Summer Cadence

I am writing this and imaging all the out of office replies we shall receive when this email lands in our subscribers inbox today. Such is the cadence of summer, especially a Friday at the start of a long weekend. 

This weekend known as Simcoe Day in Toronto – and a whole host of other names throughout this great country – to me is the one where everyone seems to be away at the cottage. When I first moved here I used to wonder if there was only the one! 

I however love being in the city this weekend – it seems a waste to be away and to miss the quieter streets and the gentler pacing. I love a good putter, to dine on a patio, catch up with friends and a long weekend in the city gives me that.

The streets may be quieter but our inboxes are not, I applaud organized people and lots seems to be planning for future design projects that we love to be considered for. Thank you to all our new subscribers who have also signed up for our newsletter.

I am working on a Q&A page for our website, as I think this would be really helpful for people to assist in defining scope and understanding what we specifically do. 

Our Process Guides

We do have two download-able guides on our website – one for Renovations & New Builds and one for Decoration & Light Construction. 

These (at a high level) allow potential clients to see what we do and how we do it from project start to finish. I’m big on flow and process as the framework allows us maximum creativity whilst keeping us structured. Its all about expansion – the input and developing of ideas and then the contraction as the funnel narrows and final decisions are made. 

We very much put the human first in all the decisions, as its humans and their four-legged friends living in the space after we’ve gone. 

Last month I wrote about part of my summer holiday’s – the first part that coincided with 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen and then we had some lovely down time in Stockholm. 

Then it was onto Edinburgh and London for pleasure and work (which was hard to call work as I loved every immersive moment). 

Edinburgh

Seeing your home town through the lens of a visitor is very special especially when you like the view. 

I feel Edinburgh is having a moment – a moment that is hopefully here to stay. Scottish craft in my day was a shortbread tin and some tartan. You didn’t really want to wear or own anything that spoke to your heritage as it frequently felt not flattering, itchy and / or designed more for tourists than those who call Scotland home. 

Well things are changing and they are changing for the better and I couldn’t be prouder. I go home every year but this year it seemed like we were really putting our best version of ourselves forward. 

I am updating my guide to my home town and I’ll share to all subscribers as soon as its done! If you want to be on the immediate release list, please let me know. 

London Calling

London was the final leg in our summer design odyssey. A trip to London is never a bad idea and this trip was lovely even though it coincided with a massive heat wave and left me at times questioning my life decisions. 

One of the reasons for visiting was that I was able for the first time to attend WOW House at Chelsea Harbour Design Centre. 

WOW House is a designer show house and its built every year from scratch in the design centre. Designers have a very tight time frame to get all installed – I liken show homes to the hunger games. I took part in one once and vowed never again. Its insane, so now I just go and look with the knowledge of how tough it is to get all over the finish line when everyone around you is also competing for spots at the loading bay and entry times.

Many spaces harnessed the power of lighting companies such as Lutron to create amazing lighting scenes that made you feel like there was an abundance of natural light where there was none. 

Show homes have the power to draw you in and create a reaction – good or bad – it still creates a gut feeling and some of the rooms as the first image shows were more theatrical, more hospitality inspired,  whereas others were something you were more likely to want to live with. I adored the patchwork carpet in the room above that was actually several carpets stitched together. It created a lovely organic grounding for what was quite a serious space. 

I also visited multiple showrooms in the design centre and came back with lots of new samples for our studio fabric and wallpaper bins.

A Trip to Brighton

On our final day we went on the train to Brighton to visit the studio of Imogen Heath. 

I’ve been a bit of a fan girl of Imogen’s work and we have specified her fabrics and wallpapers on several projects but I had never met her before. Memo Studio connected us via email and the trip was booked. 

It was the hottest day on earth or so it felt as we got out of the train, but it was so worth it. We had an immediate connection, chatted up a storm in the studio, swapped thoughts over artists and the often challenging days of being an entrepreneur and then we went for lunch via one of the funniest Uber rides I have ever had in my life.

August looks to be busy – at least three new projects starting, one demo beginning, one excitedly awaited installation scheduled and a couple of projects nearing a close and a photo shoots in the works to be scheduled. 

Have a wonderful August xo

Gillian 

Credits, images, musings and some more contents of my head.

Trio of header images from our Lawrence Park renovation project taken by Virginia Macdonald.

Everything else was my me apart from the last one which was taken by my person in the garden room at Ett Hem where we had such a fun dinner with travellers from Japan and Australia. 

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