Today we’d like to introduce you to Bya Patzner.
Hi Bya, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Brazil and moved to England as a teenager, and that’s where my love for architecture and design began. Funny enough, I first trained to be a teacher and earned an RSA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge. When I later decided to pursue architecture, the entrance exams leaned heavily on physics, which was never my strength. So I enrolled in a newer program at the time called Interior Design and earned the equivalent of an associate degree in Interior Architecture in Brazil. I loved it from day one, and I’ve been studying everything I can about interior architecture ever since.
The real turning point came when I met my husband of 25 years. He worked for Ashley Furniture Industries, and through that world I moved out of education and into design. I started in sourcing across Asia, then designed and decorated Ashley’s showrooms for its international trade fairs. From there, I opened my own design studio in Shanghai. When our family moved to Shenzhen, I spent seven years helping the expatriate community live better: finding the right apartments and remodeling them so they felt closer to home.
When we repatriated to Utah in June 2019, I knew my niche was residential transformation, and I saw an untapped market in high-end remodels. I began by offering design and décor to real estate investors, which let me build a trusted team of subcontractors, and then moved into remodeling full-time. Today, as the founder of Bya Interiors Design & Build and a licensed B100 general contractor, I’ve completed more than 40 remodels since 2020. My work includes The Hygge House, the only remodel ever featured in the Park City Showcase of Homes, and my own home, Elysium at Gracey Lane, which won the Judges’ Awards for Sustainability and Best Interior in the 2025 Salt Lake City Parade of Homes.
I specialize in turning ordinary, tired homes in great locations into extraordinary ones. My design DNA is rooted in my Brazilian upbringing and shaped by my years in Europe and Asia; I’ve lived and worked in seven countries on four continents. I love modern, organic, and eclectic design, with natural materials, a touch of wabi-sabi imperfection, and pieces that tell a story, while respecting how people in Utah actually live. My creativity has no boundaries, but my budgets do: I design homes that look expensive without costing a fortune.
Looking back, every detour led me exactly where I was meant to be. The teacher in me still loves guiding clients through the process; the sourcing years taught me where beautiful materials come from, and living abroad taught me that a home is more than four walls. It is where we feel we belong. Utah is that place for my family now, and it is a privilege to help others feel the same way about theirs. My goal is simple: to leave every home, and every person who lives in it, better than I found them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all, and I think any honest small business owner will tell you the same. When you own a small business, you are in the sales department, marketing, accounting, procurement, design, and customer service, all in one. You work harder than any employee in any of those roles, and you do it without a legal department to call or a team of specialists behind you. Yet the laws and regulations that apply to large corporations apply to you just the same. You do what you believe is right, but you don’t know what you don’t know, and some of those lessons come at a very high price.
My husband calls it the school of hard knocks, followed by “the cost of doing business.” I’ve learned that the cost of doing business can be steep, and not just financially. There have been sleepless nights and moments that tested my endurance, my patience, and my optimism.
I like to think of it this way: running a business in America is like swimming with sharks. Not every shark has teeth, and not everyone is out to bite you. But some will, and you may lose a little along the way. The most important lesson I’ve learned is to recognize the teeth early and plan for the bite through better contracts, clearer communication, good advisors, and documenting everything.
And still, I love America for exactly this. It isn’t perfect, but it gives anyone with grit the chance to get in the water. If you persevere, you come out on the other side stronger, into calmer waters where you can rebuild your strength before the next test. Every challenge has made me wiser and better at everything I do. I started this journey as a cat, and these experiences turned me into a lion.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m the founder, principal designer, and builder behind Bya Interiors Design & Build. I transform ordinary, tired homes into sophisticated custom spaces, from a single-room makeover to a complete top-to-bottom renovation. I work with private homeowners and real estate investors, and I also style boutique commercial spaces. My services cover the whole journey: design consultation, space planning, construction drawings, furniture and décor curation, construction management, and final styling.
I’m known for transformations, the kind where people walk in and can’t believe it’s the same house. My style is organic modern with an eclectic, global soul. I favor natural materials, subtle asymmetry, and intentional splashes of color, and I’m inspired by wabi-sabi, the beauty of the imperfect. You’ll often find a hand-chiseled stone fireplace, a reclaimed brick wall, a Persian rug or an Asian antique in my projects. In The Fairway House, I matched a slab of Brazilian Fantasy Carnaubas quartzite at the center so the veining flows over the island’s waterfall edge like a river. In Crista da Montanha, I designed a Crema Marfil fireplace with a deliberately broken firebox opening. Those details are my signature: humble materials turned into something extraordinary.
What I’m most proud of is Elysium at Gracey Lane, my own home. I reimagined a 1993 rambler into a 6,300-square-foot organic modern home for multigenerational living, with Shou Sugi Ban accents, a living plant wall, a water-wise garden, and views of Lone Peak. It earned the Judges’ Awards for Sustainability and Best Interior in the 2025 Salt Lake City Parade of Homes. I’m equally proud of The Hygge House in Park City, the only remodel ever featured in the Park City Showcase of Homes. But honestly, my proudest moments are the quieter ones, when a client walks into their finished home and feels it was made just for them.
What sets me apart is that I am both the designer and the builder. As a Utah B100 licensed general contractor, I lead every project personally, from the first sketch to the final styling. Nothing gets lost between designer and contractor, because they are the same person. My clients get one point of contact, transparent costing, and clear milestones, backed by a trusted network of trades and artisan suppliers. And after 25 years of designing across seven countries, I bring a rare knowledge of historic textiles, antique sourcing, and artisan craftsmanship into Utah homes, always designed for how people here actually live.
Beyond the work itself, I’m a collaborator at heart. I believe in community over competition, and networking is my real powerhouse. I serve on the boards of the Salt Lake Home Builders Association, the Salt Lake Real Estate Investors Association, and the AREAA Salt Lake City Chapter. My way of giving back is to share what I know freely, whether that’s organizing educational events, leading tours of local projects, or teaching realtors what makes a home sell. I genuinely love to see others win, even when the win isn’t mine. Every time I give, I receive something too: a new friendship, a stronger community, and people I know would show up for me if I ever needed them. Knowing that I’ve made someone’s day, home, or business a little better is what fuels me every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
To me, luck is the ability to recognize an opportunity and not let it pass you by.
The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was believing in love. I met my husband in Brazil when he was working there for Ashley Furniture. On paper, the odds weren’t in our favor. He lived in Brazil for less than two years before relocating to the U.S. I was divorced with a young child, and I had no plans to become a globetrotter. Yet I followed him and spent almost 20 years as a trailing spouse, moving from country to country. I gave that love my all, and I don’t regret it for a second, even with the sacrifices that came with it. So, was I lucky? Absolutely. But I also trusted my gut, and I’ve worked hard every day since to nurture what we have. We see so many couples fall out of love, and we often wish we could share our story. Every couple faces battles. What matters is how you face them together: learning, growing, and always lifting each other up.
Business is no different. You can only regret what you never tried, and I have tried it all. I’m creative to a fault, and maybe I should have taken on less. But letting an opportunity pass without ever knowing where it might lead would bother me far more than trying and finding out. Every venture, the ones that soared and the ones that didn’t, taught me something I couldn’t have learned any other way. Those lessons became the foundation I build on today. I would rather live with a few scars than with a single “what if.”
I also believe the universe listens. I believe in the power of the subconscious, and I truly feel we carve our own fate. I practice gratitude every day. I talk to myself with kindness, filling my mind with positivity and offering myself the same empathy I’d give a friend when I need it most. Serving my community feeds that too; it fuels my need to fix things and make them better.
So yes, I know I’m lucky, and I recognize the lucky strikes when they come. But I also know that many of them weren’t accidents. I helped create the good moments through hard work, faith and saying yes, just as I’ve had a hand in some of the hard ones. I’ve stopped seeing luck as something that simply happens to us. It’s something we meet halfway. Luck finds you when you are prepared, open-hearted, and brave enough to say yes, and then you work every day to deserve it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.byapatzner.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byainteriors/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bya.patzner.7
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/byapatzner/
