HiP Awards > People > Designer: HiP Hospitality Rising Star

Photo: Credit Adean Studios

Alexa Nafisi-Movaghar brings nearly 15 years of industry experience to her present design practice as the founder of Adean Studios. Nafisi-Movaghar began her professional career at Otto Walker Architects in her hometown of Park City, Utah. While pursuing Interior Design at the Academy of Art Institute in San Francisco, she furthered her knowledge at Studio Volpe but her focus on hotels and restaurants truly began when she joined the team at the award-winning AvroKO. While at AvroKO, Nafisi-Movaghar managed hospitality projects around the world from the U.S. to Mexico to Abu Dhabi including San Francisco’s Dropbox headquarters, New York’s Quality Bistro, Scottsdale’s The Scott Resort and Spa and Riviera Maya’s Unico 2087. After relocating to New York and spending another year with AvroKO, she joined Soho House where she focused on revitalizing existing Soho House locations and designing new Houses being launched in North America, including Soho House Austin and Soho House Nashville. In 2019, Nafisi-Movaghar founded Adean Studios in her West Village apartment. Since that time, she’s relocated to San Francisco while establishing a global clientele for the firm. Following its inception, Adean Studios has left its mark on many notable hospitality concepts including Flagstaff’s 200-room High Country Motor Lodge, LA’s modern Mexican restaurant Mírate in the city’s Los Feliz neighborhood and Mediterranean-influenced Bacari in Beverly Hills and Atlanta’s famed Barcelona-inspired tapas bar and restaurant Boqueria while gaining recognition in such design publications as Dezeen, Hospitality Design and Wallpaper.