2018 we bid you adieu. You have been a good one!

What a year 2018 has been…

2018 has been a wonderful year for Kingston Lafferty Design. We have had our challenges along the way, but who doesn’t? We can safely say that 2018 has been very kind to Kingston Lafferty Design.

In May we enjoyed the wonderful DFS Colour Happiness event when we transformed the Chocolate Factory for DFS. Hats off to Niamh O’Carroll for pulling all the pieces together. It was a full on week of adrenaline, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

DFS Colour Happiness event at the Chocolate Factory, May 2018

 

It was also great to represent at the House event in the RDS again, building a stand for Fleetwood Paints and also the Inspiration Stage. We were particularly proud of the Fleetwood stand, it was really a work of art, thanks to Moore O’Gorman for making it a reality and of course to Fleetwood paints, whose paint is second to none!

Fleetwood Paints
Fleetwood Paints Stand at House Event, May 2018

 

It was also an unprecedented year for awards and awards nominations. In July were thrilled to be longlisted for the inaugural Dezeen awards for our Urbana and Thérapie designs. In June we heard that we were nominated for best café at the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards for our beautiful Pot Bellied Pig in Rathmines. It was a long wait but, we were crowned winners in October at a fantastic event in London’s King’s Cross.

Best Café Winner: Pot Bellied Pig

 

In the meantime, Róisín Lafferty, our founder and creative director only went and won Image Interiors & Living Interior Designer of the year for 2018. Congratulations Róisín, you’ve had a phenomenal year and thoroughly deserve the recognition.

 

Speaking of Image Interiors & Living, we were honoured to have our Bolton Coach House project feature as the cover story for the November/December issue of the magazine. This was one of our favourite projects to work on in 2018, working with old and new and bringing them together. We just heard in the week before Christmas that it was shortlisted for Irish Design Institute Awards 2018 in the Domestic Interior category.

Cover Story: Bolton Coach House

 

As November rolled around so did the Fit Out Awards at the Convention Centre, we were delighted with our nomination for The Vaults Parlour, and even more delighted when our names were called out on the night as Fit Out Project of the year – Retail. Thanks too to our partners for this venture NSBS, we did celebrate the win in style.

Róisín and Becky in the afterglow of the win

 

On November 16 we celebrated our 1st anniversary at KLD HQ with a celebration event. We invited Jill and Gill, John Redmond and Al Higgin’s to display work in our offices, while we also created a video installation in one of our rooms. We had live music, a trad session and people travelled from near and far to be here. There was also a maze of 50 trees for people to walk through to enter the building. We do like a bit of whimsy.

Róisín waiting for the guests to arrive

 

One of our major achievements of the year is getting CREATE by kld off the ground. CREATE by kld is a tailored design service from KLD, we provide the customer with the tools to transform their own homes. We were also very excited to open a Christmas Pop-Up in Foxrock Village for the weeks leading up to Christmas. We’re hoping 2019 will see CREATE by kld grow as we add e-commerce element to the site. If you haven’t heard of it yet, check it out here at createbykld.com

CREATE by kld, Christmas Pop Up Foxrock Village

Here is a little video of 2018 at KLD:

 

 

 

Happy New Year to you all, wishing you health, happiness, imagination and creativity for 2019.

 

 

 

 
 
Winner: Fit Out Awards 2018 for The Vaults Parlour

The Vaults Parlour wins Fit Out Project of the Year – Retail.

 

Vaults Parlour Photos: Barbara Corsico

Original arches to the retail area

 

The Vaults Live is an innovative and theatrical large-scale tourist attraction located in the heart of Dublin City, offering a unique and exhilarating tour and experience by taking the visitor on a journey throughout the most scandalous and exciting tales of Irish history in a stunningly renovated original 4 storey Victorian building. The experience includes stunning 360° sets, state of the art lighting, lavish costumes and special effects. We were contacted by the client midway through the overall development of the Vaults Live to design a café parlour and retail space that visitors are brought into at the end of the one-hour experience.

Banquette Seating

 

We were appointed to take a creative and inventive approach when designing both the café and retail spaces, continuing the overall immersive theatrical experience whilst delivering a fully considered and highly operational F&B and retail aspect to the business.

The Vaults: A view through the original arches with a central marble high table to the new extension.
The Vaults: A view through the original arches with a central marble high table to the new extension.

 

The last set from the tour is with Molly Malone. We wanted to carry on a narrative from that experience and era, opting to create a lavish and indulgent parlour. With influence from the classic parlour room, we studied and researched Irish examples, wallpapers, furniture, fixtures and fittings, textiles and artwork from the Victorian era before seeking to merge the traditional with contrasting sleek, contemporary elements.

VAULTS RETAIL
Beautiful Cabinetry

 

Taking on board the Vaults new mascot, the Irish Hare, we sought to create a fun and playful space. We designed the suspended ceiling to house rabbit holes appearing to have grasses growing from them. We altered the roof light to create a tunnel effect to the sky and another to have inset mirror reflecting the Alice in Wonderland inspired chequered floor. The aim was to encourage interaction and imagination in the visitor.

The Vaults Parlour Dublin
View to the retail area and cabinetry through original arches.

 

We sought to fully immerse visitors of all ages in a magical, whimsical environment, encouraging further interaction and engagement and essentially encouraging them to spend more time within the building

Custom made cabinetry and parlour area

 

We believe we have executed one of our most beautiful creations to date. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland we embraced whimsy, playfulness and timelessness by juxtaposing old and new. The white cabinetry feels luxurious while the redbrick walls of the arches frames the space beautifully. The Alice in Wonderland inspired black and white chequered wooden floor of the café area contrasts beautifully with the poured concrete flooring of the retail display area. The banquette seating provides luxurious comfort while the wall paper adds a homely and rustic feel. It is a feast for the senses and embraces the themes and immersive nature of the Vaults Live experience.

The Vintage Hub

Here is a short video of Róisin and Becky at the Vintage Hub to gather the beautiful items to style the Vaults to perfection. See if you can spot some of the items from above.

 

And the winner is The Vaults:

 

And so to the awards on 1 November. We are super excited and thrilled to have won this auspicious award. We have tremendous fondness and respect for the Fit Out Awards, it is the best recognition and celebration there is in Ireland for all the work that goes on throughout the year. The black tie adds that extra bit of class, as did the beautiful meal with all the trimmings. We really did have a wonderful night meeting old and making new friends.

From left, the design team: Amira Al Shater, Becky Russell and Róisín Lafferty

 

And so it came to our award. To say we were thrilled when we heard The Vaults call out would be an understatement. It never gets old. Our thanks goes to Colin Quinn and all at NSBS, our fit out partners on this project, in particular Gareth Johnson who project managed the fit out. Also immense thanks to The Vintage Hub whose treasures adorn the space, which helped create the whimsical, magical space we set out to achieve.

From left Gary McCloskey NSBS, Colin Quinn NSBS and Róisín Lafferty

It has been an incredible year for Kingston Lafferty Design and this Fit Out Award for The Vaults Parlour truly tops it off. We are honoured and humbled with this recognition. But we are not going to rest on our laurels. We are already looking forward to a busy, exciting and rewarding 2019.

Róisín, Becky and the winning trophy

 

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and to the Fit Out Awards for putting on a great ceremony. See you in 2019.

 
 
KLD Nominated For Multiple Fit Out Awards

We are delighted to announce that we have been nominated for four awards at the annual Fit Out Awards.

The Fit Out Awards celebrate excellence in the completion of world-class fit out projects, the teams who make it all happen and the clients who commission the works.

We are immensely proud of the entire KLD team for all their effort in getting us a fantastic four nominations at this years awards.

Here is a little preview of the four categories and our entries in each.

Fit Out, Leisure Category – Mink Salon, Donnybrook

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Mink is a high end spa chain with Salons in South Dublin. The brief for this job was to create a tranquil space with a femininity and to draw inspiration from the client’s love for cherryblossoms.

Fit Out, Residential category – Ballsbridge Residence

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The Ballsbridge Residence was a complete reconfiguration of two existing properties into one family home. The space needed to be fun, quirky and playful yet also practical to the family’s changing needs.

 

Fit Out, International category – Tootoomoo, Crouch End

GH9A6553TootoomooCrouchHill

GH9A6187TootoomooCrouchHill

Tootoomoo is an Asian inspired restuarant in London’s Crouch End. The design for this restaurant focused on incorporating Asian influences akin to the brand concept and the menu.

 

Fit Out Practice – Kingston Lafferty Design

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We are thrilled to be nominated for Fit Out Practice of the Year. Our all female team, led by Roisin strive to create bold and inspiring designs that are as practical as they are beautiful.

 
 
Fit Out Awards
 

The 2015 Fit Out Awards took place at the DoubleTree by the Hilton Hotel Dublin this past Thursday, November 5th, celebrating Ireland’s finest leaders and organisations within the fit out field.

The KLD team got real glam prior to this wonderful black tie soirée. Over 600 fit out professionals were present: an incredibly talented group of guests up for a spectrum of awards, from Supplier of the Year to Sustainability Achievement.

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Colm O’Regan, mastermind behind Irish Mammies, graced us with his presence as the host of the evening. His effortlessly hilarious nature made for perpetual laughter throughout the entire awards ceremony.

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We were overjoyed when we won Residential Project of the Year for our Ranelagh Residence, and that was further extended when Roisin won Young Designer of the Year. We were also shortlisted for Fit Out Practice of the Year, as well as International Project of the Year for Tootoomoo London.

Fit Out Awards

It is truly such a great accomplishment for KLD, especially considering the many skillful professionals we were up against.

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A charity pop-up casino commenced and a groovy cover band took the stage post-awards, the ideal scenario to celebrate our interior architecture and design achievements (fueled by complementary champagne!)

Fit Out Awards

Thanks to all who made the Fit Out Awards such a memorable experience. It was such an elegant evening and all of us here at Kingston Lafferty Design are thrilled to officially be winners of such estimable awards.

Fit Out Awards

 
 
Fit Out Awards finalists!
 

It has been a hectic few weeks at KLD but a very fun few! We are thrilled to announce that we are finalists for this years Fit Out Awards… and in four categories!
The awards are this Thursday and there is a certain buzz in the office; a mix of excitement of a much deserved team night out combined with the prospect of some awards.

The categories we are up for are the following:
– Fit out practice of the year – Kingston Lafferty Design
– Young fit out designer of the year – Roisin Lafferty
– International project of the year – Tootoomoo, London
– Residential project of the year – Ranelagh Residence

Tootoomoo Whetstone is a recently finished, Pan Asian restaurant that we completed. This was a very fun project to work on

The brief was to create a bustling restaurant + takeaway space showcasing Tootoomoo’s Pan Asian street food brand within the London suburb of Whetstone. The fourth addition to the Tootoomoo takeaway + restaurant chain, needed to expand their existing, loyal customer base and gain a name for itself for both the strong design and the Asian cuisine.

A key client objective was to refine and develop the existing identity and showcase the brand as a real contender within the competitive London restaurant market. The inspiration for the new restaurant comes from a mix of Asian influences including the bustling street markets of Bangkok, the well-known Singapore Shophouse architectural style, as well as Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese influences. Authentic ethnicity was integral to the design (and also the food) and this was found using the right balance of Asian influence, which would marry successfully with the sophisticated London surroundings.

Tootoomoo - Interior Design
Kitchen bar
Tootoomoo - Interior Design
Main restaurant area with custom basket lighting and printed tables
Tootoomoo - Interior Design
Entrance view with retail wall and kitchen
Tootoomoo - Interior Design
Kitchen and nook seating area
Tootoomoo - Interior Design
Main dining space and mirrored cocktail bar

 

The other project that we are shortlisted for is Ranelagh Residence. Fingers crossed it is a good night!

 
 
Press and Award Nomination….exciting stuff!

It has been all go over the past few weeks for Kingston Lafferty Design. After a lot of hard work, we have been getting some great recognition! We have been shortlisted for 3 design awards as part of the Fit Out Awards 2013! This is very exciting as a lot of the entrants are large companies, so it is nice to get shortlisted with them! We are shortlisted for Small Retail Space of the year with the Renova Showroom Design. We are also shortlisted for the Design Practice of the Year and I am shortlisted for Young Designer of the Year. In addition to that we are shortlisted for the IDI awards in the Residential Interior Design category. All very exciting!!

http://fitoutawards.ie/
http://idi-design.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Final-IDI-shortlist-2013.pdf

In addition to that excitement we have been featured in some press items too including a 2 page spread in the Sunday Times, a news piece in Image Interiors and Living magazine and a news piece in House and Home magazine.

See some of the award entries below:
Entry for Fit Out Awards

Entry for IDI Awards