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Thomas Chippendale didn’t grow up in London (in fact he was born in Leeds in 1718), but he did move to London at the age of 31, after he had already gained recognition as a premiere furniture maker and cabinetry-focused interior designer. His work and styles influenced the London Interior Design community then, and the Chippendale aesthetic continues to extend its impact well beyond London even today.

Chippendale’s fluent, natural and sophisticated style developed after the promotion of his furniture and interior designs in “The Gentleman and the Cabinetmaker’s Director” in 1754. Chippendale continued to make iconic contributions to the field of interior design until 1790. His furniture came to be manufactured as far afield as Philadelphia in the USA.

Chippendale drew on three key interior design inspirations for this work – namely French, Asian and Goth. In the USA, Chippendale’s work was interpreted as a re-envisionment of the Queen Anne interior design style. His furniture was often heavily ornamentalised on the feet and uppers, with beautiful heritage-inspired scroll tops on taller units. Yellow Birch and Mahogany were often used, undersupport was rarely employed, and the rears of seated furniture were covered with plush fabric or otherwise left as shaped wood, perhaps as tessellated piecework with ornamental sculpting and Asia-inspired cross-strips. To round out his own personal interior design style, Chippendale would also include delightful finials and varnished shellac features.

Enthusiasts and professionals alike were very taken with Chippendale’s work, lauding him as a master London cabinetmaker and a household name of eighteenth-century furniture-focused interior design.

Interior designers are often asked about the origins of the profession – especially in the context of quality of life versus product. Has our modern quality of life driven our craving for high-quality design, or has design really been more of a primary impactor in defining how we enjoy wellness? In this article, I will draw on my experience in London’s prestigious interior design community to reflect on how the design process works from this perspective.

When interior designers begin engaging with a potential client, they will often ask about function. What is the desired purpose and use of the room or residence? The answer to this question has a profound impact on everything we do. If a client is desperate for luxury high-end London extravagance in the form of a damask settee, we may recommend a synthetic damask fabric instead of cotton or satin for a household that includes young kids and a pet dog. Breathtaking interior designs are always the goal, but only in the context of compatibility with our clients’ unique London lifestyles.

Interior designers will work hard to understand client requirements from the outset. Some professional London Interior Design consultancies will even have a series of highly structured interview questions that they routinely use. The interior designer will offer a free consultation at the client’s home – whether inside or outside London – to discover exactly what the client loves and hates about their current residence. Budget should be a conversation point from the very beginning. It is important to clarify whether the client prefers to be given fifteen different interior design options from which to choose, or just two or three.

Interior designers sometimes get asked about the hottest colour trends. And this season, we have a confession to make: white is the new black! White interior designs are hip and trendy once again, and in particular those sterile white kitchens are now all the rage. This is particularly true in London, where the dull and gloomy skies can make clients cry out for a touch of bright white interior design freshness.

When you walk into a beautiful white kitchen designed by a top London Interior Designer, what do you feel? Many of us are overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions. We feel carefree and almost as if we are floating on air. The pervasive whiteness brings to mind age-old simplicity, sanitary freshness, contemporary impact, and a roomy, playful outlook. The interior designer will use the white kitchen as a philosophy to evoke a sentiment of purity for food preparation and to empower boundless chef-inspired inspiration.

Many interior design consultancies use white as a fabulous background for the presentation of magical colours and textures. For example, one top trend today is to use deeply varnished wooden joists to contrast with sharply-defined white architectural surrounds. Colourful interior design accents really “pop out” in this context. Alternatively, the quiet pastels of a London autumn can make for a classic and sophisticated interior design scheme.

Professional interior designers are expertly trained in the use of lighting features to create breathtaking results. In this four-part series which I call “Colour Me Brightly: Understanding Light in Interior Design,” I draw on my experience in London’s interior design community to explain this fascinating subject. This second article talks about how to create patterns using illuminated materials.

Any perforated textile, when lit from the back or from the inside, will speckle adjacent forms with pattern, from point strips and pirouettes to constellations and dazzling laser specks. The professional interior designer can use the trim of a window covering to create fabulous banding across a shiny floor covering in the London summer. Some interior design firms love to use ornamental metal lanterns to paint fiery asteroids on walls and furniture, while light projected through a sculpted screen can create magnificent abstract outlines in expressive contemporary interior design schemes. A factory-inspired metal stairwell with perforated treads – of the type often reinterpreted for ultra-modern interior design schemes – can throw tiny checkmarks of light onto local furniture when exposed to a bright London sky in springtime. A fabulous option with a wooden staircase would require the interior designer to specify a grit-washed tread, to deliberately throw stunning shadows from the rail onto the adjacent wall. Abstract wire-mesh sculptures by local London artists can engender powerful interior design emotions, with the pattern even becoming more important than the object itself! Interior designers can expressively use perspective to distort the pattern from complete realism, when lit front-on, to Baconesque abstract enchantment when illuminated at an acute angle. The same effect can be created by using mirrors to refocus natural light from bay windows in some of the more luxurious London residences.

Professional interior designers are expertly trained in the use of lighting features to create breathtaking results. In this four-part series which I call “Colour Me Brightly: Understanding Light in Interior Design,” I draw on my experience in London’s interior design community to explain this fascinating subject. This fourth article concludes my series.

Linear light patterns can focus on either the horizontal or the vertical metrics of a room. A given wall-light technique can create an immersing halo effect, if the interior designer uses concentrated super-bright light at high level that gradually fades out towards the base. Some London Interior Design consultancies specialise in choosing continuous sources, such as a miniature tungsten rack for a soft light or overlapping fluorescents for a cooler light. This is an effect that works very well in contemporary interior designs, where light can be concealed between the wall and the ceiling in a crevice in order to take the place of the traditional cornice.

The best method of illumination for interior designers to use when creating patterns will depend on the interior, and also on the direction of windows (natural light in London can be very seasonal). A smoothly plastered wall can jump into existence with a dappled arc wave from closed-offset down-lighters but if the interior design feature lies in the texture and in the structure or hue of the wall, then a more uniform spray of light will emphasise the wall’s best perspectives. A splashback tile solution at the rear of a shower or bath is a good interior design choice for the arc wave effect, as is a Venetian blind in a London kitchen. A wood-panelled hall or study is often a compelling interior design feature, and accordingly it would be better lit with an even light that does not detract from the feel of the wood.

As a professional London Interior Designer, I meet with clients all the time who simply crave more originality and personality in their interior spaces. It is such a delight for the interior designer to be able to transform a house into a home by judicious use of lighting, stencils, photo frames, rugs and frames, to name just a few. Each of the different classes of accessories allows the professional interior designer to lean into a certain style, emotion or personality framework in order to create stunning results. In this article, I will draw on my experience in London’s design community to suggest a few great options if you’re looking to spruce up your home this winter with some interior designer magic.

LIGHTING. If there are nooks and crannies that just don’t get enough light, interior designers may recommend low-voltage illumination to make your interiors look larger and more welcoming. This can also boost your mood – perfect for the gloomy and overcast London skies that are all too common this time of year. Some professional interior designers will recommend theatrical lighting moods, so that you can flip between settings to choose either relaxed, or atmospheric and edgy, or task-orientated, all according to your needs.

COLOUR. The hue of the lighting system can substantially impact the overall look of a room. Incandescent filaments are now being phased out across the European Union, and London interior designers are having to rely instead on compact fluorescents or halogens to create custom effects.