The Studio
The Studio
OUR APPROACH
Our interior architecture projects range from the contemporary to the conservative, from the renovation of a single room to substantial rebuilding works.
Emma explains, “I personally work with every client at each step of a renovation and believe that good communication is at the heart of a successful project. We always like to start with a full consultation to understand a client’s requirements. From this initial meeting, we draw up suggestions for alternative room layouts or solutions for complicated spaces”.
The Design Studio has worked with several clients over many years and for a diversity of projects. We focus on how best to improve a property and its flexibility as a home. We are there to support our clients at all stages of family life: adapting the house for a growing young family, creating extra bedrooms or a kitchen extension. Later, to reclaim the space after the children leave home, a client may convert a bedroom into a new study or reconfigure internal walls for a larger drawing room. Recent projects also included renovations of a wine cellar, swimming pool, garden and outside entertainment areas.
The Studio holds regular site meetings and works closely with builders and structural engineers, overseeing the rewiring, replumbing and redecorations. As the project progresses, we present colour and lighting schemes, fabrics and hardware samples. Our designs also extend to furniture, art, antiques and the planning and planting of the garden.
Philosophy
If we have a philosophy, it is that space is to be cherished even in a larger house. Space is how rooms flow into one another and the use of space inside. It is what makes sense of a house and gives it a heart. Lost or inaccessible areas could be put to better use – for storage or simply as unlocked space. Cupboards can often be badly planned, in the wrong place or oversized (a large cupboard will fill up!). Our homes are better freer and uncluttered, a well-organised family home is a calmer place to live.
Much of our work requires specifying and project managing large areas – extensions, moving walls and excavating basements. The Studio also spends time planning internal space early at the initial architectural drawing stage. Our strength is the ability to visualise change of use: how a house could best be structurally reconfigured or renovated to create new rooms. We believe in the versatility of our homes – and the flow of a house needs to be well mapped at the outset. Unravelling complicated layouts brings a home up to date for modern living and gives back its soul.Principal
Based between London and Dorset, Emma has helped clients in transforming their homes for over 30 years. She trained at Chelsea College of Art and has since worked in Canada and in London for a leading London architect, before establishing her own practice with clients in London and the Home Counties.
Emma has excellent spatial awareness, is highly organised and has won widespread respect for keeping to agreed time frames and budgets in a market renowned for difficulties. She is a member of the Chartered Society of Designers.
Based in Fulham and Dorset, creativity and design have been her driving passion for as long as she can remember: from collecting and admiring the varied shape and form of shells as a child, to dressmaking using elaborate and fabulous fabrics. She is a keen watercolourist and portrait artist, with a sharp eye for pattern and colour. Her love for texture, order and symmetry combine perfectly to foresee ideal solutions, and she has the remarkable ability to bring something special to the end result.
