EMOTIVE DESIGN at Holland Street
I always design each print or colourway around a mood or emotion. I want to communicate an emotion to my customers to help them feel a certain way they choose. I ask myself continually how I want to feel that day — to hopefully improve my mood and focus — and share that message, firstly with what I’m wearing, closely followed by how I interact in my space.
My default answer to myself is usually a complex one, as it’s taken me years to recognise my emotions (which is why it’s kind of a long-running therapy). I mostly want to feel relaxed, but I also want to feel tantalised and bedazzled by innovation and newness. I want to feel cocooned and wrapped up in the squishiest of blankets, secure in a space or a texture.
Believe it or not, your decorating choices totally affect your emotions and how you feel in a space. This can be so subconscious that it’s not often noticed — just felt inside, on the nervous system.
The colour on your walls can make you feel relaxed, or — if you get it wrong — stressed. Your furniture or belongings can have a profound effect on how you feel too. The softness or brightness of the lighting you select and the interiors you choose all contribute to making you feel happy, relaxed, and more engaged. As long as you buy from the heart and soul and don’t follow trends, you should find this quite a cathartic experience too.
My advice is to ask yourself how you want to feel in your space. For example, say: “I want to feel cocooned.” I’ll work backwards and write down what style of furnishings does that for me — from squishy sofas covered in textured cushions to grounding and soft colours that help me feel protected.
On the flip side, it’s easy to play it fearful when it comes to decorating. But the trouble with playing it safe is that it doesn’t allow you to inject personality into your home. Some people are tired of neutrals and safe spaces and want to feel energised, brave, and expressive in their homes — hence our Daring ranges and Radiant collections. When you add a bold print or colour, it quickly and easily transforms the space. I always rely on my gut feeling when it comes to decision-making risks and trust how I want to feel. Sometimes it comes down to the aspect of the room, light, airiness, and the connections to other rooms.
Spaces have the power to lift spirits, to energise both the people who enter and the person who creates them. By daring to mix unexpected materials, splashing a wall with a bold colour, shifting the layout, layering textures and patterns, or flooding the room with dramatic lighting, you can transform not just the look of a space, but the way it makes people feel. That’s the magic: design as emotion, design as energy, design as connection.
