Then it was 2022.
I have drowned on many occasions and just about learned to swim again in this launching of my own career. Predominantly a commercial designer, there was not much call for me through a global pandemic to fit out bars and restaurants.
I managed, was supported, cried a lot and thought about career changes.
Tree surgeon, donkey minder, dog walker…
and here I am back at the helm of designing and …is that a glimmer of hope on the horizon and a wee shining star…
Hey 2020, nothing quite like dramatic changes to start the year off with a bang…
New paths to take, new roads to follow and after many wonderful, creatively challenging years with the fantastic design house of NYD, I have decided to become freelance.
It is all very exciting I have to say and with the support and love of my former company, I have taken flight with a new project on my ownsome.
Eeeek eeeeeekkkkk
Lot’s of work from home at the kitchen table in pj’s to meet deadlines and non-make up wearing for the most part. Good times ahead and my latest project makes my heart sing at the highest vibrato. Historic, commercial and surrounded by mountains… heaven.
Lots of vulgar self-promotion to follow…
We have been quiet for a while on the blog front, focusing on big projects ( to follow later this year ) we seemed to have run out of time for blogging and updating the website...so with a wee re group and chat among ourselves, we decided that it is essential to keep updating what we are doing.
To help re launch our blog with wonderful inspirations, we sent Kate off to 100% Design at The Olympia; the weekend of September 23rd to London. http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk/ The design trade fair show has built up a buzz over the past few years and it is an ideal opportunity to view up coming trends, new products and source for on going projects.
Arriving at 12pm after a decent curry across the road in the local Indian ( one needed sustenance to prevent the terrible possibility from falling into 'Hanger'... Hunger + Anger + Hanger ) a good six hours were spent, chatting, poking, unfolding, touching, ooo-ing and ahh-ing, telling chairs that you loved them, listing to architectural talks, dancing on tiles, stroking wooden floors, picking up and putting down, signing up for every website available and basking under the warm glow of ( our favorite lighting stand ) Original BTC https://www.originalbtc.com/ . After the six hours of design immersion, all Kate was fit to do after was seek out 1/2 a pint of a lovely London Pride and head home to bed to wallow in all the pamphlets and brochures collected.
Here are a few of our favourites we hope you enjoy them too...
Original BTC
This amazing lighting service, most items take around 3 weeks to order, which is fantastic for projects with constrained time lines. Inspiration taken from British Industrial and 1940's iconic designs.
Love how the various sizes and shapes are hung with these ceramic fixings
A take on the Dudley Best Lamp, the adjustable wall lamp in cream is swoonsome.
The next port of call for more deliciousness lighting was Ebb & Flow http://ebbandflow.dk/
EBB & FLOW designs and produces lighting, and functional and decorative objects; a mix of British Classic Design and the elegant lines of Nordic style, it is a match made in heaven. Bespoke lighting using a mix of textiles, creating warmth, elegance and simplicity. All their lighting designs are made to bring delight and joy and they do...
It was not all illumenscents... furniture was on the agenda also. We fell across the wonderful stand of http://duquesaemalvada.com/
Sometimes in life you are so overcome with emotion for a piece of furniture that you have to stroke it and dream of spending days perched upon, drinking cocktails, reading Bukowski and contemplating all the creativity meshed into our wonderful planet... the Elizabeth 1st sofa allows you to do just that...
We also fell in love with the owners of http://www.jamesuk.com/ranges/ their functional yet beautiful hand crafted furniture are pieces that can be used in every day settings from commercial through to residential. Our favourite was the Newington Armchair...it was just so darn comfortable, perfect for hotel receptions and there is a little hint at what we were on hunt for!
Other furniture manufacturers which also caught our breath, the amazing simplicity and beauty of Johanson http://johansondesign.com/ and the sumptuousness of Bow & Arrow Upholstery http://www.bowandarrow-upholstery.com/
With over 100 stands of visual delightfulness we cannot at all talk about them here, to finish this blog for this week lets talk about tiles. We stumbled across, on our way out of 100% Design a small boutique manufacturing firm from Austria Karak Tiles http://karak.at/en/
The tiles this small family owned business produces are quite unbelievable, the colours and richness of the product is beyond anything we have seen in ceramics for a very long time. It is inspiring to see hand crafts making a return as there is a demand for boutique and hand crafted and not mass produced. If you have the budget for Karak, then we would suggest looking no further than Austria!
We have so much more to write about from this design show, and will try to filter in the amazing products we got to experience at this show. What a wonderful event 100% Design...looking forward to the next.
A good design is produced from knowing your client, figuring out what they like and what they don't. Sometimes on projects you find yourself having the luxury of time allocated to spend with your client, and we luckily found ourselves just in time to spend with the wonderfully- amazing Kerry Hanaphy.
A few months back we were introduced to this Queen of facial aesthetics. Her clinics around Dublin are constantly booked out and she found herself running from one side of Dublin to the other, not to mention country-wide. We decided that she needed to be grounded in one place and reduce the mileage on her car!
Over four weeks, we sketched, tweaked, overdosed on mood boards, contemplated on site, discussed with architectural friends, debated with builders and graphic designers and suddenly we found ourselves at a design to run with for this small but fabulous space situated in the heart of Dublin on South William Street, wrapped into a high ceilinged Georgian Room. Our talented and creative building team were armed with hammers and saws at the ready http://mgdevelopments.ie/
The room itself was not all joy and light when it was first discovered it was very sad and tired, waiting for our magic wand.
BEFORE
After many mood boards inspiration came to us ... it was "more bounce for the ounce" ... which did it!
Mood Board for Kerry
We knew we needed bling and we created it in the form of lighting. Kerry and Kate set off on a "blingy light" shopping trip and in the helpful arms of Hicken Lighting purchased 3 oh so sparkly globes and a rectangle light of equal sparkliness for good measure.
We also added in three white Angle Poise lights, wall lights and desk lamps to balance the sparkle with good task lighting.
We did not want the typical clinic altro floor but instead to choose a beautiful product from Forbo Flooring - Allura Premium Black Oak in 500mm lenghts laid in herringbone - Forbo Flooring Allura.
Kate loved the floor so much when it was laid out she had to give it some love... :)
In the space we managed to design three rooms with one being consultation room. Each room is enveloped with sliding door system made out of hardwood and sprayed black. Splashes of red were added in the form of bespoke design by our team and hand-made by Twbill carpentry.
We always design everything bespoke from our furniture to our mirrors .... and I think you will agree the mirrors are magnificent. We wanted to create a huge wow factor and focal point in each room so we back lit with extra warm white LED.
Our sexy red bench is still in production so we will post this next week along with the final after shots and an update on all the graphics by very talented Neworld & Associates.
https://www.twbilldesigns.com/
http://www.hickenlighting.com/
Both of us have happened to spend time in Barcelona this year. Aggie was there earlier in the year for the beginning of spring and I was there for Primavera Sound Festival at the beginning of June.
Barca never fails to inspire, entice and make you want to eat copious amounts of tapas, drink Estrella Damm beer and sample local Cava. One of the best places to sample Cava delights is El Xampanyet, Address C/Montcada 22.
Barcelona has a fantastic policy for sought after restaurants... if it's good, get there and queue up for the opening at 6pm. Don't be late! No bookings, just faith and hope. My friend insisted we try the Cava in the vintage Cava glasses, I was hooked. Marvel at the interior and especially the tiles which give the feeling of being transported back in time, eat as much as you can and leave quickly - there are 20 people waiting for your seat and they are all watching you....
Don on your walking shoes not flip flops and walk around the city. It is the best way to discover those little hidden gems which you may miss if you are stuck to regime of tourist attractions. Street art and doors are a particular love of ours from cute and quirky to heart-stoppingly sexy, Barcelona has many.
Pigeon art above water tap
Store shutter street art
Doors which make you want to kiss them and ask for their hand or door knob in marriage they are so beautiful!
There is plenty of other contemporary street art around the city, too much to show here
It was not all fun and games for us, though mostly it was! We managed to both squeeze in a few sneak peeks into interiors with interesting food and goods display's, we are currently working on a new coffee shop layout in Dublin and seeking new ideas all the time.
Nostrum Cafe
Tapas Restaurant
And last ... what an inventive way to display donuts and we only sampled a few of them!
Join us next week when we discuss our on going projects in Dublin. We are super excited!
Firstly let us apologise for a weeks break from the blog. With the ending of projects and beginning of others, a house move and trip to Barcelona, we were pretty busy!
Let us tell you some of what we have been creating...
A while back we were approached by The Grand Canal Hotel http://www.grandcanalhotel.ie/ to re-vamp and re-design one of their suites which has amazing views over Aviva Stadium - Suite 501.
Aviva Stadium view
Unfortunately The Suite was not living up to the external views and was in need of a total makeover.
BEFORE image showing oversized headboard in black velvet.
BEFORE image with free standing furniture.
BEFORE - sofa and sliding door leading to balcony.
The Suite was dark and with the use of strong colours, black and red resulted in a negative ambience. We decided to change it to create cool, calm and sophisticated environment that was none too feminine or masculine.
New room layout
DURING
Once we had removed the traces of the previous suite, we concentrated on enveloping the walls and ceilings with cool paint colours from The Little Greene paint range purchased from the ever so helpful MRCB Paints.
Fescue
Cool Arbour
Serpentine
Complimented by a slightly deeper grey carpet from AW Carpets, this organised the base colour scheme along with 6-inch deep pencil pleat curtains in "Blockbuster Shark" and crisp white voiles. The splashes of warmth came from the bespoke carpentry and furniture; a wrap around walnut vanity with desk and fridge unit, a place to conceal and hide clutter; a bright turquoise chaise and tan chairs from Tom Delaney's Bespoke Furniture, new walnut wardrobe door from Conal Nolan Joinery and lights from Hicken Lighting.
Walnut veneer finish.
Blockbuster curtain fabric in "Shark".
Imperial Velvet fabric 129 Ocean.
When we placed these items all together, we can honestly say we are as delighted with the results as the clients and that bed and mid century designed headboard is positively dreamy...
AFTER
Walnut veneer and velvet deep buttoned headboard.
Vanity unit, Stockholm mirror and Blockbuster curtains.
Kate very excicted about the mirror and curtains
Makers and Suppliers...
http://www.delaneysbespokefurniture.ie
http://www.awcarpets.ie
http://www.hickenlighting.com
http://www.blcurtainsdirect.com
We were in Vienna last week checking up on past projects and obsessing over vintage lighting. Lighting can make or break an interior and in hospitality there is nothing worse than being in the 'spotlight' in a restaurant or bar.
In hospitality we like to keep light dimmed and sexy, using elements of brass and copper with fabric or glass. Always minimal overhead lighting and we prefer to concentrate on table lights and low level lighting. All lighting should be dimmable with use of LED bulbs if possible for lower energy consumption.
Our favourite era for lighting design was during the Mid-century were we were introduced to alternate shapes and forms. From the unique 'Cantharel' table light by Finnish designer Mija Liisa Komulaine for Dutch firm RAAK, to the iconic Hans Agne Jakobsson glass and brass chandelier.
The Cantharel
Agne Jakobbsson glass and brass chandelier
Mid century lighting styles will always be in demand, they are classic and seem to elude to an era of elegance. Decades later new designers continue to explore the shapes of this fascinating period in their designs paying homage to mi-century sophistication.
Elegant C-light from BOWER, New York
BEC Brittain’s HELIX Hanging light
Designers Flos' favourite lighting designer Michael Anastassiades on view during Milan 2016 at his first furniture range installation for Herman Miller.
Michael Anastassiades lighting
Here are a couple of lighting designs we have created for the hospitality sector; Delahunt Cocktail Bar using brass and fabric finishes for a soft, delicate light effect
http://delahunt.ie/
http://www.katehartleydesign.com/#/delahuntcamden/
Also Sam's Bar on Dawson Street using industrial copper pipes to create 1 metre high lights fixed to blue mirrored panels.
http://www.samsbar.ie/
Keep an eye on our next posts, when we will reveal our hotel suite fit out...
We found a gem! In our eyes it was...
Hidden away in a corner of Harold's Cross our client, MG Developments needed more space for their growing construction business.
Before
It took a lot to see beyond the darkness of the original space with small, magnolia painted rooms and low ceilings
During ...when we discovered the extra ceiling height, the roof was in too bad a shape to leave the beams exposed, however we gained more light and height
After...
Wall finishes after we painstakingly removed the magnolia paint
Leaving the remnants of the bitumen paint and brick exposed
OSB board was used to create a meeting room and smaller office with storage. We added a splash of colour using RAL 1007 - Daffodil yellow and commissioned a cabinet maker to make bespoke birch ply tables.
Small office and meeting room on the left hand side.
Birch ply tables and Human Scale world chair from Bizquipp.
Key detailing in the bespoke desks
RAL 1007 Daffodil Yellow in the background and bespoke storage unit for mini fridge, coffee and tea with plant shelf on top.
The addition of vintage furniture pieces in the G- plan coffee table and bespoke banquette, which is in production , will finish off the space.
We think it is not a typical builders office, we hope you agree...
As always, we are waiting for you to share your thoughts with us! We'll keep you updated with our past, current and future works every Saturday.
Have you ever given them a thought? ... Headboards can create visual impact, change the atmosphere and transform the bedroom by adding softness, luxury and a focal point
We adore high, dramatic headboards. Why? As they combine masculine grandeur with a soft, plushy finish and they literally make us yawn...and in this instance, it's a good thing! Here are some of our inspirational finds this week, from deep buttoned, tufted wingback style to masculine mid century...
Combining bohemian style with classic styling
Simple elegance at The Dean Hotel, Dublin
The Lincoln bedhead adds a touch of Art Deco opulence, the combination of emerald green and geometric prints is on trend
We love the feminine lines and the smooth velvet finish
For more masculine mid-century twist try leather or timber finish!
Our favourite combination is both materials together, see for yourself.
Follow our posts every Saturday morning for more inspiring ideas and our projects in progress. You'll have a chance to see what we came up with headboard and furniture-wise for Suite 501.
We all need quality time to comfort ourselves after a long, tiring and stressful work day, whether it is outdoors or indoors. We design our homes to be retreat from hussle and bustle, this is our fix from all the craziness of outside world. But what if we need real therapy room? We were recently asked to design such hub for psychotherapist to make it a more nurturing environment for clients and for herself within a busy household. The space had to be multifunctional, but also not feel like an office.
Have a look at what we came up with! Maybe you could use some of these ideas for your own space?
Colours for the walls are in a slight soft pink and wood work in an off white, a side swept velvet curtain is to reveal the lavender window box when in the summer months with the window is slightly openwill permeate the room with smell of lavender. Lavender is know for its relaxing properties while the elements of copper used in the space have healing properties and add warmth to the colour scheme (see link listed below for further reading).
ROOM LAYOUT
Our bespoke rug design is going to be made soon! The idea was based on butterfly wing as an expression of client's transformation.
We are always looking for inspiring ideas for our new projects so share some comments with us below! Whether you are designer, our potential client or you just like what we do, please contact us and we'll be delighted to have a chat with you!
Old chairs recovered in a vintage leather and re-stained to bring them into their new space for customers to enjoy.
I am all for upcycling and finding pearls within jumble...
These chairs are to be transformed and it's a delight to give a fine crafted piece of furniture another life!
