Quirke McNamara Consultancy

As a lighting designer as well as an interior Designer on many projects I have been commissioned to design I’ve been surprised how underrated the lighting element is. Clients are willing to spend money on expensive furniture or a beautifully finished kitchen but give very little consideration to the lighting element. The most expensive materials & interiors are never shown to their fullest without a good lighting scheme behind them. Incorporating the lighting as part of the scheme considering how the light works with the materials & finishes & creates different moods within the space is essential to a successful interior. The lighting design should always be considered as early as possible as part of the overall scheme.

Philippa Thorp

Philippa Thorp started her interior design business Thorp Design 25 years ago. Thorp Design is now a company of architects, interior architects and interior designers with associate members for property finding and art collecting. The company is renowned for an uncompromising attitude to quality and workmanship, as well as for a highly innovative approach to solving client’s design challenges. With a refreshing attitude to problem solving, trying wherever possible to accommodate unusual requests, the company frequently succeeds where others might shy away from tackling a client’s objectives.

PROOF Consultancy

PROOF Consultancy’s recent work includes the creation of a wide variety of projects: from a bar so quietly exclusive that it’s where the young royals go when they don’t want to be seen, to a new European hotel brand with its original solution for the lone diner marooned in his hotel. David Morris, a director at PROOF, believes that the challenge for hotel designers is to balance customer expectation against a brand’s position, and to ensure it isn’t compromised or confused in a knee-jerk reaction to the year’s latest fad.

Interview with Hugh Jamieson

The award-winning interior design consultancy ‘At Home’ is based in Cambridge, proving that you don’t have to live in London to be a top interior designer. The desirability of this company is testament to its constant innovative approach to practical design. Hugh Jamieson, head of the consultancy and Fellow of the British Interior Design Association (BIDA), talks to Mandie Davis about his current design projects.

Chris Dezille of interior design company Honky

Rated as one of the Top 25 interior designers in the UK, Chris Dezille of interior design company ‘Honky’ seems to have it all. Since the launch of his company in 2001 he has picked up a string of awards and now has the attention of the media. Here he explains what made a lad from Reading Comprehensive turn to the creative world of interior design…

Interview with the great Shawn Clarkson

New directions for the designer they call Mr Style Bar include a surreal glamour hangout, his own pub and a high-spec hotel dedicated to the long-running US TV soap Dallas He reveals his plans to Guy Dittrich in an exclusive interview for Designlife.

Paul Flowers of Design at Grohe

I met up with Paul Flowers Senior Vice President of Design at Grohe last week during a stop over in London. It was very interesting to learn about his new approach and passion about the design and functionality of Grohes’ new product line. Paul pointed out something to me that I had never really thought about , that the Bathroom is the only space in the house where you can lock the door and have the privacy of your own space and his idea is to make it a harmonious and pleasant an experience. “Sexy with reliability” were his exact words.

Maria Vafiadis of MKV Design

Ten years ago, Maria Vafiadis, then a principal at a major London-based interior architecture practice, led the team refurbishing the Alcron, one of Prague’s most precious hotels. In the intervening decade, she established her own company, MKV Design, and last year was invited back to Prague for the first significant refurbishment of the Alcron since her original, award winning work.

An interesting challenge, is how Maria describes the experience of changing her own designs that had been so well received the first time round.

Read the full article in our DesignLife magazine

Conrad Smith of ReardonSmith Architects

As Europe’s foremost architectural practice specialising in hotels and resorts around the world, ReardonSmith Architects has handled most of London’s major hotel refurbishments this past decade, including the rebuilding of The Cumberland and Grosvenor House, the total refurbishment of the InterContinental London Park Lane and now the restoration of the Savoy. Conrad Smith, Managing director of ReardonSmith, considers the constant fascination of working with the grand old ladies of the hotel world.

Read the full article in our DesignLife magazine

Daniel interviews Olivia Howard from Ligne Roset

Roset Hotels & Contracts is the commercial sector of the Ligne Roset Company providing luxury contemporary furniture and accessories for hospitality and corporate spaces, from hotels, restaurants and bars to holiday complexes and long-stay residences. Roset Hotels & Contracts works with interior designers, architects and specifiers to create individual ambiances and identities for hotel groups and independent hotels.

Claire Plastow

Whether you desire a principal home to be proud of, a country retreat for your family or to maximise the return on your buy-to-let investment, Interior Notion offers you exacting standards and the peace of mind that brings.

Jenny Blanc

Jenny and her design partner Sue Thomas Richardson seek to offer a very personal service to clients so that every attention to detail is applied to a project. Their goal is to produce a home their clients not only love for its design values, but makes them feel ‘at home’ every time they put the key in the front door.

Ice Cube Design

Ice Cube Design is an Award winning Interior Design practice located at the heart of Chelsea, in London with a branch in Paris. Dynamic and creative, our expertise is channeled via a carefully selected team of international designers. Launched in 2001 by Marie-Laurence Camara-Ferguson, Ice Cube Design’s projects and client lists are diverse , stemming from exclusive domestic and residential to top end commercially based projects.

Daniel Hopwood - Architect & Designer

Trying to fit out a home in central London is never easy to organise no matter how big or small the project. At Daniel Hopwood Ltd we have been doing just that for nearly 15 years. Although we have worked on high profile projects, such as refitting the suites at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, our passion also lies in the creation of bespoke apartments and houses. Our experience and know-how doesn’t come cheap but the finished results speak for themselves. In addition, our buying power enables our clients to save thousand of pounds.