Fashion Design merges with Interior Design

It is no coincidence that Fashion Designers eventually, once recognised as a ‘Designer Luxury Brand’, merge into interior design beginning with stylising and décor products. The super luxury homes of London will be adorned with the most exquisite bed throws of mink, backed onto richly woven Burberry fabric and wallcoverings in a heavily damask print from Roberto Cavalli.

These luxurious items are décor, they are not interior design although some fashion models have also added their names to design properties such as ‘Kate Moss in the Cotswolds for Yoo Developments’ and even Bulgari in Knightsbridge adding the jewellers name to the five-star hotel; The Bulgari. Where does this leave interior design? It demonstrates how much value society at the luxury end of the market place on a designer of interiors. I have been looking around the super apartments in London and seeing the names of well-known manufacturers to the design profession internally, but perhaps less so to buyers.

Interior design companies are also a luxury, those that are best-known have clients who don’t want to share them, so the cream of interior design quality is less known than perhaps they could be. This year I want to focus on the designs of some of the best at the top end, as well as featuring some fast and simple ways to achieve a ‘designer quick fix’ if you are preparing to sell your property so that you can show the potential of a property in need of refurbishment to potential buyers looking for a challenge which can be easily moulded for personal tastes.

The benefit of interior design is that it travels well, it lasts a long time and it is nimble enough to address all budgets, just like fashion! London is the city of design, it is where everyone wants to be so, watch this space for the year ahead as we bring you ideas, trends, products and tips for London property design.

Forget the one colour emulsion throughout the property, it’s time to be bold. Make a statement with colour. Warmth works. Knowing which colours will work in a small space as well as a large area is essential – the SBID Colour Council will be revealing its diverse and adaptable colour pallet for 2019 within the coming month to give you industry-informed and expertly-selected colour recommendations to achieve versatility in your upcoming projects.

Written by Dr Vanessa Brady OBE. Award-winning Interior Designer, CEO & Founder of the Society of British and International Design

Click here to discover more about the SBID Colour Council

(Images by Design Studio of Yuriy Zimenko)

Created as a hub for colour knowledge, the Society of British and International Design (SBID) teamed up with global industry colour experts to join the SBID Colour Council. Acting as an international platform dedicated to serving the design community, the council forms a collective voice on the influence of colour in design; allowing designers to access information from experts whose specialisms span a broad base of colour-related disciplines.

Dr. Vanessa Brady OBE, President of SBID says: “The objective of the SBID Colour Council is to inform the industry on the importance of colour. It is necessary to understand the limitations that designers face through a lack of quality evidence-based knowledge when making design decisions. We have gathered the best from the industry and together this very powerful board of influencers and experts will provide a valuable global resource for Interior Design”

New to the panel is the Global Head of RAL Colours, Markus Frentrop who shares his views about being on the SBID Colour Council and the important role it will serve: “I am feeling honoured to be invited to the SBID Colour Council. Being part of SBID means to be part of one of the key design associations in Europe. And as design has become an ever more influential part of so many businesses, it is our major target to bring more colour-related knowledge and more awareness about the importance of colour to SBID members.

“A colourless world is unimaginable…”

Colour is one of the key elements of modern design concepts, but, to my experience it is very often the most neglected part in design education. A colourless world is unimaginable, we are surrounded by colours everywhere and it has become undoubted that colours inspire and energize us. So, from RAL’s point of view, it’s just a logical consequence to set up a formal panel that ensures high quality and ongoing advanced training of this wonderful topic”.

Alongside RAL, industry authorities such as Pantone, Dulux, Craig & Rose, PPG, Dedar Milano, and Unilever have also joined the panel, chaired by Co-Founder of Calzada Fox and colour expert, Carolina Calzada-Oliviera. Altogether, they combine their expertise to bring knowledge, inspiration and a best standard of practice to the design industry.

Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director at Dulux comments: “Being on the SBID colour council will be a wonderful opportunity to share over 80 years of Dulux colour expertise with the design community and encourage a greater understanding of its capabilities. We can share the latest trends, colour resources and tools as soon as they are launched so SBID designers get one step ahead and we can get a greater understanding of what designers themselves need to make the projects they are working on even more successful through colour”.

SBID Colour Council Chairman, Carolina Calzada-Oliviera adds: “SBID Colour Council is a great initiative to help designers access colour information through experts in the design industry. The Council supplies information beyond trends and aesthetics to make informed colour decisions. We understand that colour needs to be considered at the very beginning of the design process, so the Council provides a reliable resource to help designers make confident colour decisions which are fit for purpose”.

With this formidable panel of colour experts, SBID will utilise an unrivalled knowledge of the science behind colour psychology, key industry trends and product developments, as well as social, geographical and cultural influences, to encourage an enlightening and inspiring discourse around colour. The Council is set to reveal their Universal Colour of the Year in 2019 which will showcase the power of a universal colour, as opposed to one specific colour code.

Click here to discover more about the SBID Colour Council panel