British Institute of Interior Design

Profile

Looby Crean / Looby Crean Ltd

Thirteen years trading Crude oil and Derivatives, plus bringing up three small boys is, I discovered, extremely useful experience for the running an interior design company - plus the year I spent at the Inchbald learning directly about the trade itself.

We are a business of three. We focus completely on large scale residential projects. The business has been operating for five years. Each project is completely 'self contained' from an aesthetic point of view. We take a very clear brief from our client - frequently this will be simply by understanding their own particular lifestyle and leanings. We place great emphasis on the productive use of all the space and its flexibility based on their family unit. Although our designs cover a very wide range of styles- from Gustavian simplicity to modernist, slick interiors, the unifying factors include: Simplicity using the highest quality, 'honest' components. We do not use any 'reproduced' components whether in furniture or in the fabric of the house. Floorboards are wide and finished naturally; virtually all furniture is designed in-house and made to order. Knobs may be cast silver; tables could be slabs of perfect timber on perspex bases or indeed a table simply hewn as boards from a huge tree, 70mm thick and 4 metres long, sitting on slabs; mirrors may have oversized solid silver simple candle sconces for church candles. Suedes, knobbly wools, hand woven paisleys, heavy linens, simple prints, embroidered cottons and sumptuous heavy silks tend to be the repertoire.  

Aside from the design aspect of the business, the key areas to emphasise are documentation, delivery and price. Designs are presented in board form complete with all price information for the entire project. Accounting is meticulous and statements sent out on a weekly basis. The client is provided with a complete file of all images and pricing for every item on agreement. All design work is priced at a fixed rate and provided to the client as an offer prior to commitment. We work extremely hard to deliver on schedule.

The service we provide encompasses the following:


-Liaise with the client and take the brief
-Propose General and Sub Contractors if not already in place
-Propose Architect if required or if not already in place
-Develop the overall scheme including the complete and detailed layout of all spaces
-Specify all finishes to architect where one is involved
-Design the Mechanical Services Schemes - Heating and Lighting layouts and specifications
-Specify all floor and wall surfaces/finishes
-Provide detailed information to the architect (if exists), for drawing up of details for bathroom/kitchen layout and furniture/equipment
-Work with the architect in all areas where there is overlap between structure and surfaces of the house
-Present highly detailed and finished scheme to the client based on the initial brief and subsequent communication. This is in the form of visual boards with attendant detailed information on all finishes and furniture, plus a very detailed and complete budget on everything presented.
-Agree scheme and present total final costing prior to execution of this stage of the project which does not overlap with General/sub contractors or Architect.
-Execute scheme to finish and provide constant detailed statement of accounts.