Designers choose their favourite surface materials


Four leading designers share their views on surface materials and why they select them to use in projects, plus lighting designer Paul Nulty gives his viewpoint on the importance of lighting to bring out the best in surface materials


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Ana Coates, interior designer

SHH

'Surface texture is key to adding personality and value to a project, especially where the colour palette is limited. It can offer a way to differentiate or highlight a room, wall, floor, or feature area.

Ana Coates

For high-end or sophisticated wall finishes, we like to work with specialist artisan DKT, which creates hand-applied, textured paint finishes. These are applicable to both residential and commercial projects,

We are working now on a bespoke project with designer Claire Coles, who embroiders layers of different materials - such as leather, paper, felt and suede - to create amazing wall panel murals that create a real sense of luxury. We also look for any opportunity to work with Giles Miller whose work we love and which can be seen everywhere from Harrods to the V&A at the moment. Giles uses new technologies and materials such as ceramics, laser-cut timber, brass and cardboard in really interesting new ways.

Working with DKT, SHH created an olive tree feature wall in bas relief in a triple-height stairwell for a luxury apartment in Chelsea

Working with DKT, SHH created an olive tree feature wall in bas relief in a triple-height stairwell for a luxury apartment in Chelsea

For flooring, a favourite supplier is Bolon, whose Genero floor covering from the Create range was used for a feature area in the Media Café at the National Media Museum. It's hard-wearing, versatile and easy to overlay over existing surfaces, and has a great textured look.

shh.co.uk

Mark Bithrey, design director

B3 Designers

B3 Designers

Topolski Bar

Topolski Bar

Gymkhana, London

Gymkhana, London

Nando’s Bristol

Nando's Bristol

'We implemented a permanent scaffolding system at Topolski Bar, which just opened on the London's Southbank. The combination of steel structure, paintings and void spaces was exceptional. We love the slatted wood we used at the Gymkhana restaurant in London. It isn't a new material but the way we used it is really sophisticated. And the weavy wall application of reclaimed wood we used at the new Nando's at Bristol's Cribbs Causeway is also an innovative and unique use of a familiar material. For the same chain, we integrated woven willow into Nando's Nottingham restaurant to create warm and private booth seating. It goes to show how atmospheric such a cost-effective natural material can be.'

b3designers.co.uk

Pernille Stafford, managing director

Resonate interior

Inside the HQ for Shionogi in Kingsway, London

'What we touch and feel in an interior has a huge impact on our perception of a space; hard or soft, light or shade. Intricate surfaces provide an added dimension to an environment. Surfaces should be integral to the design of an interior: a piece of furniture or a means to assist in wayfinding or legibility of a space.

Inside the HQ for Shionogi in Kingsway, London

Inside the HQ for Shionogi in Kingsway, London

The interesting concept is to apply finishes in unusual ways . For example at the HQ of pharmaceutical company Shionogi in Kingsway, London, we applied rubber floor tiles to doors for a tactile approach and to absorb sound. In the same project, flow polished plaster from Armourcoat was used instead of signage to guide visitors around. And in the Senator office furniture showroom in London, ropes generally seen as queue barriers were installed vertically to subdivide the space.

For a law firm we are applying Domus floor tiles to walls to replicate marble - first and foremost to represent solidity and trust, but on a practical level hiding coats and storage cupboards.

Inside the HQ for Shionogi in Kingsway, London

Inside the HQ for Shionogi in Kingsway, London

Surfaces are developing hugely in terms of clever technologies, performance and of course aesthetic value. For a designer there are a plethora of choices and the smart bit is selecting, coordinating, and harmonising these into a cohesive scheme that works for both the interior space and the client ethos.'

resonateinteriors.com

Peter Karn, design director

MET Studio

'As experiential designers, we are always looking to tell stories and so we view surfaces not just as decorative or functional but as one potential element of an overall landscape, where it can play a role in building the topography of that landscape or else help to guide visitors as they interact with a particular storyline.

MET Studio

As part of the EDF Energy pavilion (shown right) we created at the 2012 London Olympics, for example, we installed an interactive floor that showed how communal effort could help to generate electricity, demonstrated in the form of a central funnel that lit up higher and higher up the more electricity visitors created. One area was a sustainable dance floor, where tiles compressed slightly when used, with the resultant kinetic energy both conducting and generating electricity.

Another section, where visitors pedalled to generate energy, used stone tiles with polished steel inserts that reflected the LEDs lighting up the funnel, while a further grid of LED channels around the tiles lit up in sequence, also linking to the funnel and symbolising plugging into the grid.

MET Studio

In a current project for Kent Fire & Rescue Service we are creating a road-safety exhibition targeted at young drivers, aimed at reducing fatalities. A key area focuses on driver awareness of other road-users, and rather than building a traditional exhibit we are integrating the interactive into the floor itself. A group has to get safely across one area of the floor, but the personal icon each person is given spills into other people's icons if the they walk or move erratically, don't give way or take due care. With 10 people using the area at one time, it's a fun way to teach awareness and skill, through the impulse to slow down and look harder at other people's behaviour.'

metstudio.com








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