Reflecting upon a pivotal year - 2019 in review
2019 - The National Stage
Winner of the Best Interior Design Practice at the Northern Design Awards.
Luxury residential Interior Design Studio
After our move to our current studio in late 2017, initially taking the time to establish our design teams presence within the space, we entered early 2019 with a review of our branding. Choosing to work with the highly talented Two Times Elliott . Working closely with director and founder James Horwitz, James developed our brand identity in-line with our studios design philosophy, curating a brand which demonstrates a subtle expressing of light and shadow, materiality and texture, a reflection of light and balance. Our brand is an ongoing journey and we continue to develop plans to drive our creative direction forward into the next decade, ensuring that as a design studio, we practice our own beliefs and values, and create a client experience that is as considered at all touch points as it is within our digital and physical space.
As a company we have continued to nurture up-and-coming talent, seeing our junior Interior Designer develop her skills before relocating to be with family, and our undergraduate intern flourish before returning to university to complete her studies. 2019 has also seen the recruitment of a full time Project Manager and Design Technician - Peter Lodge, and more recently an in-house accountant - Eve Lager. We continue to offer a paid internship placement for an undergraduate student - having recently welcomed Harriett Jackson from the University of York to work with us during her undergraduate studies, and we look forward to welcoming another full-time Interior Designer to our team in the very early part of the New Year.
“I have always believed in people, and people, much like teams, will evolve over time. Encouraging and developing talent is part of my responsibility to the industry. At any one time my studio team are like an extended family, each bringing their own depth of character into our company culture, and rolling their sleeves up and delivering work with dependability and commitment time after time, I am deeply proud of what our team have achieved this year”
Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2019
In February we experienced a true Scandinavian winter and visited the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair .
Perhaps the most obvious influence was the wave of beige that could be seen repeatedly throughout the show, encompassing a range of warm almost terracotta hues within the shade - a bold and significant step away from the tonal greys which have dominated interior palettes for many years now. This new palette was accented with subtle pinks, and organic greens, feeling semi flamboyant and energised against the backdrop of many years of monochromatic greys.
We listed our top-five-highlights from this most influential design show here, noting references which we felt were most notable within our industry; in particular, accessories, colour, functionality, tactility and scent.
The Scandinavian Furniture and Light Fair is unlike many design shows, in that Stockholm itself is somewhat geographically interesting, and many of the installations are spread across large distances around the city, adding into this the harsh Scandinavian winter which can make navigating around challenging. However, we can now laugh at how we walked in 3 ft snow drifts for over an hour to reach a train platform that took us on a train right passed our accommodation, quickly learning, once aboard the train, that we need not have walked at all. The reward for this school boy error was undoubtably seeing wild deer meandering around the suburbs in pristine snow and that sense of appreciation at something so breathtaking amongst the sublime.
When the walk home just gets too much.
ISH Frankfurt 2019
In March we visited ISH Frankfurt, which is the leading event focussing upon water and energy design within buildings, setting the trends for modern bathroom design, sustainable heating and air-conditioning technology as well as intelligent home systems.
Our visit to Frankfurt was courtesy of our industry partners C.P.Hart and offered an insightful opportunity into many brands which we regularly specify, in particular Gessi, their exhibition display was a jungle of botanicals and water, celebrating the philosophy of water and wellness. This philosophy resonates deeply with our own brand values - the understanding that thoughtful and considered design has a positive impact upon our emotional wellbeing.
In addition to Gessi, a strong focus was placed upon the importance of seamless and integrated technology, allowing our experience with water to remain a ritualistic experience, whilst also delivering connectivity of the modern age. Hansgrohe for example have expertly developed Raintunes, a shower scenario which treats all five senses, combining sounds, light, scent, touch and balance to create various experience’s - ranging from exercise recovery to relaxation after a long day at work.
We wrote about the emotionally considered home following our trip to Frankfurt and our post can be read here
Luxurious residential Projects
2019 offered our studio the opportunity to continue to deliver a number of discerning projects, utilising our design teams high level technical capabilities, we were able to continue to build upon our prestigious portfolio of highly crafted and meticulously detailed luxurious interiors.
Clients have recognised Rachel Ushers design aesthetic, which has a clear focus upon bespoke finishes, texture, intricately considered details which are highly complex in the background, yet deliver a strong aesthetic which is bold in form and also demonstrating simplicity, which is achieved through the thoughtful application of considered design details executed in the early planing stages.
2019 has represented a significantly busy year to date for the studio and we are very privileged to have been commissioned to work upon some truly prestigious projects, many of which will come to completion during 2020. As we look forward to an energetic year ahead, we are planning with meticulous detail our studios programme to deliver a wide genre of projects, which are already set to include a midcentury style outdoor garden pavilion, a selection of large prestigious home redevelopments, and a mix of luxurious kitchens and bathrooms. Rachel our Founder, and Claire, our Design Director remain focussed upon delivering all designs under their joint close eye and direction, working personally to all clients and supported by a carefully selected team of Managers, Technologists, and Interior Designers.
With so many outstanding projects delivered this year, each with their own carefully crafted design and ethos, we have selected two projects that were particularly technically driven demonstrating our studios expertise in executing truly bespoke interiors. Our Conscioulsy Connected project where we carefully detailed a bespoke home office maximising the use of engineering throughout the design, and also Renewed Wellness, our latest bathroom project which has been delivered using a thoughtful application of materials to deliver a seamless impermeable finish.
Further projects completed towards the end of the year have been photographed and will be added to our website shortly here, follow us on Instagram for automatic updates when new projects are incorporated online.
Amara Interior Blog awards
The Amara Interior Blog Awards celebrates and engages with the most authoritative and respected bloggers in the interior blogging industry. Interiors retailer Amara recognised blogging as an integral part of the interior design industry.
We continue with our aim of deconstructing the commonly perceived notion of design simply being about aesthetics only, and our interiors journal helps us to explain why, to us, creating a memorable interior experience with an emotionally considered approach is the only way to add meaningful value to a space, to add a benefit to our experience from the built environment and why health and well-being are so innately connected to our experience of the space around us.
We were overjoyed to learn that for the second year running we were nominated within the ‘Best Interior Design Blog’ category. With your help we became finalists and were lucky enough to attend the prestigious awards ceremony at One Marylebone, London hosted by renowned interior design duo, Sophie Robinson & Kate Watson-Smyth who is otherwise known as Mad About The House
“To attend the ceremony was reward in itself, and to learn on the night that we were crowned as winners of the Best Interior Design Blog UK was a phenomenal surprise and a huge accolade to the time that we invest in sharing our philosophy with you. We were described as the ultimate trend setters by some of the most significant influencers in the industry - we remain bursting with pride at this magnificent achievement. ”
Thank you to the judges and to everyone who voted.
NORTHERN DESIGN AWARDS
The Northern Design Awards immediately followed the Amara Awards, and bring together designers, architects, retailers and property developers in a glittering celebration of northern design and style. 2019 saw the Rachel Usher Interior Design Studio become finalists in the categories for Amazing Spaces, and Best Interior Design Practice.
Judged by the best in the business, these awards serve to recognise excellence across the North of the UK, and to achieve a finalist position is a fantastic achievement.
Culminating in a glamorous gala dinner at the Principle Hotel in Manchester, Founder - Rachel and Design Director - Claire attended the event and received the winners award for the Best Interior Design Practice, presented by Aneeqa Khan, founder and CEO of E-Porta.
“This award is a recognition of the outstanding talent within our design practice, the bravery to apply new and innovative techniques to our work, and most of all the confidence to lead the interior design industry and not to follow. ”
Rachel and Claire will also vouch for how much fun a silent disco can be! - Human glitter ball anyone?
Winners - Northern Design Awards 2019 - Best Interior Design Practice
What to expect in 2020
As we glance back to what has been a magnificent year, and still buoyed by the glittering award ceremonies and accolades, it is at the forefront of the entire teams mind that 2020 promises to be an exciting year that will only be achievable with dedication, focus, and commitment. We have some of our most outstanding projects yet to come, and almost granularly precise time management will be the order of the day/year.
As we enter 2020 it is at the back of our mind that we are also forging our international reputation and whilst much of this remains under wraps for now, we are excited to be developing new and key relationships overseas in some of the most interesting places.
We will continue to take inspiration trips and for those who would like to share the experience with us - follow us on Instagram here.
Towards the beginning of the year we will be looking to expand our studio team further still. Our future vacancies will posted via our careers page here but in the meantime, if you’re a qualified interior designer, technician, programme manager or you are an overall highly organised and creative individual with a genuine passion for design - we’re happy to hear from you on a speculative basis. If you would like to get to know our current team a little better, you can read about our studio team on our website.
You can also expect exciting digital content collaborations with some of our industry’s finest pioneers - add @Rachel_Usher to your follow on list on Twitter for collaboration updates as they happen. We would also encourage you to join our community of loyal journal subscribers here .
We would like to take the time to say thank you to everyone who has joined us on our journey so far, we choose to only work with the very best suppliers and industry professionals, and our peers share our passion for attention to detail and uncompromising quality.
We would like to wish all of our suppliers, industry peers, and most of all our clients, without whom we would be nothing, a wonderful, happy and healthy 2020.
