The Interior Design Business

In March 2020, hotel design was booming. There were 6,860 luxury hotels in the construction pipeline in Europe alone, containing a planned number of 1,516,493 new guest rooms. The sector was experiencing unprecedented global expansion and new groups of customers with new requirements were emerging. And, then, along came COVID-19... How have hotel designers dealt with the challenges they've faced i...

As awareness of the crisis facing our planet grows, more and more interior suppliers are making environmentally friendly claims for their products to increase their sales; but working out who to believe can be a minefield for designers. Greenwash, defined as behaviour or activities that mislead people into believing that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it actually is, is ri...

This year, Decorex, Europe’s leading event for interior design professionals, transitions from a live event to an all-virtual format show. Decorex Virtual 2020 will bring the industry together from 17th to 19th November and, in this epsiode, we explore one of the exciting, immersive features of the event, The Great Escapes. We talk to Sam Fisher, Event Director of Decorex, about how this new featu...

In this show, co-presenter Susie Rumbold, Creative Director of Tessuto Interiors, and our special guest, Julia Alexander of Julia Alexander Interiors talk us through that significant first step for a designer in any client relationship, taking the brief. The success or failure of every project lies in their ability to extract an accurate brief from their clients. It sounds straightforward enough,...

Tricia Guild OBE is the creative force of Designers Guild and has been at the forefront of interior design since starting the company in 1970. Internationally renowned for her passion for colour, pattern and texture as well as her signature lifestyle brand and books, Tricia has built a formidable reputation for her dynamic and innovative collections and is instantly recognisable for her unique and...

What can we expect from the international design show, Decorex, when it opens this November? In our latest episode, we talk to Event Director, Sam Fisher, about the challenges facing exhibition organisers, what the long-term future looks like and how a virtual Decorex will offer business opportunity for interior designers and brands. This episode is supported by Decorex and is a Wildwood productio...

Never before in the history of the modern family have homes been under such intense pressure as they have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Residential properties that would have been mostly empty during weekdays and only fully occupied during sleeping hours have suddenly had to do double duty as office, school, and gym, putting enormous strain on occupants as they compete for the s...

The recent horrific killing of George Floyd in the US and the worldwide protests that followed have sparked a long overdue discussion in the UK about the lack of opportunities afforded to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in every aspect of their lives, including their careers. How difficult is it to be a BAME designer working in the interior design profession today? What are the barriers en...

In this episode, we have invited a distinguished selection of suppliers to share their thoughts with us on the COVID-19 crisis. We find out how their supply chains have been affected by the pandemic and get their predictions for the likely shift in availability of product ranges for interior designers and their clients one year on from today. Between them, they cover a broad range of product types...

We talk to interior designer, Francesca Rowan Plowden who, in trying to find a way to show her appreciation for NHS workers, alighted on a brilliant but simple idea. What if she could bring the interior design and construction communities together to give our NHS heroes the sort of beautiful rooms that would become havens for them from the stresses and fatigue of their daily working lives? The res...

In this second COVID-19 special episode, we look at how interior designers from around the country are surviving the present storm and looking to thrive in a post-pandemic future. We’ve interviewed nine designers, running both large and small practices, for insights into their response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We find out the positives that they're taking from the current situation and the advice...

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has resulted in closed building sites, current projects on pause and a vanishing pipeline of work. Many viable and profitable interior design businesses are facing extinction. Meanwhile, a sometimes-confusing deluge of information on funding and financial support has emerged intended to provide help for small businesses on how they can remain functioning entities unt...

Jeff and Susie are joined by Jane Landino and Helena Lowry from Taylor Howes to discuss interior design for historic buildings. In the UK, we are blessed with a huge stock of incredible old buildings. In fact, around 30% of all our homes were constructed before the year 1910. Many of these properties are quite rightly protected by strict laws designed to preserve their historic features and, at th...

For this show, we’re joined by a very special guest, Sophie Paterson, to dissect the interior designer as brand in front of a select gathering of VIP designers. Interior designers tend to fall into two camps. Those who deliberately avoid having a house style and always try to subjugate their own taste to that of their client’s preferences. And others whose names become firmly associated with a par...

We celebrate our first anniversary with a live audience special where we talk all about colour and interior design. In the company of colour and design consultant, Karen Haller, the author of 'The Little Book of Colour' and Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director of Dulux, Jeff, Susie and our audience of designers learn about colour psychology and its impact on interior design. We ask how colour...

In this special episode, we look at the unethical practice of kick-backs in interior design on the day that the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) launches its Kick Out the Kick-Backs campaign. Susie and Jeff are joined by Katherine Elworthy, COO of the BIID, to find out more about the potential issues that can arise for interior designers and how the Kick Out The Kick-Backs campaign can...

In this episode, we’re joined by May Fawzy from award-winning interior architecture and design firm, MF Design Studio, to explore the impact of activity-based working on office design. Back in the day, the corporate workplace used to be filled with serried rows of employees in battery-style cubicles while bosses resided in spacious paneled offices on the upper floors of the building. Today’s organ...

In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at Decorex 2019, we ask: what makes a happy, healthy home? Back in 1971, an American researcher called Roger Ulrich began tracking the outcomes of patients recovering from routine surgery in a suburban hospital in Pennsylvania. Half of these patients had rooms that overlooked the trees of the adjacent park while the other half had rooms with a...

In this episode, we're looking at design for the Third Age. The term “Third Age” was first coined by British historian, Peter Laslett, in 1987. His theory on positive ageing stated that life consists of Four Ages, with the Third Age being that period immediately after retirement,generally characterised by health, vigour, on-going personal achievement and a positive attitude to life. The truth is t...

More than half of all design projects fall outside of the private residential realm. In the workplace, healthcare, education, hospitality and residential development sectors, interior designers are frequently creating schemes for 'clients' that they never meet. Dean Keyworth, Principal at Armstrong Keyworth and a Past President of the British Institute of Interior Design, is our guest as we explor...

In the latest episode, we’re looking at the relationship between architects and interior designers. Do architects and interior designers get on? And, if not, why not? Some architects are known to dismiss interior designers as mere cushion fluffers whilst interior designers can see architects as patronising at best and bullying at worst. Do these views still hold sway today? Have designers and arch...

We examine the secrets of successful sourcing in another live audience special. Once upon a time, interior designers were only as good as the contents of their “little black book”. Favoured suppliers and specialist tradespeople were jealously guarded secrets. In today’s age of the internet and globalisation, we’re in a different place but one where designers can still add value to their client’s p...

Susie and Jeff are joined by Charles Leon of Leon Black, a Past President of the British Institute of Interior Design, to examine the fee proposal. As a designer, your fee proposal should speak volumes about you, your approach to design and your practice. Typically, it’s the first piece of written information that your client will ever receive from you. It should showcase your professionalism and...

In our first ever show recorded in front of a live audience, we examine social media for professional interior designers. Interior designer, Simone Suss, founder and CEO of London-based practice, Studio Suss (17.8K followers on Instagram), together with well-known interiors influencer and the uncontested queen of colour, Sophie Robinson (78.4K followers on Instagram), join us to share their secret...

We're in Manchester to explore the chemistry between interior designers and private residential clients. It can be hugely satisfying and fun to work on private residential projects. Indeed, interior designers can have a massively positive impact on the lives of clients and their families. All designers dream of working for delighted, grateful, non-quibbling, fee-paying, private clients, but, in re...