Category: Companies

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A Chat With Verity du Sautoy – Her Thoughts On Winter Fabrics

Luxury Silk velvet From KOTHEA
Truly beautiful Cashmere Silk Velvet by KOTHEA

KOTHEA Fabric Picks For A Chilly Winter’s Day
With Verity du Sautoy of KOTHEA.

We love the seasons. All have their beauties and all have touched our senses in memorable ways over the years. Winter is no exception: lower, more balanced light; quietness and chaos with both the shopping and the weather; festive celebrations; the cuddle of a loved one; the hope and expectation of early spring flowers grasping for rare and tiny glimmers of light; and, perhaps, the welcomed warmth of a beautiful fabric.

Some of my best memories are centred on family: a warm fire; a little baby; or a bouncing toddler. Then an old children’s classic on the iPlayer watched on my Mac as it balances precariously on an elegant coffee table. I stroke my children’s hair with one hand and rest my other hand on my sofa. A generous cushion is warm, encapsulating and a bit of fun for the little ones to hide under. The curtains are not yet fully drawn but they smooth the boundary to the cold outside and give us tantalising glimpses of the world beyond – should we venture too close to the sheers that offer the final, soft protection from the elements.

Dominika B Tana Lawn

I work for a fabric company. I love fabric. I can’t pretend that it (fabric) is a be-all and end-all to life and that somehow it will make your life complete. It can’t. But what it clearly can do is complete the sensory experiences in the parts of life that, if you choose, you have control over…the parts of your home. Memories are not just photo-like snapshots in your brain; they are stored, multi-sensory splashes of emotion.

Here are my Winter picks. They are actual ‘picks’ that I’ve recently purchased or are about to purchase.

Take my sofa as an example. My sofa isn’t Continue reading “A Chat With Verity du Sautoy – Her Thoughts On Winter Fabrics”

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Superior Interiors with Kelly Hoppen | Channel 5

Downing Tweet Christmas receptionThe vast majority of us in the Interior Design industry are not in the position to be able to host a TV show like Kelly Hoppen‘s  “Superior Interiors with Kelly Hoppen | Channel 5“. Such great publicity is obviously a client-winner.

From a business angle the programme is a good watch for interior designers. Of particular interest to me is how she deals with her clients. She is very good interpersonally. But, from a creative point of view, I especially like how she and the programme address situations where the client obviously does not agree with part of her design. Kelly Hoppen is very good at politely sticking by her guns and by the correctness, if you like, of what she is proposing. She is flexible enough to  eventually succumb in but not without a gracious and often persuasive fight.

Of course this raises the perennial issue of whether or not ‘the client is king’ or ‘the client is always right’. However if the client is right and got their way, in such instances, then the client is happy! If the client is not right then at least that reinforces the correctness of the designer’s original  scheme and the parts of it that were followed.

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Decorex International 2010

Decorex is here again. This time it’s the 2010 version.

Beautiful logo isn’t it?

For those of you interested in fabric there are many fabric companies here. Not KOTHEA of course! but more of that another time.

Decorex is probably the magazine equivalent of House & Gardens. It competes with 100% Design and Focus (Chelsea Harbour Design Week). 100% Design is probably the  equivalent of Elle Decoration.

Personally I’d go just because of the logo.

If you are keen to get new contacts in the world of fabric then there are some interesting companies here. Quite a few new ones as well as some you will have heard of before.

As with all exhibitions of this sort it is a good place to go to get an idea of ‘consensus trends’. Try to figure out where all the manufacturers are heading. Of course they could all be heading in entirely the wrong direction for your particular target market so go having your own opinion as well. Go with that opinion in mind and see if what you find validates it.

Remember as well that the exhibition stands are there to grab your attention. To drag you to talk to a sales rep. Just because the stand looks good and the fabrics on display look good in the exhibition it does not mean they will work in your schemes of course! Although obviously striking designs do sometimes work for some people.

We were tempted to show off some of our new Cashmere Throws and Cashmere blankets but we weren’t quite ready with the full range yet. And we’d like to think that the best quality throws will generate interest through word-of-mouth throughout the industry in the year ahead! (Hmmm)

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Silk Velvet Production Problems

We have recently had to change most of our Velvet production to mills in Europe. Along with some other fabric companies, we have been experiencing quality issues with Chinese produced silk velvet. It’s probably only happening at one or two mills but it has been a big headache for us as we have had to return some significant orders due to less than perfect quality issues. And it’s sometimes hard to get the mills to accept returns that are of OK quality but not excellent.

Anyway, just a heads-up. Check where your silk velvet is being manufactured and double check the quality.

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Hospital Designs (via ANNA HANSSON INTERIOR DESIGN’s BLOG)

Some nice commercial interiors.

  Thankfully the otherwise sterile and strict Hospital designs are undergoing great developments. Isnt this one of the most important spaces in which we need to work with the phychology of implementing designs where one can feel more at ease.     From top: 1. Cannon Design; Lindner Center of Hope  2. NBBJ; Swedish Orthopedic Institute   3. Centro Studi Progettazione Edilizia  4. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center_Gamma Knife Centre      … Read More

via ANNA HANSSON INTERIOR DESIGN's BLOG

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Hiring an Interior Design Professional? 7 Questions to Ask (via You Be the Interior Designer by Chris Mills Design)

Not a bad starter for 10 Chris. 7 good questions. Designers need to think how they will answer such questions from clients!

1 – What are your qualifications? First you must do your homework.  Do you want a whole-house redo or just one room?  Maybe you need furniture or some basic accessorizing.  Is your lighting keeping you in the dark? 2 – What is the designer’s specialty? Some designers are more comfortable with residential design, others prefer to work with small businesses.  These are two distinct design disciplines that have different furnishings, finishes and fa … Read More

via You Be the Interior Designer by Chris Mills Design

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The educated consumer – part 2 (via Keep it simple)

Let's have a look at the value proposition of an interior designer: When we look at interior design marketing  we often see keywords like experience resources creativity All inherently important characteristics of a good designer, but more detail is needed. Detail about the process of designing a space. So designers should include a description of how a job will develop over the weeks and months that it takes to complete. The more detailed the wo … Read More

via Keep it simple

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Interview With The Interior Designer: Barcelona vs Basingstoke, UK (via caerengracia.info)

Some interesting pan-european thoughts…

Trends are of course, an important thing to consider, in Spain as well as in other prominent countries of design. So I interviewed a new interior designer on the UK scene, Sarah of Sarah Jane Glibbery Interior Design. Sarah explains what she thinks of the current style in England, compared to Barcelona and its vintage extravaganza. Read the interview. … Read More

via caerengracia.info