Publish Date: 25-12-2023
Designing a space is all about creating an ambience, an experience that you would want to come back to everyday; your very own restful retreat! Most often than not, bringing out the best in a space is made possible when you add a little bit of ‘you’ in it. Your favourite colour, your favourite art piece, an old photo that brings a smile to your face every time you look at it. The main ingredient is YOU!
Interior design, for me, cannot be a prescriptive process. When you get a space designed, it should be done in such a way that the space evokes exactly the feeling that you wanted to feel when in it; relaxing calmness, soothing earthiness, stylish glamour, quirky playfulness or classy elegance. This process of designing a space, when it is a collaboration between the owner and the designer, becomes more creative, fruitful, and intuitive, which results in the most unique interiors. A unique style that employs the designer’s knowledge of the trade and still speaks volumes about you and your persona. That is where magic happens!
Well, enough with all the dreaminess already! Let’s get down to understanding interior design on a more practical note. But, one would say isn’t interior design a highly creative process and kind of an art? And there are no hard and fast rules in art, right. But of course, there are principles and elements that can be used as tools or building blocks that guide us towards creating balance, beauty and harmony in a space. Let’s get to know these a little bit.
Light is an extremely important element of design, playing a key role as it weaves its way through every other element, either enhancing it when used intelligently or weighing it down when there’s not enough of it. Natural or artificial, light as an element has to be thought of very carefully when designing a space as it affects colour, texture and shape or form very intimately.
Colour as an element comes across as the most subjective as we all have our favourites and not-so-favourites. We can feel very strongly about colour. Having said that, there are very particular attributes or qualities associated with every colour which is part of the theory of colour psychology. From the interior design perspective, colour sets the tone and the mood for any interior. Colour, as the backdrop, has the ability to either make your furniture and accessories pop and get noticed or make them fall flat, whatever effect you want to create.
The texture element can be used to create depth of experience; visual as well as tactile. Again, I come back to saying that its all about you and the experience you want to create in your space. If feeling grounded is what appeals to you, go for wooden surfaces and natural rugs. On the other hand, if you want to feel focused go for sleeker and cleaner finishes.