17th March 2022 | IN INTERVIEWS | BY SBID ShareTweetPinterestLinkedIn In this week’s interview with 2021 SBID Awards winners of the Restaurant Design category, design command share their tips on designing hospitality interiors with user experience in mind and talk about using natural materials in interior design projects. SBID Awards Category: Restaurant Design Practice: design command Entry: Mickeys Beach Bar and Restaurant How important is it to enter the SBID Awards & receive industry recognition for your work? What are the benefits? Extremely important for us as an Interior Design Company that mainly specialise in hospitality design. To receive the recognition after the difficult years or 2020 and 2021 is an amazing achievement. Being recognised by SBID Awards introduces you to new contacts and you feel like part of a hospitality family. What do you think made this particular design an award winner? We didn’t follow current trends and mainly focused on reflecting the amazing views and this was the inspiration for all ff&e selections and the colour palette. We think this made this restaurant’s interior design unique. When working on a hospitality project, how do you incorporate the end user’s experience into the overall vision and functionality of the interior? The Interior has to be both captivating and a comfortable place to dine. Equally important is how it works operationally for staff as they use the space on a daily basis and we want to have an interior that they are proud to showcase. Do you often work with natural or unconventional materials, such as stone, rope, reclaimed timber? What made you choose these materials, and are there any particular considerations when working with them? We like to work with natural materials on most of our projects as we find they add more contrast and interest overall, whilst also being environmentally friendly. We wanted to reflect the coast and surroundings as much as possible and chose a range natural materials to express this throughout. When choosing these materials it is important that you apply them to the correct areas within the space. Now that you’ve won an SBID Award, what are the next steps? Is there anything new you are excited to be working on? It was a big surprise and we are still taking it all in and looking forward to new opportunities in hospitality design for 2022. We are looking forward to working on new restaurant and hotel designs. I began my career in hotel design and am excited to bring that passion full circle. What advice can you give to young designers starting out in the design industry? Always believe in yourself and no matter how much experience you have never dismiss an idea – it could be the best one for that particular project. View the full project Questions answered by Clare McDonald, Founder & Creative Director, design command. Design Command is a multi-award winning London & Hertfordshire based Interior Architecture Studio founded in 2013 by Clare McDonald. Clare brought over 13 years expertise in hotel and restaurant interiors to projects across Europe; designing 5 star hotels and over 50 restaurants, as well as student hotels, high-end residential schemes and boutique offices. Design Command has quickly grown to several designers working on hospitality projects throughout the UK and abroad – offering the experience and flair to realise your design ambitions. Visit Profile Hey! I am first heading line feel free to change meIf you missed last week’s Interview with the Fit Out Contractor of the Year – Residential category winner ALTER EGO Project Group, click here to read it.