Florida Interior Designers

Designers from Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale are profiled.

Lori Capullo | 5/10/2012

The Morocco room at Casa Casuarina (the former Versace house) on South Beach was designed by Katia Bates. [Photo: Robert Brantley]

Katia Bates
Innovative Creations Interior Design - Fort Lauderdale

[Photo: Craig Denis]

Venetian-born Katia Bates loves to travel and share the benefits with her clients. In addition to the vacations she takes with her husband and partner, Tom Bates, she makes at least two buying trips every year. "In April we go to Milan and in September to the South of France for the antiques shows."

Ironworks: "One of the things we buy a lot of is iron, so we can modify it and make it into things like door handles according to what the client wants."

A touch of glass: Bates designed a chandelier of Murano glass from her hometown; the creation, called "Dilemma," was so popular that she has just designed a second called "Piano Nobile," named after the largest and most decorated floor where hosts entertain in the mansions of Venice.

Cool coincidence: "Several years ago, we took a trip to Morocco and bought a lot of opium beds and carpets and antiques. We put them in our warehouse, and within a month we were asked to do the interiors of Casa Casuarina, Gianni Versace's old house on South Beach. The new owner wanted a Morocco room, so we had the perfect items right there in storage."

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