I first heard of Anishka Clarke when I was reading the book In the Company of Women, a series of interviews of more than 100 women bosses in creative fields written by Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge. Her story struck me: she had made a career in finance before deciding a little later in life that she wanted to completely pivot toward a career doing what she really loved. After studying and starting a career in interior design, Anishka, along with business partner Niya Bascom, founded Ishka Designs and they are the subject of this month’s Designer Spotlight.

The more I read about them, the more I wonder how many times we may have crossed paths and how many opportunities I could have had to be friends with them! Their office is in the Brooklyn neighborhood where Daniel and I used to live and their firm designed a restaurant in Brooklyn where I had the best, most inventive pasta carbonara that I’ve ever had and have been dreaming about ever since.

I may have only fairly recently learned of Ishka Designs, but they have been taking the design world by storm. Ishka Designs was listed as a “Next Big Name” in Design by Lonny magazine in 2014. For four years in a row up to 2015, they were listed as a Top 20 African-American interior design firm.  Their work has been featured in numerous publications, including a Brooklyn day-care center that I think features one of my favorite rooms ever. You can read more about that project here.

Their use of color – see those blue and white cubby holes below? They make me happy! – and blank space is unique and I think very hard to do. The color speaks but so does the quiet space. Each gets its own room to breathe. That is why I admire their work so much. I don’t regularly see such a strong balance in other people’s work.

Lonny magazine described their style as “organically inspired, with a wide-open color palette and a style that favors clean lines and one-of-a-kind accents.” The way that they embrace color AND minimalism is design goals for me. They did a project for Delta Faucet for The Cut and explain their aesthetic more, which you can see here.

I wish I had the opportunity to interview them myself, but here is a good interview on Design*Sponge about their business. To learn more about their work and see their portfolio, check out IshkaDesigns.com.

And to read last month’s Designer Spotlight and interview with Liz Kamarul, click here.