The Middle East’s taste and style in interior design is much more classic and the work is always a lot more intricate and complex than that of Europe, where the style is more linear and refined. This, according to Sara Cosgrove, an award-winning Head of Interior Design at The Studio at London’s world-famous department store Harrods, makes it exciting as “you can invest in amazing specialist finishes and beautiful marbles and stones.”
“The Middle East is opening its arms to variant projects and is becoming increasingly globalized. There are obviously habits and ways of living that are different from the West, but ultimately, design in the Middle East is not very different from what is happening in the rest of the world,” she said.
Having began with a team of no more than five people, "The Studio" flourished under Sara’s creative guidance, now professing a distinguished presence on the world’s luxury design stage.
“There has been an exponential growth in the globalization of interior design themes and trends and its impact is being felt internationally and within the GCC region. The Studio regularly witnesses regional tastes giving way to designs that are more universal in appeal to suit the international lifestyle of their clients,” she said.
The UAE is the GCC’s largest interiors market. The UAE’s dominance in the market is followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait and its expenditure on interior contracting and fit-outs elements of construction projects puts it ahead of the UAE’s international counterparts in the US, Europe and Japan, with the hotel and hospitality sector being the largest segment spender.
Arab News caught up with the renowned designer to find out about interior design trends and much more.
In your recent seminar on ‘Emerging Global Trends in Interior Design’, you explored the ‘three main mega trends emerging to make interior design themes more global.’ What are these three trends?
First, travel (impact luxury hotels and restaurants). As regional hotel markets grow, inspiration comes from home as well as abroad. The popularity of Boutique Hotels is due to the special attention given to detail in all segments of the services provided, especially the design.
Second, social media. Online lifestyle magazines and social media outlets such as Pinterest and Twitter allow instant access to worldwide trends and design inspirations and have undoubtedly changed the way we work in the industry
Third, global distribution channels. We have the creative freedom of accessing international products and brands through the Internet, meaning that nothing is out of reach. We can create unique interiors schemes for our clients with few challenges now that global distribution channels have become this sophisticated.
What do you mean by ‘globalization of key interior themes? Please give examples of some popular themes.
One prominent trend that we are consistently seeing is that of layered luxury coming from America and also traditionally older school European designers. I think this has come about due to the globalization of metropolitan luxury culture, as when people are buying a multi-million pound property, they are finding that they don’t have a huge space to decorate. What people therefore look to do is to maximize design in a small space through layering, leading to a really interesting multi-textural look. There is definitely a move away from neutral mass market design and a trend toward the niche.
How have design trends changed over time in the Middle East?
In terms of the Middle East interiors sector, it’s a really exciting market; it’s growing really quickly and the clientele (the people that live there) are traveling all over the world now and getting a lot of inspiration. It is a really booming territory and exploding with brand new projects which we can see by looking at the international designers they have onboard including Zahar Hadid, Ron Arad and Phillippe Starck. Add to that the fact that big corporate companies are investing in hotels and design and I believe that’s really then coming through to residential interiors.
Tell us about yourself and your foray into the world of design and interiors.
I wanted to become an interior designer so I could create stunning homes and lifestyles for people. I loved fashion but I wanted to do something that had a more lasting impression. I decided to go into interiors at about 23 after getting inspiration from doing an internship with John Rocha. I enrolled at KLC School of Design in London and started after my graduation with a work placement at Allegra Hicks followed by a period at Helen Green Design where I undertook numerous projects. I then moved on to Candy and Candy and worked on One Hyde Park Penthouses and from there moved to Harrods Ltd.
What would you say to aspiring interior designers in the Middle East?
I would say they must be willing to work hard. They would need to realize that when you start off you are actually an apprentice; you are not coming into a full-fledged job. You can study as much as you want, but the one thing that makes you a good interior designer is experience.
What are some of your upcoming projects?
We are currently working on an incredibly large project in the Middle East where we are completely refurbishing a 12,000 sq ft property. This has been a really ambitious project and the clients have been incredible in terms of wanting to push boundaries and really do the best design. In terms of our local market, we have worked on multimillion pound properties in London and have really done some incredible things when it comes to design.
What is your view of the spending on interiors and design in Saudi Arabia? Are consumers aware enough of the trends in this field?
With the Arab clientele, they have a very strong understanding of how they want to live and I think it is becoming increasingly important to listen to what they are saying, as I believe a lot of designers forget to do this with clients, no matter where they are from. However, I do believe we need to be mindful of different lifestyles and international travel. Therefore, properties have to be suitable for people who are global jetsetters.
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