Zeffy Thompson. Interior Design

Coming from a strong hospitality background I have always had an eye for detail. Walking into a restaurant, bar or hotel, I immediately and instinctively know within the first five minutes if the lighting is too low or too bright, the music and sound level appropriate, if a bulb needs changing, whether the plants are real or fake (fake plants is something I detest in venues), the standard and level of service I am going to receive, if the menu is indeed fresh or bought in from a 3rd supplier, if the wine list is appropriate for the said menu, the cleanliness of the venue, even back of house. I know the approximate size of the team of staff and if the head chef and head bartender are innovative or followers of trend, I know how many covers and the estimated turnover and profit or loss.

Establishing Professional Practice (along with the other modules) has allowed me to extend that ever growing list substantially. I now look at the design of the light fixtures and fittings, the same with the furniture, the patterns and colour scheme, floor and wall coverings, windows and doors, the layout and flow of the venue, is this a concept look that is on trend, dated or boldly, something I’ve never seen before. I have developed a new obsession for accessories, bathroom design and occasional chairs, and do not get me started on hotel rooms. Dining now, my poor partner has to endure me waxing lyrical about everything I did before but with the design element added to it. In fact the design list now comes first, its usually 15 minutes before I‘ve even noticed the menu and my partner is already on his 2nd gin and tonic!

The same as digital practice, I am learning a new language. I don’t have an art back ground so sketching on a regular basis is alien to me, as is a lot of the terminology, sketching is a skill I need to continue to practice outside of university. I don’t have the luxury of the same length of time as my much younger fellow students, this module has made me realise I need to fully embrace the industry and learn everything and anything I can within design, from colour to textiles and art, to leaders in my chosen field of study, to those just up and coming, to ideally, eventually having the knowledge to potentially discover and predict design trends.

I have had a love hate relationship with digital practice, mainly hate. I started at Salford University last Sept all excited, ready to take on the world and get stuck in to learning new practices, my initial introduction was with Photoshop then AutoCad then SketchUp. Within the structure of the Interior Design course Digital Practice is taught once a week teaching basic training on the programs. It became very apparent, quite quickly, that learning Digital Practice for me is like being taught the French alphabet and then given Shakespeare in French to translate into English. This has been such a huge hurdle throughout the entire year, it’s frustrating, its demoralising and its affected everything from my confidence to my final work submissions. 

I understand that as a 46 year old woman I come to University with a lot of skills and knowledge your normal 18/19 year old student wont come with, however many younger students have spent the last 5-7 years at school and college working with similar if not the same digital software, so understand this language I struggle with already, and I know that Universities of course are going to cater to the majority but it would be great if they could look at the needs of the mature student also. 

I know that when I get it, I will love it and I am hoping it will be a lightbulb moment. I know have spent the best part of the year fighting Digital Practice and letting it get to me rather than attempt to overcome it, and to be fair on myself I think I have watched every youtube demonstration out there for SketchUp, gone over Lynda time and time again, I have even purchased the books and spent hours at home pouring over AutoCad for Dummies and SketchUp for Interior Design. But I’ve never been one to dwell for too long in a state of frustration, I’ve always been excellent at problem solving and crisis management so I now view myself as the problem that needs solving. 

Last couple of weeks working on SketchUp skills 

As research into our hotel design concept brief we took a trip to the delightful King St Hotel in Manchester, we were lucky enough to get a personal tour by their development manager Diane and a fascinating insight into the design of the hotel itself from Sally O’Loughlin. Sally is both owner and designer of the hotels in the portfolio of Eclectic Hotels. Sally kindly allowed us to grill her as well as share some much needed tips and advice for our project.

I liked the eclectic style of design they have taken on for King St. It works well with the building, lots of dark woods with muted matt colours and the occasional pop of bright pattern or colour it fits the boutique hotel genre well. I have had the good fortune to stay in many hotels and this is a trend I noticed personally around 10-12 years ago, I think its a trend to stay for a while longer however looking at some of the research I have been doing I think we will soon see some new exciting design concepts coming into the hotel industry. 

It was great to view King St Hotel as a budding designer, it was also very refreshing to learn that Sallys experience of designing her first hotel was pretty much the same as my own experience when I designed my restaurant 5 years ago, Like me Sally decided to educate herself at Nottingham Design Academy before heading into designing King St and its reassuring to know that Sally made that choice as a mature student. For me doing a diploma gave me the confidence to do a degree in Interior Design, this visit has really given me inspiration as well as career envy but I definitely need to learn to walk before I dive into designing restaurants for a career.