Home in on the right designer

If you can afford it, then interior design is task best left to professionals, writes Sanjay Kr Singh

When Kamal Juneja an exporter, wanted to renovate his house in South Extension, the search for the right interior designer, he recalls, took a long time. He looked up the Yellow Pages. He went through magazines on interior design. He also scanned the Interior for website of Delhi-based designers. Next he asked friends and acquaintances,

who had in the past employed interior designers, to recommend names. Gradually he compiled a list, then pared it down of the five most likely candidates. He then paid them a visit. The designers showed him pictures of projects they had done in the past, asked him about his likes and dislikes, and quoted a price. It was only through extensive interaction, recalls Juneja, that he was able to settle on designer who, he felt, understood his tastes and also had the aesthetic ability and technical expertise to be able to give shape to his dreams.

Making the right choice

At present, no comprehensive database of Delhi's interior designers is available. Most customers select designers based on word of mouth recommendation. The Indian institute of Interior Designer's (IIID) Delhi chapter will soon launch a website that will carry profiles of all the interior designers registered with them.

“This,” says Lipika Sud, Honorary Secretary of Indian Institute of interior Designers, “we hope will become a bonafide source that customers will be able to turn to when they are looking for an interior designers.” Basically, said Sud, a designers.”

Basically, said Sud, a designer's past projects become the yardstick for judging her work, and help her get new projects.

Fee

The interior designer's fee depends essentially on the quantum of effort. The designer's Level of involvement and the amount of time she has to spend tends to be high. The designer needs to be present at the site very often. A lot of work goes on simultaneously: Electrical, POP work, flooring, ceiling, wall paneling, furniture design and manufacture, etc. All this has to be finished within predetermined timeframes. Hence, a lot of co-ordination is required. The level of detailing that interior designers have to be is also immense.

Interior designers' fees typically range from 5 to 10 per cent of the total amount being spent on interiors.

Size of project

What's the minimum size of project for which a designer will agree to work for you? Interior designers were un willing to quote a figure. But as in most other professions, a beginner will probably be ready to take on small projects, while an established name will only take on projects with large outlays.

Interior designers suggest that if you can afford to, then you should employ a designer even for small projects. That's because while you may have the right ideas, you might mess up on the implementation part because you lack technical expertise.

Design is client-specific

Most designers say that it's the client's tastes and preferences that determine the design. With residential clients, some may want a very ornate and opulent look, while others may prefer a very contemporary and minimalistic look. The right look also depends on the space: is it a home, corporate office, restaurant, or a club? Interior designers also look at the profile of the users of that particular space.

Design also tends to be product specific. For instance, the design of a Mexican restaurant, an Indian restaurant, and fast food restaurant would vary vastly from one another.

Lipika Sud, who runs Dimension Designers Pvt Ltd, informed that she doesn't show clients her previous works. “If I'm only going to replicate what I have done in the past, that will inhibit my development as a designer. Besides, it would be unfair to my earlier clients as they would like the work. I have done for them to remain unique,” she said.

After an extensive interaction with the client , Sud creates 2-D images (using Cadian Arch software) and 3d images (using 3d Max software). For very large projects she even creates a walk through (a virtual reality film that shows the client what the space will look like).

Need to educate clients

Sud said that about 50 per cent of the clients she gets today what they want. But a lot of clients, she said, may not know what they want. For instance, some time ago she did the Gulati Restaurant at Pandara Road. Here, she said, the budget was a constraint, and she also had to spend time educating the client. But so satisfied were they with the end result that now they want her to do two more restaurants for them.

Repeat customers, said Sud, are a major source of growth for interior designers. As clients grow, the entire interior designer's business growth with them.