I'm Lisa, the designer behind Lisa Kanova, an artisan pattern studio based in Miami, Florida. I've always believed that design is more than décor. The spaces we inhabit have the power to transform us — and everything we feel inside them. I knew this early on. A room wasn't just a room to me. It was a feeling. 

Then for a while, I went silent. I retreated into monochrome. White walls, no pattern, no color. It was a shelter that asked nothing of me; and for a period of time, I needed that. 

My return began with a single 24 x 36 canvas. Vivid and bold. It made me nervous to even bring it into my space. But when I hung it for the first time, something shifted. An odd sense of being restored. That canvas had all three — color, pattern, and scale — and it changed everything. 

I realized then that I hadn't just been living without color. I had been living in safety. When you lose something that once made you happy, the things that used to bring you joy can feel like a reminder of everything you no longer have. Muting my surroundings was how I protected myself. Hanging that canvas was the first time in a long time I felt something close to hope — and a quiet pride that I had healed enough to feel again. 

I spent years in real estate, and what I witnessed there only deepened the belief that our atmosphere holds so much power. Buyers would walk into a perfectly sized, perfectly located house — and walk right back out. Not because of the square footage or the school district. Because of how it felt. They couldn't always name it. But they knew. 

That knowledge never left me. And the longer I designed, the more I saw it everywhere. 

Many years ago my daughter and I were out shopping when we stopped in front of the simplest thing — a small beautifully-shaped white vase with a single red flower. We both said it at the same moment. This just makes me happy. No explanation needed. Just that immediate, undeniable response to a space, an object, a moment of beauty. I still have that vase. 

And right now, my son is a Marine. If you know anything about military barracks, you know they are not designed for personal expression. But he threw himself into making his space his own — selecting art, arranging, pulling it together with intention. His sergeants understood and even told the unit to make their spaces their own. He has my gene, and it makes me smile every time I think about it. Even the United States Marine Corps understands what I have known my whole life; that how we inhabit a space shapes our mood, affects our energy and can bring us unexpected joy. 

I design with that same intention. Every piece in my studio carries at least one: a color that stops you, a pattern that pulls you in, a scale that commands the room. Sometimes all three. 

That is my signature, and this is why I design for impact. 

If you have ever found yourself drawn to a room that felt alive, or stood in a space that made you feel something you couldn't quite name — you can relate to my story and hopefully enjoy my desire to curate spaces that inspire.  

Lisa Kanova is for the person who knows that what surrounds them matters. That design is not decorative. It is essential.