Set to celebrate design excellence for not only the designers of interiors, but also the products that go in them, the SBID Awards now includes the newly launched SBID Product Design Awards, alongside the firmly-established SBID International Design Awards, with 17 diverse interior categories to enter in each programme. By representing all aspects of the interior design industry on an inclusive and international stage, the SBID Awards offers excellent exposure for designs, provides unique networking opportunities, and drives professional standards across the industry.
The deadline to enter is fast approaching with just over a week to go until the SBID Awards officially closes for 2020! Haven’t yet completed your entry, or are still considering why you should be entering the Awards this year? With design talent hailing from almost 50 countries worldwide, a record number of entries received year on year and a staggering 225,000 unique public votes, the Awards program is proud to celebrate the industry’s finest products and interior designs worldwide.
But if that’s not quite enough and you still need more reasons to enter this year’s SBID Awards, we’re sharing the top 5 reasons to submit your entry before it’s too late!
The Awards programme provides the perfect platform for showing the world who you are and showcasing your designs to an international audience, with features on the SBID Awards website and social media pages offering invaluable exposure for your brand and your projects! Not only can it give your own marketing a digital boost, but success in the programme presents a whole host of great PR opportunities to take advantage of!
The SBID Awards three-tier judging procedure ensures that only the best projects reach the next level! All entries are assessed by a technical panel of experts and a judging panel of high-profile figures in the creative industry to ensure each project is considered fairly and independently for its technical content and creative achievement, regardless of the budget! The final tier is the online public vote, receiving 225,000 unique votes – it’s a great way to show off your best work!
Winning only has value if you earned it! Many competitions reel entrants in before hitting them with hidden costs in order to progress. Unlike them, not every SBID Awards entry is awarded a prize and there are no hidden fees, so entrants can’t just buy their way to the top! There is just one Overall Winner and 17 Category Winners.
Achieving a GOLD Standard Awards Trust Mark for ethics and transparency, our T&Cs are transparent so you’ll never be asked to pay for extras. All information is on the website so it’s clear from the start what is involved. This means you can enter with the confidence that only the most talented will go all the way (not the entrants with the deepest pockets!).
The SBID Awards welcome entries from all backgrounds and budgets by keeping entry costs low! SBID Accredited members also receive exclusive entry discounts. This year, the Awards introduced new residential design categories differentiated by price point and property type, so the size or scale of your projects or practice is not a barrier to success! We know it’s the combination of small and large organisations that enriches the interior design industry – and that’s why the SBID Awards strive to celebrate the real depth and breadth of the profession.
The SBID Awards have grown in reach and reputation around the world since its launch in 2009, receiving entries from almost 50 countries worldwide. Entering the Awards presents an opportunity to become part of our international design community and connect with new audiences on a global scale at our annual Awards ceremony and networking events.
Even if you don’t clinch the coveted ‘Winner’ trophy, just being shortlisted for an award can still bring your business substantial benefits. Click here to discover the essential ways that awards can enhance your business!
The SBID Awards programme is designed to recognise, reward and celebrate the profession of interior design. If you’re an interior designer or product manufacturer, click here to find out more. Entries are open until 5pm BST on Friday 14 August.
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a luxury hotel suite design by 2019 SBID Awards Finalist HBA. The Beijing Wang Fujing Mandarin oriental hotel is made up of 80 suites and is the only hotel in the very heart of Beijing, with amazing views of the forbidden city a few hundred meters away.
Company: HBA
Project: Wang Fujing Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Location: Beijing, China
The project inspiration came from the rich history of Wang Fujing and the Chinese courtyard mansions that used to occupy this important area of Beijing. At the centre of this project, and perhaps in a wider sense at the centre of the dialogue between the Chinese architectural tradition and modernity, is the theme of tension between privacy and intimacy versus openness.
What was the client’s brief?
The client’s brief was very simple and challenging: they had been discussing the possibility of planning a small luxury hotel in a property they owned in Wang Fujing for a long time; space was limited, especially in the context of Beijing where properties tend to be very large so they told us, it has to be like a small precious hidden gem.
What inspired the interior design of the project?
The main inspiration was the architectural experience offered by the courtyard mansions that used to populate this area of Beijing; their conception as a series of specialized courtyards gives a sense intimacy and seemed to respond to the briefing and to our desire as architects and designers to connect with such an amazing physical and historical context.
What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?
Some time ago, When I was first put in charge of a project, I remember having a conversation with a senior executive and he told me: young man, remember that “best” is the worst enemy of “good” … In this project, because for the prestige of the owner, the amazing location and our own ambition, we were all compelled to do the absolute best and we all suffered the psychological burden of having to achieve “the best”.
“The best” is per se an unmeasurable quantity and a target that will always leave you uncertain and unsatisfied as it’s always possible to improve upon something extremely good.
The project took 8 long years, we went through many ideas and several iterations of the design, getting each time closer to what felt like increasingly good… but was it the best?
Looking back, I think we gave ourselves the biggest hurdle by setting our collective goal as achieving “the best”.
What was your team’s highlight of the project?
When we started this project we were in a phase of our career where our main focus was food and beverage design; so to us, the highlight of this project remains the combination MO bar and Café Zi as it represents the most mature work of our team in what has been a long time obsession: We’ve never accepted the limitation of the built environment to adapt to changes in mood, to different situations; and this combination of spaces is all about adaptation and change.
The restaurant offers 3 different menus at breakfast lunch and dinner and the MO bar transitions alongside the restaurant from a cheerful courtyard in the morning where breakfast is served to an intimate and somewhat den-like environment at night. The décor is carefully studied to constantly change at the “flip of a panel” and hopefully, it will surprise endlessly. I’d like to invite the guests to visit the restaurants at different times and find for themselves.
Why did you enter the SBID Awards?
We consider SBID one of the few truly international design awards and we thought that entering SBID with our project was a great way to measure how close we got to designing “the best”.
Questions answered by Federico Masin, Partner at HBA, and Chief Designer for MOWF.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a Chicago residential refurbishment, click here to see more.
Latest figures estimate that 12 million households (44 per cent) in the UK have pets. According to the CDC, owning an animal can “increase opportunities to exercise, get outside, and socialise”. Regular walking or playing with pets can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets can also help manage loneliness and depression by giving us companionship. In return, we can certainly make our homes friendly for them!
Katie Malik, SBID Accredited designer and founder of Katie Malik Interiors shares her top tips on how to design a pet-friendly home.
The most straightforward way to make our homes pet sanctuaries is to make an investment in pet furniture. As with any home furnishings, the cheaper the purchase, the less likely it will last and provide comfort for your four-legged loved ones.
Carefully weigh your furniture choices when decorating for a pet-friendly house; leather or leather- like materials that are easy to wipe clean, often durable, and can help keep a fluffy pet cool in warmer months. Try to avoid materials that might be tempting for your pet to scratch or chew!
If you are considering new flooring, you may want to opt for a wooden floor over a light coloured carpet! Wood floors are much easier to clean if our furry friends come home with muddy paws! It’s also worth considering the colour. For instance, you might want chose the colour of your flooring that matches go the fur colour of your pet, so those stray hairs around the house are less noticeable.
A pet friendly home must make special considerations for just how many accidents can happen around bushy tails and clumsy paws, and one solution could be a dog-gate. Especially if you have or are thinking of getting a puppy, you might want to create a friendly separation, so that you can, for example, eat dinner without being disturbed!
About the Author
Katie Malik, founder & creative director of Katie Malik Interiors built her career in residential interior design, assisting on projects in New York, Chicago and London before setting up her practice in 2014. Inspired by colours, the interplay between symmetry and asymmetry and wellbeing, Katie’s aim is to bring authenticity to each project.
If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here to find out more.
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a complete townhouse conversion. Prestige Design, in collaboration with Martini Interiors, were involved in the design and construction of different rooms of the villa, among which the living area and the kitchen stand out. The latter, in white lacquered and with steel details, was arranged in a horseshoe shape and equipped with a large central island, an imposing hood and marble worktops.
The living area, on the other hand, is characterized by marble and lacquered wood furniture in pastel tones and is completed by sofas, armchairs and home accessories that give the room a unique style and a metropolitan vibe, but always in a luxury key.
Company: Prestige Design & Martini Interiors
Project: Stylish Chicago Townhouse
Location: London, United Kingdom
The customer wanted a classy classical design, thanks to which he could share his status with friends and colleagues. The furnishings had to be very welcoming and warm, for a home to live in.
The homes length was particularly narrow. This architectural characteristic inspired the entire design: custom-made furnishings to take advantage of every inch of space and symmetries.
Undoubtedly the shape of the house, which on the one hand made this project fascinating, challenging and extremely rewarding.
The coordination of the different phases, from the first design to the realization of the furnishings, up to the final installation. During each phase we checked the quality, keeping attention to detail in each step.
Questions answered by Serge Belferman, CEO and President of Prestige Designs.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a Victorian residential refurbishment, click here to see more.
As shops have gradually been reopening across the UK with new social distancing rules, the retail industry will be sure to face challenging times ahead. Interior design plays an integral role in curating the retail environments we currently know and love, and as we now look to the future of retail with a degree of uncertainty, we’re sharing some of the inspiring retail design concepts from the SBID Awards 2019. As for how the impact of coronavirus will change the way retail interiors will be designed and adapted in practice, only time will tell!
Tobias Oliver Interiors – Luxury Lifestyle Showroom
The purpose of the luxury lifestyle showroom to provide access to high-end interior design to the doorstep of Berkhamsted, an affluent town in Hertfordshire. Londoners have the amenity of luxury department stores and especially interior design showrooms in central and west London. Tobias Oliver Interiors brings this resource to Berkhamsted, making exceptional design accessible to the local community.
Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates – Jade Boutique
Creating a unique and contemporary architectural vocabulary was critical in establishing a new direction for this women’s luxury multi-brand retail store located in Jakarta’s Plaza Indonesia Mall. In much the same way as fabric drapes over the human body; Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates used architectural materials to wrap the space and create a dramatic sensual envelope. The architectural forms and materials were layered and folded on top of one another. The store is divided into four rooms, three of which house individual designer boutiques. The curved storefront becomes a unifying element for the project, with four separate entries, which highlights the three designer boutiques. Again, the use of a layered material palette of stone, glass and brass brings the concept of the interior to the outside and establishes the strong design vocabulary for the project.
I-AM Associates Istanbul – Turkcell Pera Flagship Store
Turkish telecom giant Turkcell briefed I-AM to develop a flagship experience for its beloved store in Pera – one of the most nostalgic neighborhoods of Istanbul. With that in mind, I-AM created an experience-based retail store, integrated with the street spirit, comprising of three main zones, where customers can easily interact with the products in a relaxed and friendly environment. Offering the latest innovative IoT products, the new Turkcell store presents a customer journey embracing the latest mobile technologies both in music and sports. The customers are greeted with the touchstone of this particular neighborhood (Istiklal Street) – the tram unit, with which I-AM aimed to design a store that is an organic extension of the street. After the store has opened its doors with its new concept, it was highly appreciated by its customers. This innovative store concept drives the brand into the next level of retail experience.
gpstudio – Hershesons Harvey Nichols
Following the successful opening of Hershesons ‘one-stop beauty’ flagship in Fitzrovia, the brand has now launched their greatly anticipated new site in Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, London. Much like the vast, 5000 square foot space opened on Berners Street last year, this super salon is a one-stop shop for its customers’ beauty needs. Rejecting conventional ideas surrounding the traditional salon model, it’s now the turn of the Harvey Nichols location to experience the new concept, but of course with its own iterations. Led by the vision of Luke Hersheson, gpstudio, working alongside architect Racheline Michaels, were tasked with creating a beauty destination offering far more than just hair services, with a café, nail bar, pedicure station, VIP rooms, treatment rooms and much more.
Arizon Design – JoyCity Kid’s World
The Kid’s World on the sixth floor of the South Building in Shanghai Joy City is the spatial extension of this love-themed shopping mall. This area of entertainment and retailing is delicately designed for kids aged 3-10, and provides enriching, interesting and diversified experiences. It encourages the kids to indulge in their everlasting innocent imagination, and to follow their instincts, to explore the nature in their own way. The architecture is inspired by Dandelion Hill, imagining the form of hills when adopting the rhythm of contouring lines in an undulating geography. In this space of 4,200 square metres, the retailing stores and public entertainment areas are merged into the circular moving stream of visitors.
German Kitchens – UnserHaus
The client, BSH Home Appliances NZ is the importer and supplier of high-end German home appliances – Bosch, Neff and Gaggenau – and they were setting up their own dedicated showroom to display their appliances in a retail environment. BSH needed a place or ‘house’ where the space did not feel or look like a normal everyday appliance showroom. BSH wanted a living space that told a story and was familiar to retail consumers who would feel at ease in the space and, most importantly, feel at home. Ideally BSH wanted a space that represented the brands individually but also harmoniously to reinforce the uniformity of the three brands under the BSH umbrella. The space had to be like no other in New Zealand and this kind of showroom was to be the first independent BSH retail space in the world and thus the world was watching.
The 2020 edition of the SBID International Design Awards is open for entries.
Entries close on Friday 14 August. Visit sbidawards.com to enter now!
Work life, and the commercial landscape as we know it, has changed immensely. In as little as five months, the corporate world experienced a mass exodus of workers, who retreated to the safety of their own homes in response to lockdown.
Throughout this time, cloud communication has enabled businesses to continue operating remotely with relative ease. Indeed, many who were formerly reticent about the merits of working from home, are now reconsidering the future of their own workspace environments in a post-pandemic world.
With employees arguably communicating with each other more than ever before through virtual means, it raises the question – can employees still feel part of a team, when physically apart?
This is something employers need to consider before deciding how they recalibrate their offices. For whilst remote working offers verbal, written and oral communication in abundance, it does not offer us the wide spectrum of non-verbal ques that are essential to promoting productivity, imagination, and positive workplace culture.
Facial expressions, body language, gestures, touch, and physical presence are all fundamental parts of the communication mix and if we cut these out completely by working solely from home, then it’s only a matter of time before employees start to feel disengaged, uninspired and demotivated.
The solution is simple. We need to give employees the freedom to work from home or in the office, depending on which is safest and the most productive for them.
For some employers, like Portview, lockdown has presented the opportunity to take stock of work priorities and adopt a more holistic approach to workspace design. Far rather than causing the ‘death of the commercial office’, the pandemic has prompted us to reimagine a new one – one where employee wellbeing, community and culture is the central focus.
Whilst for now it’s important to navigate our way through the pandemic safely and responsibly, Portview has decided to take a leap of faith and invest £2.5 million into new corporate headquarters, which together, we will design, build and fit-out ourselves.
This not only signifies the dawn of a new era for us, but also gives our team something to look forward to during a time of uncertainty and displacement. It’s about empowering our team to collaborate and come up with innovative ideas that will help shape and build the new Portview.
In truth, it’s still too early to know exactly what the ‘new normal’ for office environments will be, but one thing we are sure of, is that a happy employee is a productive one, therefore, organisations must focus their efforts on elevating the workspace experience through thoughtful design.
By providing a functional, comfortable and visually appealing environment, employers will instil a positive workplace culture that employees feel safe, comfortable and proud to work in.
From our perspective, we will incorporate many biophilic elements into the design of our new offices. This includes an external terrace and balconies, glazing, rooflights, and plenty of indoor plants and foliage, to help connect employees to the natural environment – a method that has proven to reduce stress and enhance creativity.
In addition, the new headquarters will feature a nurse’s office for private consultations, and a large state-of-the-art gym, complete with treadmills, spin bikes, training equipment, showers and changing facilities.
The extra square footage will enable us to come up with an effective space planning strategy that will give employees the space they need to follow physical distancing rules. When the regulations are lifted, our team will then have the freedom to work collaboratively in one of one our many formal or casual meeting rooms, breakout zones or creative hubs. For those who wish to work from home, they can easily connect with colleagues through video conferencing facilities.
Each team will have their own office with glass wall partitions to help create a sense of community, openness, and transparency, whilst still maintaining a safe level of privacy and structure.
Research by the Sax Institute shows that replacing one hour of sitting with standing, can increase an employee’s lifespan by at least 5%.
With this in mind, we will be introducing seating options that are more supportive, adjustable, and flexible, in addition to adjustable desks that will allow employees to sit or stand at their workstation. These ergonomic solutions will promote better posture and physical wellbeing.
Carefully crafted, contrasting materials and textures often prompt engagement and productivity amongst employees by adding visual weight to a space and giving them a unique environment to work in.
However, it’s important to remember that high-quality, statement pieces need to withstand the test of time. Choosing the right materials and how to mix them – whether it be reclaimed wood panel installations, exposed concrete or woven fabric – is key to ensuring longevity and achieving an overall polished look.
A bright creative workspace can also make employees feel more productive, lower stress and increase wellbeing. Therefore, we will be looking to enrich our new offices with vibrant graphics to help stimulate the minds of those who visit and act as key points of interest.
Whilst the safest thing for us to do right now is either stay at home, or return to an office with stringent COVID-19 precautions in place, we believe that in time and with the right design sensibility, the office space will make a comeback.
For offices have a much greater purpose than offering employees a desk and computer screen to work from. It’s a social environment that reminds us that we’re not alone in this experience, for we’re surrounded by the same people, working towards the same goals, at the same time, in the same place. We can see, hear, feel and sense kinship all around us through face-to-face interaction and the quieter periods of productivity in-between. Offices give us the freedom to share a coffee with our peers and tell them of our plans for the weekend.
And that’s just something virtual communication can’t replicate.
Established in 1975, Portview is a fit-out specialist that works with the world’s leading brands in retail, hospitality, sport and business to create award-wining interiors.
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a beautiful stucco-fronted Victorian residence situated in St John’s Wood, a tranquil village in the heart of London that sweeps along the side of Regent’s Park.
Company: Roselind Wilson Design
Project: Carlton Hill
The owners had reached a stage in their lives where their children had left home, and it had been over a decade since they previously renovated and refurbished the property. They felt it was time for a change as their personal style and lifestyle had changed dramatically and they wanted their home to equally reflect this.
Spanning 5 floors and circa 5,000 sq. ft, Roselind Wilson Design was appointed to refurbish, including the interior architecture, interior design, and project management of this five-bedroom, five-bathroom home. The space is arranged with the entertaining areas on the lower ground and ground floors and the bedrooms on the upper floors. A sweeping staircase allows for an elegant and graceful division between the entertainment and sleeping areas, which are all set against a backdrop of exquisitely balanced proportions, harmonious symmetry and classical detailing.
The brief comprised the complete refurbishment of the existing property; revising the current layout and making changes that would befit the client’s new lifestyle; which included both now working from home. The interior also needed to consider an entertaining space to accommodate up to 16 people on various occasions and had a requirement for a formal living and informal living space as well as a suitable dining area that could be an open plan as well as accommodate more intimate dining. The kitchen and all bathrooms were to be redesigned together with new services including integrated lighting, audiovisual and security services.
The interior design and interior architecture focus on creating harmony and balance within the space. Delicate furnishings and uncluttered décor allow for timeless elegance and graceful grandeur, while the colour palette showcases neutral blues, soft greys, dusky pinks and flat whites. This perfectly marries the interiors of handsome beauty, modern-day luxury and contemporary styling. The carefully considered interior design scheme is balanced – the furniture, fabrics and colour palette all work in harmony with the architectural backdrop within the property. The tiniest of details have been used to inject colour, texture or character to create an opulent interior – from incorporating striking cornicing to adorning the walls with elegant and sophisticated light fixtures.
Without doubt, it was trying to get the enormous 3 metre by 1.5 metre porcelain tiles we specified for the master bathroom into the first floor of the property! Working alongside our contractor on various options, we came to the solution of lifting them in through the window of the adjoining dressing room with the help of a cherry picker. A successful solution and fantastic result as the tiles look absolutely stunning on the wall.
It’s incredibly rewarding to experience first-hand a client’s reaction to their completed project – this is always a highlight for us. In this instance, the design journey and close collaboration between us and our client allowed them to realise their dream home – one that is elegant and sophisticated as well as warm and inviting.
Questions answered by Roselind Wilson, Owner & Creative Director of Roselind Wilson Design.
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a residential villa, click here to see more.
With ‘renew, repurpose and replenish’ at the heart of her work, award-winning interior design consultant and SBID Accredited Designer, Rachel McLane has just completed the Bike & Boot – Scarborough’s newest hotel. As well as the design and fit-out of the 65 bedrooms, Rachel’s Yorkshire-based designers have created eye-catching common areas including the bar, residents’ lounge, film club and restaurant.
“We were fortunate with the Bike & Boot as the building was once a row of Georgian terrace houses and retains much of the original architecture. Even now, the envelope of the building remains true to its heritage,” said Rachel, who heads up a close-knit team of specialist designers experienced in concept design, design detailing and space planning for the hotel, residential, retail and leisure industries.
“It made no commercial sense to strip back and re-plaster the walls. Rather than hiding the faded grandeur of the original building, we have worked with it and given it a new lease of life.”
“My attitude is not to be overly precious; interior design is not about me forcing my ideas onto a client and their customers. Instead, it is about creating something that works for them and enhances their business. It is about producing the best solution we can, for the budget – but that does not mean holding back on quality or design. And good design does not have to cost the earth.”
Striving to be local as far as possible, Rachel employed craftsmen and suppliers from the area who were passionate about harnessing their skills to revitalise this once grand feature of the Scarborough seafront. This work has included bespoke case goods, re-upholstering furniture, sourcing local photographs for bedroom doors, creating graphic blinds using original railway poster designs and producing wall mounts featuring bicycle seats and handlebars instead of the traditional taxidermy heads. Other bespoke items in the hotel on Cliff Bridge Terrace include clocks made of brightly coloured bicycle bells and flip flops. Bespoke lighting was created from old bike wheels and crates, and a bespoke handle for the residents’ lounge is based on the ampersand between the ‘Bike’ and ‘Boot’.
A Georgian inspired colour palette was used to paint over the old anaglypta wallpaper giving the rooms a new identity and feel, and the team also designed and commissioned wallpaper based on activity maps of the area and recreated posters of original postcards of Scarborough from its heyday as a fashionable spa resort.
The design and installation of the Bike & Boot’s new hotel bar shows all of the company’s green, recycling values coming through by giving a second life to the metal back-bar of an old venue in Leeds at the same time as commissioning a Harrogate based company to produce the joinery elements to Rachel McLane’s designs.
“If you have been walking or cycling all day, you want to be able to relax and feel at home,” said Rachel. “The team sourced the bar furniture with that in mind – some of it was new and some of it was pre-loved and repurposed. An old chair can be upholstered by a skilled tradesman, and by choosing fabric of the right quality and design, the result looks great and provides the luxury of comfort.
“Renew, repurpose and replenish is an ethos at the heart of our work. I believe in avoiding sending things to landfill or bonfires whenever possible, and I am glad to say we have done our little bit with some of the bar and restaurant furniture at The Bike & Boot. This has also helped to reduce our carbon footprint in shipping in new products,” added Rachel, who worked on the concept of the Bike & Boot for two years with its directors Simon Kershaw and Simon Rhatigan, and for the last nine months with the local refurbishment contractor Infiniti Roofing & Construction.
Rachel McLane developed a wealth of experience designing for the retail sector for eight years in London and York before setting up her practice, Rachel McLane Ltd specialising in the design of interiors for professional clients with commercial interests.
Finding the right builder for a project can seem like a daunting task, however, it doesn’t need to be difficult. SBID Accredited Designer, Katie Malik, founder and creative director of Katie Malik Interiors talks us through her tips for deciding which builder to work with. Most reputable contractors will be quite happy to show off their previous work and provide all of the things she recommends below…
In the studio, we never ask for any quotes unless we have a detailed Schedule of Work (SOW) and a drawing package ready. This ensures everything that we want a contractor to do is going to be quoted for and executed. Also, this gives us and the client a chance to compare the quotes like for like. If you’re going to execute the project by yourself, we strongly recommend preparing a list of jobs by yourself instead of leaving it to the builder to interpret. This means you won’t have to check each quote for what’s included and what’s excluded, making the final decision much easier.
There’s a common belief that there is nothing better than a recommendation from a friend or a family member, and in most cases, this is true. Nevertheless, it’s also useful to do your own research by reading reviews, checking previous projects and references of builders whose work you like. A contractor should offer you a contract, guarantees, proof of insurance, and a clear schedule of payment. All of this combined with a recommendation from someone you know who’s used this builder, such as your architect and/or interior designer, will put your mind at rest.
We recommend taking similar steps when choosing a builder to those when choosing an interior designer. Since you’ll be engaging your builder to work on/in your home for an extended period of time, you want to ensure you like their previous work and you like them as a person.
The new Ask the Expert blog series invites you submit the questions about interior design you want help finding answers to, whether you’re a consumer looking to redecorate your home or professional looking for expert business advice. Please submit your questions to [email protected]
This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a custom furniture design of a villa with a strong Italian vocation. Martini Interiors added essential Italian-inspired details for the luxurious kitchen, bathrooms and custom furniture.
Company: Martini Interiors
Project: Italian Style Villa
Location: Washington, DC
In this case the client of the interior design was the builder of the villa. The intent was clear from the beginning: to seek details of Italianisms to be applied to the entire villa. For this reason the famous Lecce stone has been imported for the cladding and the entrance has a reproduction of the vault of the Pantheon in Rome. Nothing can be more exciting than being able to express your being Italian in this context.
Italy, in form and substance. We wanted to give this residence all that Italy could offer through a meticulous attention to detail and a targeted insertion of classic Italian decorations.
If on the one hand we felt honoured to represent Italy in the capital of the united states in this villa, on the other hand we deeply felt its weight.
In our opinion, the bathroom and kitchen are elegant and sober, as well as showing unequivocally the idea of Italianity of the entire villa.
Questions answered by Roberto Guiotto, sales manager of Martini Interiors.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s villa design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire
If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a residential design, click here to see more.
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