Name: Sidika Owen d’Hauteville
Company: Studio Sidika
Position within company: Creative Director
Website: www.studiosidika.com
Tell us a little about your background in design (education, experience, etc)
I worked as a luxury goods investment banker and was a founding member of advisory firm Savigny Partners, where Iworked for more than 10 years advising brands such as the LVMH group, Christian Lacroix, Courrèges, and Smythson. The company started advising interior design brands, namely Tom Dixon, which gave me my first step into the world of interiors. In parallel, Sidika created art and exhibited her work at numerous solo and group shows in London and France.
I then started working as an Interior Designer/ Project Manager with Conley&Co, a studio specialising in high end residential interior design. I then founded my own practice, Studio Sidika, and has a team of four in-house architects and designers with studios in London, Queen’s Park. Studio Sidika’s work covers both high-end residential and commercial projects. The studio has a combination of skills in interior architecture, interior design, creative direction, brand identity as well as project and financial management. The practice delivers spaces that put the human factor at the centre. The people who will live in the space, use it, operate it, adapt it are as central to our understanding of the project as the financial facts and the physical possibilities.
Culturally, I’m also very diverse as I’m half Turkish and half British, born in Brazil and brought up in Provence, France. I speak five languages and my extensive travels have given me an appreciation of design, architecture and art from an international perspective. My mother ran a luxury property search business on the French Riviera, so I grew up visiting gorgeous properties. My has a passion for carpentry and has been making beautiful furniture for the last thirty years, which probably sparked Sidika’s love of the hand-made.
I graduated in Management at the London School of Economics. I have a post-graduate Diploma in Fine Arts from the New York School of Visual Arts and studied Interior Architecture and Design at the Chelsea School of Art and Design. I am an executive member of the British Institute of Interior Designers (BIID).
How would you describe your personal design style?
I would say that I have a European style with a passion for modernist architecture and design. But mainly I aim to provide a design that fits with the architecture of the property and the personality and lifestyle of the client. I create designs that put the human experience of space at the centre and improve every day life.
Where does your design inspiration come from?
I think inspiration comes from visiting design fairs or visiting the workshops of makers and artistans. Most days we have suppliers coming into our studio and show us new finishes or products they have developed and this is very inspiring.
In what direction do you feel that design is moving towards in a general sense?
The design world has become more aware of the huge environment waste produced by the construction industry and is now developing solutions which are more sustainable and less destructive. I also think people are valuing more design that is timeless and more durable.
Name five key themes to consider when approaching design in 2019 and beyond.
– Sustainability
– Importing F,F and E from Europe after Brexit and the future of sourcing in general with the advent of online platforms
– Changes in the way people work and designing workplaces which blur the boundaries between work and leisure
– How can architects and interior designers who are different “beasts” but whose jobs overlap a little collaborate better together?
– The new audience for the interior design industry and the change in tastes/appetites
If you could offer one piece of advice when it comes to design schemes, what would it be?
I recommend to have a design that is coherent and follows the same language throughout the space.
How important are The International Design & Architecture Awards?
This is the first I’m presenting myself and am very impressed by the level of the entries.
What projects are you currently working on?
A renovation of townhouse in Little Venice, a renovation of three storey house in Hampstead and a living room in Hampstead and we are also short listed for 40000 sqm resort in the UK.
What are your aims and goals for the next twelve months?
I would like to do more hospitality design.
Final thoughts; tell us a little more about yourself and your daily inspirations:
Your most treasured possession?
My two sofas that date back to the 70’s and come from Brasil. They used to belong to my parents. I have re-upholstered them a few times and they always look amazing.
Your favourite holiday destination?
Comporta in Portugal whjch is on the ocean and has incredible beaches, rice fields and pine forests which reminds you of Africa and Asia!
Your favourite hotel, restaurant & bar?
The Ett Hotel in Stockholm
Your favourite book, film & song?
Homo Sapiens by Yuval Harari, Her, Leonard Cohen songs
Your favourite food and drink?
Japanese food and French wines from Bordeaux
Your favourite way to spend an afternoon?
Talking for hours with friends in a café
If you weren’t a designer, what would you be?
A singer
Anything else interesting?
I still do a lot of photography and art and exhibit at group shows