Roselind Wilson, owner and creative director of Roselind Wilson Design, talks about her journey into the interesting world of interior design, some of the projects her studio is currently working on and why it’s worth hiring an interior designer for a home renovation project.
What is your studio’s ethos?
At Roselind Wilson Design, we believe that the space you inhabit has a profound effect on how you live, how you feel, and ultimately on how you experience life. That is why great design lies at the heart of everything we offer. Add to that meticulous planning, exceptional attention to detail, and unparalleled client service, and I believe these are just some of the reasons why our clients choose us, and why they return to us again and again for subsequent projects.
Just a few of our current projects include…
- A lateral apartment in one of the most prestigious areas of prime London. This transition sees the transformation to contemporary timber clad interiors within a listed historical building to create a dynamic primary residence for our international client.
- A characterful and eclectic traditional Victorian house with an abundance of features set against a backdrop of bold colours and individual style expressed by our client and delivered on point by RWD.
- A beautiful mansion block apartment in Bloomsbury that has been untouched for 40 years. Working with our client, who has carried out numerous residential projects in China and New York, their main objective is for us to push their boundaries in design and for us to design a project dissimilar to anything we have done before. Watch this space!
- A stunning Arts and Crafts house in Hampstead, which played host to some glamourous features such as an enormous single pane curved glass window and a baby grand piano that hints at its colourful past. We are delighted to be breathing fresh life into the interior while still remaining true to its characterful past in its transformation.
- We are delighted to be working with one of the most renowned cosmetic and aesthetic surgeons on Harley Street to transform the reception and consultation rooms of this boutique clinic to enhance the client experience and align with the exceptional level of service provided by this specialist clinic.
- Working alongside the technical team of this prestigious hedge fund located in Chelsea to design the audio-visual meeting room to align with that of a sophisticated recording studio.
Luxury Interior Design & Architecture
We are inspired by a diversity of styles and have produced an array of luxurious interior architecture and interior design projects. Whatever the project, whatever the brief, we analyse the requirements, assess the scope of works, and deliver a successful and distinctive result on every occasion.
How do you start your day?
I’ve started to view a successful daily ritual by ensuring I get a good nights’ sleep. This is perhaps the result of not having had the ability to take my usual holiday break/s over the past year and therefore no time for much-needed rest and rejuvenation.
So in short, my morning gets off to a good start by having had a great nights’ sleep. I’m a huge fan of mornings because it’s so peaceful, still and quiet and the first thing I do is have a cup of tea on my terrace which overlooks beautiful communal gardens.
The smell of the morning air and the sound of the birds really sets a calming tone. I try and maintain this sense of calm throughout the morning as it means I can gather my thoughts in a structured manner and allow the tasks of the day to filter through.
I make time for some meditation, even if it’s just 5-10 minutes (I have found this to be a real game-changer) and on every other morning I’ll head out for a short run or I’ll do some boxing or cardio indoors. I guess I’ve come to view the mornings as ‘me’ time as my days are very busy and to be productive I really need time to myself – not only to be productive but to also keep my mental health in check, especially in this time of unpredictability. Self-care and a little bit of TLC are very important to me.
What a typical day looks like…
I have a wonderful design team and I am also fortunate enough to have my twin sister work alongside me now in running the business. So right now, my day is spent meeting with my team (mostly over Zoom) to review project designs and details and ensure that everything is running seamlessly and that any concerns are dealt with as a team, quickly and efficiently.
My sister is the CMO and she meets with me regularly to review marketing initiatives and planning of the marketing budgets and together we review the project forecasting and jobs profitability.
The most important aspect of any day is to ensure that all our clients are completely happy and satisfied and I speak with them regularly as the relationships we build and nurture with them are the key to the longevity of our company.
What is interior design?
The analogy we find most useful when talking to our clients about this is to think of interior design as ‘everything that would fall out of your house if you turned it upside down’, and to think of interior architecture as ‘everything that wouldn’t’. So, in essence, interior design covers the ‘moveable’ items such as furniture, artwork, and soft furnishings, and interior architecture comprises the ‘fixed’ elements of your home like staircases, doors, and bathroom fittings.
How did you become an interior designer?
Although I had always wanted to be an interior designer, I wasn’t able to study this directly after leaving school. Instead, I started working (two jobs in fact) to support myself and save for my future studies. In the interim I worked hard at the jobs I was in to ensure I could learn as much as possible about working with people and managing my time and task load. When I was able, I commenced with my studies to acquire my Bachelor of Commerce degree which I studied part-time to ensure I could still maintain my permanent job. It was towards the end of my degree that I started my interior design diploma and given that I was working full-time and completing the degree, I had to be extremely diligent with my time to ensure I could manage the workload but certainly what it did teach me was exactly that – to produce high-quality work while working diligently with limited time and resource.
When I graduated, I sought freelance work in the interior design industry and was also happy to obtain work experience, which I did at a few independent retail and design stores in my home city (Cape Town). I then applied for an interior designer position by proactively contacting a designer whose work I really admired, and my initiative and persistence paid off. I worked at this company until I relocated to the UK (in 2005). I was extremely grateful for the experience I gained there as I was the owner’s right-hand person and although it was a ‘baptism of fire’, I was fully involved in every aspect of the design process. When I relocated to the UK, I was very specific and strategic about my career. And I mention this with an earnest as it was always my dream to have my own studio and so I carefully researched design companies I wanted to work for and ended up with a favourite on a shortlist of my top 3 companies.
When I arrived in the UK, I was offered a job as a kitchen designer but rejected this offer given I had the experience of the full project process and did not want to be too niche in my experience. I was glad I waited as a few weeks later I was offered a position as an interior designer at a small property development company and this opened up a wealth of experience for me as I single-handedly managed their small refurb projects but also worked alongside the architect on larger, full refurbishment projects. A year into this I felt ready to give it a go at my top choice of firm. I bit the bullet, sent in my CV, and got the job! And that set me well on my path to self-employment as I worked my way up from interior designer to senior design manager, working on some of the most prestigious interior design projects in the city.
Is it worth hiring an interior designer?
Yes, absolutely! There are many benefits of hiring an interior designer for your house renovation project. Here are simply a few of those benefits:
- An interior designer will help you to determine and set realistic goals for your house renovation project whilst pre-empting any potential costly issues that you could be faced with along the way.
- An interior designer will help you to see the project’s full potential. It’s easy to get used to a room or functional layout plan but with the beauty of trained eyes, an interior designer can help you see possibilities that you may not have necessarily considered, opening up a world of options for your living space.
- An interior designer speaks many different languages from architects to contractors, an interior designer can help you speak with key experts that you may need throughout your project. An interior designer will know how to properly communicate with suppliers and trades people in order to avoid any messages getting lost in translation.
What’s the best part about your job?
For me, I thrive on the fact that I get to meet and design homes for our diverse clientele. Our clients are windows to the world and through them, we get to experience a range and diversity of tastes and cultures. We have clients from all over the world and it is an absolute honour to be able to design such an intimate space as their home.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their career in the interior design industry?
This is a challenging industry with low barriers to entry so at any point in time there is a lot of competition. You need to develop your skills and focus on standing out – be authentic and individual and determined and with that attitude you will be surprised at how far you can go.
Never make assumptions – what we do is factual, and assumptions can have a high cost. Always respect your client and yourself and to run a successful project try and think as many steps ahead as possible. Develop a “we” attitude and not an “I” attitude as many hands make light work and many heads can solve a problem. Don’t take it all on alone – there are far too many tasks and people to coordinate and you are only human. It can be stressful and often is, but the end of each project is extremely satisfying.
What design services do you offer?
We are inspired by a diversity of styles and have produced an array of luxurious interior architecture and interior design projects. We specialise in luxury residential design and pride ourselves in the versatility, creativity, and flexibility of our dynamic design team that specialises in thoughtfully interpreting a project brief and delivering a flawless result.
As mentioned above, there can be some confusion over the difference between interior design and interior architecture, so it’s important to understand the difference between these two distinct design disciplines. Essentially, interior architecture comprises the ‘fixed’ elements of your home like staircases, doors, and bathroom fittings, and interior design covers the ‘moveable’ items such as furniture, artwork, and soft furnishings.
It is important that these two aspects are fully thought out at the beginning of a home renovation project in order to achieve a cohesive end result. We ensure that form and function are considered across all aspects of your property to achieve maximum usage of the space available and to create a seamless design aesthetic.
Please contact us to discuss your project.