In this second COVID-19 special episode, we look at how interior designers from around the country are surviving the present storm and looking to thrive in a post-pandemic future.

We’ve interviewed nine designers, running both large and small practices, for insights into their response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We find out the positives that they're taking from the current situation and the advice they have for other interior designers in the community.

Our thanks to Aflux Designs, Ashton House Design, Henry Prideaux Interior Design, Julia Alexander Interiors, Louise Bramhill Interiors, MF Design Studio, Smartstyle Interiors, Studio Suss and Taylor Howes.

The Interior Design Business is a Wildwood production.

We support Design Havens For Heroes.

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has resulted in closed building sites, current projects on pause and a vanishing pipeline of work. Many viable and profitable interior design businesses are facing extinction.

Meanwhile, a sometimes-confusing deluge of information on funding and financial support has emerged intended to provide help for small businesses on how they can remain functioning entities until the situation eases.

Luke Desmond, CEO of Crisp Accountancy, is our special guest on this episode.

Crisp Accountancy specialise in the provision of business advice to SMEs in the construction sector. He talks with us about business survival strategies, giving us some clear direction on the packages of financial support available from the UK Government and advice on how to access them.

The Interior Design Business is a Wildwood production.

Jeff and Susie are joined by Jane Landino and Helena Lowry from Taylor Howes to discuss interior design for historic buildings.

In the UK, we are blessed with a huge stock of incredible old buildings. In fact, around 30% of all our homes were constructed before the year 1910. Many of these properties are quite rightly protected by strict laws designed to preserve their historic features and, at the same time, maintain our lovely streetscapes.

But wonderful as these buildings are, they were designed for the way people in previous generations lived and worked, which is a far cry from the way we live and work today. Plus, many of them are fragile and in need of repair.

Is it possible to sensitively re-purpose these outmoded historic structures and make them relevant for modern use, and what is the role of the interior designer as protector and custodian of our national heritage?

This episode is recorded at Taylor Howes in Knightsbridge.

For this show, we’re joined by a very special guest, Sophie Paterson, to dissect the interior designer as brand in front of a select gathering of VIP designers.

Interior designers tend to fall into two camps. Those who deliberately avoid having a house style and always try to subjugate their own taste to that of their client’s preferences. And others whose names become firmly associated with a particular interior style, and eventually become a brand in their own right.

But does this approach make the successful delivery of projects harder or easier for interior designers and their clients?

Recorded at the wonderful Andrew Martin showroom in South Kensington.

We celebrate our first anniversary with a live audience special where we talk all about colour and interior design.

In the company of colour and design consultant, Karen Haller, the author of 'The Little Book of Colour' and Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director of Dulux, Jeff, Susie and our audience of designers learn about colour psychology and its impact on interior design.

We ask how colour works and learn about its innate power to change human behaviour, happiness and well-being. We then discover how interior designers can harness the positive virtues of colour in their work.

Karen and Marianne also answer questions as part of a lively discussion that's packed with insight and intelligence.

Recorded at the fabulous Roca London Gallery in Chelsea Harbour.

In this special episode, we look at the unethical practice of kick-backs in interior design on the day that the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) launches its Kick Out the Kick-Backs campaign.

Susie and Jeff are joined by Katherine Elworthy, COO of the BIID, to find out more about the potential issues that can arise for interior designers and how the Kick Out The Kick-Backs campaign can help.

Recorded in the Experience Centre of BIID Industry Partner, Lutron, this episode is released to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day 2019.

In this episode, we’re joined by May Fawzy from award-winning interior architecture and design firm, MF Design Studio, to explore the impact of activity-based working on office design.

Back in the day, the corporate workplace used to be filled with serried rows of employees in battery-style cubicles while bosses resided in spacious paneled offices on the upper floors of the building.

Today’s organisations measure their success by the ideas, innovation and creativity of their teams. And, when individuals come together to talk, big ideas are born. The result is a more flexible approach to workplace design where staff can occupy any space at any point of their day depending on the activity they are performing.

But what does activity-based working mean for the interior designer?

Listen in to find out in this show, recorded at Workstories in Clerkenwell, the commercial furniture company, representing 6 brands carefully curated from across the globe for workspace, hospitality and residential projects.

This show is brought to you with support from Bureau.

In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience at Decorex 2019, we ask: what makes a happy, healthy home?

Back in 1971, an American researcher called Roger Ulrich began tracking the outcomes of patients recovering from routine surgery in a suburban hospital in Pennsylvania.

Half of these patients had rooms that overlooked the trees of the adjacent park while the other half had rooms with a panoramic view of a brick wall. To his astonishment, Ulrich discovered that the group of patients looking at the trees, achieved faster recovery rates, spent less time in hospital and needed fewer painkillers than the ones left staring at the wall.

Since then further studies have gone on to support these findings.

Human beings have an innate connection to nature. If we believe this connection to be important, how should designers approach the design of interior spaces, both public and private, that will improve physical and mental health, and enhance the wellbeing and happiness of their clients?

Cinzia Moretti of Moretti Interior Design and Phoebe Oldrey of Smartstyle Interiors, two passionate advocates of well-being, happiness and interior design, join us to offer their take on this increasingly important subject.

In this episode, we're looking at design for the Third Age.

The term “Third Age” was first coined by British historian, Peter Laslett, in 1987. His theory on positive ageing stated that life consists of Four Ages, with the Third Age being that period immediately after retirement,generally characterised by health, vigour, on-going personal achievement and a positive attitude to life.

The truth is that we all want to remain living well and independently into our Third Age for as long as we can. How can designers approach the design of interior spaces, both public and private, that will allow people to enjoy every aspect of their lives to the full, for the longest possible time?

Lori Pinkerton-Rolet, Principal at Park Grove Design, a Past President of the British Institute of Interior Design, and an expert practitioner in this field joins us to explore the challenges and the opportunites of designing for the Third Age.

This episode is recorded in the Clerkenwell showroom of Hitch Mylius.

More than half of all design projects fall outside of the private residential realm. In the workplace, healthcare, education, hospitality and residential development sectors, interior designers are frequently creating schemes for 'clients' that they never meet.

Dean Keyworth, Principal at Armstrong Keyworth and a Past President of the British Institute of Interior Design, is our guest as we explore this important and challenging aspect of design.

We look at the pressures facing designers on projects where commercial success, or, indeed, failure often rests on the designer’s ability to accurately predict the needs and aspirations of the imagined end user. We also unearth the tricks of the trade that can be employed to achieve the right design and commercial goals.

This episode is recorded in the Clerkenwell showroom of Danish furniture brand, NORR11.