Oct 4, 2019
Welcome to Podcast no 1, the inaugural, our opener, our maiden trip into the world of Interior design where I’ll be interviewing Naomi Cleaver. Naomi is an interior designer, writer, TV presenter and keynote speaker.
In today's episode we get her definition of Interior Design, find out how she made the transition from Design Agent to running her own practice via TV celebrity designer dome. She reveals her approach to designing student accommodation and we discover her love of constraints and why being Design Led is not something to brag about.
Naomi Cleaver is an interior designer, writer, TV presenter and keynote speaker
As you’ll hear in the Podcast I’ve know Naomi for quite some time. In the late 1990’s she launched Echo Design Agency, which represented amongst others David Adjaye and Olympic torch designers Barber Osgerby and not least…….my old company Forster Inc.
While running Echo Naomi began presenting prime time television shows, such as Grand Design’s: Trade Secrets, Other People’s Houses and was the designer on DIY SOS.
She shifted into running her own design studio (https://naomicleaver.com/) and her award-winning design work on iQ Shoreditch in 2012 established her ability and she’s been specialising in communal living – Student Accommodation, Co-Living, Co-working, Build to Rent, Later Life and Hotel design ever since.
She’s been described as being “responsible for introducing professional interior design to the student housing sector” and Naomi’s work has been described as “warm, eccentric ... clever, idiosyncratic” by Grand Designs Magazine; and “dramatic, witty and just a little bit racy” by Elle Decoration.
I met Naomi in the back room of The Globe Hotel (https://www.theglobetopsham.co.uk/) in Topsham, which is close to her Devon home where she lives with her husband.
How to be a kick ass Interior Designer. Come and join us on the Interior Design BA(Hons) course at the University of Plymouth.https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-interior-design
Thanks to
Dave Clarke from @iamthehow (http://www.iamthehow.com) for production support and invaluable advice in the setting up of this Podcast.
Mark Frith (insta @fritzthekat Twitter @markfrith) for composing the music and all your support and advice along the way.
Kay Hanson (insta @kay_v_hanson) for her planning support and co-hosting for these and our educational podcasts for UoP
I’d really like to hear your feedback on the podcast. Leave a comment or get in touch via twitter @multi_story.
Thanks for listening. Bye for now.