Chealsea College of Art and Design : Interior Design

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Apart from fulfilling a useful function, what do I want my designs to do?

Although to be meaningful, architecture and all design should make life better and easier, in the twenty first century we all want more than a crushing functionalism from our surroundings.

Architecture, exterior and interior, is probably our most important art form, as it is the one we inhabit every day. It is the stage set on which we play out the momentous and the routine moments of our lives.

For me, there is a seamlessness between painting, sculpture and architecture. I like my interiors to resemble a piece of sculpture, one which we can walk into, around and through. An interior should be mysterious and seductive; much should be concealed. It should reveal its secrets gradually, like a blossom slowly unfolding.

I want to design interiors that touch the soul, that fulfil the profound human need for spiritual upliftment, that arouse emotion. Those emotions should be similar to feelings provoked by beauty; the awareness of and joy at being part of the universe in that moment. The design vocabulary essential to achieving this is colour, light, shade and texture.

Ruth Canning