My Interior Design Manifesto
I firmly believe that the environment in which people live and work impacts their quality of life. A well designed and decorated space helps people live as the best versions of themselves.
In practical terms, if a space isn’t well designed, it can hinder the occupants’ daily activities. Remember that time you rented an apartment and the door of the dishwasher banged against the fridge when you opened it? or when you were leaning over the basin brushing your teeth and you bumped your head on the mirrored wall cupboard? This is irritating in a rental apartment, but when you live with it, day-in day-out you would start changing the way you use the space to avoid these annoyances.
On the other hand, if a space functions well, you don’t have to think about how it works, you just live in it and use it naturally. The space supports and facilitates your daily activities and should be designed to be flexible enough for you to be able to incorporate new activities easily. For example, sufficiently bright ‘task’ lights next to reading chairs and for reading in bed in addition to ambiance lighting. Sufficient counter space in the kitchen near the fridge and cook-top so that you can put bowls and pans down next to them. A chair in bedrooms to facilitate dressing and to drape clothes over so that they don’t end up on the floor. Ample storage space in entrances for coats, shoes, bags and equipment. Incorporating good design features like these makes living in the space fluid and easy.
Once the function of the space has been optimized, specifically for the occupants and their lifestyle, the decorative layer can then be designed. This too can support the occupants in their quest for their best life. Personally, I believe that each of my clients, as an individual person, deserves that the aesthetics of a space be designed specifically for them. To reflect their interests and passions, to bring them joy and delight every day. In order to achieve this, I interview my clients at the beginning of their project to understand fully not only how they need the space to function, but also how they want the space to feel. I find out what they enjoy doing, what brings them pleasure - be it their collection of cookery books and their delight in hosting friends and family, a particular period of history that fascinates them or a specific artist’s work that they travel across the globe to see. This then inspires the furniture and the decorative aspects of the design, right down to the tiny details. It is out of respect for my clients’ individuality that I don’t have a signature, cookie-cutter, one-style-fits-all design aesthetic.
I love presenting the entire design, functional and aesthetic aspects combined, to my clients. Seeing their understanding that I have translated their needs and desires into a physical representation of themselves, on paper at least this stage of the design! And then when they first experience their new home ‘in the flesh’ the delight is palpable!
Let me help you live your best life in Paris by designing your Paris home for you! Let’s Zoom!