By Kathryn Mason, Bernard Interiors
On Monday 9th March, I attended the opening day of London Design Week 2020 at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour (DCCH) with our MD, Jen Bernard.
The Chelsea Harbour was vibrant and alive with the latest products, designers and trends and certainly encapsulated the design centre buzz. We felt right at home in this atmosphere and Jen’s outfit even (unintentionally) matched the events colour scheme!
It was great to catch up with some of the brand representatives as they showcased the latest launches. We were well and truly inspired by some of our favourite brands such as Porta Romana, TH2 Studio, GP&J Baker, Ecco Trading and Julian Chichester to name a few. It is always good to have that face to face contact, building rapports with the people we spend so much time liaising with to ensure everything is in order for our projects, from bespoke specification detailing to managing deliveries on time.
In the afternoon, we attended the ‘Access all Areas – Meet the Designer’ panel session with Emma Sims-Hilditch, founder and Creative Director of luxury interior design company Sims Hilditch. Emma was being interviewed by Carole Annette, Interiors Editor of Country & Town House Magazine and Ann Grafton, Managing Director at GP&J Baker. It was a pleasure to hear Emma discuss her design aesthetic and inspiration behind the room set that she curated for the show at GP&J Baker for Design Week. The scheme was styled in the modern country house look that Emma is renowned for. Vibrant injections of striking green and blue tones featured on the headboard and overhead canopy, creating the focal point of the room. During the design process, Emma was immediately drawn to the fabrics used, saying she felt uplifted as soon as she saw them. This is what she wanted the theme to be about; optimism and inspiration. The attention to detail within the scheme was exceptional. For us, the fabric trims lining the skirting boards and cornice and the fringe edge on the double-sided curtains with contrasting prints were particular highlights.
After a full day of sample ordering and product sourcing for current and future projects, we were well and truly designed out so headed back to the hotel for a debrief and fed back our findings to the team at HQ. Little did we know, in just over a week the country would soon be on full lockdown. We are now in our fourth week of these unprecedented times with the entire Bernard Interiors team working from home. The trip seems like a distant memory but the experience still inspires us as we continue to develop design concepts for future projects.
