DESIGNED FOR LIVING

Poonam Mehta. Co-Founder of Poonam Akash design studio, finds poetry in imperfection, with an innate sense of self. She shares her approach and storytelling through interior design

- 

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” Coco Chanel’s words shaped Poonam Mehta’s life, long before she entered the world of interior design. For her, beauty has never been synonymous with perfection — it has always been about honesty. After a life-altering accident, her relationship with her body and identity shifted. Through design, she found her way back to herself. In the fall of fabric, the interplay of texture and tone, the quiet ritual of dressing with intention, she rediscovered rhythm. These seemingly menial, instinctive gestures became a way of being.

“In hindsight,” she says, “it was also my first encounter with design.”