PROPERTY MARKET: conditio sine qua non of interior design

This might not be an interior design link as such but, then again, most people obsessed with interior design are also interested in the property market. After all... you've got to buy it before you can decorate it! So, if you want to be up to speed with property related news and gossip, you might do a lot worse than starting right here: http://theratandmouse.co.uk/

LIGHTING DESIGN: an afterthought?

Often the afterthought, lighting still appears to be low down on the list of most home owners. Interior designers stress the importance of lighting design, clients agree but often struggle to pay anything more than... lip service to the idea.
London lighting retailers recently seem to have taken a different approach to the issue. As the likes of Mr Resistor start offering lighting consultancy services the high street finally makes room for light planning as well as the lamp selling. Specialised lighting consultancy used to be limited to projects with extremely healthy budgets. Naturally this raises the question of unbiased advice. Clearly, as fixed fees and hourly rates become more competitive, specifying becomes crucial. It is hardly surprising that some retailers - now consultants - will be specifying more or less exclusively from the manufacturers and ranges they stock. Nothing wrong with that if the products are worthy of the price tag!
As a clearer understanding of the subject emerges, as simple yet rational light layering becomes standard, as the function of each light source becomes more clearly defined .... only a select few lamps will be required to be decorative objects in our homes and more will be able to aim for excellence.

GORMLEY AND EXTERIOR DESIGN

As Antony Gormley's wonderul figures stood on the rooftops gazing at us gazing at them from the Southbank's terraces earlier today... some serious design cross pollination took place. I found myself thinking how important the exterior of one building is to the interior of another. To some extent what goes on outside our windows is as important as what goes on inside. The outside of the house opposite ours is possibly more important to us than it is to its owners. Whether we like it or not we are all responsible for each other's aesthetic pleasures and traumas when it comes to rooms with a view. A call for "considerate design" for those planning roof terraces, balconies and window boxes? Just one of the many contagious thoughts provoked by Gormley's interesting BLIND LIGHT exhibition on at the Hayward Gallery until August 19th. http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gormley/