Studio Henderson

As you may have gathered from my previous posts, I am very enthusiastic about the design industry. I spend a lot of time watching interviews with architects and designers about their practice. Although this highlights my lack of social life; learning more about the design industry will prepare me for my graduate career. So, I was thrilled to discover that we would be speaking to a practising interior designer in today's session.

Studio Henderson is an interior design practise that specialises in community care. Clinoa (the director) presented some examples of her company's work. She explained their design process and how they work with the clients brief to create innovative schemes. As their projects target the older population, clear way finding is vital. They think about scale and lighting to achieve perfect solutions for each project. The community care sector seems to be rewarding as you are designing to benefit people who need it the most. However, it does seem challenging as you need to pay close attention to detail. Another challenge, the studio talked about was designing with COVID in mind. Care homes accommodate some of the most vulnerable members of society. Ensuring their safety whilst not completely restricting them is essential. From the examples, I think Studio Henderson create beautiful schemes that aim to benefit the people who use them.

I enjoyed learning about the studio's design process. The studio uses software such as AutoCAD, SketchUp and Photoshop. These are programmes we use in university to create visuals for our projects. Seeing their use in practice has encouraged me to develop my skills. Editing my work for my portfolio and creating visuals for my next few projects will allow me to practice and improve my skills. I don't usually use software such as VRay or Podium as I prefer my visuals to look more like illustrations then realistic. However, I still need to develop my knowledge of these programmes as I may want to work for a studio who uses them to render.

Technical drawings and rendering isn't the only part of the design process. Clinoa briefly spoke about how her company uses the RIBA Plan of work to manage projects. This type of plan allocates a task to everyone involved in the project and identifies things such as time and budget. As a student, I don't stress about finance or making sure contractors understand my drawings as I create conceptual schemes. However, to prepare for industry, I would benefit from learning more about the RIBA plan of work, especially if I plan to do any freelance work.

My favourite part of a guest speaker session is the question segment. I wanted to know more about Clinoa's design journey and how she ended up where she is today. She told us about how after, studying interior design in university, she worked for a few architect firms in Dublin. Then she moved to Manchester, where she worked for firms that mostly focused on office and educational design before setting up her own company. Clinoa has work in a range of different design sectors such as hospitality, office and residential. As a result, she has a vast knowledge of design and connections with a variety of people within the industry. I worry quite often about not knowing what aspect of interior design I want to explore. Clinoa's background has reassured me that I can get experience from different areas of design and don't have to stick to one pathway forever. I have benefited a lot from today's session as I have an insight into how interior design firms work. I am thankful to Clinoa for taking her time to share her projects and knowledge with us.