Clara Sharma is a French interior designer and sustainability expert based in New York City. Specialized in sustainable living and organizational design, she has dedicated her career and personal life to Human Rights and the environment for the last couple of years. After turning for a more minimalistic and sustainable lifestyle, she now raises awareness around consumerism through her work as an interior designer and is a proud advocate of minimalism in every way.
© Alice Prenat – Portrait Madame
Quite impressed by her path and her commitment, we had a chance to have a very interesting chat with Clara Sharma to understand more where it all comes from. Her background as a lawyer might explain her strong will to make things change for the best and to help people grow and expand in their life. Indeed, after studying International Law and Human Rights in France, she pursued her career in NYC and completed a Masters in Human Rights at Fordham University, School of Law, with a major in CSR. She focused her work in the fashion industry. Fond of fashion herself she quickly realized how devastating for the environment and Human Rights this industry is. This was the first trigger and from that she decided to change her habits and educate others through Iconable, her first company founded in 2017 and dedicated to sustainable fashion. The passion around this kind of topic kept growing and Clara realized that she could actually serve a greater purpose, and decided to expand her mission beyond fashion. Over-consumption in general and waste are a real problem and impact the majority of industries. She thus took a step back and reflected on how she could educate people on these issues and teach them means to have a positive impact on our planet and upgrade their life by buying less. Her innate talent for creating peaceful and elegant interior design combining unique fabrics and timeless creations led her to transform one of her friend’s interior keeping in mind her motto “Living better with less”. That was the start of Clara Sharma’s interior design studio that she founded in 2019.
“When you simplify your life, you elevate it.”
For Clara Sharma it is all a matter of 3 main steps towards a clean and sustainable space: de-cluttering, organization and minimalism. People are very receptive, her agenda for the next couple of months is full with interior projects and she is regularly invited to speak at conferences and to offer insights at a growing base of consumers willing to make a change. She is indeed dedicated to the educational aspect of her job; “Consumers are the key to change, they have the power to determine the future of sustainable development”. Although she acknowledges how difficult it can be sometimes for consumers to distinguish between green washing, hidden scandals and true sustainable initiatives, she advises them to adopt a minimalistic lifestyle and reduce their consumption as a solution. The key is to focus on the quality of the purchases by buying lasting second-hand pieces, timeless creations, artisans’products etc., and get rid of the unnecessary amount of goods you own to simplify your space. “ Everything in its place and a place for everything”. Once this message is understood by her clients, Clara Sharma fades in the background and let her customers grow and develop with this new mindset. She insists they often become the best advocates of this cause and always pass on the message around them.
“Consumers are the key to change, they have the power to determine the future of sustainable development”
Driven by minimalist interiors and clear spaces Clara draws inspirations from French designers such as Pierre Paulin or Joseph Dirand. Her curious spirit absorbs countless of color palettes, textures and shapes that she encounters through her travels.