Sarah Breen
What do
you do?
I'm an interior designer. I like to design lots of different things and I like to do interiors. I like concept design. I like designing different concepts.
What do
you mean by concept design?
I mean taking a thought or a part of life - for example something that's sensual or exciting or industrial and then making everything to suit that concept.
What is
your background and training?
I did 4 yrs at UTS (University of Technology) Interior design course and then I went to work. And I've been working ever since.
What made
you decide to become an interior designer?
When I was younger we used to live in crap funny houses and I used to wish we lived in bigger better houses. I used to always go along the street and find something about each house that I liked in the street every time I walked by. Then I used to fantasise about the kind of house we would live in and design it and draw it all the time and that was it.
Who are
your sources of inspiration in your work and life?
I'm inspired by designers and artists who create artwork that seems to take on a life of its own, like an amoebic life of its own. I like design that's a bit quirky like the artist Miro. Miro's my favourite because all of his artwork has a life essence of its own. And Le Corbusier's building seem like that and anybody that allows their work to have a certain edge of quirkiness and allows the viewer to see that funny kind of way inspires me.
What are the current projects you're working on?
I'm designing residential apartments for priests and friaries, as well as upmarket residential work in Woseley Rd in Point Piper and townhouses in Balmain.
How do you approach the design process? eg upmarket design or working with the priests?
Usually it's very restrictive when working with the client as compared to doing a competition. I prefer competitions as there are no restrictions from somebody else. With client work, I take what they want and I work with what they want and turn it around and maybe give them a bit more than what they expected or what they thought they could have but within their constraints. I don't try to design in a way that they wouldn't like but which I would like it to be. Sometimes I don't like the way I have to design but I believe that you have to make the client happy at this stage in your career.
So where does the input of the interior designer come in then?
I
think the input is in knowing the best materials to use, the best detailing
methods and the best way of putting things together for the client. That's
where the role comes in.
If I was working on more hospitality or retail stuff, I'd probably have more of a conceptual angle to go in on. I still make one up but the client doesn't necessarily need to know what it is. With the 'Chocolate factory' project, I've taken the concept of mint and the freshness of mint chocolate and it's so subtle that the client wouldn't even know it. He knows it looks a bit minty but he doesn't know that's where it's come from and how it affects all the different levels in the design but it's also still catering to all that he wants without going off on an ego trip of what I want it to be like.
What's the research process like? Do you do a lot of research of the function of the place?
Yes. I look at what the place used to look like and be used for previously. The streetscapes are also very important and how the project relates to the external environment. That's quite important.
How do you deal with client criteria such as budget constraints?
I think economically I can work with anything. It hasn't been a problem. I think I try to be flexible with people and give them what they want. I'll always go in at a higher level, aim a bit higher than what they've briefed me. I think I can make them push the boundaries a bit and then if you can pull back from there that's ok. But if you start from the mid-road and you have to pull back from that then you've got nothing really.
So what do you mean by initially pushing the boundaries?
Initially like with the fruit barn design I just went crazy. She said she wanted a bohemian design so I did everything that I ever imagined it would be. She she wanted it very rustic looking so I kept that in mind and designed towards that. She was the most difficult client I've ever had and I couldn't make her happy really and I changed the design in lots of ways. But if I had never gone in at that high level I would've just felt like I was compromised from the beginning and there's no real point to having me there.
So with difficult clients do you feel like your designs get diluted or do you just understand that it's a two way interaction process?
It's hard to not be attached to it. It definitely gets diluted and that's why I never walk into an interior and judge the space based upon the designer. I never say "this is a terrible space - who designed this? Oh how could they do that?" Because it's definitely diluted by the client. You really don't have much control unless you're like a world famous designer and they come to you because that's what they want - because they want you and your signature mark. But if you're in the middle road, you're not going to get that.
Do you see part of your role as educating the client as well? ie what is good design and why it's beneficial etc?
Yes definitely.
How would you do that?
It's all about options, in showing them different options. I show them what it could be like and encourage them to try and think a little bit more beyond what they think is safe for them. I suggest to them that if you're going to do it then you may as well do it well and to enrich your life and what's going on in it rather than be in that safe zone.
So if you're doing luxury apartments in Point Piper do you think that's the target market and they're the things they aspire to or want in their environment and do some research on that…
With something like that it comes down to materials and the budget plays a huge role. You can do whatever you like then. Sometimes I've done some apartments for people who have lots of money and they want gold taps. I hate gold taps. But I've had to give it to them and they want granite everywhere. I'd rather have timber everywhere.
What mediums do you work in? What are the various areas that you work in?
Probably graphic design and furniture design. I've done a few furniture pieces. I've worked on interior and architectural design quite a bit. I've also done colour consultation. I quite like doing that. It's fun. That's about it.
Do you have to learn new skills for the different mediums?
Yeah you have to learn new skills but sometimes it's just the way that it evolves. With furniture design, I wanted to have people interacting with the artworks in a photographic/art exhibition I was putting together. But I couldn't get across that sense of interaction so I turned the pieces into furniture and so it's just evolved into that rather than necessarily me saying I'm going to design some furniture.
How did you come up with the idea of the concept cocoon screens?
I wanted to create what I wanted people to feel like. When I look at materials and sample boards particularly and I'm putting together different materials for interior design it's just a feeling I can get from different combinations of different materials and different colours and they make me feel a different way. I wanted to create artworks that make people really feel something. The cocoon shape of the artwork was designed to wrap around a person so when they stood in front of it it was encompassing of their vision and they could feel their essence of a concept up close and they're forced to feel what it feels like rather than walk into a room and go oh that's a nice couch or rug but not necessarily be absorbed by the concept of the couch and the rug.
The whole cocoon idea is in enveloping all your senses in design, and appreciating it, not as a superficial artform but how it could actually relate to your senses and to your feelings and to emotions and evoke different emotions. And the cocoon wraps you up in all of those things.
Did you design the screens with different purposes in mind like it could be an office screen or just a privacy screen or a functional thing where you had candle holders and you can put things on them as well …
I designed some of them to be a meditation panel, where you sit in front of it and feel completely absorbed by the panel. Some of them I designed to make people feel excited and electric and alive. Some I've designed to make people feel organised, and serious for work offices. I've just tried to relate to different feelings, portraying them in the artworks.
Originally I had different rooms. The exhibition was set up for one panel for each room. There was an entry area one which had a hat stand and a coat stand, and that was an exciting one. There was a living room one, which was more of a happy, entertaining kind of a one, which had a place for CDs and books and CD holders. And there was a bedroom one where someone could turn an alarm clock around and push it away if you don't want to know the time! And its got hangers and stuff to put dressing gowns on, so I designed each different concept in relation to the room that it was in.
I also wanted to provide an artwork which complemented the design of the interior. I wanted to artworks designed with the theme of the room - one piece which makes people more aware of design and what affects the senses.
And how did you come up with the designs? Do you start with a blank palette, do you start doodling? Do you experiment with colours?
I just feel the concept that I want, firstly, and then go with the shapes that relate to that concept. So it might be curvy shapes or straight lines or jagged shapes, just general shapes, and the colours get added in. It kind of just happens. One step follows the other, and I see what it looks like in the end.
So its
a spontaneous process, you just start producing, developing, and evolving
your ideas?
Yeah,
rather than having something in your head before. I don't go "I'm
going to do a thing with different boxes everywhere in different tones,
green and brown colours". I just think "I want to have a hard
lined image so I better put straight lines in it and I'm going to fill
in the boxes with masculine colours" and that's it. It creates a
design.
When do the materials come in, so how do you decide "I'll have the metallic pink for that …"?
It kind of depends on what the function of each one was and the room it was designed for. Like the fur one I had was set in the sensual room because it's very tactile. The metallic one was the excited work, so it was very explosive, electric and alive. So the materials were an extension of the concept.
So was it hard to get the screens made? Was it hard to find manufacturers?
No, I just went to my cabinet maker. I had to make a mould to paste them into. I probably wouldn't make them as big next time, because they are really hard to make.
Is there still more different things you want to do? Do you want to get into digital media or set design or anything else?
Yes, I would like to do set design. I want to do window display design but on a really big scale, but I don't really think there is a market for it. I want to just create concepts. I'd like to create installation art, and I would really like to work with Architects of Air. They create inflatable architecture. I really want to work with them in Europe because their work is very conceptual in nature and the space makes you feel in a different way, and I think that's kind of where I am heading. I am heading away from the functional interior design, to more conceptual. I feel frustrated in the functional area of interior design
Where do you see your work going, is there a particular direction that you're moving towards?
Probably a lot more alive and bright and explorative, not so minimal or reserved as before. I used to be conservative in the way that I designed in order to make a timeless design. I am trying to move away from that timeless design now - trying to seize the day.
What has brought that on?You want to be just organic and dynamic?
Yeah, I think it's just an extension of myself as I get older and change as a person. Not having to feel like I'm safe all of the time, feeling more comfortable expressing myself.
What is your ideal work mode?
My ideal work mode would be to have a large factory/workshop where it would be very artistically based - commissions based. It would have a lot of artists' work in there, and designers as well and we would be making things on a commission basis for different people that wanted a signature work from me, that just wanted me to create something for them, maybe they don't care what it is but like "heres my lounge room, put whatever you like there". That would be great.
Does your work have a specific theme running through it?
I think the only common thing through all my work is trying to squeeze out some kind of essence that people can perceive in everything I do. I like trying to get some kind of concept or theme happening where people can go "Oh yeah, this space is really feminine or the space is really alive or crazy". Something like that. So I try to communicate that in a strong way.
What tools do you use in your design work?
I use Archicad all the time. I draw and I write a bit as well, like poetry. It kind of starts a thought process of design for me. I don't publicise my work and I don't let many people read it because it's just being crazy and its just a bit hard to understand - I can't even understand it in fact sometimes. It's just a good process for beginning work where I am at now, what kind of concepts I want to get out into the world and space.
I paint a bit when I am home, sometimes to get out how I feel and that can translate into design afterwards, beacause its very related to how I feel at the time.
So how do you market your services generally ie private commissions outside of your full-time role?
Word of mouth really. People just call me up. I was very busy this time last year with private jobs and I consciously put a lid on it. I don't want to concentrate on it any more because I want to concentrate on concept cocoon. I want to put all my energy into that.
One of the main themes of Chaos Generation is the idea of independence, doing what you want or financial independence. So what does independence mean to you?
Not being confined by boundaries of what you should be designing, not being put into a little box, and believing that that's all there is in life is a full-time job and just work and get paid and be happy. I think that you need to explore any avenue that makes you feel good about yourself, that makes you feel you've purged your spirit or something and got it out there. I think too many people are happy to just go along with work without really thinking about it. I think to be truly independent you have to break the boundaries down and really do what's right for you not what other people think you should be doing
So how does one go about doing that?
Well, (laugh) you run away from everything, and run away and think (laugh) what you do. No, I think you try to keep yourself busy and not be complacent and just always think about what you want to be expressing. If you want to express something, don't be afraid to do it, and just to do it. And even if you feel uncomfortable about it, you should still just do it because its personal development and you are going to grow and change as you develop as a designer or whatever you do.
So in what ways are you trying things?
Well, I am going overseas and I haven't done that before so that's really going to be essential for me. I really want to be open to design, understanding design in different countries. I'll be exploring lots of workshops and things like that so if I can come back or if I dont come back, I can resume work after a period of absorbing and I can be enriched by that I guess and have even more options to explore my individuality rather than just my limited knowledge of what I've learnt here in my surroundings that I have had up to now.
Is it more like a design trip or is it a cultural trip or is it just a self exploration trip or just everything trip?
Yeah, most of it's a design trip because I am doing most of the trip with my friend who is a designer and we've mapped out places that we want to see. Its more of an architectural trip as well, so a lot of interesting architecture, but also self-exploration as well, I suppose but I don't know if that's actually going to happen
What are your plans for the future? Working or studying abroad or setting up your own studio, making lots of money, settling in Sydney? How do you see yourself in 3-5 years and beyond?
I dont know...I really would like to be in a more creative job, or working for myself, doing really creative things, crazy, crazy things, pushing boundaries. If I was designing furniture in a workshop and making things really unusual...I'd really like that and probably be close to Sydney because I love it and I know everything here. I feel really comfortable here but not in the inner city anymore. I'd have to move out a little bit, I think. I think I am getting old, quiet (laughs) and I'd like to be somewhere like Palm Beach or somewhere close to the beach, or the bush a little bit, within an hour's drive from Sydney, I think.
What would be your ideal creative role?
I like to just have an idea, have ideas, put them onto paper, scribble it, write some words, and to be able to go and work with them on parts of the work. But I get a little bit impatient, so when I get impatient I can leave it to someone who is capable of doing it. I like to be a conceptual designer, designing concepts, thoughts that can translate into furniture or interiors or anything really.
Like somebody comes to me with a huge warehouse and they say we're going to turn this into a cafe, a really large cafe, can you come up with a really unusual idea for the use for the use of the cafe and the way its going to look.
What are some of your favourite websites and design magazines?
There's a website called Butterpaper.com, they're really good, its an architectual based website. My favourite website is Architects-of-air.com, which I really like. I go look at that. It's the same images but I always look at it, it inspires me. In terms of design magazines, I like Wallpaper*, sometimes, I like some of the parts of it, a lot of it's a bit pretentious, I don't like all of it, but I think that's the way with all design magazines. I like 'Object' magazine put out by the Custom House Object Gallery - that's really good.
My favourite
designer is Steven
Blaess. He designs nightclubs around Sydney, furniture and objects
for Alessi. He also thinks to let things have a life of their own. He
creates his designs and concepts to a point where they're alive. Yeah,
so that's it.
Email: sarah@conceptcocoons.com
Web: http://www.conceptcocoons.com
About CG | Editor: Kirsten Lowe | PO Box 559, Broadway 2007, Sydney, Australia
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