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CLEVER STUFF – THE PRINTED INTERIOR

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As designers, we are always looking for ways to do things differently, or to improve methods of decoration.  In this blog we will look at the impact that advances in digital printing have and are still having on the interior. 

It’s not that long ago that all our printing needs were provided using the conventional screen printing method.  Advance in digital processing have made the act of printing easier and more accessible, and as a result enabled pretty much anything to be printable.

Large coffee image to wall to provide focal point

Most of us have seen large graphics applied to the walls of retail stores.  As designers, we often apply our own designs or purchase images from sources such as Shutterstock or Unsplash to use on walls in commercial or retail locations.  But these large-scale images can also be applied to the walls of your home, perhaps to simulate a view on an otherwise blank wall.    We have used magnetic vinyls where we want to change the image quickly and with ease, such as in pop-up shops, and with the technology available to print images up to 5m wide, it is possible to stage set an interior and change it overnight.

The benefit of digital printing is that small orders can be processed quickly because the set-up is simpler.  This means that we can supply bespoke printed curtains and bedding for your hotel, as well as print custom towels and bathrobes, providing users with a completely unique environment.  Where hotels are looking to differentiate their offering, bespoke furnishing can go some way to achieving this.

The flooring industry has been through a small revolution since the introduction of digital printing.  Manufacturers can now simulate wood on ceramics and ceramics on vinyl.  I have heard joiners extoling the virtues of a timber floor when in fact it was vinyl!   Flotex carpet that once covered every 1970’s kitchen floor has morphed into a trendy new product for use almost anywhere, with leading designers Wayne Hemingway and Philip Stark developing collections. 

Today, we can digitally print on virtually any surface.  Printed upholstery fabrics that look like aged leather and table tops that simulate distressed timber, along with simulated wall and floor finishes mentioned before, allow us to create the look of vintage with the durability of todays’ modern materials.    For now at least, fake interiors are all the rage!

Space planning – what is it?

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When we are asked by a client to design the interior of, for example, an office or restaurant, we not only look at the colours, the materials and the furnishings, we also spend a considerable amount of time ensuring that everything fits within the space.   A restaurant with space for only 4 dining tables is unlikely to be financially viable, and understanding that before committing to the purchase of a lease makes good sense.   Taking a detailed brief and working with the client to understand how they want to see the spaces work is a crucial part of the design process.    Equally, working alongside a commercial client to establish how different departments interact, will impact on the interior layout and ultimately the scheme’s success.  This activity is generally referred to as space planning and it defines the circulation patterns and layout of each activity as well as the positioning of fixtures and fittings.  Whilst going through this process, we may revise and refine a layout plan umpteen times before we start looking at the other elements such as finishes and colour.

So, what are the primary considerations when carrying out a space planning exercise on a project?

From a designers point of view, we will take a clear brief from the client before assessing a number of criteria as follows:-

  • Firstly, we assess the purpose of the space and define the business requirements. In other words, how will the space be used?  Does it need to be multi-purpose or for one dedicated use?  Commercial premises will have different needs to that of a restaurant for example.    We have seen a growth in flexible working which also requires a more flexible approach to space.  So a breakout area might, for instance, double-up as an informal meeting room or hot desk, and the needs of each of those activities should be met, eg privacy, comfort, access to wi-fi.
  • Who will be using the space? Arguably an employers’ most important assets are their employees, so ensuring they are well catered for is an important factor.   If a work station is undersized or if it is difficult to communicate with colleagues then staff soon become disgruntled.  There is a fine line between ensuring that employees have the tools and environment to do their job well, and pandering to unacceptable requests such as excessive desk space or storage.   This issue is most noticeable when re-organising existing offices.  A member of staff who is used to working at a desk that is too big for the task in hand may be put out if the desk size is reduced during a refurbishment.   This can be redressed to some extent by providing a better quality working environment, but human resources and line managers may also need to play a part in educating staff about the need to work more effectively, eg by storing documents digitally rather than in traditional filing cabinets.
  • Accessibility is an important consideration with almost one in five of the UK population living with a disability.   From a space planning  perspective, providing space to circulate and access your work station, for example in a wheelchair is not just good practice, it is also regulated by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) which states that you are in breach of the DDA if you fail to make reasonable adjustments for employees or job applicants who would otherwise be disadvantaged.
  • Interaction and spatial relationships – Different job roles require different levels of interaction with other spaces or people.  Therefore, workflows within a space are a big consideration.    Efficiency when working behind a busy café counter can be considerably improved if the space is planned properly.  It can make the difference between customers being satisfied or not, and ultimately impacts on profitability.  In a restaurant, space around your dining table often correlates to spend per head.  The more space you have the bigger the bill!  A generalisation I know, but space does cost money and the better it is utilised the more productive and profitable an organisation will be.

As designers we are often required to work up space plans before any thought is given to finishes.   Once we have reviewed the client brief and assessed the spatial needs of the business, we will start to work up a plan to meet those needs.  Sometimes compromises have to be made if structural constraints won’t allow for the ultimate layout but adapting layouts until a reasonable compromise is made will help to shape the feel of any interior and the final look of the space.  If work spaces are small, we might provide accent lighting and finishes to help make it feel more spacious.   In offices, glass partitioning can give the illusion that a space is bigger than it really is, and introducing flexible working can contribute to making your space work harder for you.    Specialist storage systems such as roller racking can increase storage capacity by up to 50% and technology has helped reduce the need for large capacity filing.    For an expanding business,  space planning can make the difference between moving to larger  premises or using the existing space more efficiently.  Worth considering particularly when good property is in short supply.

What’s happening in the Home-Office?  A designer’s viewpoint

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Thanks to an upturn in both self-employment and flexible working trends, the home office is emerging as one of the most important residential amenities.   With options ranging from integrated systems to stand-alone ‘shed quarters’ at home, workers aren’t just making do, they’re finding their own ways to work.

Where is the Home-Office and who is likely to require it?

Advantages of home-working are obvious – a comfortable environment, no need to travel to and from work, fewer overheads, and much more.   But there can be disadvantages – distractions and a decrease in productivity.  That is why it is so important for freelancers to arrange a convenient, practical and functional working space in their home that provides a balance between relaxation and productivity.

The home office can consist of:

  • a separate room – roof space, study, basement
  • a separate building – annex, chalet, above a garage (live/work unit), ‘shed quarters’
  • a multi-purpose room – dining table, pull out work space, bureau. Usually located in the living room, bedroom or kitchen/diner.

Image Courtesy of Nicole Honeywill, Unsplash
At home working!

Image Courtesy of Kinga Cichewicz, Unsplash
A space in the corner might be all you need.

Which type of home-office influences the furniture style – is it furniture with multi-purposes (office and entertaining), or distinct home-office furniture with a different feel to the rest of the home? This depends on the person and how far there is a desire to separate living and work space, or whether the aim is for the two spaces to be ‘seamless’.  This may also depend on how often the space is used.

Those likely to require a home-office are:

  • at home executives
  • students or home teachers
  • small businesses/entrepreneurs
  • artists/musicians (studio space)

Trends in home office furniture and commercial influences

  • Tech-led Office

The digital age has transformed the way we work and less space is needed for traditional paperwork.  Mobile and wireless technologies don’t require a lot of space as everything is done from a laptop, projectors are small, and with wireless printers, it’s really about making sure you have the cabinet space for them.  There is no need for the home-office to be in a separate room with a large desk.  There is a re-evaluation of equipment, with home entertainment merging alongside the home office, as TVs and monitors become one and the same thing and technology integrates into our office furniture – tech desks hide away unattractive cables and have integrated USB ports or wireless charging pads. That said, even a modest-size working area needs to meet the requirements of ergonomics, practicality and aesthetic.

  • Multipurpose and multilayered

The home office is often an occasional work area for some people, only needed for its peripherals and storage (printer, backups, and files).  Multifunctional spaces are a growing trend, with people who want offices to feel more like living rooms, so creating working spaces that are the antithesis of the rigid workstations and this is largely driven by the merged technology culture.  Following the playful design lead of many tech headquarters, people are wanting their offices to be getaway spaces, where they can be relaxed and thoughtful without being corporate and sterile (Google effect).

In dual purpose spaces you have to be able to tidy away whatever is going on, transitioning from work to entertaining.  We are seeing more pull-out shelves and desk surfaces in non-office parts of the house, hidden but available when somebody needs it.  A pull-out surface in the living room or in a foyer, a nook workstation, or just a kitchen counter, can serve for tandem homework and bill-paying by the parents.  There  also seems to be an increasing trend of ‘cabinets in the closet’, where the workplace is located behind hinged or sliding cabinet doors in a living room.  In bedrooms, a computer table often doubles-up as a dressing table.  Working space versatility can be provided with the simplest solutions in furniture – table-top console, or compact desk and storage systems in the form of open shelves.

  • Less is More

There is often limited space in the home office environment, so organisation and tidiness is increasingly at the center of home-office design.  There’s a move toward minimal space that’s smart and uplifting and not cluttered.  It should be motivating and smart.   Modern, slick cabinets offer both style and functionality.  A calm and minimalistic situation contributes to the business mood.

Image Courtesy of Gabriel Beaudry, Unsplash
Minimal Office

  • Traditional Home-office

Traditional elements can also be integrated in the modern home office mainly by selecting the design for the storage systems.  Bookcases and shelves in a classic style are often combined with modern tables and chairs.  Although functionality is still a priority with storage, styles have developed with more modern finishes such as honeycomb shelves, ombré effect and ladder shelves.  Vintage and rustic continue to be a big trend. The addition of vintage furniture in an office helps to create a more relaxed space to work in.   Unfinished wood is a big interior design trend this year. This is a good way to disconnect from technology, and bring a more natural feel to your office and enjoy the soothing effect it can have.  Several firms offer bespoke, fitted home-office solutions. These tend to be for a more executive space where there is a specific room dedicated to the home-office and can be designed to incorporate any of these modern or more traditional styles.

Image Courtesy of Rawpixel, Unsplash
Vintage timber in the office is on trend

  • Health and Wellbeing

Juicy and bright colours are definitely a big trend. They motivate workers and add some freshness to an area.  Commercial break-out spaces are typically bright and bold, giving you a sense that you are away from the world of work and can be recreated in the home-office too.   Health is an important factor and there is an increasing awareness that people are often more productive when they spend less time sitting at the desk.  Sit-stand desks with adjustable height are popular and some home office furniture incorporates this idea too.

What restrictions will be encountered when looking for a suitable home-office?

The main restriction for the home-office is space, whether a separate room or building is available, or whether the office is shared with a living space.  The advantage of a dedicated building is that people can achieve the perfect balance of working at home with the psychological satisfaction of walking out of a room and turning the lights off.  Where there is a shared space, there is a greater need to be flexible.  The purpose of the home office and its functional background, will also determine the space requirements.  For example, someone who works on their own as a designer will need more drawing space as opposed to a salesperson who may just need a desk, phone, and computer.   An artist or creative will need a large studio space with good light and adequate space, etc. (more of a gallery/workshop/studio).

Health and safety can also be a restriction.  If you are not self-employed, an employer has a duty of care to ensure that the home-office set-up is safe (risk assessments) and that it is suitable (ergonomics).   There may also be planning covenants that prevent working from home that people are unaware of.

What’s the future?

The growing trend towards home working will see homes and commercial premises designed for flexible activities; homes will accommodate work spaces and work spaces will accommodate areas for relaxation very similar to the home.  This will in turn blur the differences and we will see some furniture and furnishings comfortably supplied across both segments with legislation such as Health and Safety, Fire Regulations and the like exposing the differences.

 For the full home-office and commercial solution:-

Yellow – Design for Interiors TEL 023 80402019

Peter Green Contract Furnishers – TEL 023 80810459

Where’s Beretta? 2nd floor, Harrods

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Our latest project with Beretta involved the relocation of their concession in Harrods to a new temporary location on the 2nd floor. Harrods is undergoing major alterations within the store to make the layout more logical. This involves some concessions having to move more than once before reaching their final destination. In their first move last year, we redesigned the shopfitting so that it could be dismantled and reconfigured in its new location this year.

The team at Turvey Construction and Joinery Solutions from Waterlooville near Portsmouth, did an amazing job with only 2 days on site to dismantle, move and re-assemble the complete shop. And the slick Beretta team did an equally amazing job of de-stocking and re-stocking overnight ready for opening. Well done guys.

The Smart Office

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Picture this. It’s 1970. A suited and booted individual arrives at the office in a Vauxhall Cavalier, parks diligently in his dedicated parking space, does a full 9-5 day in his box of an office, only venturing out for lunch at 1pm. Back then, the more you achieved, the more prestigious your personal enclosed box became and the bigger your status symbols appeared.

Some companies still operate like this, but move forward to the 21st century and the status symbols are less important. Whether you like it or not, legislation requires us to consider irritating low-level topics such as the environment and staff welfare. I jest. Today the top companies highlight their environmental credentials and staff retention figures as proof that they are the best at what they do.

Flexible Working Regulations 2014 gave staff the right to work in a less rigid way, and so working from home or on a part-time basis to take account of life outside work started to become the norm. Often regarded as unnecessary, regulations around Health & Safety and environmental issues – such as energy efficiency (required under Building Regulations) – has made the job of fitting out an office a pain in the proverbial or a welcome challenge depending on your stance. I fall into the latter category, always embracing the task of finding a way to achieve the apparently impossible. That’s what designers do. This, in my opinion, is progress. An agile, flexible or Smart way of working is the way forward.

So how much has it cost industry to comply with this heap of endless regulation? Well, my honest answer is I have no idea, but from my viewpoint, if we can reduce the amount of waste we produce by using recycled materials in our working environment, or save resources by fitting energy saving lights, this has to be a good thing.

If our nation is healthier because we have a better work-life balance thanks to the introduction of flexible working, this must be good. Plenty of research indicates that the happier our staff are, the better they will feel and the more productive they will be. The UK productivity rates are 16.3% lower than the rest of the G7 nations overall and 26.2% lower than Germany. Any initiatives to improve worker productivity must surely be considered if we are to compete on a global level.

Taken from ONS 2015-2016 (released 06.04.18)

So as designers, what can we do?

Adjusting the way we work to allocate space more wisely, sharing space and making the space a more enjoyable environment to spend your working day, can all contribute to improved productivity. The Smart office does exactly that. Research carried out by Hop Associates (source Smart Flexibility by Andy Lake) shows that desk space can be unused up to 60% of the time.

Sharing space and providing the technology to create your personal work space wherever it is best for the job, makes absolute sense, be it in any number of locations within the office, your home, with a client or even in your favourite café.

Meeting pod or informal group working spaces

This requires a completely different approach to the way work is processed. Some activities could be carried out at the conventional desk; informal meetings can take place in a group workspace, break out area or meeting pod; confidential meetings can still be held in enclosed spaces, but there would be less of them; break out areas for refuelling during time out would be in spaces that bear no resemblance to the staff rooms of the past and should be a mix of relaxing and energising areas to meet the mood of the person concerned.

Energising or relaxing break-out spaces

Positively promoting a healthy lifestyle with the provision of ample cycle parking and shower rooms to encourage an alternative journey to work, will tick the environmental box too.
The interior and the design of the interior is, therefore, an important ingredient for enabling the Smart office to succeed. Sourcing materials that have great environmental credentials, or lighting that is energy saving but also varied, is the job of the designer.

Ensuring the space allocation meets the needs of the staff is the job of work place and change consultants who would work with us to provide the space audit and assess the technology requirements and in turn allow us to deliver a cradle to grave approach to developing a Smart organisation.

If you find yourself trapped in the 1970s and feel the need to enter the 21st century, then the first step is to believe this way of working is for the better. No-one is saying it is easy to change the way we work but it is possible with the right help. And for any smaller enterprises thinking of growing, the task is easier because you can adopt the agile or Smart way from day one.

To understand more, come and meet the Yellow and Peter Green team at the next free networking event on 23rd April 2018, 4pm-7.30pm, organised by Act-On Business Solutions

To book your space email southampton@petergreen.co.uk or val@actonbusiness.co.uk