It was a great pleasure to sit in on this session at the
Design + Décor show in Melbourne this past weekend and hear Jason Grant speak about
his design and decorating journey, his achievements, and his thoughts on a
number of topics. He started out by encouraging people to find what they are passionate about,
what inspires us and what types of spaces we ultimately want to live in.
In the interview he was asked if he had seen an effect as a
result of the popularity of the renovation shows that Australia is obsessed
with lately, and if that undermines the design industry. He responded by
addressing the unrealistic expectations it sometimes creates as some clients
expect to have a bathroom renovated in 2 days, for example, and when on these
shows their purpose is to create drama, that is the last thing you would need
at a construction site.
Caroline Caneva, the interviewer, started the topic of style
becoming a commercial reaction. She shared a thought from an interior designer who
had expressed to her that design trends nowadays have become so widely adopted
by designers, decorators and retailers and the media that it has become so
quickly saturated that she finds herself getting over the trends before even
implementing them in her own designs. As designers, this is really something we
all relate to as we always like to have our spaces uniquely designed to fit a
specific space and brief; we don’t like the end result looking like every other
space in a magazine, we are creative after all.
Jason’s response was quite simple; his advice is feel free to embrace
them and feel free to ignore them. Trends are after all a marketing tool to
make people buy things. But he thinks that just because something isn’t on
trend anymore it doesn’t stop it from still being beautiful; quite the contrary
it then becomes more of a statement piece. So just because something becomes
over popular it doesn’t mean that it has to go out of style. In the end it all
depends on how something works in a space regardless if it’s on trend or not.
Jason’s favourite colour: Yellow.
Jason’s design crushes: Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler.
Jason’s best styling tip: Flowers always make a room look
great.
Jason’s greatest achievements: publishing three books.
