The Interior Design Business

Interior designers are forever being asked for their opinions on the latest trends in paint colours, kitchen, tiles, furniture styles and so on. And the supposed answers fill the pages of countless glossy style mags and newspapers, encouraging consumers to update their homes. But how should we respond to these questions? As we move away from the throw-away attitude of recent times and journey towa...

Designers rely heavily on contractors to faithfully execute and deliver on their visions for our clients. This reliance can mean that it is often difficult to fully control the finished quality of our projects, a situation that can vary from being merely frustrating to utterly tragic. But is there anything we can do to prevent this? How can designers ensure they have the best-fit contractor for th...

In a world far, far, away from your average night club, cult rapper Stormzy, with a little help from design dynamo Sally Anne McCoy and her friends at the Cream Group, has just opened, House Party, the ultimate party place in a 7-storey building in London’s Soho. But what is the back story to the project? What inspired the team to come up with their wildly original theme and why is it so perfect f...

In this episode, we look ahead to Decorex 2024, Europe’s leading event for interior design professionals, taking place at Olympia London between Sunday 6th October and Wednesday 9th October. Event Director, Sam Fisher and Marketing Manager, Carly Barclay set the scene for this year's show. We also hear from Tim Butcher at Fromental, Shayne Brady at Brady Williams, Jules Haines from The Haines Coll...

There are few UK designers as admired and emulated as Laura Hammett, both for her signature style and for the glamorous international projects in her portfolio. But what is her back story? Has her eponymous company always been so successful? How does she continue to stay one step ahead of the competition? And where is she planning to take her business next? In this episode, Laura joins Jeff and Su...

In this episode, we explore the changing face of workplace design with help from James White, Co-Founder of global interior design powerhouse, MAWD, and May Fawzy, Founder and Creative Director of MF Design Studio and President of the British Institute of Interior Design. What does the post-pandemic, hybrid-working office look like? Can co-working spaces provide a second option to working from hom...

25 years ago, there were only a handful of UK universities where undergraduate students could study interior design. Today there are 53 offering a total of 117 courses, and this does not include the growing number of private schools who also offer interior design degrees.  But are these courses producing well-rounded students, fully equipped and ready to take their place in industry? Is the curren...

How should designers approach the subject of neurodiversity with their clients? How can they accurately assess their client’s needs and, most importantly of all, how should they translate these requirements into their designs? In this episode, Susie and Jeff are joined by specialist inclusive design consultant, Judi Watkinson and dementia specialist, writer and presenter of the definitive Third Ag...

Health and wellness continue to be top priorities in residential design. Interior design that addresses both the mind and the body challenges designers to learn new skills and adapt their design approaches. As part of this evolution, we find out the role that home technology plays in delivering a comfortable, healthier and mood-enhancing lifestyle at home with help from BIID award-winning designer...

Art in all its glorious forms plays a key role within the interior, providing emotional context that can make a person feel comfortable, or not comfortable, within the space. But, in recognising the power of art to transform and complete an interior, how should designers go about preparing their buildings, and their clients, to best showcase these important elements? We’re joined by Julia Bell fro...

Many interior designers want their projects and expertise to be featured within magazines and the interior sections of newspapers but are unsure or unaware of how to present themselves, their projects and their stories to do that. We're joined by Hatta Byng, Editor of House & Garden and Katrina Burroughs, Interiors Editor of The Times and Sunday Times as they share their insights on how the me...

For the super-rich who spend their lives moving between homes in the world’s most glamorous cities, it can be reassuring to buy a property endorsed by a designer brand who they already know and trust. In this episode, Jeff and Susie are joined by Antonio Quesada, MD of design studio Morpheus & Co and Heidi Schmidtke, Managing Director of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group to discover more abou...

When UK employment for women is broken down by sector, construction comes last in the table. Only 14.7% of those employed in the industry are women. This is 32.9 percentage points lower than the national average. At a time of industry-wide skill shortages, this represents a calamitous wasted opportunity both for construction and for women.   So, what are the factors at play that keep women out of...

Throughout the course of her long career, international interior designer and author Kelly Hoppen, CBE, has earned and received every plaudit. Her impact on our industry and the public’s perception of the significance of interior design in their lives cannot be underestimated. She joins us for this latest show alongside Martin Waller, Founder of the Global design brand, Andrew Martin, the internat...

For the UK interior design industry, London acts like a black hole sucking in product, education and designers to the exclusion of everywhere else. Little wonder you might think when, with a population of 9.3 million people, it is more than three times the size of its nearest rival city, Manchester. But is this how it should be and is this situation inevitable? Talented and professional interior d...

In this episode, we preview Decorex 2023, Europe’s leading event for interior design professionals, which opens its doors at Olympia London on Sunday 8 th October running until Wednesday 11 th October. We hear from four of the key figures involved in this year's event.     Listen to Sam Fisher, Event Director at Decorex, alongside Brian Woulfe of Designed by Woulfe, Mark Tremlett of Naturalmat and...

We all want dream projects that will earn us the accolades of our peers and attract new clients. But what makes an award-winning project? What makes it special and worth the significant investment in money, time and effort that it takes to prepare a winning award entry? Find out in our latest episode with Lisa Keates from Keates Interiors as she talks us through her award-winning project from the...

If ‘a picture paints a thousand words’, then surely an interior can tell a thousand stories? Our most beloved interior spaces are grounded in a time and place and speak eloquently of the lives of the people who have inhabited them either now or in the past. But what is the magic essence that makes these much-loved places so special? And how can interior designers recreate this magic in their work?...

Interior designers are a bit like ‘piggy in the middle’. They must be adept at managing client relationships while also managing their supply chains in order to finish on time and deliver the best possible projects. So, how can designers find and retain professional and reliable suppliers? How can they ensure they get early warning when things are going wrong? And is it possible to build a dream s...

Many people would love to have a career in interior design. To get there, some take the conventional route of obtaining an interior design qualification straight out of school and then gain experience within an established design practice before branching out on their own, but many also set up businesses later in life and enjoy a satisfying career having already had a career in another field. Do l...

Sustainability is defined as ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level’. But, given the environmental damage we have already inflicted on our planet, is it sufficient to maintain the status quo at our current degraded level? In other words, is it enough to merely cause no further damage or should we be setting our sights higher with long-term goals to restore the environmental quali...

Buying the services of an interior designer is unlike any other purchase. The client knows they have a project and a set of requirements, they have a budget figure in mind, they know when they want the project to end, and they may know what they like, but beyond that they have no idea what the finished product will be. For most people that is a truly daunting prospect. The answer,of course, is to...

In this episode, we explore ways that designers can sustain and grow their businesses by working smarter not harder in the company of Freeman Studio's, Mathew Freeman, the President of the British Institute of Interior Design and Anna Burles, Creative Director and Founder of Run For The Hills.   It seems the only way designers and architects can achieve the quality results that their clients expec...

Most people walk through the world with their eyes closed, not seeing the beauty or noticing the details that surround them, but this is certainly not true of interior designers. But how can they ensure their work never gets stale? Where should they go to look for fresh inspiration and how do they recognise it when they see it? For this episode, we are lucky enough to be joined by internationally...

Today architects and interior designers work closely together to deliver highly intricate building projects for their clients. How can these design professionals ensure their clients appoint the right people at the right time during their project? And, what steps do architects and designers need to take to achieve a continuity of service to ensure the project runs smoothly? Max de Rosee and Claire...