Anna Orfanides of Anna O Design blends creativity with experience to create standout styles.The modern glass staircase in Newburyport PHOTO BY: TAMARA FLANAGAN, MARINA PORLThe modern glass staircase in Newburyport

The sun-splashed living room. PHOTO BY: TAMARA FLANAGAN, MARINA PORL
The sun-splashed living room

From formative years spent in Greece and Europe, Anna Orfanides (annaodesign.com) brings not only a unique eye to her projects but a tenacity born from learning to fit in as an outsider. She moved from the United States to Greece when she was 12, barely proficient in the language. She and her Greek parents settled on their ancestral island of Chios. “The first years were very difficult and there were points where I wanted to give up,” she says. But she persevered, graduated and went on to study interior architecture and design in Athens. “I would find myself walking around mesmerized by the structures of neoclassic buildings and studying them, sketching them,” she says. Afterward, Orfanides designed for distinguished European brands before moving back to the Boston area and going out on her own in 2013. “Having not gone through what I did as a child, I wouldn’t have the tenacity to start a business and build it from the ground up,” she says.

Anna Orfanides PHOTO BY: TAMARA FLANAGAN, MARINA PORL
Anna Orfanides

Although she’s built her brand stateside, Orfanides’ Greek heritage continues to inform her work. Her father was an artist and a musician, from a long line of artists and she credits his lineage for her creativity. Her favorite design style is contemporary with clean lines but as a designer she allows her client’s aesthetic to shine. “It’s important to me to get to know the clients intimately, really sit down with them and ask all of the right questions and have them talk and share. I’m not there to promote my vision,” says Orfanides. She also maintains transparency throughout every project relying on open and clear communication to set expectations. If the opportunity allows, she will seamlessly infuse modernism in her designs. “I always try to look at things with a fresh approach and see how I can implement my creativity, expertise and knowledge after 20-plus years of doing this,” she says.

One recent example of her signature style is this Newburyport property, which from the exterior looks like a classic coastal New England home. But the interior is transitional, with modern elements blended with traditional ones, like the glass staircase and the furniture. Bridging the gap between what appears to be two very disparate worlds is something this designer knows all too well.