A painter at heart, Martha Angus points to art as the driving aesthetic force in her 20-year career as an interior designer. A fascination with color began at an early age, when coloring books were her canvas. She eventually traded crayons for paintbrushes, earning a BFA in painting from Carnegie Mellon and studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she gained a lifelong love of antiques and architecture. Training in restoration at Sotheby’s rounded out her formal education. She counts Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, the Lauder family, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong among her clients worldwide. Whether she’s designing wine-country retreats or urban pieds-a-terre, Angus sees art as the most important feature in a space. Her signature style combines bold and neutral colors, and blends modern art and antiques.