Ravensdale Residence is an external and internal refurbishment of an existing residence nestled in the heart of bustling Dublin city in collaboration with Tyler Owens Architects.
Check out the before and after video below.
To read more about the project, head over to the Ravensdale Residence project page.
Elle Decoration was always a career goal and highlight and earlier in 2019, in July to be specific, our Bolton Coach House Residence featured in Elle Decoration Netherlands. To say this was a dream come true would be an understatement.
Later in the year however we got the amazing news that our Bushfield project would feature in the UK version of Elle Decoration. This is truly a career high, it has always been a goal to reach the best in interiors magazines and we figure Elle Decoration is it.
But our beautiful Bushfield residence didn’t just stop there. The amazing Marie Claire Maison in Italy featured the design in its December 2019/January 2020 issue. Once again a true hounour and we are genuinely blown away by the reception that our Bushfield Residence design has got.
However we didn’t stop there. Livingetc also featured our already global Bolton Coach House project in their January 2020 edition.
Bolton had made its international debut earlier in the year when it featured in Vogue Living Australia
Not to be outdone, the wonderful Donnybrook Residence has followed in hot pursuit, featuring in the March 2020 Livingetc. So hot off the press we haven’t a pdf yet but it is in the shops right now so go and treat yourself.
And finally, we are very proud of this one, our Ravensdale project which features in Ireland’s own Image Interiors and Living magazine in their Jan/Feb 2020 edition, which is in the stores now.
An incredible start to the year, we look forward to what the rest of 2020 has in store.
Pablo Picasso once commented “Colours, like features, follow the changes of the emotions,” and in my own experience, this is very true. There can be no doubt that your surroundings affect your emotional well-being. Various studies confirm this, but it is something we innately know anyway. Design factors such as colour, light, tone, shadows, acoustics and furnishings all have an impact on the health, performance and engagement of those who live or work in a space. For the interior design professional this is the starting point of any project whether it be residential or commercial. You need to ask all the questions, who is using the space, how are they using the space, how often etc. Whether it be a family living room, an open plan office environment or a Michelin star restaurant, each space is different and requires individual examination and consideration. One of the most important factors in any space is colour. Colour influences perception, mood, feelings, and behaviour, so you need to get it right. Also, important to note, colour is completely subjective. It evokes different reactions and responses from everyone.
Colour psychology is a field of study that’s devoted to analysing the emotional and behavioural effects produced by colours and colour combinations. As a research topic it is still in its infancy, despite this the concept of colour psychology is prevalent in marketing, art and design as it is an integral part of their function. Essentially, we react to colour, it is innate in us, we don’t control the reaction, it is automatic, biological or learned. Of course, there are always other factors involved such as the context of the colour, and who the individual is, for example their gender, age or culture can influence how they perceive colour. Any evidence and findings are by no means absolute and there will always be variables.
Various empirical studies find that red can signify power, excitement, love and anger, while blue signifies masculinity, high quality or competence. Pink signifies sophistication, sincerity and femininity, while purple can signify authority or power. Black can signify grief, sophistication and fear while white can signify happiness, sincerity and purity. As an interior designer you must have an intimate relationship with colour, you need to know what impact a colour is going to have and most importantly how colours work with each other. Combinations of tone and hue can create dramatic results. The artist Joseph Albers spent years studying colour and creating artwork that experimented with unexpected and unusual colour combinations. Often using ‘clashing’ colours, he pushed the boundaries of what people were used to. His work is still relevant decades later.
As a practice, Kingston Lafferty Design are known for being playful with colour. It is one of our trademarks. We take our clients on a journey, sometimes hesitantly, but always with great results. With our unique climate, which leans to the grey side, it is important to inject colour into our lives any opportunity we can and create spaces that positively impact the users experience.
We are braver and bolder as a nation and we have come a long way even in the nine years I have been in business. We are less conservative than we once were, and our tastes have matured. We now travel the world and bring the best of what we see back with us in our imaginations. This should be reflected in the colour we use inside and outside our homes. In my experience, we are being more creative, adventurous, bespoke, applying our own personalities ensuring our homes are unique in design and reflective of ourselves. I believe colour is a tried and trusted way of achieving this. It is also very economic. The transformative power of paint shouldn’t be underestimated.
One of the joys of my job is when you find a client who is adventurous, open minded, who has travelled a lot and wishes to explore the full potential of their home through art, design and colour. One such client crossed our paths last year. A professional woman who had travelled to many countries whose brief was to encapsulate these travels and art and influences she had collected from the likes of New York, Italy and Marrakesh, all providing wonderful palettes off which to work.
In this Victorian house of colour, we drew inspiration from Joseph Albers, opulent Italian mid-century interiors with strong nods to the colourful Marrakech. We juxtaposed colours in such searing shades as maraschino-cherry red, jade green, cobalt blue and dandelion yellow along with moodier plum and soothing sage green. These saturated colours gave each room a distinctive character and provides a full journey of emotions as you wander through the house. The daring tonal changes were deliberate to coincide with how she wanted to feel as she used the space. The opposite of corporate was our main brief. We sought to steer away from any expected colours in the kitchen and bathrooms etc, and instead to challenge what people often associate with these spaces. Instead of a sterile white for the kitchen, we opted for a jewel toned luxury feel that felt more like a high-end cocktail bar than a practical kitchen. All the while still being as functional. As the light changes on each level of the house, so does the impact of the tones and the overall mood. The bedroom for example is a calm sanctuary with deliberately selected muddy greens, which evoke serenity, calm and thoughts of nature. A bedroom needs to encourage sleep after all.
Overall what struck me about this project is the overriding physical and emotional effect colour has on us all. From pictures, the house definitely packs a colourful punch, but in reality, it has an air of romance, passion and nostalgia about it. It is strangely calm and cocooning to be in. It is a space that you want to spend longer in. And that was the desired effect.
We were lucky we had a brave client in this case, and you do need to be brave and visionary. Strong colours can be daunting and often you might find a builder or even a painter advise you that something won’t work. Part of KLD’s success is that we take chances, we have experimented, and we have taken risks. With this project even KLD were pushing our comfort zones; for us this was extremely bold, but the results exceeded even our own expectations. This project has been one of our most featured internationally, appearing in Architectural Digest Russia and Design Anthology UK.
Interest in the subject of colour psychology is growing, but there is a long way to go. No doubt new technologies and innovation will discover and reveal incredible findings. In the meantime, I encourage people to play and experiment with colour, push the boundaries, follow your instincts and enjoy the results.
Never underestimate the importance of colour in your home. Colour schemes exist for a reason and they do not need to match. The colour will come from your paint choice, furniture, flooring, art, ornaments, glassware, even books and flowers. Always try to think what works with what as you add elements to your space. Most importantly choose colours that make you feel happy. Life is too serious. Allow your own personal space to be a positive place.
Paint is the most obvious and cost-effective way of adding colour to your home. A great trick for upcycling or reinventing something is to paint it. On one of our projects we took a beautiful pine fireplace which felt dated and painted it white, totally transforming the aesthetic and giving it a luxurious feel. I recommend looking at the extensive Fleetwood Vogue and Prestige range. We always use Fleetwood in all our projects and there is little doubt it is the best paint you can lay your hands on.
Can’t stress the importance of art in the home. Art is another way to bring colour into the home. The more colourful the better. There is no end of art available, and if you are on a budget, you can get prints of your favourite art, have them framed, and it can add so much to a space.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Business Post on 3 November 2019.
Running your own business is challenging, rewarding and also very hard work. It is not for the faint-hearted. There will be days when you ask yourself is it all worth it. Those days where issues abound and you suddenly feel you are in some obscure comedy of errors, and all you can do is laugh. Thankfully those days are rare. There are however the special days, the days when months if not years of hard work have finally paid off. Days when you see so much hard work by so many people across a range of professions and disciplines culminate in a finished product that you are proud to share with the world. Those are the special days, when you look at what’s before you and realise it started with a sketch on a napkin.
I have been running my own business now for almost 10 years, I am currently the President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland (IDI), a post I took up in July 2019. This great responsibility has had the side-effect of encouraging me to look back over my own career running an Interior Architecture and Design Business, and ask myself ‘what have I learned?’ Is there any wisdom to pass on? I am sure I have plenty more to learn, I learn every day. But for now, here are some observations I wish to share.
How did I end up in design? I was always creative, I enjoyed Art and English and I knew from an early age I would end up in a creative profession. From speaking to other artists and designers it almost feels like a vocation, it is not even a choice, it is simply something you must do. Or rather you couldn’t possibly do anything else. We now live in an age where creativity and innovation are so prized, where creative thinking and imagination are essential for problem solving, and this will never go out of fashion. Design is permeating all walks of life and has become increasingly important as we constantly strive to improve how we experience the world around us and online. The design and creative fields abound with potential. We all have a creative self and in my experience, business owners who create a working environment which enables people to tap into their own creativity will be more successful.
Want to set up a business? Why not? Of course, you are nervous at the beginning, fear of failure is a real thing. But fear is an emotion you have to train yourself to deal with. I love this oft used Beckett quote, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Ideally failing is not an option or outcome we want, but you must overcome any irrational fears you may have and knuckle down and believe in yourself, your talent and your potential. If you are persistent, if you have courage, the courage of your convictions, you will succeed. In all businesses, people are attracted to people who are passionate about their area of expertise. If you are passionate, enthusiastic and love what you do, people will want to help you, work with you support you. People will want to hire you and your peers will want to collaborate with you.
As I built my business, I was constantly dealing with clients, contractors, artists, tradespeople, quantity surveyors, architects and engineers etc. I saw these people as my partners and collaborators. Everyone is bringing something to the table, and any project is the sum of ALL its parts. You should never underestimate the power of collaboration, even on a holistic level it is powerful and positive. It brings out the best in all parties and enhances and enriches any given project in whatever field. Working with other people who take great pride in their work can only enhance your own.
In business unlikely collaborations are always interesting. Look outside your comfort zone or your creative field or put things together you never though could go together. I have learnt in design to collaborate with artists, musicians, joiners, painters, scientists, poets, architects, jewellery designers, concrete makers and sculptors, in fact anyone with a creative streak. I am excited about all the future collaborations that lie ahead, that will only happen if we seek them out and imagine them into reality.
You need to learn to implement your ideas. This can be tricky, especially in the creative industries. Every creative act involves making choices. In her book A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theatre, Anne Bogart says “Art is violent. To be decisive is violent.” In any art or creative field, in order to move forward, you sometimes need to ‘murder your darlings’, and that process can be as painful as it is ruthless. But it is quite necessary if you are to succeed. Decisions need to be made and ideas need to be implemented, and when you are the creative director, you are the person that needs to make these tough decisions on a constant basis. I am not going to say it gets easier over time, the creative process isn’t meant to be easy, but you do learn to accept and move on more readily. It is all part of the creative process.
You don’t need me to tell you that there is no I in team. Any project I have ever worked on has been a team effort and that tone is set from the top. In a design company it is important to leave ego at the door. It is genuinely an all hands-on deck at any given time approach. To exaggerate slightly, I spend half my life dragging large plants across floors, or at least that is the way it seems. As my business has expanded, I have less time to deal with smaller but no less important details, however, you will still see me up ladders or painting a wall on any given installation or pop-up. One is not a leader if they cannot be part of a team.
It might sound obvious, but integrity is very important. Of course, there are ups and downs in any walk of life. Sometimes there are awards and rewards and sometimes there is a bit of ‘Mea Culpa’. And that is fine, this is life. We all make mistakes and when we do, we own them, sort the issue and move on. Same in business. You must have integrity; otherwise other people won’t take you seriously and you will be left behind. Clients or customers will lose their trust in you and your capabilities to do good business. In an ever-crowded world you need to stand out, there are so many platforms and mediums where people will scrutinise and analyse you and your work, but if you have your integrity, no one can take it from you.
Running any business, but especially one in a creative field is a roller coaster ride. The marriage of business and creativity is not always an easy one, like all marriages you need to work at it. Every day brings forth new challenges and surprises. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This article was first published in the Sunday Business Post on 16 June 2019.
The new year got off to a great start when, in February, our beautiful Bolton Coach House appeared in Australian Vogue Living. This is the stuff dreams are made of and it kicked off what was to be an incredible year for the Coach House. It would go on to appear in Elle Decoration Netherlands, Architectural Digest Italy, Interior Design Magazine, IDEAT Contemproary Life Magazine, Sweden’s Plaza Deco, Germany’s SCHÖNER WOHNEN, Yatzer and Yellowtrace.
Meantime hot on its heels our Donnybrook Residence was featured in the amazing Design Anthology UK, Architectural Digest Russia, Departures Magazine, Deco Idées, Actief Wonen, Sunday Independent Life Magazine, House and Home Magazine
In June we found out the our Vaults Parlour design was nominated in the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards in two categories, International In Another Place and Heritage categories. The design would go on to win the International In Another Place category, meaning KLD had gone on to win two Restaurant and Bar Design Awards in a row, having won in 2018 for Pot Bellied Pig.
In June we had the long-awaited launch of Hatch Student Accommodation and Hatch Living. This had been a labour of love over the past year or so and we were thrilled with the results. Our beautiful and innovative project was featured in Wallpaper Magazine and Yellowtrace which was simply the icing on the cake.
In July we got the amazing news that Kingston Lafferty Design had been longlisted in the Dezeen Awards 2019 for best Emerging Designer. It was a long wait to find out if we were shortlisted, and it wasn’t to be this time. However, being longlisted was a great achievement and honour and we were humbled to be amongst such amazing international talent.
Also in July KLD founder and Creative Director Róisín Lafferty assumed the position of President of the IDI Institute of Designers in Ireland, its youngest ever President. Speaking of the appointment Róisín said:
“It is an incredible honour to take on the role of President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland and to follow in the footsteps of designers and practitioners who have inspired and trail blazed over the years. I am humbled with the trust that has been put in me to lead the organisation and I look forward to working with the IDI and the Irish design community to not only showcase and promote the exceptional work of Irish designers but to bring design to the forefront of the Irish cultural narrative.”
August saw KLD design House of Peroni at the RHA Gallery. KLD Creative Director Róisín Lafferty was approached to design the aesthetic and she would be joined with two other leading creatives, Killian Crowley, chef extraordinaire and Kev Freeney Creative Director of Algorithm to complete the whole House of Peroni experience.
In September Kingston Lafferty Design were delighted to be announced Architecture Master Prize (AMP) Medium Firm of the Year Award in Residential Interior Design for 2019. The following month KLD directors Róisín and Becky would collect the award at a ceremony in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
October saw Kingston Lafferty Design bring home another prestigious award. Our Vaults Parlour project won the International In Another Space category at the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards.
Rounding off a great year in November Róisín won the Interior Designer award at the inaugural House and Home Interior Influence Award. A fantastic nod to Róisín and KLD. On announcing the winner, Kirstie McDermott told us the judges said:
“they are the best in the country, they editorialise their feed, they care about their projects and the content they share. They have a beautiful feed and are head and shoulders above the rest. They are producing next-level interiors.”
And so we look forward to 2020, and already it looks set to be another fantastic year at KLD HQ. We have some very exciting projects that will be completing in 2020 including Urban HQ in Belfast and a wonderful beach house on the Wild Atlantic coast in Kerry. We also have some fantastic and exciting projects that will be starting in 2020, which for the time being remain top secret. Keep an eye out for KLD projects featuring in some of the most international publications. Watch this space.
Finally, Happy New Year to one and all. We wish you health and happiness for 2020 and beyond.
For the first time ever, House and Home decided to recognise the achievements of the burgeoning Irish interior Instagram and social media community with the inaugural House and Home Interior Influence Awards in association with DFS. Nurtured by House and Home magazine since the inception of their daily follow hashtag, #MyHouseAndHome in September 2017, the community has blossomed into a vibrant, digital creative hub, and they decided now was a great time to celebrate that innovation, spirit and colour.
The event took place at the Alex Hotel last Wednesday 6 November with a room full of interiors experts and influencers in attendance.
As she was called to pick up her award, emcee Kirstie McDermott of House and Home Magazine described the winner (Róisín) :
“they are the best in the country, they editorialise their feed, they care about their projects and the content they share. They have a beautiful feed and are head and shoulders above the rest. They are producing next-level interiors.”
A fantastic honour, thanks to all who nominated Róisín and to all the judges for the amazing praise. Congratulations Róisín on a well-deserved win. Here is a look at the moment Róisín won:
It was of course a night of fun, food and music and lots of friendly faces.
Thanks to all involved in the evening including the judges, House and Home Magazine and DFS. And finally thanks to all our collaborators who work tirelessly with us to bring our beautiful work to highest of standards. It is truly a collaborative process and we are incredibly fortunate to work with the best in the business.
