i ♥ design: April 2011

As many students at my school are preparing for the little 500 and deciding which concert they are going to be attending I had the chance to sit down with a very inspiring designer and someone I personally aspire to be. I am very lucky to know Susan Brook personally, her daughter is a very close friend of mine, so when I started this blog I knew I wanted her to be the first designer for me to interview. Susan is a Interior Designer originally from West Yorkshire, England. I hope her experience and words of wisdom can help all those aspiring designers and students out there like I know they helped me.

Can you give me a brief history of your work experience and how you got to where you are now?
I actually went to college for Social Work, which comes in very handy when dealing with clients. You’re in between two people who sometimes want different things and completely different tastes and it’s your responsibility to bring them together to create a uniform design.
I started design in the late 70’s. I actually started in paint (Fiesta), which was really a great kind of base to have because you understand how paint is manufactured and all those different techniques and layers and trends within paint and wallpaper. That was just as the movement was happening where John Williams had a book, it was the first time it had ever came out, where wallpapers, fabrics, bedding all matched, it was kind of an explosion. Everyone could get a hold of matching things, and EVERYTHING matched, I mean your sofa would match your curtains. In your bedroom, your duvet would match you pillows which would match you bed skirt and drapes and wallpaper. It was huge! I don’t know how many gray and red bedrooms we did.
I left Fiesta because I wanted a more challenging job. I applied for a job interview at Webster’s Interiors with Heather and Ian. I remember going to the showroom for the interview and Heather came downstairs and said, “It won’t be long, we’re just interviewing someone else.” And the showroom was in a state of upset, so I thought while I’m waiting on them I’ll just clean up. So I got all the paper books put them all back, all the fabric books, put everything back. So the next time she came downstairs the showroom was completely clear. And that was a little bit of a different showroom to where I work previously, there was more expansive fabric choices and wallpapers and different manufacturers. So they interviewed me, I wasn’t the age they said that they wanted for the position, even though I had the experience, so I kind of talked my way into the job. But I had to wait, it was something like come back in a hours time. So me and my dad went to the supermarket and came back and I asked if they made up their mind and they said that they weren’t too sure because I also couldn’t drive. So I said, “You need to make your mind up, have I got the job or not?” And they just said, “Yeah, you’ve got the job.” I worked in the showroom with Heather and Molly, who was part time, and that was mainly draperies and fabrics, there was no paint sold at that store so it was completely different from where I worked before. I had [my daughter] in 1990 and I took about 6 months off from work and they kept my job open for me, then I went back just during school hours.
We then moved from Huddersfield to Charleston, South Carolina, Webster’s Interiors kept my job open for those three years we were there. And then I came back and went right back into work, then in 2000 is when we came over here (Columbus,IN). And it was like a culture shock, the environment moving over here. Going from where everyone knew me as a designer to little old Columbus. I went to the fabric showrooms here and found that within a 5 block radius, each store was selling the same fabric and held the same accounts. It was very different when I first came here, and a lot of interior “decorators,” (something all designers hate being called) which is completely different from interior designers. And it took me a long time for me to get established here. You know when I first started working it was, “will you come out and pick some paint colors,” and things like that. And then over 10 years it has evolved to where I am now designing kitchens, project managing, taking care of the not only the clients but plumber, contractor, electrician.

How do you think interior design differs from England to the US?
Demographics really push you to where the design goes. Within England, you know it’s a small island, the majority of English people will travel so they’ll get a wider view of design. They gain the culture, they gain the knowledge. So they come back from Morocco and they want to put that influence in a room in their home. They’ll come back from Greece or Spain, they see that architecture. And that’s the thing about England, it’s full of architecture, and the homes have got that inside them. So the majority of older homes, which England is, the interiors of them the door trims, the window trim, the baseboard, all of those will be of architecture influence. Whereas here, what I find here is that, typically you can have a house and it will be the biggest house that that family can afford, and the cars will be the most expensive cars that that family can afford, not necessarily afford but want. And then I can go inside that house and there’s nothing, there’s blinds over the windows, it’s just how it looks on the outside. And that’s the biggest difference. Okay, in England you’ve got the history and you’ve got the old furniture how that could make or break a room. Whereas here people never think about getting a antique piece to put their big modern television on. Instead the go to the big furniture stores. They look and find the biggest, brightest furniture that speaks to them in a 5,00 sq. ft. showroom then bring it home and it shouts and screams at them. That’s what I find here, people don’t layer when they buy, they’ll go out and buy a new sofa, they’ll go out and buy a table, and they end up screaming and shouting at each other. One of my big sayings is, “Everything has to have a conversation with each other.” So you’ve got to have reference in one room to the next room, they need to talk to each other so you don’t get shocked going into each room.

If you could name one thing that had the greatest effect of you getting to where you are now what would that be?
My cheek, I think. I think what it is, Heather always use to say I could sell coal to a coal miner. You’ve almost got to have the understanding that the clients coming to you not necessarily knowing how to do it, they might know what they want but they might just not know how to get that. The biggest thing you have to have as a designer is knowledge, not knowledge of your product but the knowledge of how everything connects to each other. So when I’m doing a lighting plan I not only got to think of the client, I’ve also got to think about the kitchen I’m designing , I’ve got to think what’s behind that drywall or ceiling, you’ve got to have that knowledge. You’ve also got to have the knowledge of what’s the best thing available for them and what’s the best thing available for the design. I would say a little bit of cheek along with knowledge gets you a long way.

What advice would you give aspiring designers?
Travel. Travel. Travel. Push yourself, push yourself to go into a city, to live in a city, to get that city feel. Not just keeping commercial, but go into residential, go into industrial. I think you can get stuck sometimes in one part of design. And it’s such a huge thing, it’s massive, design. You know I don’t just keep to interiors I do exteriors too, so then people are asking me where should I put my pool and will you design my pool house. So it’s travel and get the knowledge, and drink in the culture and the architecture of different places, not just the U.S.

Susan Brook brought up some great points for new designers. One of the most inspiring things she said during our interview was when she was talking about layering design. This is a very important concept for everyone, not just designers. There is a saying she said that she uses often that I believe is a perfect concept for design, “Everything has to have a conversation with each other.”
Thank you so much Sue. You are a very talented inspiring designer and I learned so much from talking with you

You can check out some of Susan's work, read test testimonials, and contact her through susanbrookinteriors.com

Here is an example of her work. This is her beautiful Living Room, I think this space is a great example of her work and illustrates her design language. The room started with the 2 silk pillows, that gave her the color palette, then came the lamps. It then evolved around those choices, layering old with new to have an eclectic but strong design.

Sculptural lamps and iron mirror- http://www.midlandathome.com/
Art Deco Exotic Burl Credenza Breakfront Cabinet- http://www.metroretrofurniture.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=7513&cameFrom=51
Eames chair and ottoman, pallisander wood- http://www.dwr.com/product/living/chairs-recliners/chairs/eames-lounge-ottoman-vicenza.do?sortby=ourPicks
Cashmere throw over Eames chair- http://www.wshome.com/?bnrid=5250101&cm_ven=BrandSearch&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Brand&cm_ite=wshome&OVMTC=Exact&site=&creative=6136807352&OVKEY=wshome&url_id=36762447
Framed prints from a 1950's calendar- thrift store find.
Leather sofa from Relish in Bloomington, IN- http://www.relishbloomington.com/index.shtml
Daedalus Lamp by Tord Boontye
Pillows on sofa silk- Williams & Sonoma Home Orange Suzani pillow http://www.wisteria.com/
Obi coffee table-Martha Stewart
Stools behind sofa in French Linen and table next to Eames chair- http://www.restorationhardware.com/

i ♥ design

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Hit the Lights!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

New "Design"

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Susan Brook, Independent Interior Designer