Interior Designer: Mia Carta Design

“What is better than gazing at a wallpapered wall and imagining the story it has to tell?”- Elizabeth Robinson

Photography by KateSears Styling by Basha Burwell

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, interior designer Elizabeth Robinson has always enjoyed creativity, she dabbled in drawing, sculpture, photography, and printmaking during her degree and set up her business Mia Carta Design shortly afterwards, initially focusing on graphic design and specialising in bespoke, engraved letterpress stationery and invitations.

This led to a period as a creative director for a high-end boutique event planner in New England. And soon designing the two-dimensional printed collateral for events also developed into designing elaborate, albeit temporary interior spaces for the events to be held in. This sparked an interest in interiors for Elizabeth, and when combined with her own home renovation, a true passion developed that was enough to make her return to school to study interior design at Parsons in NYC. Upon graduating, Elizabeth then worked as an assistant for a couple of years at a Boston design firm, before relaunching Mia Carta Design in 2018, but this time as an interior design practice.

Not married to one style, Mia Carta Design leans to a more pared back, warm modernism. “I love traditional, classic pieces and antiques, particularly when combined with modern elements and with a focus on contrast and colour,” says Elizabeth. She prioritises the negative spaces in a scheme, loving the drama of the blank areas unoccupied by furniture, art, or accessories and allowing key details to be the focal point of a room.

Photography KateSears Styling by Basha Burwell

Elizabeth will often ask her clients about their favourite pieces of art, or a favourite restaurant, hotel, or other space before she begins to envision the design’s mood. “It is most important to me that I channel, and amplify, my client’s personality and preferences to create unique spaces that feel entirely authentic to them, as well as seeking inspiration and direction from the envelope of the physical space,” she says. “Most of all, I always strive to create comfortable environments that feel liveable and provide a design to my clients that is not static but can grow as they continue to add their own touches.”

Often turning to museums and travel as well as historic spaces as inspiration for her work, Elizabeth has a particular affinity and affection for working with wallpaper and hand blocked textiles in interior spaces. “I have always loved paper and printmaking, my background in studying colour, composition and art history always informs my interior design work. Art precedents often appear on my initial mood boards and design schemes.”

Elizabeth Robinson of Mia Carta Design. Photography by Pammy Willis

Elizabeth is drawn to patterns that have a bit of a narrative or “storytelling” aspect to them when she is choosing a fabric of paper for a project. “What’s better than gazing at a wallpapered wall and imagining the story it has to tell? When I was little, my family lived in an antique farmhouse in upstate New York, where my bedroom had a primitive painted mural. I can still envision that mural and the hours I spent imagining stories about the characters. I’m also drawn to a hand-made quality in wallpaper and textiles, whether it be how the material was designed or how it was printed. This ties into my love of materials and creating, taking me back to my days of working in the printmaking studio as an art student,” she says.

When looking for a wallpaper for this child’s bedroom Elizabeth chose Seascape at Solstice Wallpaper. “I find it to be so charming due to the hand-drawn markings and its delicate and serene nature. I love that this pattern adds a quiet narrative to a room with its gentle waves. The soft colour palette recedes in the room, coexisting beautifully with the other furnishings, and keeps a potentially Gestalt-creating pattern from being too visually active. It was the perfect wallpaper for this light and airy little girl’s room. She loves it, which is the most important thing,” she says.

 “I find designing spaces for children to be so liberating and fun! Clients are generally more adventurous with colour and pattern, and I love the challenge of developing a design scheme that will grow with them. If anything, we should all try to channel that light-heartedness and creativity that comes from designing a child’s room and bring it to the rest of our homes,” says Elizabeth.

 To see more interiors by Mia Carta Design see the website here or behind the scenes and inspiration on Instagram.

Elizabeth used Seascape at Solstice Wallpaper