Design Lab with Lucy Tiffney
Design Lab with Lucy Tiffney
Design Lab with Lucy Tiffney
For this season’s Design Lab we’re delighted to be collaborating with none other than award-winning designer, Lucy Tiffney. Praised for her painterly style and extraordinary vision, Lucy is the perfect partner for sofa.com and has created some phenomenal fabrics that we just know you’re going to fall in love with! Botanicals are set to be a big trend for spring/summer 2019 and beyond, so it’s fitting that Lucy’s fabrics are flushed with floral details that feel both unique and upmarket.
We sat down for a quick chat with Lucy to find out more about her inspiration and glean any tips she might have for budding interior designers…
Lucy, your career really took off after you became a finalist in BBC Two’s The Great Interior Design Challenge. What was it like competing in this programme?
I really enjoyed participating in BBC Two’s The Great Interior Design Challenge… it really was a challenge but so rewarding to see the clients’ happy faces at the end and their transformed interior schemes. I would sum up my experience as amazing, life changing, exhausting and really fun!
And how would you sum up your design style in three words?
Colourful, bold and happy.
Tell us a bit about how your creative process begins…
The idea and colours for a new design can come from anywhere and everywhere. I have a vague idea of what the end result will look like but usually the painted designs evolve through the process like works of art.
Do you extensively plan before starting a new design, or let your brush take you where it wants to?
I do plan ahead more than you would think before starting a new design, particularly the colour palette and scale of a pattern, but then the design grows and evolves through the painting and creative process.
We know you lecture in textiles, do you have any tips for people picking out textiles and textures for their own homes?
It really is a great idea to mix up textures in the home as much as possible as it adds depth, tone and interest. Different fabrics on different pieces can transform a scheme, as well as cushions which can add an instant pop of colour or pattern.
What excites you about creating fabrics for pieces of furniture?
I usually create designs for flat two dimensional pieces like wallpaper, throws and blankets, so I loved the idea of seeing my designs on beautiful three dimensional pieces that become more of a focal piece for a room.
What made you feel like sofa.com was the right fit for a collaboration?
I felt that sofa.com’s classic shapes and brilliant quality products were the perfect canvas for my busy, bold botanical prints!
We’re absolutely in love with the two upholstery fabrics and two cushion fabrics you’ve created for us – what was your inspiration?
The designs were inspired by my signature painterly botanicals. I developed bestselling existing prints and designed brand new patterns.
Our Lucy Tiffney upholstery fabrics (bottom row, L-R): London Lagoon in Dawn, London Lagoon in Dusk, London Lagoon Stripe in Dawn, London Lagoon Stripe in Dawn
How would you recommend styling these fabrics in a room?
I love velvet! The bold, jewel tone colours in the sofa.com fabric collection sit back beautifully with the pops of colour and pattern in my exclusive designs for sofa.com.
Finally, do you have any advice for budding interior designers looking to hone their craft?
The best way to start interior designing is to try and establish your own style. Try and work with ideas and colours that you like and mean something to you rather than copying everyone else!
