All Work (Experience) & No Pay

Has anyone read this months issue of IDFX? The article entitled 'All Work and No pay' inspired me to write about my thoughts on internships in the interior design industry and whether they are a great way to get into the industry or a crafty way to get inspired, enthusiastic talented designistas (my new name for interior designers) to work for free.

Student work from the KLC Graduate Show

According to the article written by Kay Hill, 20% of last years summer graduates were still unemployed the following January. It's true we are going through/just came out of a recession and although it has always been important that up and coming designistas have the experience to bag their first job, it is more evident that this is vital. However are design firms exploiting another persons passion and determination to break into the industry in return for tea making, photocopying and filing?

I had the pleasure of working as an intern for many interior design firms and have been lucky in meeting some great people along the way. However I have heard some horror stories. One of my friends Julie was thrilled to get a two month internship with a small interiors firm however every Monday her daily job was to clean up the 'trashed' studio room. Making tea was the next task along with running minor unrelated errands and the occasional sourcing of materials. 

Creation by the Lee Broom Studio

Another friend of mine Marie wanted to give one interior design company plenty of time to organise a great internship. Instead, when she arrived they had nothing for her to do apart from flick through magazines and scan images.

Work from the KLC Graduate Show

Although I think that there are many firms which do exploit the passionate there are a few 'pots of gold' as I like to call them, who do invest in interns. Take Kelly Hoppen MBE for example. Kelly has a well structured internship programme which has been devised to give the intern the quality experience they need and deserve.

At the time of being published sadly the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) does not have any form of internship framework or guidance in place for design firms or passionate interns. As an institute in my opinion, I feel they have an obligation to the design intern in particular their student members to enforce such a framework especially as so many do become exploited (for free no less). 

Who knows, maybe one day the institute might look into it.


Watch this space...

September Interior Design A/W11 - 100% Design

The September Interior Design season is fast approaching and I'M BEYOND EXCITED!

September, like fashion, is the interior design equivalent of a creative explosion. It's when we get a chance to see all the new, innovative 'outside of the box' designs, the new seasons colour palette and get a chance to learn from the best at the wide range of seminars on offer. The exhibition runs from Thursday 22 September to Sunday 25 at Earl's Court - London.

I'm very proud to say that my ultimate favourite exhibitions of the new design season is 100% design. It's fresh, its exciting and each year it always surprises me with something new. I have requested my press pass and can't wait to attend!

If you're anything like me and cannot wait then click onto their website for more exciting news and information about the exhibition. Registration can be done on the website - so what are you waiting for!

http://www.100percentdesign.co.uk

Kurt Geiger - Candy in a Shoe Store

Have you ever wondered what would happen when fashionistas and designistas (my new name for interior designers) combine to make great interior design! Well its here - the new Kurt Geiger store on Grafton Street - London.

The Kurt Geiger Shoe Chandelier

I thought I'd indulge my sweet-tooth for cute accessories and innovative design and headed down to the store to see for myself. The creative brains at Kurt Geiger (Rebecca Farrar-Hockley who believes in 'original design') and her team came together to create this wonderful sleek, luxury high-end look. My favourite feature is the rotating 'shoe chandelier' which makes for a mouth-watering feature in the store window.

I want them all...

Walking into the store you are literally a designista deer caught in the fashion headlights mesmerised by the amazing mirrored walls, the well displayed shoes and the centrepiece in the store ' The Candy Range'. The colour palette of sassy siren red, cool steely grey and chrome marry well with the 'parquet' wooden flooring.

Candy Accessories Range

And I couldn't leave the store without making a little purchase. I not only fell in love with  Rebecca Farrar-Hockley's store design but also with the Kurt Geiger travel card holder (a bargain at £15).

The store is on Grafton Street London and the accessories can be brought exclusively only at this store and online until 6 September.

http://www.kurtgeiger.com

Kurt Geiger - Grafton Street

Focus 2011

Travel Blogging: Parisian Style

So my American family came over from across the pond to celebrate my cousins 30th birthday and it was fantastic. Along the way I took a moment to take in all the wonderful Parisian interiors and was swept away by the chic-style.


Some of favourite places were of course Laduree and The House of CHANEL. I also loved the Opera and Versailles.

The house of CHANEL

New Designers 2011

Products pro ducted by Jy Yeon, Suh

New Designers is a graduate show which I never used to go to. I'm not entirely sure why but this year I made sure I got my press pass and went to see the talent. Boy - was I surprised. The creativity and designs that shone through was impeccable! So innovative and forward-thinking. Some of the work which I felt really pushed the boundaries in terms of materials and production were these by Jy Yeon, Suh. An MA graduate from Central Saint Martins, she has created the brand 'BOJAKI' which uses alternative forms of furniture and objects using low tech production to enable easier transportation.

I adored this beautiful light produced by Jy Yeon Suh - MA CSM Student

This structure by Max Carins was such a great eye-catcher. The idea behind this was to recycle and reuse raw materials, making them into something unique. I loved the way he recycled these wood-chippings into a cozy cushion structure.

By Max Cairns

I literally died with excitement when I saw Freyja Sewell's HUSH creation. It's like a cozy cocoon made from 100% wool felt, wool yarn, recycled wool fibbers and plywood.

The HUSH chair by Freyja Sewell

By creating an enclosed space HUSH provides a personal retreat, an escape into a quiet, natural space. The HUSH can also be transformed to provide more traditional open seating. I'll take one please!

Innovative Lighting by Gregg Parsell at Gregg Parsell Design

Hywel Vaughan with his ground-breaking agricultural technology

Although not interiors based I did like Hywel Vaughan's Woodland Plotter Ideation. To make the process of obtaining data for applying for woodland grants easier, the woodland plotter combines GPS technology and user entered meta-data about what is being recorded; all connecting to the MyForest system.  This allows users to record all of the information needed, in situ, then upload it straight into a woodland management system. No tape measures, no graph paper, no fuss.

To find out more about Hywel and his products do have a look at his website.

Unique designs by Katie

VERDICT: I'm so glad I went. There was so much inspiration, colour and innovative designs. All those featured have produced some fabulous work.

KLC 2011 Graduate Show

Yes, I'm back and although my last blog post featured the wonderful work of Natasha McLenahan what I didn't tell you about was all the other wonderful work featured and presented at this years show.

I can completely relate to Natasha in terms of the open learning course as a fellow student. I started the course a few years ago and having suffered a few unforeseen set-backs it's true that sometimes you can go off your own personal schedule. 

Having attended the show there was one group of students which were the clear winners this year - THE OPEN LEARNING STUDENTS. In addition to this years 'Student of the Year' Natasha, there was another student that caught my beady eye - EMMA DIFFEY

Concept by Emma Diffey

From concept to sample board Emma really shone through for me. I adored her attention-to-detail and use of colour. 

Sample Board by Emma Diffey

Window Treatment Board by Emma Diffey

It is clear that you don't have to sit in a classroom to get the full teaching knowledge for this course and that you can produce - with hard work, dedication and a good design eye, great quality work.

At the show some of the certificate student-graduates caught my eye too. I was really drawn to Julia Schoenbrunn's work.

Julia Schoenbrunn with her fabulous final project

This was a live residential project which formed the final project for the certificate in interior design qualification. I loved her attention-to-detail and the amount of work which went into this project. You can clearly see that a lot of thought went into this design.

An example of other certificate graduates work

This blended-learning student also got my thumbs up - Daniel Rossouw. You can see above that Daniel has a strong talent for design and creating a welcoming, warm space.

To find out more about Julia Schoenbrunn you can check out her blog 

To find out more about KLC why not check out their website

http://www.klc.co.uk/