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Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a four-bedroomed, new-build residential property in Berkshire. Allison Pidgeon Interiors worked together with the developer on the specification design throughout. Using their many years of expertise to uniquely tailor the interior design to flow seamlessly with the specification, reflect the aspirations of the purchaser profile, and also the Client’s vision for the development. This resulted in the delivery of a super stylish, yet exquisitely comfortable interior through a stress-free and enjoyable process enhanced by the collective commitment of trusted tradespeople, meticulous project management, and outstanding service. These carefully managed interiors were delivered on time and within budget without compromising on quality, craftsmanship or superior design.

Sector: Residential Design

Company: Allison Pidgeon Interiors 

Project:  Oak Apples Drive

Location: Berkshire, United Kingdom

What was the client’s brief? 

We offered a uniquely personal service to our Client, drafting suggested furniture layouts for all plots on the development. These enabled him to plan functional heating, lighting and electrical layouts for all plots. We also assisted in specification selections throughout, ensuring a nice flow of palette and a high quality of finishes. We joined our Client in numerous meetings at various show rooms to select kitchen and bathroom products and finishes, floor and wall tiling, carpets and hard flooring, paint colours and internal doors and door furniture. We even selected paint colours for the front doors.

Once all these selections were made we used our extensive expertise in residential design, and our research in understanding the target market, to curate timeless interiors which reflect the high quality specification on the development.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

The choice and quality of the specification, the purchaser profile, local competition and the Client’s own vision inspired the remainder of the project. We avoided whimsical trends, garish patterns and colours, and instead focused on providing tactile, comfortable interiors in a muted soothing palette, which are aspirational and sophisticated. We believe this direction was correct for the target market.

Many of the items we supplied were made bespoke for the project including upholstery, soft furnishings, window treatments, furniture, artwork and florals, and we sourced beautiful objects with which to complete dressing of the property.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

To be honest the project was a dream with a delightful Client and we didn’t have any major hurdles.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

We were delighted to see the property installed and complete, but this was surpassed by our Client’s sheer delight when we handed the property over to him (a day ahead of schedule). The positive feedback we’ve received from the selling agents and interested buyers and the fantastic testimonial our Client has written have all been highlights of the project.

Questions answered by Allison Pidgeon, Director of Allison Pidgeon Interiors

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a lavish interior for an new residential development, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

Image Credits: Photography by Chris Snook

This year, the SBID International Design Awards became the first interior design award scheme to be accredited to GOLD standard by The Independent Awards Standards Council. Further cementing its position as one of the most prestigious interior design Awards in the global design calendar, The Gold Trust Mark is just another endorsement to the value that an SBID Award generates for the deserving winners.

Aside from the announcement of the highly anticipated SBID Awards winners for 2019, the Awards ceremony is a prestigious and glamorous affair. Bringing together the world’s most reputed interior designers and design practices to celebrate the past year of global design excellence. The winners across 15 SBID Awards categories will be presented with the beautiful SBID International Design Awards 2019 trophy, expertly crafted by Czech glass specialist, Sans Souci Glass Deco.

The SBID Master of Design 2019 will also be presented with an award which serves to recognise professional interior designers who have, across their career, made significant contributions to the global interior design industry through innovation and expertise; raising the overall standards of design. Last year saw David Chang, Founder and Chief Designer of David Chang Design Associates International take to the stage to claim this coveted Award for international design services to the highest level.

SBID International Design Awards event image during ceremony
SBID International Design Awards event image during ceremony

Consistent in the quest to recognise, reward and celebrate global interior design, this year’s edition will also be celebrating the 10th anniversary of SBID with a captivating ceremony held in the Ballroom of the Grosvenor House hotel, Mayfair. Serving up a 3-course luncheon throughout the day, the food menu has been produced by the Executive Chef, Paul Bates.

Attendees of the Awards can also expect a special surprise guest who will be revealed on the day to host the event as the announcements unfold. Previous Awards presenters include a celebrity line up with the likes of Julian Clary, Gyles Brandreth and Ken Bruce. What’s more, each guest will receive their own complimentary copy of the SBID Global Interior Design 2019 coffee table book. This 360-page hardback publication will feature the breath-taking design projects from the 2019 shortlisted finalists and category winners.

The annual SBID International Design Awards also represent a unique opportunity to network with other design professionals and connect with peers from around the world. So, get the champagne at the ready and dress to impress with this year’s ‘Designer Glamour’ dress code to take full advantage of the Instagram hot spots – and make sure you capture your memories of the day with SBID’s GIF photobooth, courtesy of Momentous Photo Booth.

Where: Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London

When: 12-5pm, Friday 25th October 2019

Dress code: Designer Glamour

Can nature really increase our health and wellbeing? SBID Council expert, Oliver Heath is a qualified Domestic Energy and Green Deal Assessor who founded an architectural and interior design practice combining sustainability, consumer engagement and communications to inspire the uptake of future thinking in the built environment. He promotes happier, healthier places to live and work through his projects as designer, writer, and TV presenter. Oliver shares his thoughts with SBID on how Biophilic Design in interiors can impact health and wellbeing. 

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest spending time in nature can increase our health and wellbeing. In fact, healthcare experts are now prescribing time in nature to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, we are spending less than 10% of our time outside,[i] and most of the time we do get to spend outside is still in the urban environment. So, what can we do when our day to day lives don’t support getting out into nature?

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Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a lavishly designed interior for an exciting, new residential development in India, providing luxury living in the heart of Mumbai. Elicyon designed this beautiful three-bedroom apartment, due for completion in late 2019, to blend a premium London aesthetic with the eclectic, Art Deco heritage of the city. Contrasting chevron marble flooring, brass details, bold colours and vibrant prints reflect the property’s tropical positioning and complement its surroundings.

Sector: Residential Design

Company: Elicyon

Project: Mumbai Development

Location: Mumbai, India

Residential bedroom design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

What was the client’s brief? 

The client’s vision here was to create a ground-breaking project in Mumbai – a luxury apartment building which is on the same level as the world’s leading residential developments. We therefore brought our vast experience in working on such developments – One Hyde Park, Chiltern Place – and combined it with my personal knowledge of the local surroundings in Mumbai. We were brought on board to design the show apartment, so it was our role to create insight into how spaces within the development could be used and to tell its story to future residents.

Residential dining room design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

We were inspired by both our previous work on some of the world’s leading developments – selecting the best suppliers and designing for a global, discerning client in mind – as well as the architecture, colours and textures of Mumbai. A fusion of bold, vibrant colours and tropical prints contrast a striking chevron marble floor with brass details, blending a sophisticated London aesthetic with the Art Deco heritage of the city. The luxurious and eclectic scheme is designed in perfect harmony with its setting.

Residential bedroom design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

As sometimes happens with longer-term projects, changes within government and building regulations presented a significant challenge on this project.  The local authority in Mumbai amended the fire regulations and so fundamental changes to the layout of the building needed to be made. We are accustomed to such speedbumps and know how to work around them – either the current design can be transposed to the updated layout, or we simply have to start the story again.  We work closely with our clients in these situations to ensure that the process is handled as smoothly as possible.

Residential design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development
Residential design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

Having grown up in India and retaining strong roots, working in my home country had been a long-cherished ambition. It was wonderful to combine my knowledge of the city, culture and way of living to the project with a strong influence from my design studies, which are European in origin. The project’s vision represents a moment in my personal design journey, a confluence of east and west, celebrating both without detracting from either.

Residential bedroom design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

Questions answered by Charu Gandhi, Founder and Director of Elicyon

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a warm and welcoming co-working space with a unique approach to office design, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

Residential design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development
Residential design by Elicyon for Mumbai Development

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a warm and welcoming co-working space with a unique approach to office design and the structure of workplace environments. Beyond Design Architects designed a diverse space for a client who is in the business of operating co-working spaces. Although an office space at heart, the ambience feels more like one of hospitality. The use of beige, ivory and light brown, coupled with warm lighting throughout help to create this friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Elements such as the decorative white screen dividing the space, work-bays, plants, planters, wall graphics, artefacts and the use of Italian marble for column cladding enhance the warmth of the space. A meticulous mix of seating styles and various types of seating arrangements – conventional, pods, high tables, community tables and loungers – give a varied choice to the end user depending on their needs for the space.

Sector: Office Design

Company: Beyond Design Architects

Project: Redbrick

Location: Hyderabad, India

What was the client’s brief? 

The client wanted to have a contiguous space for reception, waiting, hot desking and cafe. This will mean that right at the entry space, the ‘mood’ of the place is set in the user’s mind which is then carried forward in the bays and workstation area that follows this space. Also, the space had to be welcoming and warm, not dull and cold.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

The design team came with with the idea of treating this space on the lines of a hospitality project look rather than a typical office reception space. Hence the entire colour scheme was based on a beige and light brown theme rather than the usual greys or whites. Also in terms of use of materials, it was Italian marble cladding, wooden flooring, use of decorative screens, texture paint on the exposed ceiling etc, giving it more of a cosy, welcoming feeling.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

Integration of the look and feel of the front, reception area with the back of the house area – which was the pure co-working space, was a challenge. However, this was achieved by continuing the wooden flooring in the passages connecting bays behind, thereby visually connecting two seemingly different functions.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The successful amalgamation of two distinct look and feel areas, was the highlight of the project for us.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

We won the Best Office Design Award in the SBID International Design Awards 2016 and we are aware about the immense recognition that it gets worldwide.

Questions answered by Alhad Gore, Managing Partner of Beyond Design Architects.

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring an immersive exhibit designed to create sensory experiences to simulate a body’s heartbeat, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s office design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

SBID International Design Awards 2018 Finalist  |  Office Design category sponsored by KI Europe

SBID caught up with this year’s SBID International Design Awards sponsor for the Public Space Design category. Dominik Cienciala, Business Development Manager at Sans Souci talks about how the Czech provider of tailor-made light fixtures use their refined skill, expertise and drive for innovation in the art of decorative glass fixtures to deliver superior lighting and glass solutions for interior designers.

What are the origins of your brand?

Sans Souci is a Czech designer, solution maker and producer of decorative glass lighting fixtures, glass objects and architectural features. Our know-how combines many years of experience, knowledge of blending traditional production of crystal installations with latest technologies such as nano-coating, as well as 3D printing. Our bespoke installations can be found across the world, from the USA to Japan, either in hotels, private residencies or super yachts.

How do you work with interior designers?

We closely cooperate with interior designers from the beginning until the end of a project. The company has representatives across the world, who are experts in glass objects, lighting and delivering the best solutions. Our aim is to collect information about a project through personal meetings and discussions over mood boards. Our internal designers work alongside with clients and we develop visualisations and concepts together. Then we deliver drawings, final solutions and moving to our production. We focus on smooth and effective cooperation which leads to stunning installations and the client’s satisfaction.

SBID Awards Sponsor Sans Souci featuring lighting design in lobby interior image
SBID Awards Sponsor Sans Souci featuring lighting design in lobby interior image

What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?

Sans Souci is understood as an explorer and visionary in the glass industry. Our vision is to deliver great and quick service with innovative solutions. Therefore, we educate designers and partners about our capabilities as well as latest technologies. For instance, our nano-coating technology uplifts the characteristics of glass with practical features such as anti-reflex properties and unique colour finishes.

How does your offering enhance an interior designer’s projects?

We are flexible and quickly responding to the demands. In close cooperation with our production in the Crystal Valley in the Czech Republic, we give immediate answers about the production feasibility. Also, our trained representatives are capable of delivering immediate solutions and benefits of crystal finishes. We also believe that crystal and natural light plays a significant role in lighting up the spaces and designers/clients can benefit from our know-how, uniqueness, flexibility and follow the latest trends in natural settings of interiors.

Why did you want to become a sponsor for the SBID Awards?

Our cooperation started 7 years ago and its an honour for us. Through this opportunity we believe we can raise the visibility of Czech crystal production beyond the Czech republic and educate the world about our heritage, tradition and innovation.

The SBID International Design Awards winners for 2019 will be announced on Friday 25th October! 

To book a table to attend this year’s prestigious Awards, click here

To find out more about sponsoring the SBID International Design Awards next year, click here

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features the immersive metaphor for managed forests and the future of renewable construction designed in a collaboration between STACKLAB, Community Agency, and Great Gulf.  This public space design presents an abstracted representation of a house being gradually overgrown by a nascent pine forest. At the centre of the 60-square-metre exhibit, a twig-wrapped base-building column acts as the figurative tree trunk. Suspended around it were the ‘leaves’: 4,085 glass test tubes, filled with soil and pine saplings, hanging from a CNC-milled birch plywood trellis bolted to the existing concrete ceiling. The Lightframe display system integrates programmable multi-colour LEDs within reconfigurable structural aluminium modules, allowing for infinitely customisable spatial forms and lighting patterns. That attribute was exploited to make Wild Abode an immersive, multi-sensory experience, with slowly undulating waves of light from the LEDs timed to simulate a body’s breathing and heartbeat.

Sector: Public Space Design

Company: STACKLAB

Project: Wild Abode 

Location: Toronto, Canada

What was the client’s brief? 

The Wild Abode is a collaboration between Stacklab and a Community Agency in Toronto for visionary developer, Great Gulf. It was Launched at the inaugural EDIT festival; The Expo for Design, Innovation, and Technology in Toronto from 28th September to 8th October 2017.

Great Gulf asked our partnering firms to demonstrate their leadership in efficient, and environmentally-sustainable-construction systems.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

This was an immersive metaphor for managed forests and the future of renewable construction – a living, breathing, growing attraction, beautifully and starkly contrasted by an efficient, integrated building system.

The Wild Abode features the first public launch of Stacklab project’s prototypic “Lightframe” system, which they developed in collaboration with architect, and University of Waterloo professor, Jonathan Enns in 2015 and 2016. Wild Abode used the Lightframe system to present an abstracted home being gradually consumed by a nascent pine forest. Arrayed around a central, sculptural tree trunk made of salvaged twigs, were 4870 pine saplings and soil in test tubes, ready to be planted for later use as a renewable building material. The Lightframe prototype was programmed with slowly undulating waves of light from the LEDs, timed to simulate a body’s breathing and heartbeat. The scale of the Lightframe module’s 8 by 8-foot bay relates comfortably to the human body. The dimensions permit easy, flat-pack shipping, and hauling inside a standard elevator. All of the Wild Abode exhibit components fit inside an 18-wheeler truck.

STACKLAB'S public space design with immersive exhibit, Wild Abode
STACKLAB'S public space design with immersive exhibit, Wild Abode

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

Lightframe is a modular, structural lighting system – a design that strategically alters an existing, pre-engineered German-made aluminium extrusion. These modifications took over a year to develop successfully. Once designed, they enabled the creation of a new series of four standard modular lightbars, each embedded with complex wiring runs and LEDs. Each lightbar is individually addressable and is programmed from a central computer.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

We wanted to see a genuine confidence in an informed return to the basics. Our audience reported that they felt energised about the future of smart, sustainable building systems and encouraged by the scope of the research surrounding it.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

We feel that SBID is committed to recognising meaningful design innovation, and often brings industry leaders together to engage in provocative discourse that is relevant across many disciplines.

Questions answered by Jeffrey Forrest, Founder of STACKLAB.

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring an office overflowing with inspirations to help spark the imaginations of clients in search of creative ideas, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s pubic space design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

SBID International Design Awards 2018 Finalist  |  Public Space Design category sponsored by Sans Souci

The Society of British and International Design is set to tackle a persistent taboo in the interior design industry – the issue of non-payment – during one of its biggest annual events for design professionals.

This all-too-common industry injustice is a challenge SBID will address head on during the forthcoming SBID Meet The Buyer event in October 2019. A panel discussion featuring an expert line-up will outline the issues and examine what’s being done to protect professionals. Designers, specifiers and manufacturers are all welcome to take part in the discussion.

Getting paid by a client at the end of a project can be a thorny issue for interior designers and is still one of the biggest challenges they face. With construction and interior design among the least regulated professions, many professionals in these industries remain at the mercy of clients when it comes to payment. When a client chances non-payment, which often occurs where the sums are substantial, the costs and delays incurred by the professional for court proceedings often outweigh the sum in question. In these cases, the designer or contractor is more willing to settle for a lower sum than the due amount.

Jo Frances

Joanne Frances
Interior Designer

Steve

Stephen Probert
Head of the Government IP Office Mediation

Vanessa Brady

Dr Vanessa Brady OBE
Interior Designer & Founder of SBID

Speaking on the panel will be interior designer Joanna Frances, who recently won a case against a client for non-payment; Head of Intellectual Property Office Mediation Service, Stephen Probert and SBID CEO, Dr Vanessa Brady OBE who has recently had her own experiences of non-payment.

As a campaigner for regulation in the interior design industry, Vanessa Brady, has raised the issue of non-payment regularly at cross-party government meetings in parliament, and is now inviting the industry professionals who are likely to be or have been directly effected by the issue to openly engage with the experts and their peers to discuss their thoughts and experiences in one of the exclusive SBID Meet the Buyer Business Seminars.

The seminar will take place at 10.30am on Thursday 24th October as part of the SBID Meet The Buyer event, which brings together the UK’s best interior designers, along with visiting International designers who attend SBID’s annual 3-day event, to meet face to face with leading design-led product manufacturers from around the world.

If you’re interested in attending this year’s event with access to the exclusive business seminars, click here to enquire about booking.

SBID caught up with this year’s SBID International Design Awards sponsor for the KBB Design category. Margaret Talbot, Marketing Manager at VitrA UK shares more about the story behind the brand; from its very beginnings as a Ceramic Factory in Turkey to it’s current standing in the international sanitary and brassware market, VitrA highlights some of the incredible work they do with interior designers and the industry.

What are the origins of your brand?

VitrA’s heritage can be traced back to 1909, when the renowned Turkish pharmacist Süleyman Ferit Eczacibaşi began producing bathing and cologne products in his pharmacy in Izmir. The Dr Nejat Eczacıbaşı Ceramic Factory, as it was then called, was the forerunner to VitrA. After the Second World War, there came economic revival and an increased demand for ceramic sanitaryware. In 1958 the company opened its first modern production plant and by 1966 became known as VitrA. In order to diversify the company, a brassware plant was opened in 1979. The brand, now an uncontested force in the market, was launched internationally in 1983.

How do you work with interior designers?

When working with an interior designer, a clear and open dialogue is crucial. The VitrA team immerses themselves in each project, gaining full understanding of the designer’s aims, as well as the challenges that any individual project may pose. To ensure the VitrA team clearly understand the designer’s vision, the first step is for them to provide a brief and an initial mood board to define the scope of their work and provide valuable details on materials, colours and their initial considerations for the bathroom design.

Then follows the conceptual development stage. At this point, a layout design with more technical information and specifications is produced. A specification manager from the VitrA team will use their technical expertise to anticipate and solve any potential problems before they arise to ensure the project runs smoothly all the way through to completion. The designer is heavily involved and works closely with the VitrA team at every stage – this means that both parties, as well as the end client, are pleased with the finished project.

SBID Awards Sponsor VitrA interior bathroom image
<small>VitrA's Equal collection by Claudio Bellini</small>
SBID Awards Sponsor VitrA aerial image
<small>VitrA's manufacturing plant and innovation centre</small>

What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?

VitrA is passionate about challenging traditional views of the bathroom as a purely functional space and enabling designers to express their creativity in an often-overlooked area.

Led by our Design Director, Erdem Akan, VitrA’s highly accomplished in-house creative team represent the backbone of our design philosophy and culture. They are supported by the multi-disciplinary teams at the VitrA Innovation Centre, which was built as a place for architects and designers to free their imagination and express flair in their product design, while also feeling safe in the knowledge that our specification managers are on hand to ensure that all products meet both the technical and aesthetic demands.

This creativity manifests itself in VitrA’s collaborations with world-renowned designers such as Claudio Bellini for Equal, Ross Lovegrove for Istanbul, Terri Pecora for Plural and Matteo Thun & Partners for Water Jewels.

How does your offering enhance an interior designer’s projects?

Superior quality, supply of product and reliable versatility are hallmarks of the VitrA brand, and every component of the bathroom benefits from VitrA’s strong focus on advanced technology and imaginative design. The dedicated team of VitrA product designers collaborate with top global experts to establish new and innovate ideas that enhance not only bathroom aesthetics and functionality, but also each interior designer’s projects.

What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests?

The new ‘Living Bathroom’ concept presents the bathroom as an informal living space. This evolution of the bathroom ritual celebrates wellness and the joy of spending time in the bathroom. American designer Terri Pecora’s Plural collection for VitrA presents the bathroom as a social hub where people can meet and reconnect. Another big trend of note is the use of geometric shapes and monochrome tones, as used in the Equal collection by Claudio Bellini. Using clean, minimal borders and industrial, metallic accents, Bellini’s designs emulate the structures found in modernist architecture.

Why did you want to become a sponsor for the SBID Awards?

We are pleased to be a sponsor of the SBID Awards as they are one of the most prestigious interior awards in the design calendar. VitrA is keen to support interior designers and their fantastic work in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom sector.

The SBID International Design Awards winners for 2019 will be announced on Friday 25th October! 

To book a table to attend this year’s prestigious Awards, click here

To find out more about sponsoring the SBID International Design Awards next year, click here

With the up and coming SBID Meet the Buyer event approaching next month, and spaces continuing to fill, we approached the SBID Accredited manufacturers and designers to share their perspective on attending the event.

From the Designers…

Which supplier(s) did you make contact with after attending the Meet The Buyer event?

“We had an introduction to the showroom and work of Nicholas Anthony, made contact for samples from Craig & Rose, and have also had several meetings with Vessel and Mottura with regards to upcoming project needs!” Clare Gaskin Interiors

“As an international entrant, it’s good to come and understand a different design market to ours (in New Zealand). The companies I contacted were very helpful and I will be keeping them in mind for the future! Some of them include Yves Delorme, Alexander Joseph,  Vitra, Taylist Media!” Celia Visser Design


Chelsea Waterfront project by Morpheus London

Did you purchase or use any products from suppliers within a project after the event?

“Yes, we based an outdoor furniture scheme on Sutherland Perennials range! Chic and contemporary. We chose a selection of products from the ‘Poolside’ collection which were used to dress a number of terraces and outdoor spaces – it looked fantastic!” Barclay Interiors

“We specified and ordered from Naturalmat for 2 projects; a bespoke mattress for a daybed in the nursery of our Islington Townhouse project and a more standard mattress for our Wimbledon Common project. We also found the perfect slab from MGLW Stone for a feature island in the same Wimbledon project. We have also specified products for current projects from Vessel (for a family house in Putney) and Mottura (for a penthouse in a new development in Fulham).” Clare Gaskin Interiors 

“I had further meetings with ABB and Craig & Rose. I also renewed our working relationship with Gradans ironmongery suppliers, who are based two hundred metres from our office but it took a meeting at the SBID Meet the Buyer event to sit and talk to them over the issues that had developed.”Cumberland Group

“We purchased two pieces of art for two different projects from Artfinder! The projects were Chelsea Waterfront, Hutchinson Development and Centre Point where we dressed a show apartment for Almacantar. For Chelsea Waterfront, we picked a piece that sits in the open dining/lounge area, complementing the rippling water of the Thames which the penthouse overlooks. In Centre Point we used a tryptic piece of artwork in the showroom.” Morpheus London

What did you enjoy most about attending?

“We felt there was a good range of suppliers, varying from furniture to lighting to ironmongery.” Barclay Interiors

“I really enjoyed Meet The Buyer as I was looking to see products that were new to me that I could use in the future. I also loved the talks in between the intervals and found them really useful. Plus. I met so many new people in the industry so came away with some great contacts.” Celia Visser Design

“We were really happy with the suppliers at the event and wouldn’t expect those suppliers to present more than they did. It definitely helps when they have their tangible products to look at rather than those with more of a service.” Morpheus London

From the Manufacturers…

How many leads did you generate from attending the event?

“We had 10 prearranged meetings with 8 additional impromptu meetings resulting from our display stand! Almost all of these were then followed up with product demonstrations at the designer’s studio/showroom!” Alexander Joseph

“We generated about 12 leads from the day and a number of those were even from Scotland (where the brand is manufactured) which is a great link!”Craig & Rose

“We were able to generate around 10-12 leads and found this to be a good event for quality rather than quantity!” Vectorworks

Alexander Joseph display stand attending meet the buyer event

Have any of your products been featured in a designer’s project from SBID Meet the Buyer?

“A number of the contacts we made at last year’s event have resulted in our products being used in or specified into projects. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was being specified for a new luxury hotel in Asia by an international design group!”Alexander Joseph

“A number of our products have been featured in projects from Cochrane Design as result of SBID Meet the Buyer event!” Yves Delorme

What did you enjoy most about attending?

“It is great to attend an event that ensures all the participants are prospective customers.” Alexander Joseph

“The event provided the perfect opportunity to meet and network with designers throughout the day, not only within the meetings, but also during breaks and lunchtime.” Craig & Rose

“The event gave us a good opportunity to talk to potential leads who were really keen to find out more about our product, without the distractions that you would have at a big exhibition.” Vectorworks

What advice would you give to other manufacturers looking to attend?

“To get the most out of the event, use your social media channels to engage with SBID prior to the event, and have a clear view on what you want the show to do for you.” Alexander Joseph

“Present the maximum of your bespoke services and focus on key products!” Yves Delorme

If you’re interested in attending this year’s diverse day of networking with design and industry professionals, click here to enquire about booking.

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