Design & Architecture

The Seret aesthetic is over 50 years in the making.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ira Seret was living and working in Afghanistan, exporting and designing textiles for the New York market, and thus perfectly situated to develop the era's “ethnic chic” style. With the help of mentors Diana Vreeland and Eleanor Lambert, Ira supplied up-and-coming designers of that era—Oscar, Angelo Donghia, Halston and others—with the décor, clothing and art from Central and South Asia that shaped the style of the times.

By combining handmade carpets, silks, clothing, textiles and furnishings with interior design, Ira himself became a trendsetter. His imports—styles worn at the time by The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix—fueled the sheepskin coat craze. Starting with the single purchase of a then unknown rug type in Multan, one of the oldest cities in South Asia, Ira brought the dhurrie rug trend to America via Stark Carpet along with his East End and 87th Street apartment and showroom. This showroom was the genesis of the layered look of carpet, silks and other textiles that became his signature, and what Vreeland said reminded her of Whistler’s Peacock Room. Ira’s ten-year Silk Road adventure inspired a lifetime of entrepreneurship and exchange of artistic ideas, with a mission of bridging East and West through architecture and design. Through this effort, he began to support the livelihoods of a multitude of craftsman and artisans.

What began as collaged furnishings he crafted himself in 1970 began to evolve in the early 1980s, when Ira and his wife Sylvia and their first son, arrived in Santa Fe. By covering furniture made from scratch in their Santa Fe workshop in kilim, carpet, dhurrie and other textiles, one-of-a-kind pieces have remained Ira’s signature style ever since. The aesthetic evolved further by reshaping, or using pieces of architectural elements, to design beds, tables, ceilings and entire installations. His unequalled style has furnished homes, hotels, and theme parks around the world. 

In 1994, Ira and Sylvia bought a cluster of buildings on historic East DeVargas Street, in the oldest continually inhabited neighborhood in the country. The old adobe buildings became a showcase for both Ira’s signature style and Sylvia’s mosaic art, bringing their combined artistry together with masterful sensibility. With each year’s remodel, the design ideas evolved to another level, providing new inspiration for clients at the Seret & Sons shop, just two blocks away on Galisteo Street. Thus began The Inn of The Five Graces, named for the Eastern concept that we are graced with five ways to experience the splendor of the world: sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.

The blending of artisanal pieces with intricate tile mosaics in The Inn’s bathrooms became a hallmark for the Seret aesthetic. A harmonious melange of cultural elements, the sensibilities of the traditional arts of diverse cultures, the bejeweled rooms housed in centuries-old adobe walls—all contribute to the unmatched splendor that makes The Inn so intriguing. Guests often proclaim there is a soothing, subtle energy present from the countless hours of artisans’ handiwork that has gone into each and every room. The Inn is a place where one is invited to leave the mundane behind, embarking on a visual odyssey, a feast for the senses that is hospitality at its very finest.

Bringing the East to the West—and into the spot where the Silk Road meets Old Santa Fe Trail—has become the Seret’s life work.

Learn more about the journey of Ira and Sylvia Seret through this short film about them entitled, "Weaving Destiny".