More than a fabled book title, these words powerfully resonate, transport us to a new realm, to freedom. They are a blueprint. An architectural drawing of sorts. A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf’s plea for liberation, takes us into interiors and leads us into the light of self-worth and creativity. So it is when we construct our own work and living spaces–we want tooms of our own that mirror our identity, aspirations, and comfort zones. We need such enhancing environments to give us equilibrium, balance and joy–to allow us to imagine.
Compelling interior design is consequently more than following a coordinated methodology and analysis of furnishings and space calculations. That is the mere scientific approach to planning liveability, just illusionary half-measures to styling nurturing habitats. What is far more valuable, incisive and potent interior design? It is just that, designs that capture and captivate our interiors, our talents, aspirations, and our idealizations of productivity and romance. These designs ennoble us, animate us. They, in fact, are us, rooms/spaces filled with mirrors of our past and future, our living auto-biographies with pages still to be written.
Architects and professionals might scoff at this notion of “autobiographies,” “mirrors,” and the like. Today they are all about minimalism, a limited amount of objects to remove the clutter and chaos in contemporary life. These “experts” stress “functionality,” ergonomics, dimensions and rules.Do not be swayed by these conformists, their restrictive notions of confinement. Even a small living space, an office cubicle, can reflect inspiration, intensity, and dreams still to be realized. What is true functionality if not a place that is designed to invigorate the imagination, and to embody what Virginia Woolf was seeking? Rooms we all desire. Exultant interiors where freedom and creativity are lavishly celebrated.
Photography Luke Foreman
Witten by Kamila K
