Q&A with Juliette Byrne an Interior Design Interview

Q&A with Juliette Byrne an Interior Design Interview

Q&A with Juliette Byrne Tweet: Q&A with Beata Heuman

In our next Interior Design Q&A Series, we're excited to have spoken with Juliette Byrne, a talented interior designer known for her classic contemporary style with eclectic twists.

Juliette and her business have been named in the House and Garden top 100 leading designers in the UK for the past 10 years, and has previously been recognised and rewarded by the Telegraph as one of the Top 20 Interior Designers in Britain.

Despite her jam packed schedule, we were lucky enough to ask her some questions about her projects and opinions on the future of interior design...

To start, tell us about how it all began for your interior design career.

"I studied interior design at the Chelsea School of Art in the 1980’s, then went on to work for Conrans and two years later decided to  set up my own interior business in Knightsbridge."


Talk us through your creative process, how do you approach each project?

"Each project is treated on an individual basis. The clients will discuss the brief and the type of building they have or are thinking of building.

I try to interpret what I think the client would like and discus what their budget might be and then we move onto brain storming the styles we are going to achieve and then develop the concepts.

From this we create a wonderful pallet of fabrics coordinating with furniture choices and decorative lighting."


How would you describe your style, to those who aren't familiar?

"Classic contemporary with eclectic twists."


If you could only pick one project from the last 5 years that you're most proud of, which would it be?

"The project that I am most proud of would be the London town house with a double basement dig out.

The house was situated in a quiet street in Chelsea and the facade was the only part of the house that was retained.

We designed the layout for the interior and each of the wall finishes, staircase designs, soft furnishing and decorative lighting.

The house had a spa and gym concealed behind a bookcase display wall and also a wonderful kitchen/family room with a wine cellar and cantilevered staircase."


How often do you incorporate industrial or vintage elements in to your designs?

"It really depends on the project, we will always try to blend different styles to create more a bespoke look.

Not all clients like vintage items and prefer a more polished look, but other clients do like to incorporate other more eclectic items which we source from companies such as Vetrouvious and Lascos."


What's your take on the introduction of metallic tones within interior design?

"We are seeing more and more specialist finishes for joinery and wall cladding, also wallpapers are so varied and blend successfully with metallic tones.

Various suppliers at Chelsea Harbour are producing new collections of their fabric ranges with metallic elements which offers a fantastic contemporary feel to projects."


Name (any) three things that you think will shape the future of interior design.

"1.) User-friendly technology which enables clients to manage their lives more efficiently.

 2.) Creating homes where clients can retreat after busy, hectic days.

3.) Using environmentally-friendly products such as recycled glass for outdoor rugs and kitchen worktops." 


What's to come for you in the coming 2016, anything exciting you can share with us?

"In the coming year we have completed a number of projects, including a chalet in Chamonix, a large contemporary family house in Richmond, a stunning town house in Barnes and a wonderful Georgian home in Wimbledon.

We are also working on two projects in Jersey and hoping to secure show apartments in Moscow!"


In our next interior design Q&A, we'll be speaking with Caroline Paterson.