7 minute read
B-lvd Interiors
B-lvd Interiors
Future design today
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interview by Karolina Barnes, images provided by Lucy Bunhill
While there is certainly more awareness about sustainable design, there is still a long way to go to making sustainability mainstream. Designers like Lucy Bunhill play a major role in this shift. By collaborating with sustainability-driven suppliers on one hand and educating and informing clients on the other, future design can potentially improve the lives of everyone on this planet.
Originated from using elements of her initials Lucy Victoria Bunhill, along with a desire to create a business people could relate to and create a connection with (Be loved), B-lvd Interiors mission is to present environmental conscious interior design in a whole new light, creating inspiring, elegant designs and spaces while considering our environmental impact for future generations whilst supporting talented craftsmen and women within the UK.
Lucy's upbringing not only shaped her passion for creativity, design and love of nature but also led her into a career in the creative industry, where she developed twenty plus years of experience in the advertising and branding world, working in graphic design, styling, photography and project management before completing a Diploma in Professional Interior Design to reach her ultimate goal.
Here we chat to Lucy about using her previous career experiences, creativity and knowledge, and how it fuels a new direction of her life and the business she started last year.
Can you tell us about your journey and what has led you to start B-lvd Interiors?
B-lvd Interiors was the result of being made redundant while self-isolating with suspected Covid just at the start of the pandemic, back in March last year. Rather than sitting about and worrying about what to do, I decided to set up a business I had only dreamt about, and turn it into a reality.
Having worked in the commercial industry for many years in advertising and branding, working as a project manager and in client facing roles, more recently working on commercial interiors for branding projects I saw an opportunity for an interiors business that specifically explored more sustainable interior design opportunities. Providing clients with the opportunity to make more informed decisions about the products available to them, working with recycled and reclaimed high-end products and suppliers, sourcing high-end second hand furniture and working with businesses that specifically explore more sustainable practices and methods. I am particularly keen to work with British designers, craftsmen and women and explore a more circular economy within this industry. Creating spaces using our homegrown talent, with a special interest in those designers and suppliers who are more sustainably considerate, is so important.
How has your upbringing influenced your values and passion for sustainable design?
Having moved from the outskirts of London and then grown up surrounded by beautiful Hampshire countryside for the best part of 40 years, my father a builder and my mother a professional singer and creative, who always built and renovated their own homes and interiors. I was always surrounded by sympathetically created and meticulously redesigned homes and beautiful outdoor spaces. My father is known for repurposing anything he can get his hands on, whether that is building a greenhouse using old scaffolding planks and anything else he can find or repurposing shelving units to create a beautiful study. My mother, a professional singer and musician by trade, a talented artist and keen landscape designer, has always created the most welcoming of homes and has definitely played a huge role in the direction I am now heading with my own business.
Biophilic design is not a new concept but there is definitely more awareness about it. How do you work with clients who want to go down this route? Do they request it or do you educate them and propose the direction?
Biophilic design has been around for many years, whether it has been used subconsciously or consciously in our homes and offices today. I feel it has certainly become a buzzword more recently. I don’t think people really appreciate what it actually entails or even means or even how it can influence and support our day to day lives. I have found, however, that when discussing incorporating biophilic design into clients' spaces, they have all been very receptive and embraced it.
I work with both commercial and residential clients and more often than not I will incorporate elements of this within the spaces I design, whether that is through the use of more sustainable materials, exploring more environmentally safe paints or wallpapers, exploring how the light works within a room and embracing and enhancing it, or even creating connective and engaging experiences within a space and including greenery and live planting. These simple elements can make a huge difference to interior spaces.
I'm working on an exciting project at the moment at a children’s school, I’m keen to create a space they can feel inspired and excited to encourage learning, a space that can help support their wellbeing and for them to feel safe. The board and all the team members involved have been completely supportive of the ideas I have proposed and absolutely love it. It is going to be an amazing space for the children once it’s completed and I’m thrilled to be able to work with people who completely embrace this way of thinking especially for the next generation.
What’s your favourite product you came across recently and thought was a great sustainable alternative?
I've been exploring a number of incredibly talented furniture makers recently, all of whom are particular driven towards a sustainable business mindset, in particular; Angus Ross who sources the wood for the furniture from his own woodland, which he monitors and manages as well as Simon Whatley both of whom are from Scotland. Also, people like Konk Furniture, Tom Raffield, Fuzl, and Forest and Maker all UK based designers, who create beautiful sustainably sourced modern furniture pieces. I guess if I was to pull one of these out though, while they are all sustainably driven, Fuzl are specifically looking more into the practical elements of packaging design to fit their products as well as how their products are built and put together. They don’t use nails or glue for their pieces, they are simply linked together using clever interlocking elements within their designs, putting another spin on the flat pack living element, their packaging design replicates this theory using recycled cardboard and clever origami folding and fixing methods, each piece is ‘cut to order’ meaning there is no unnecessary waste. Packaging is a huge part of the problem still with all the products we purchase and this company, in particular, is exploring new methods of how to address this with their pieces. As a society, we are changing the way we shop, while we are looking more into the sustainability, provenance and even the very material sourced and ethical standard of a company, we also need to explore more about the very packaging these products are delivered in too, these items will become a primary consideration for our purchases in the future. From the ergonomics furniture and toxicity of our furniture through to the packaging used.
Apart from your interior design work, you also design your own wallpaper and textiles. Can you take us through the process and who you work with?
I am very lucky to work with a number of very talented people who understand the importance of supporting sustainable production methods, for my fabrics and wallpaper, in particular the Silk Bureau (www.silkbureau.co.uk) for my digital fabric printing. But more recently I’ve been working with the team at Addicted to Patterns (www.addictedtopatterns.uk), who is helping me with one project in particular and the team at Wall Murals (www.wallmurals.co.uk), both of whom have been actively supportive, finding the best solutions for the clients using sustainable papers and inks.
You are very passionate about sustainable products in interiors, what are your plans for the future?
Sustainability within interiors still has a way to go, but we are making progress, and while companies seem to say they are sustainable, actively being it and saying you are are two different things. Some clients are on board, but some find it still a struggle to pay a little over the odds for sustainable fabrics for example, which means that only those with the bigger budgets tend to be willing to spend more on this. Hopefully, in future, these more sustainable methods of production will go down in price to ensure the average person can have a greater selection that helps the planet too. For me personally, I’m keen to explore more in this area and liaise with those working with sustainable products and methods to showcase their work to the masses, and get them known. I have a few ideas up my sleeve that I’m working on and hopefully soon I’ll be able to share more with
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