Posts Tagged ‘Interior’

Understanding How Interior Design Companies Work: Lighting for Mood Part III – Dimmable Designs

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Understanding How Interior Design Companies Work: Lighting for Mood Part III a Dimmable Designs

Interior Design Companies understand the term mood to mean a barely-definable, abstract quality that makes us feel in tune with our surroundings. In London, lighting is often a critical part of an interior design company’s toolbox in creating the perfect mood. In this series which I call a Lighting for Mood, I will draw on my experience working with some of London top interior design companies to describe current best practices in this exciting area of design.

The principle way in which interior design companies will control lighting is by dimming the various levels in relation to each other. General lighting, whether in the form of table lamps, up-lights or down-lights, should be controlled separately from feature lighting a especially in older London residences where there is a danger of overloading electrical circuits. By day, relative contrasts are less marked, especially given London rainy weather patterns. When general lighting is at its maximum strength, interior design companies try to make sure it achieves a fairly even light throughout a room. By night, interior design companies will try to create atmosphere and mood by including a feature to dim general lighting to a low level and raise feature lighting. For maximum effect, interior design companies will make sure the contrast between different light sources is high. Alternatively, some London clients request a soft, inviting light, similar to that produced by candlelight; under these circumstances, the interior design company must ensure that the contrast between feature and general lighting is less marked.

Every interior design company knows that mood and atmosphere are very subjective and impact how we feel. After a hectic day in a brightly lit London office, coming home to a softly lit environment can have a very calming effect, helping us to relax and reducing stress. Alternatively, interior design companies may be asked to create an energetic and dynamic atmosphere perhaps for a new London nightclub or classy restaurant. This requires lighting that is more dramatic, creating positive areas of brightness and darkness. While light is the key to changing mood, professional interior design companies know that the right levels of contrast are the means to success, achieved by controlling each lighting effect individually.

In the next article in this series on Understanding How Interior Design Companies Work: Lighting for Mood, a I will discuss pre-set scene lighting.

Interior Design – What is involved?

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Interior Design

Interior design is a profession that allows one to explore their inner most creative talents. Not only does it include the areas of furniture location, appliances and carpeting, but also it weaves in the structural designs as well, and embraces the elements of functionality and abstracts. A career as an Interior Design decorator is very lucrative, especially if you are self employed. Many interior designers’ creations are one of a kind and are considered priceless. But just as with all jobs, there are codes and regulations that someone must comply with in this trade in order to maintain the environment. If you are one of the successful interior designers, you will love seeing your work not only in progress but in use as well.

When an interior design project is started, the designer will begin by gaining some information from their client as to their likes and dislikes about the room in question. Some questions might include what colors the clients likes or prefers for that particular room, or what type of furniture styles they love. From the information gathered, the interior designer will return to the client with ideas they have sketched and gathered for them to choose from. Many designers spend countless numbers of hours searching for the right material to construct the window dressings or bring back to the client swatches of carpet or tile for them to choose from.

The design process is systematic in that it starts with a plan and follows through many steps to the completion. Interior designs can be seen not only in the homes of many people including celebrities, but in hotels, schools, hospitals, theaters, restaurants, and even in malls. Everywhere you turn you will find the remnants of an interior design professional.  Some designers go as far as even building abstract units to be included in a room and then covering the unit with either paint or some coordinating fabric. For example, instead of using a typical headboard for a bed, they will instead build a headboard, possible secure it to the wall in a way that looks 3-D and cover the unit with coordinating fabrics or paint. Some even build units on the ceiling to make the room come to life with art work.

Interior design artists will take into consideration all styles of art from Louis XV, Feng Shui, Mid-Century, Modern and even Art Deco when looking a project. The final style chosen will melt over onto the coloring, fabrics, flooring, and even the furniture chosen for the room. There are many books on interior design for those that opt to venture out on their own and try their creativity in interior design but for those that don’t have the time or patience, there are numerous famous interior designers who are ready to heed the call.

Colleges For Interior Designing

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

Creativity, uniqueness, uniqueness are the tools of success these days. Every student wants to opt for something new, a course or profession which provides him the space to think and demands freshness in its approach. Today, students are very imaginative and they do not want to go with the old and traditional methods or jobs responsibilities. They want to do something new, unusual, which never been done before, and wants to create benchmark for others. Students, these days, are very fast- forward, they have their future plans ready with them, by the time they enter senior secondary school. Going for fields, which demands creativity and innovation, is what every student aims for.

There are many new fields coming up these days, which are highly creative like writing, acting, anchoring, radio jockeying, dancing, fashion designing, interior designing etc. Though all these professions are in great demand and popular among students, but interior designing is one, which allows the student to turn a whole piece of land turn into the product of his ideas and creativity. It’s an impeccable job work, which translated your thinking power into a creative beauty. It’s a very proud profession, as house or property being the life time asset, gets used and appreciated by an number of people in and around that product.

To fulfil the professional demands of the industry and train the students according to the working standards, many colleges have started courses in interior designing. For admission, an entrance test is conducted by the colleges to test the sketching, technical drawing, imaginative and analytical skills of the students. The applications to the interior designing colleges can made by the student after he passed with his 12th exams. The duration of the course is for around two to four years, depending upon the course chosen and the institute from which the student is planning to pursue his studies. Different colleges providing professional courses in interior designing are:

v     Academy of Art and Design, Maharashtra

v     Apeejay Institute of Design, New Delhi

v     School of Interior Design, Ahemdabad

v     J. J School of Arts, Mumbai

v     Blitz Institute of Creative Arts, Varanasi

v     Global Institute of Fashion Technology, Kolkata

v     Indian Institute of Design, New Delhi

v     Inter National Institute of Fashion Design, Mumbai, Pune, Ajmer

v     India International Trade Centre, Mumbai

v     Indian institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi

v     Institute for Interior Design, Bangalore

v     International Academy of Fashion and Design, Chennai

v     Lovely Professional University, Phagwara

Architects for designing the houses, offices, hotels, restaurants, retail shops, theatres, conference halls, film studios, malls, adventure spots, etc are alw3ays in demand to decorate their interiors as well as exteriors. a student, after completing his degree in interior designing, in the beginning of their career, start as the intern or trainee in some designing house. This gives him the initial practical knowledge required to implement in his career. The qualities which an interior designing student must posses are:

v     Very imaginative and creative, must be able to think new ideas for every new assignment.

v     To be able to read the mind of the customer and implement the designs accordingly

v     The designs created by the interior- designer must be more than the term satisfactory for the customer, to ensure his regularity with your organisation.

v     Should keep himself updated with the latest developments and new designs and innovation in the world of designing

v     Should be able to organise the design according to the budget plans of the customer

v     Should have a good sense of colour combinations and work on improving his choice and class for interiors\

The work for the interior- design is basically on project basis, and employees are paid quite attractive remunerations for their work assignments.