Founder of HomeSmiths and member of the SBID Healthcare Council, Jacqui Smith shares her expertise in the art of care home design as an experienced healthcare designer with a deep understanding of dementia-friendly design.
Relevant and engaging art makes an enormous difference to communal areas in care homes. Whilst colour contrast, good lighting and furniture layout are key to supportive design for older people, well considered art will elevate a scheme from one that works to one that truly enriches the lives of residents. To me, art has a key role to play in making an environment homely and relatable. Whether you are designing a care home or a retirement living scheme, carefully chosen art will help to provide the building with its personality and often enable it to stand out from the competition. For new builds I think that this is especially important since art will help to root the building in the local community by establishing links with what was there before or what residents will know the area for, and therefore be familiar with. I would also say that in some cases, engaging the wider community within the content of the art can be an advantage, not only by reinforcing those community connections but by engaging with a group of people who otherwise might not have necessarily welcomed the upheaval of construction on their door step!
Whilst budget of course plays a role with art, there is so much material to be found on eBay and in charity shops. Art provides a fantastic opportunity to re-use and recycle. At Henley Manor Care Home we commissioned Soozi Jenner from Stitch Creative to create some tactile art panels for the sensory lounge in the dementia community. Using remnants of Sunbury Design, Panaz and Agua fabrics, kindly donated by Steve Nixon at Edison & Day, Soozi created two stunning pieces of art including features such as removable clouds and boats.
One of our clients, a recently opened home in Middlesex, asked us in to transform one of their residential areas into a dementia friendly wing. Pinner Fair has a history dating back to 1336, so we adopted this as a theme for the main lounge. We again engaged the services of Soozi for this project, asking her to create some colourful bunting using remnants from the upholstery fabrics. Hanging the bunting on two levels so that both mobile residents and those in wheelchairs could interact with it, the bunting leads you from the corridor into the lounge. Keen to make this as sensory as possible, we used tactile fabrics and of course the anti-microbial properties of the material will help the bunting to withstand regular touching.
Plenty of famous people hail from Pinner so we were rather spoilt for choice when it came to notable people. Framed Elton John and Tony Hatch albums feature in one of the corridor areas as well as black and white vintage photographs of Ronnie Barker and The Shadows.
At Great Horkesley Manor in Colchester, we embraced a cricket theme for their newly refurbished front of house communal areas. Comprising two adjoining rooms we designed one area with a bar/pub feel and the other as a tea room. Scouring the internet for Essex County Cricket Club memorabilia which we could put to good use, rewarded us with some fantastic old team photographs, a signed cricket bat as well as a vintage cricket sweater, all framed to suit the pub style of the scheme.
Framing vintage catalogues, magazine spreads, books or knitting patterns can provide another sustainable and cost effective way of producing engaging art. An Extra Care scheme we designed in Reading for Home Group, included some 1970s seed catalogues which we found on eBay. Sutton Seeds started life in Reading so one of the corridor wings took on this theme with old black and white images of the original headquarters, an historical time line detailing key points in the company’s past, botanical art and spreads from flower and vegetable pages. It actually took me right back to my childhood where I would sit in my father’s greenhouse, soaking up the warm and the comforting scent of tomato plants, flicking through the Sutton Seeds catalogue, helping him make his selections for the next season.
At Henley Manor, as part of the craft themed lounge and corridor end in one wing of the dementia community, we framed old Patons and Sirdar knitting patterns as well as copies of 1960s and 1970s women’s magazines. Sifting through my eBay haul of crochet and knitting patterns from Women’s Weekly, I came across one of those perfectly posed “catalogue man” shots, sporting a blue cable knit sweater which my mother knitted for my father many moons ago. I also remember us popping into the local newsagents each Thursday after school to collect my mother’s reserved copy of said magazine. Engaging art will prompt memories and start conversations so much more than a generic hotel style watercolour.
Working with Hallmark Care Homes, throughout the dementia community we added framed questions in simple and easy to read, black on white text. These questions encourage engagement with the art by asking questions of the residents. For example, in the Farmhouse Kitchen at Henley Manor, we framed vintage Family Circle magazine covers with classic 1970s dinner party recipes, next to which the question of “Magazines like these were full of recipes, what did you enjoy cooking most?” So the art prompts memories and the question encourages engagement.
Not all projects will have the budget for bespoke and locally themed art, nor the talent within their client team which we had at Henley Manor Care Home, but having an element of it within a design scheme, makes an enormous impact to both residents, care team and people visiting the home. Hollie Allen, Assistant Designer at Savista Design and Build, is hugely creative so it made complete sense to engage her talents for this project. This 80 bed care home, with accommodation over three floors offering residential, nursing and dementia care, presented many opportunities for bespoke art. Hollie’s work included watercolours of iconic Henley shops, vintage tea pots and cake stands for the Riverside Café, to suit the soft green and blush pink of the scheme and soft botanical drawings for the hair salon to echo the fig design of the curtain fabric. Hollie’s work also extended to the Farmhouse Kitchen in the dementia community, with art featuring bread baskets, old fashioned weighing scales and traditional mixing bowls.
Arguably, in the pursuit of interesting angles and approaches to the art, I do spend a great deal of time researching themes, delving into the history of the local area, but the feedback from care teams, residents and relatives does really make it worthwhile. Who knew that Edward III, frustrated that all the Romney Marsh wool was being exported to Europe to be woven into cloth, invited the weavers and dyers from Flanders over to Tenterden in Kent, to teach the local men their art, heralding the start of a decade-long prosperous weaving industry? Or that George Orwell was from Henley-on-Thames? I certainly did not until I started researching themes for an assisted living scheme and care home. Never thought that my role as an interior designer would boost my pub quiz knowledge but there you go!
About the Author
Jacqui Smith, founder of HomeSmiths, is an SBID Accredited interior designer who permanently lost vision in one eye in 2012. Jacqui specialises in healthcare design and uses her experiential knowledge of visual impairment in her designs for care home projects.
If you'd like to become SBID Accredited, click here to find out more.
The year of 2020 is upon us, and we hope you've got big project plans in the pipeline for the year ahead! To help you on your way with the latest product news and launches, browse this month's curated collection of products for January, featuring exclusive Art Deco inspired dining furniture, shower mixers with a 90's stereo aesthetic and minimal, monochromatic kitchen design solutions.
Oasis merge classicism and dynamism with the Art Déco inspired Turner Table
Turner Table is the newly born art piece of Oasis' Luxury HOME Collection. Inspired by the first works of the British painter, William Turner, its ribbed structure is called "Canneté" (meaning a particular decorative technique characterised by a series of narrow repetitive grooves which is created through specialised production processes and material combinations).
In the era in which form and function represent the ultimate aspiration, “Canneté” offers the perfect synthesis between geometry and decoration with a distinctive and timeless style. Featuring classic, Art Déco geometries complete with stylish marble top and made with the finest Italian manufacturing, the Turner Table is perfect for the most prestigious and elegant of locations; from luxury residences to character hotels; creating spaces to contemplate, relax and pamper in a sophisticated setting.
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Hi-Fi by Gessi unites design and technology with the contemporary collection
Perfect for furnishing the bathroom as a room of wellness, beauty and living well. With the creativity that distinguishes it, Gessi has created a product to “play” with the water through a selection system of functions, flow and thermostatic shower mixer that has the aesthetic of a 1990's stereo system. A bit vintage and a bit futuristic, the new button operated embedded or external Hi-Fi systems are the right compromise between sophisticated technological research, minimalism and functionality.
The Gessi Hi-Fi System shower columns, with their linear design, overturn the concept of the column, hybridising it with the typical form of the shower panel - but with totally external installation. Without embedded elements, Gessi create a highly sophisticated, architectural effect. Available with rainfall, waterfall and directional shower kit functionality, these sculptural wellbeing objects are also equipped with a handshower with a magnetic and variable position system.
Poggenpohl presents Lean luxury with +SEGMENTO Y
The new interpretation of the classic +SEGMENTO is aimed at captivating a generation of buyers who value quality, function and exceptional design. In black, white and grey, +SEGMENTO Y deliberately focuses on these three shades in matt finishes. The design is pleasingly minimalistic and reduced, meaning it appeals specifically to a new, younger group of consumers.
+SEGMENTO Y can be fitted to the closest millimetre. On request, handless cabinet elements extend from floor to ceiling and highlight the philosophy of the brand; designing not only a kitchen, but a living space as well. The nanotech material used on the fronts are repeated on the worktops and back panels which creates a consistently flawless impression. The limited theme of monochromatic tones opens up simple yet bold statements. A radiant white kitchen block standing against an inky black backdrop, or a black kitchen block providing a powerful accent against matt grey!
The Panaz studio introduces a new fabric collection, Dalston for 2020
Introducing the new informal plaid collective by Panaz featuring Hampstead, a larger scale brushed design and Harrow, a subtle stitched check effect. A third design, Kensal, explores intermingled textures with unexpected pips of colour. Colourways with neutral backgrounds and pastel soft tints are inclusive, calmer and easy to live with - ideal for creating a relaxed atmosphere with a contemporary vibe.
The Dalston upholstery collection showcases Panaz' new printable velvet base cloth, Panvelle Luxe, perfectly suited for healthcare and hospitality settings.
Unlimited harmony, unlimited imagination: RAK-Precious provides luxury solutions for the washbasin
With richer finishes, RAK-Precious provides a luxurious alternative to the functional ceramic white. Combining collections for floors, walls, bathroom furnishings and accessories, RAK-Precious offers complete solutions, enabling you to create your own personal idea of harmony. RAK-Precious includes a full range of porcelain tile integrated washbasins made with RAK Ceramics Maximus technology. Counter washbasins, drop-in washbasins or countertop slabs, each solution offers a unique combination of decorating styles in order to create a perfectly coordinated environment. Marble, stone and cement can be perfectly combined with the functionality of RAK-Joy bathroom vanities.
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This year sees Clerkenwell Design Week celebrate its 10th edition, taking up residency in one of London’s key hubs for design and architecture. Set across three days from 21 – 23 May 2019, CDW is the annual focus for London’s leading design district. The festival programme has been tailored to reflect the unique nature of this culturally rich area playing host to hundreds of showrooms, fringe events, talks, workshops and installations. Giant customised candle like beacons will be found throughout the area, while showrooms, practices and seven exhibition venues throw open their doors as part of this annual design week. CDW has firmly established itself as one of the UK’s leading independent design festivals, which each year attracts a diverse and international design community to this vibrant district.
We're sharing a preview of what to expect from some of the SBID members who are set to be exhibiting at Clerkenwell next week. Scroll below to discover more or click here to register to attend now.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Bisque showcases its latest designs at Clerkenwell Design Week for the first time
Pioneering British design brand Bisque will be exhibiting at Clerkenwell Design Week for the first time in 2019. As well as showcasing its wide selection of beautiful radiators, Bisque will also be previewing its upcoming product design competition, where it will be inviting talented designers to create the newest addition to the Bisque range. The competition coincides with the brand’s landmark 40th anniversary, taking place this year.
Bute Fabrics launch their first collaborative collection with British designer David Irwin
Award winning product designer David Irwin, has created his first range of textiles with Bute Fabrics. The collection was inspired by the island and intricately celebrates the company’s heritage, its location and its people.
Bute pride themselves in their unique story: The mill was founded in 1947 by the 5th Marquess of Bute with the purpose of providing employment opportunities for service people returning home from WWII. The two new collections: Identity and Strata, are firmly rooted in the elements on which the company are founded: craftsmanship, skill, the island landscape and the local community where 46 employees reside.
This collaboration celebrates the impact of the human touch within machine production; the makers mark and the mastery of the unique processes inherent in manufacture. The compelling collection will be woven on Bute’s new Jacquard looms - the first production of Jacquard cloth in the mills 72 year history.
GROHE and Mosa combine craftmanship to bring sustainable design to Clerkenwell Design Week
GROHE, supplier of complete bathroom solutions and premium kitchen fittings, and Mosa, contemporary tiles specialist, will reignite their partnership for a second year, coming together in a collaboration that celebrates sustainable design.
United by their common heritage of sustainable brand values, craftmanship and industry-leading design, GROHE and Mosa will present their inspiring design possibilities for bespoke architecture at Mosa’s St Johns Street showroom, located in the very heart of the design suburb. Offering design-inspired products that are crafted with consideration for the earth’s precious resources, GROHE and Mosa are able to support architects with solutions for green buildings and sustainable architecture projects.
Karndean Designflooring returns with its most ambitious exhibition to date
A global leader in luxury vinyl flooring, Karndean Designflooring will return to Clerkenwell Design Week for the 9th consecutive year to help the event celebrate its 10th anniversary. Visitors are invited to discover and experience Karndean’s latest stunning designs, inspired by the natural world to combine intricate patterns and realistic embossed finishes with cutting edge design.
With a prominent and central position within the Project venue in the garden of St James, Clerkenwell’s parish church, Karndean Designflooring will be showcasing an exceptional floor design with its most ambitious exhibition to date. The innovative display, featuring a hospitality setting, will reveal an inspirational and bespoke floor created to demonstrate the versatility of its authentic flooring designs.
With Karndean flooring, you can combine stone and wood designs, use different laying patterns or custom cut designs to identify zones and create walkways, or include feature borders and rug effects to delineate working areas. Selecting a blend of either complementary or contrasting designs can effortlessly create a unique interior.
KI launches new storage and seating collections at its popup showroom
KI, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of workplace and education furniture, will make its Clerkenwell Design Week debut in 2019 with a pop-up showroom at the landmark Paxton Locher House on Clerkenwell Green. This stunning home will be transformed into ‘KI House’, an exciting new destination for festival attendees. The venue will host the launch of KI’s new UK-designed & manufactured storage, seating and desking products. There will also be a variety of talks, workshops and an exclusive ‘House Party’, co-hosted with Bute Fabrics, on the evening of Wednesday, 22 May.
As traditional working and learning environments continue to take inspiration from domestic and hospitality interiors, the architecture of the House lends itself perfectly to display KI’s new products; the 800 Series modular shelving system is an enhanced, integrated storage, seating and workstation system to help organisations to create human-centric, diverse office landscapes; the Work2.1 Sit-Stand desks is KI’s next generation, cost-competitive sit-stand desk and bench range, co-created in collaboration with some of KI’s largest clients; the Grafton seating is a new, UK-designed & manufactured seating collection created for active learning environments in colleges and higher education institutions; and the Hatton chairs are designed for cafe & dining spaces which will benefit from an elegant new one-piece polypropylene stacking chair, also designed & manufactured in the UK.
Muraspec exhibits new acoustic wall-coverings and superior quality digital prints
Muraspec Wallcoverings, the UK manufacturer with a global reputation for outstanding product quality, impressive design, and exceptional support, will be exhibiting at Clerkenwell again this year. Well known for high quality vinyl contract wall-coverings, Muraspec will be displaying one of its most popular designs; Elan Arianne. All of the wall-coverings they offer have the highest fire ratings and are seen in the finest hotels, cruise ships, healthcare, offices, studios and high-end commercial projects worldwide.
This year you will also be able to experience the new acoustic wall-coverings and superior quality digital prints, allowing visitors to experience why Muraspec don’t print on to paper and why digital base materials are simply better than other digitally printed wall-coverings. In addition, the international decorative and residential wall-coverings brand Fardis is launching two glamorous new collections, to be unveiled at Clerkenwell Design Week. Discover their new timeless designs, which will inspire designers working on prestigious and luxurious interiors projects.
Young designer at Panaz uses new collection to address sustainability issues
Panaz' young designer Simon Attard will launch his debut collection Underground at Clerkenwell Design Week on an industry first, environmentally responsible recycled contract fabric, using this unique opportunity to raise awareness of environmental issues facing the planet today.
The Underground collection takes inspiration from graffiti and the street art of 1970’s and 80’s New York, right through to that seen on our city streets today. Fusing this design with the latest flame retardant, recycled fabric innovation from Panaz, they have created an industry first; a truly sustainable and environmentally responsible product, both in message and in substance.
The designs are current, cool and contemporary, and the product they are combined into is intrinsically stylish with great environmental credentials. Named Underground, this collection reflects designs ordinarily associated with counter culture and misguidance, and in name, subtly references the increasingly disposable society and waste issues that we deal with every day, on our streets, underground in landfill, and in our oceans.
Newmor Wallcoverings exhibits for the first time at CDW with brand new textures and patterns
This year Newmor Wallcoverings is exhibiting for the first time at Clerkenwell Design Week. Showcasing brand new textures and patterns, alongside a sneak peek of designs from the upcoming June launch – including the latest Newmor Designer collaboration. Newmor will be included in the British Collection exhibition alongside some of the UK’s most exciting homegrown brands, including Ercol, Pluck and Benchmark. Newmor is a family business and manufacture all of its wallcoverings in Wales, UK for worldwide distribution.
Commenting on the products Newmor will be exhibiting, Eleanor Cardwell Bossick, Marketing Manager, said: “We’re excited to be giving CDW visitors a preview of wallcoverings from our summer collection, including industrial surfaces, textile embosses, mirror metallics and vintage tile effects. We will also be also introducing our new Designer collaboration which features large scale rounded geometrics in contemporary, unexpected colour palettes.”
Cosentino celebrates the 10th CDW at its UK flagship commercial design centre, Cosentino City London
Located at 28-32 Old Street, the stunning and recently revamped showroom is situated in the hub of the architectural and design community. As one of the festival’s headline sponsors, Cosentino City London will be opening its doors from 10am each day (21-23 May) with a plethora of new launches and collaborations on display, plus daily live demonstrations taking place.
Cosentino’s game changing new Dekton® Slim surfacing will be available for visitors to interact with. A revolutionary 4mm thickness for its ultra-compact surface brand that is perfect for architecture and building projects, the new Slim format offers the same impressive technical features that Dekton® is known for with a new and much thinner, lighter and manageable format for installation. In addition, Cosentino is presenting the first launch from OTOMOTO, the new venture from artist Ryan Gander and creative director Tony Chambers. Previewed at Milan Design Week, the future-thinking unit has been inspired by compact Japanese kitchens. Featuring a sleek Silestone® sink atop a timber frame, it has an intuitive modular sliding system that provides a flexible prep space, using chopping boards and gastronorms, the industry standard for containers used in professional kitchens. The idea is that the kitchen moves around the chef, as opposed to the chef moving around the kitchen.
Register now to attend this year's edition!
On SBID's journey to discover more about the personal experiences and careers of interior and design professionals throughout the industry, we interviewed the CEO at Panaz Holdings, Tony Attard. Tony shares his approach to that all-important work-life integration, the latest on his design agenda, as well as his thoughts on the predominant issues faced by the industry as a whole.
Can you describe your current job?
I am CEO of Panaz Holdings, Chairman of Alusid, Chairman of Marketing Lancashire, Director of BCFA and currently High Sheriff of Lancashire. My jobs are primarily strategic although I get involved with many of my company initiatives to ensure they are delivered OTIF (On Time In Full).
What is your background and how did you get into interior design?
I was always interested in the integration of Art, Design, Marketing and Business. I therefore applied to study Fashion Design at St Martins, and Design Management at the University of Manchester (formally UMIST). I eventually opted for Manchester as it was a little more technical (BSc) and I was offered a University scholarship by Courtaulds which ensured a fast track career in Industry. Design is to me about the delivery of a brief, and should be manged like any other management decision. Of course there is inspiration, but that should not be at the expense of delivering on time. The more stress, the more creative the solution!
Describe an average day in your job role..
My life is not about balance, it's about life work integration. I wake at 6.30 am and either go straight to my computer to check emails and prepare for the day, or go to the gym. Either way I then shower and have a cup of tea. I have given up on Breakfast as the healthier option and do not eat until lunch time. I get to my first meeting either at 8.30 or 9.00 am, dependent upon who else needs to get there. As I have no children at home any more, child care is not an issue for me as it may be is for others. I am usually in meetings most of the day, however as I am now High Sheriff, I could have a number of other priorities. I represent the Queen for the Judiciary, therefore I could accompany a High Court judge on the bench for a trial, I could also be out with the police force or fire brigade, or even an ambulance. Meeting people in the voluntary sector has a been a great part of being High Sheriff; the work that they do in the community is invaluable to so many vulnerable people and must be encouraged and rewarded. If I am in London I usually eat out with friends or customers and then get to bed about 12ish. If I am at home in Lancashire, I have dinner with my wife Patricia, usually on our laps and watching an episode of a program we are following (Killing Eve is our latest one!). Then, I retire to my study to write an article (like this one) or catch up on the news, prepare a report or read a board meeting agenda. I usually go to bed at 11.30 pm and read for a bit before turning off the light as my eyes start to drop.. Kindles are great because I do not need the big light on!
Which elements of your profession do you enjoy the most and/or find the most rewarding?
The most rewarding aspect for any creative is to see one’s work in the marketplace. I love creating collections with my Head of Design, Sarah Lloyd and her team, but unless anyone buys it, we have not been successful in interpreting what our customers require. It's always very gratifying to see our fabrics in an interior either great or small, and to see that our vision can become reality.
Is there anything new you are working on?
There are so many different things. We are constantly working on new collections at Panaz, releasing 10 – 12 per year. But the new Alusid Silicastone brief is particularly interesting. Alusid is a very new company that is making a new material called Silicastone that was developed for solid surface and tiles out of a sustainability project at the University of central Lancashire. It uses two waste streams from broken pre-consumer ceramics (baths, toilets, shower trays, tiles) and post-consumer glass that would usually go into landfill. We crush it and then make great solid surfaces for table tops, work surfaces, and wall tiles. The effects we can achieve have been quite amazing. There are a number of furniture companies now using the product as a standard working surface for tables and we have installed it in a number of Architectural projects. The tiles can be used inside or outside – are frost resistant and have high colour fastness to light. We have just been granted a Design Guild mark for it!
What do you find the most challenging aspects of your job?
Keeping creatives working on time!! No seriously, I juggle a lot of balls and try not to drop them. It makes for an interesting life!
What do you wish you knew before working in the field?
I got great technical training from the University so I was able to contribute quickly to Industry. I would have liked to have known more about how to start a business, however maybe naivety in that area helps you become fearless. You cannot be frightened about what you don’t know!!
What would you tell your younger self if you had the chance?
Don’t say no to an opportunity because it may never come around again.
What has been your favourite project to work on?
I am very fortunate to have had a great creative life, I have great customers who work on some amazing projects with us, including Palaces, Cruise ships, Restaurants, Night clubs, Hotels, healthcare facilities, Hospitals and work spaces. Each project is different with many interesting solutions so to pick one out is very difficult.
What do you think is the biggest problem the interior design industry faces?
I think that Interior design is very undervalued. There is the MD’s wife syndrome where somebody that does up a home thinks that they can create a commercial interior. Dreadful mistakes can occur when this happens. The Industry must ensure that professional integrity is maintained and standards upheld. I also think that people should value intellectual copyright.
Which people do you admire the most in the industry and why?
Anybody that works that extra hour or goes that extra mile to ensure a customer is happy and satisfied.
If you were inspired by Tony’s story and want to learn more about interior design, click here.
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