Interior Designers

Interior design can best be described as the utilization of materials, furniture, lighting and other items, organized in a way that is pleasing to the eye and of a complimentary nature to existing architecture. Although many untrained home dwellers, take great pride in handy work carried out during the weekend, interior design is actually a profession. A profession within which the top interior designers are constantly stretching their artistic abilities and intense training, to meet the needs of an ever demanding clientele. The best interior designers, use their artistic skills, technical knowledge of materials and a perceptive understanding of each clientele’s vision, to blend colours, shapes and textures, into an aesthetically pleasing environment.

How do I find the best interior designer for my home?2

For the purposes of this article, it is not necessary to name those designers who are actually rated as the best interior designers of the year or of the month. Interior design satisfaction is a very personal one, unless one is designing an interior within a property about to be put up for sale, in which case, it is the opposite. The interior, in the case of a property being listed for sale on the open market, should be made to appeal to as many people as possible within the target market. For residential interior design on a property to be inhabited by the client, the best interior designer is the one that, not only ticks all of the boxes in terms of references and quality examples of previous work, but also one that can properly visualize what the client is trying to achieve. This, of course, suggests that the best interior designer for any project, is the one that is interactively sensitive to the design ideas of the client, whilst being able to convey any possible issues regarding the practicality of a particular material or design concept.

Is interior design the same for offices or other commercial premises?

In short, no. Commercial interior design, although sharing the same principle in that aesthetic appeal is still an issue, has more challenging operational requirements. The materials used will have to be more durable in construction and since the commercial environment is generally occupied by workers carrying out specific tasks, there are ergonomic and psychological considerations. Commercial Interior designers often work alongside architects and electricians to achieve the most productive and safe working environment for a particular commercial use. Industrial psychologists also have a part to play in the interior design of schools, government offices and even prison cells. The best commercial interior designer, there fore, would be one that can encompass all of the skill sets and collaborations required to create a working environment that can maximize the comfort and profitability of a workforce.

Would the best interior designers be from a firm or a sole trader?

Whether a designer working for a firm or a sole trader would be the best interior designer for a project, would largely depend on the client. A residential client would be more likely to appoint a sole trader due to the personal nature of the project. A commercial client, needing all of the resources and collaborative muscle of a firm, would be less likely to commission a sole trader for a project. There are also more crucial health and safety standards that must be adhered to for the larger commercial clients and as a result, they would need the services of a large and commercially experienced firm. However, there may be residential clients with extremely high interior design ambitions and an equally high bank balance that may well prefer the services of a large firm.