Interior What?

Over the last few years I have often had to explain what Interior Design is.

A few of my friends have even dedicated facebook groups to the plight of Interior Designers and their job description. One loudly proclaimed : We DO NOT scatter cushions!

I really laughed at that one, though it is true… Interior Design could be described as the link between decorating and architecture. We aim to make rooms or buildings beautiful and inviting, but we also have to worry about certain technical aspects. We can also specialise, focusing on furniture design, residential homes, or corporate work such as office design or retail design. Because I’m a visual person, I thought I’d also add a couple of examples of what we’ve done over the last 3 years to explain it better.

This is a salon we had to design during second year. The brief was to design a hair salon that is inspired by District Six and its cultural heritage. I chose to focus on the music that was played at the time which was Jazz. I used inspiration from the curves of the brass instruments for the fittings as well as the colouring for the space. I really enjoyed this project, even though it took some time to wrap my head around it. Its also a good example of what we do. On the left is the name and logo of the salon. We often are told to come up with a corporate identity and then need to mould the design to suite it, or vice versa. The middle shot is one of the rendered views I got from the 3D model I built up from my 2D drawings. The image on the right is part of a technical construction drawing we had to do. It is a section through the entrance, and shows what the different elements are and how they are fixed together.

Sometimes the projects are more conceptual, with less attention paid to how it will be made. Although a design is not successful if it’s impossible to produce. This is a poster I designed to showcase a picnic table and bench I submitted for a student design competition. Another large aspect of what we do is presentation. As a designer you need to have the visual tools to show a client what your design is, in a neat and clear way. So Interior Design also has some connection to graphic design.

 Its a really intense but rewarding career option and something I’ve wanted to do since I was in my mid-teens. So I hope that this was atleast a little bit informative 😉