “is something that should be formally studied.” 

Among her other sources of inspiration are her travels to places like Europe, India and Greece. Having a penchant for Italian textiles, she particularly favors Venice and Como, where she has toured factories for brands like Arclinea kitchens and Poliform furniture. 

When she first moved to the Hamptons in 2010, Mosleh and her husband opened the first U.S. retail store exclusively for the Italian furnishing brand Missoni Home. The couple then opened Pomme New York, featuring a curated collection of brands including Missoni Home. Though they eventually closed the stores to focus on other ventures, “to this day I continue to specify and sell this collection to my clients,” Mosleh says. “Not many textile lines are quite as elaborate in color, engineering and design.” 

That being said, each of Mosleh’s projects is unique, she notes, as they are based on her clients’ wishes over her own. She personally loves modern design, but if a customer requests a more traditional aesthetic, that is what she delivers. Thanks to her degree in design and extensive knowledge of vendors from around the globe, Mosleh assures she can make just about anything happen. “It’s a matter of getting to know your client and listening,” she says. “There are so many people who can talk and who can sell, but if you’re not listening you’re not going to deliver.”