Episode 5 - A Conceptual Inspiration Masterclass - With Martin Farrow

I'm joined by Martin Farrow, a designer at the top of his game.  What he doesn't know about interior design can fit on the back of a stamp!  In this inspirational masterclass we focus on how to pull together your conceptual design ideas to create your own master piece, gained from his extensive experice of designing stellar projects around the world! From 5 star plus hotels, cruise liners, and yachts,  the process for gaining ideas and inspiration is the same.  Listen to his fascinating discussion with Sue and pick up some incredible ideas and tips from a world class designer.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Interior Design and Martin's Journey
03:49 The Design Process: From Concept to Completion
05:42 The Role of Interior Designers vs. Architects
07:46 Navigating Budget Constraints and Design Integrity
09:15 Finding Inspiration in Everyday Life
10:32 Sustainability in Hotel Design
12:04 Personal Style and Design Preferences
13:01 Challenges in Client Relationships
14:29 The Evolution of Design Ideas
15:06 Translating Hotel Design to Home Interiors
17:29 The Emotional Impact of Interior Design
18:06 The Spark of Creativity in Interior Design
19:43 The Importance of Finishing Touches
21:22 Mock-Up Rooms: A Designer's Playground
22:21 Defining Your Personal Style
23:41 Space Planning: Comfort and Clarity
25:06 Finding the DNA of Your Design
25:48 Unusual Design Requests: A Designer's Adventure
27:48 The Future of Hotel Design
29:01 Advice for Aspiring Designers

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Contact

Martin Farrow Design

ALL ABOUT DESIGN

 email - contact@allaboutdesign.online
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 Novo Interiors - www.novointeriors.co.uk
Insta novointeriors_uk
email - susan@novointeriors.co.uk

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Transcript

Welcome to All About Design. And I'm delighted to be joined today by a very special guest, Martin Farrow, an incredible interior designer. Actually Martin gave me alongside Khuan Chew my first opportunity in an interior design studio in London a long time ago. 

We're talking about interior design being an incredible tool to use in your home to create surroundings that make you feel a certain way. And in residential design, we sometimes have to rein in the extremes a little bit of extravagant designs. But we do love to enjoy them and explore them in our relaxation time. And Martin works on these incredible projects all around the world. 

His ideas and creative developments are the concept of amazing buildings that we often go and see on our holidays. So welcome, Martin. Thank you so much for joining me. Perhaps you could give us a little bit more detail about your role. 

Yeah, sure. Well, I've been in the industry for a long time now. mean, my first hotel project was back in 1990. I left art college in the 80s and I was doing some residential, some retail works, shop fitting exhibitions. And then I got into hotel design and I just loved it. I just love working for hotels. so I've been in mostly hotel design. 

since early 90s. yeah, it's just evolved and changed over the years. I mean, it's just such a big industry now. We all love traveling and we love going to different parts of the world. And it's always exciting and always, challenging So I love it. I love it. 

How on earth do you approach the concept of a huge new project? Do you always get a strong brief from the client? Where does it begin? 

Yeah, quite often. 

mean, the client will have kind of a direction. But obviously, as an interior designer, it's good to guide them and help them, see these, these concepts come to life. Depending where it is, mean, quite often we'll approach it from its locality. So, for instance, we do a lot of work in the Middle East and Dubai. 

You know, there's always lots of strong influences there. can have, you know, if you work in the Far East, and maybe something that you pick up locally. And you just take that as a kind of theme, as a thread that goes through the hotel. It just varies. And a lot of clients will kind of have a vision, and it's helping them 

bring that vision to life really. That's what's exciting about it. It's great when you you see their excitement as well as you develop the ideas with them. 

Yeah, you're so talented, you can literally go into a meeting, can't you and start sketching in 3D and you bring it to life in front of people, which is remarkable. I've worked with you on projects for a few years back in the early 2000s. And, that was amazing. And if it suddenly changes direction, you're able to respond to that quite quickly, But. 

day. 

Yeah, 

exactly. I think being able to help them see the vision by, you we can use mood images, mood boards, but sketching is always good. I've always sketched. I love doing that. And just, just quick thumbnail sketches sometimes really help set the direction. For instance, working on a project at the moment. And we just want to include, you know, just bring it to life, 

Botanics are really popular at the moment, the space we work on is really kind of lifeless. and just doing some thumbnail sketches to say, look, we could add some greenery here, and you can do it over the photograph or, I use my iPad all the time now to sketch, and it's great. So you can literally take a photograph and sketch over that, which is really good. 

Yeah, the tools have come on leaps and bounds. think it was just like Photoshop when we started and now there's so much that we can do. Could you just from concept through to hotel opening sort of snapshot of what stage you go through? 

Hmm 

Yes. 

Yeah, 

well, it depends on different regions, different parts of world. But you generally you'll start with your concepts. So you start with the mood images to set the direction and, sketches and and then you go through the kinds of concepts to stage. 

CGI visuals or freehand sketches like I do a lot of freehand sketches and then that sets the tone and then we will get the CGI's computer generated images done. if that's all approved and you're in the right direction, then you go on to the design development and DD stage we call that, which is then you take that further. then you get into doing all the technical drawings, CAD drawings, technical work. 

there's the specifications That kind of runs parallel with the design development stage. And then that goes out for tender to contractors and then on site. 

It's nice always to be involved in that stage as well so you can keep some control of the site work that's happening because quite often most projects, especially big commercial projects, they're things that are value engineered 

But yeah, it's great to be involved in that and I always like to try and include that as well, especially if I'm doing a fee for the entire project so you have some kind of control 

I spoke to an architect about, interior designers being involved from an early stage with the architecture. You're more of an architectural interior designer, which is a little bit of a difference, We were saying, when you go on site as an interior designer or an architect, you haven't got both hats on, but. 

Yeah. 

you perhaps do wear both hats a bit more. 

Yeah, I've always been, more of an architectural interior designer, which includes a lot of the construction work. Like I say, if you can get involved with the architect earlier on, so you can change walls and layouts or that, 

different elements within the building, but also on site as well, because things happen on site. As the construction's happening, it's always good to be able to evolve something. 

That's why the site works really important, I think. 

I mean, it's pretty good these days because we do a lot of CGI work. And you can do walkthroughs now it's a bit clearer, I think, for most clients to see the finished product. I mean, some of the CGI is now incredible. They're almost photo realistic. You can't tell then it's not real space. And especially with some of big mega projects, you know, 

Yeah, you can't tell, can you? No. 

you almost do virtually every space as a CGI visual. I think the design is pretty much fixed before it gets to site. It's always the budget that really is the driving force. so that's when value engineering can come in sometimes. 

That's quite heartbreaking, isn't it? You have to work around. There's no two ways about it. has to, you have to work with what you've got. It's  retaining that most important of the whole thing. 

Yeah, yeah, 

You want to keep the design integrity really. I think that's the thing, I always try and approach it quite positively yeah, it's heartbreaking sometimes when your designs are kind of watered down, but there's always a solution. And that's what's exciting about design. There's always a solution. There's always something you can work with. And as long as you can keep your design integrity, I think that's key. And there's certain elements that 

are important to the scheme, but then there are other options that you can do. So, you know, there may be a finish that you can then look at a cheaper alternative but still achieve that look. 

How do you go about trying to appeal to a wide range of people when you're doing a hotel lobby, for example? 

stick to the brief or do you throw in different curve balls? 

It does depend on the client. Some clients like to play safe. Some clients like to have something that's a bit different or a bit unusual. I always love the kind of wow factor. I love the element of surprise as well. like for me personally, and I think a lot of guests, they like to go into a place and they like to go, wow, I wasn't expecting that or 

wow, you know, that's incredible. I wouldn't have even thought of that as an idea. So that's the element of surprise I love like focal points. I love like, there's always something in the distance to look at. There's always something that makes you want to go further. It's like, what's over there? is that a bar over there? What's that? You know, it's artwork. 

go there. 

Martin (12:39.716)

I love. It's almost like that element of surprise, wanting you to see more and explore more, 

That's what interior design is, It's being a little bit different, even in your own home, which we'll perhaps come back to in a second. obviously when you do go to a beautiful hotel you want to go, wow. But it's how do you keep on bringing these ideas forward? 

and 

Where do you get your inspiration from? 

Inspiration is everywhere. You just find it. think, there may be something you just you walking down the street and you just see something like, oh, wow, that that color is incredible, or, that finish works really well with that. And it's like I said before, location is really important. It's a real good inspiration. think and I love. 

tell the story. love that if the interior tells a story and it's, the guests can ask questions what's that sculpture? What's that artwork? How does that fit in? You know, that's always good. But inspiration, I think you find everywhere. It's I think it's a creative person. Sometimes it will just come to you. 

Hmm. 

I love nature for colour schemes. 

Nature is amazing as an inspiration and like you say for colours and things that contrast each other as well. mean, you know, it's incredible. Like you say, You can look at something that's quite neutral and then suddenly there's this pop of colour and that's incredible. 

incredible. 

Sustainability is a big buzzword everywhere. How do you approach that in hotel design? 

Yeah, it is a big thing now. mean, everyone's aware of it. lot of the suppliers, the furniture suppliers, the carpet suppliers, they're all, using sustainable products now, everyone's kind of switched onto it now. And there are things, there are tricks that you can do. There things that you can... 

upcycle and save. It depends on the product. The key is that a lot of the fabrics, they last so much longer now than before. Maybe a hotel would need refurbishing every five years, but now you can probably take that to a 10 year because a lot of the products are so much more robust and hard wearing. 

So that's the key really, I think. It's almost like working with a lot of products that are long lasting and are still going to look good in a good few years' time. And think as well with the design, mean, quite often it's good to do timeless kind of design that is going to still look good in 10, 20 years. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

and maybe there's just certain elements. think a lot of the hotels now, some of the big chains, it's almost like they have the core and then you just will change certain things. So it's not like total refit. It's not like ripping everything out. It's just kind of evolving. I think that's the key, 

break out and redo. 

Do you have a personal preference of style or do you just love everything? 

I mean, I do love everything really. can kind of see, joy in everything most of my designs are quite contemporary and modern, but I do love, sometimes you go into like something really traditional which is heavily layered or heavily decorated and you're like, wow, that's... 

inspiring as well. Some of the traditional hotels that you have in London and Paris are incredible. Some of the projects like Four Seasons in Paris, it's beautiful. It's just elegant and opulent and beautiful. 

Yeah, I need to get out of 

My kind of personal style is probably bit more contemporary, a bit more minimalist. 

with those surprises thrown in as well. which is the fun part. What's been your most challenging project, do you think? Have you one that sticks in your mind and how did you overcome that? 

Yeah, think the most challenging project is when the client doesn't really know what they want. And it's almost like sometimes they'll see something and they're, this is the style I want. And then actually, it's not really like that. So the challenges is kind of really guiding them and being strong in 

your design and helping them get to that finishing point. This is the way forward. Yeah, you need to trust me and this 

Yeah. It will work. You've got to trust me. 

this is the way forward. 

Yeah, 

When I first started at KCA where you gave me the job with Khuan they'd recently done the Burj Al Arab and that was beginning of hotel design in a way that in an international scale, I was always amazed at where the journey starts in the interior design studio and how often it changes or develops. 

Mm. 

Yeah. 

And if you look back at your first ideas to where you end up, there's usually a few strong ones that obviously stay with it, but so much gets altered and edited 

It's like I always like to look at it as a positive. It's almost like it evolves. It's not necessarily it's changing for the sake of it, but it's a natural evolvement mean, the Burj Al Arab was unique. Working on that was incredible. Sheikh Mohammed, he wanted bright colors. He wanted it to be bold. He wanted it bright. So it was almost like... 

we were showing the fabrics and it was like brighter, And the finishes as well. mean, some of the finishes we have in there are just incredible. 

We worked on some beautiful projects. was a Mandarin Oriental in Prague. lots of ones in Dubai as well, of course, and even London. Just the diversity of it. it's almost like you're playing, you're having so much fun with these designs and sometimes bringing that back into residential design. 

from the work that you do, how do think we can sort of transfer that approach over into designing your own interiors at home? 

I think sometimes it is about making a statement or being a bit bolder. I think a lot of people especially in their own homes, they play quite safe really. It's easy to keep it all quite neutral and quite bland in a way. there are certain things you can do. if it doesn't... 

work, you can change it later, and we just helped some friends here in Spain, with their design and their whole apartment, it was magnolia, everything was magnolia. but they were quite happy to try something bold. And I'm like, why don't we do a bold, bright terracotta orange? And it was 

We just put it through the whole apartment and it worked and it was so beautiful. And lighting is key. Lighting is really key. I always think lighting can make or break a scheme. Especially if you have different colors in a room, you can create different effects if you have low-level lighting and bring those colors to life and bring, 

Thank 

different tones of those colours with lighting on it, whether it's a spotlight or a floor lamp 

I tend to see people leave things like lighting as an afterthought a lot of the time. And obviously in hotel design, it's got to be in there. It's in the ceiling coffers, it's, floor lamps, table lamps, hidden lighting. And I think now it's easier to get LED lighting into built in bookcases but it's still an afterthought sometimes. 

Often people will ask me to come and help them because it's almost like a habit. They can't stop themselves painting their houses neutral colours and they want to be pushed that direction. So I always think actually hotel design, if you're feeling like you want to be a little bit bolder, go and look at some nice hotels and just a couple of their ideas you could bring home 

Mm-hmm. 

One of the big things around why I'm doing the podcast is because of how interior design affects how you feel, not just color, but, obviously during COVID people were at home a lot. I think following that people realize it's worth spending money on. 

Mm, mm, that's sure. 

what surrounds you because of how it makes you feel. 

mental and physical, it, as well? 

big hotels now, luxury hotels, it's like a home from home. It's because people are traveling, people are enjoying staying in them. And there's a lot of residential crossover, think. And I think it's a great starting point if you're bit uncertain about what direction to go in your own house. Go to some of the hotels. There's so much online as well you can look at as well. 

Yeah. 

inspiration from. just go and sit in a space, it's great 

So going back to the very beginning, what made you realise, what was the moment that made you realise you wanted to be an interior designer? Do you remember? 

I think it's the joy. think you've talked about this as well. It's the way it makes you feel. remember this, like, always, you know, as a kid, always being creative. I loved sketching and drawing. And I remember, at art college, I did everything at art college. did, you know, painting, life drawing, photography, textiles, printmaking, all that kind of thing. 

But I remember when we did the interior design course, it was suddenly looking at a space and thinking how that space is going to be. And I remember one of the first projects that I actually had designed and you walked in and it's that feeling of like, wow, And I still have some sketches, like really just thumbnail sketches of 

And he's still, wow. 

like a bar I've designed and then a photograph of the bar and it's like I still get pleasure out of that. I still get a buzz. And I always think that's, you know, that's what always has been my enjoyment is seeing something I've designed, built. And it's like you say, it's the way it makes you feel when you're in that space. 

space. 

We've talked previously on this podcast about design fatigue and I think people often have these wonderful ideas and they get inspired at the beginning and then they do the big bits and they sort of can't make any more decisions and just finish it off but it's almost like that's the most important 

Yeah. 

part the artwork, the accessories, the lighting again. 

Yeah, the finishing 

touches again is so important. It's like artwork is so important. like, and it's those kind of touchy feely things I always say, the thing that brings something to life, it brings it to kind of human scale. It's like, especially, in some of the hotel spaces, in the lobbies and the bars, you need that artwork. You need that kind of objet and, you know, the lamps and the, you know. 

Yeah. 

the things that bring that kind of human scale, that human reality to space. So yeah, it's a tricky one, isn't it? Because yeah, sometimes projects can go on and you can kind of lose a little interest, you know, it's like, say, looking at each kind of phase is exciting, isn't it? It's like, you know, the context. 

phase is always like, wow, you know, I've got an idea, I want to move that forward. then you develop it and it evolves like we were talking about, it evolves into a finished product. And then when you see it on site, I always think each phase is very exciting. And that final touches that is lovely. I mean, I love that when you can go in and you can, you know, add some books, add some, sculptures or dressing it. 

Dressing it. Yeah, 

I liked all of the stages. I loved putting the initial colour schemes together and then when that was approved then going to see the mock-up room, is incredible, isn't it? I went to see one with Hilton and it was actually built in almost like a lock-up garage in 

Venice. built it identically to scale. And then you could tweak this and that. And that lamp needs to be a bit bigger. And the carpet isn't quite where we wanted it to be. 

no, doing the mock-up rooms are always good fun. I mean, I've done mock-up rooms that have been in ship containers in a car park. Especially for guest rooms, it's kind of essential really that it helps the client, just spending however much money on refurbishing or... 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

you know, developing their hotel, that, they need to see the finished room. It's always good. I always say when you do a mock-up room, you need to have the lighting working. So you see the different effects, know, daytime and nighttime. again, lighting is key, really, for some of the guest rooms. 

Yeah, definitely. 

Yeah, God. 

Yeah, it changes everything. 

And one of the things we're trying to ask people to think about is defining their own individual style instead of going for a cookie cutter approach, because you see something lovely in a magazine that won't necessarily work in your house. 

Yeah, yeah. 

What do you think the best ways to try and find out what your own style is? got any thoughts? 

Mood boards are always great to do. Obviously can't always afford to like do room and then, no, I don't like it, I'll change it. I mean, there's some great websites now, great stuff online. You can create mood boards quite easily, on your laptop or just by 

the old school way of cutting them out of magazines and just putting things together. And I think, just grouping things together as images or styles, you then get a feel of what you like or what works for you. And it's back to that again, like it's personal, you know, go with your instinct, I think. I always think like, you know, if that's 

Yeah. Yeah. 

If that feels good for you, 

And are there any things you would say regarding best way to approach space planning? Because obviously we're not talking about giant spaces but in your home, have you got any sort of golden rules that you think are good advice? 

Yeah, mean, comfort is the main thing, you know, and I always think that don't over-clutter. Don't try and put too much in a room. So you almost having to squeeze past things or, you know, you want to feel comfortable and there's nothing worse than, feeling squashed or compromised in a space. 

Yeah. 

You know, don't try and put too much in, it's the same on the walls, you don't have to have something on every wall. Sometimes it's almost like the blank spaces complement the spaces that have things on, know, so it's about finding that happy kind of 

Yeah, definitely and we've been trying to encourage people to go out and find beautiful things in antique shops and auction houses because there's some beautiful things out there that then you can 

medium really. 

amazing 

things. yeah. And sometimes that can be a starting point as well We have down here in Spain, we have lots of weekend markets, and they're kind of glorified car boot sales, but sometimes it's just just a great way you pick up an artwork or you pick up, 

a piece of furniture that then you're like, wow, that's great. That would be great in that room. And you can kind of build around that piece 

that was what something I mentioned in the first podcast was what Khuan and yourself told me, find the DNA of a scheme. And I've never forgotten that. Could you 

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

expand on that a little bit more for us? 

Yeah, I always think it's nice to have a connection, it's nice to have a thread. it's that kind of DNA of the scheme. you know, it's fine being a little bit eclectic. 

but it's nice to have this little thread, like a story almost, isn't it? I kind look at it as a story so everything has a thread that goes through and there's a connection. 

Definitely, And I think if you find that central thing that sort of talks to you, then you can carry that flow, like you say, throughout your home instead of it being one room is like this, the next room is completely different. and that's where it's really important to define your style, 

True, yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

Yeah. 

What's one the most unusual things you've ever been asked to design? Can you think of anything? 

Yeah I mean, we have done unusual things. think not particularly unusual, but different like some of the luxury cruise ships and the yachts amazing. because that's a whole different kind of ballgame, really. But yeah, working on a yacht in a shipyard in Hong Kong was incredible. 

Mm. 

Yeah. 

that was a real eye opener because it's just the way things are constructed, things are built, it's different. So yeah, I love doing that. 

The cruise liners, must be quite a fun project to work on 

I mean, now it's a big industry because they're like floating hotels. And again, it's gone beyond the kind of corporate, you know, the way it's quite bland. You have these luxury suites, know, luxury staterooms now and public areas as well. you have incredible restaurants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Yeah. 

lot of fun designing those. Yeah. And 

I think the thing with interior design is it's got to be fun, but you can create places within your home or on your cruise ship or in your hotel that you have the fun part and then you might have somewhere that you go to be a bit quieter 

listening to what you feel you need as a person obviously when you go on holiday you want to be entertained you want to see these amazing designs that you're not going to see in your own house 

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. mean, if you've got the luxury of space, it's always nice to have a cosy corner. I always like a cosy corner where, you know, sometimes I just want to go and read or and, you know, just be, just breathe, sit and breathe. You know, we all live quite hectic lives now, don't we? 

Yeah. 

B. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Everything is fast paced, is always on the move. So sometimes it's nice to that, you know, being able to create that that little cosy corner 

Just last couple of questions. What do you think, looking into the future, is there any big thing on the horizon, especially in your world of conceptual hotel design that you see? 

Well, again, I think it's because people are traveling, people are exploring, people kind of enjoy the luxury, expect the luxury. it's about really having that down time, that time to unwind and switch off. So I think it is about having these beautiful... 

Yeah. 

and 

spaces to be in but also have the service. It's being pampered as well. It's almost part of the environment. not just the room you're in or the space you're in. It's about being looked after and being taken care of and enjoying that. 

The expectation is it to be excellent, isn't it? And when you're designing these things, you probably have a little chuckle to yourself sometimes, that's going to go down really well. That's amazing. That's lovely. I'd want to stay there. 

Mm-hmm. 

there. If you were thinking of going into a career in hotel design. 

what's the best route do you think? What sort of things should they be doing? 

yeah, there's some great universities and colleges, great courses out there, but I think it really is about trying to get some experience. you know, different people prefer things. I mean, I'm a bit of an all-rounder. I love getting involved in everything, from the space planning to, like you said, having these fabrics and furniture and, you know, specifying. 

I always think I was fortunate to be able to do bit of everything when I kind of started off. So I think it's about finding your little kind of niche and just being open trying to to get some of that work experience a lot of companies 

Mmm. 

They'll take interns, you know, they'll take an intern. And I think it's just about, working as a team. think that's one of the ways you can learn really. 

So I think just being able to get that work experience is key really. 

Thank you so much, Martin, for coming on today and sharing all of that advice and all of that experience you've gained over so many years in the industry. And I know you've had a bit of a cold recently, 

So thanks for soldiering on and speaking to us 

And if you have any questions at all regarding today's episode, please do get in touch at contact@allaboutdesign.online. And we look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Take care, bye bye.