• Interior Design

Interior Design

Interior design is big business these days. Once it was a boring formality, now-it’s the new fashion!

Flick through your TV guide and you’ll find Grand Designs, The Restoration Man, DIY SOS and 60 Minute Makeover-to name just a few design shows!

There’s been an interior design revolution, and two of the biggest trailblazers are Scotland’s own Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan. The dynamic duo are like marmite-you either love them or hate them, but their transition from Glasgow teenagers with a flair for design to owners of a multi-million pound design empire should be an inspiration whatever you think. They’ve managed to get Colin and Justin’s Home Heist broadcast in 25 countries around the world, meaning people in Australia and Poland are taking Colin and Justin’s advice on how to kit out their living rooms!

Being an interior designer can be stressful, trying to stay within a budget, conform to deadlines and meet the client’s needs. I couldn’t do it-could you?

If you have creative skills or a love of art, YOZILA reader, then the opportunities are endless. You can let your imagination run wild and make a lot of dough doing it, or even become a TV personality- the next Phil Spencer or Kirstie Allsopp.

Possible careers include...

• Furniture designer-designing the objects that interior designers recommend to their customers
• Painter and decorator-does exactly what it says on the tin
• Sales-using your expert knowledge to help customers create their dream home
• Interior designer (obviously!)-the creative genius behind it all
• Director of Creative Studies-like Bruce Wood, the Director of Glasgow Caledonian Universities Centre for Creative Industry.  Its his job to pass on the principles of design to the next generation

If you like the sound of all this Glasgow Caledonian University might be the place to start. Their Interior Design BSc allows you to complete a HND course elsewhere and return in third year. Then (get this!) you’ll travel to Barcelona, Milan or Copenhagen on a tour of ‘world centres of design excellence’, AND have your work displayed at the annual final year exhibition. Here’s a description of the course http://www.gcu.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/interior-design-8713.php?loc=uk

And here’s where you can do the HND http://www.glasgowmet.ac.uk/interior-design-bsc.aspx )

The great thing about interior design is the freedom it gives you. You can be a specialist in designing kitchens, bathrooms, offices-anything you like, and there are several different period styles which could serve as your inspiration.

My personal favourite is Art Deco, an elegant style which emerged between 1925 and the 1940’s, but remains popular and influential to this day. Miami has lots of Art Deco hotels in its South Beach district and these beautiful buildings are a feast for the eyes.

Who knows, one day someone could be saying that about your designs...