How Ligia Cisneros Turned Weekend Design Jobs Into a Studio She Owns Equally

Ligia Cisneros is an interior designer in Miami, Florida, and one of the two owners and principal designers of No. 9 Studio, the residential and commercial design firm she runs with Anasofia Guardia. The studio celebrated its first year in 2026. The path there ran through a decade of other people's companies and a long stretch of side work.

A decade inside the industry first

Cisneros studied interior design at SCAD and brings more than 13 years across interior design and the furniture industry. She was an interior designer at Perkins&Will in Miami, then more than six years as an interior designer and sales representative at Clima Home, then more than two at Elemento Living, a luxury outdoor design studio in Miami Beach. At Perkins&Will she was on the team for the Cisneros Group's Miami headquarters.

Those years became the studio's first asset. Clima Home, her employer for six years, later hired No. 9 Studio to design its Royal Botania showroom in Miami.

Side work, then a company

Cisneros and Guardia met as colleagues in the luxury furniture business. The two began taking projects on the side, mostly through referrals, working early mornings, late nights and weekends. When the work kept coming, they formalized it as a company they own 50/50.

A name and a method

The name comes from 999, the angel number of completion and transformation. The method is to have no house look: each project follows the client, the space and the story, from playrooms and a 94-square-foot cabana bathroom in a Pinecrest family home to a new-construction custom home with The Arko Group and pool decks in Miami Beach and Brickell. Cisneros's own taste runs bold, sculptural and colorful.

What year two looks like

In 2026 the partners moved into a new studio, and a custom luxury home, the Green Residence, is due in 2027. The five-year goal is full turnkey projects, where the studio delivers a finished home from drawings to the last towel.

The lesson worth keeping

A side business with a friend works best when you treat it like a company early. These two proved the demand with referral work on the side, then set ownership in writing, 50/50, while the studio was still small.

Quick answers

Who is Ligia Cisneros?

Ligia Cisneros is an interior designer in Miami, Florida, and co-owner and principal designer of No. 9 Studio, with more than 13 years in interior design and the furniture industry.

Who owns No. 9 Studio?

Ligia Cisneros and Anasofia Guardia, who own it 50/50.

How did No. 9 Studio start?

As side work: the two designers took projects through referrals on early mornings, late nights and weekends, then formalized the studio as a company. It turned one year old in 2026.