Interior design
Inside a Mood Board
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Posted by Niki Fulton at 10:56 AM in Interior design
Entering the hub of Amanda Rosa's office is like taking a walk around a giant mood board. There are piles of exquisite silks, linens, carpets, timbers cut into swatches and placed in carefully chosen colour groups. I found myself feeling the different textures while I waited for my appointment with Amanda. I had of course prepared some questions for the interview but discovered about an hour before our meeting that the Guardian newspaper took the very same angle in an interview with her only two weeks earlier. A quick scramble for new ideas and I was ready to speak with one of the world's leading hotel interior designers and winner of Outstanding Achievement Award from the European Design Awards.
If you are familiar with the hotels she has designed, One Devonshire Gardens , Malmaison , Columbus Hotel , Dakota Hotels , Gleneagles Hotel Spa , Aviator Hotel, Farnborough (lobby pictured above, which has been likened to the interior of the Guggenheim), you will not be surprised to find Amanda emerged looking exactly as you would imagine wearing a chic pale grey tunic, contemporary jewellery (with a hint of timber) with a warm and friendly personality.
Amanda explained she was brought up in Dumfries by her Italian cafe owning family. It was during this time she had her first brush with interior design. Although she loved being part of a big lively family, for a treat, once a week, she was allowed to stay with her "Nonna" a few houses down the road. At her Nonna's house she was given her own room - a space of her own. Even more exciting she was allowed to decorate her "sanctuary" in whatever colour she wanted. She chose green but at this point in the interview Amanda throws back her head and laughs , "I haven't used that shade again!"
After completeing her interior design degree at Dundee College of Art she took on her first project, she smiles and tells me it was to design the interior of Ken McCulloch's (whom she later married) One Devonshire Gardens Hotel. She wanted to create a sophisticated, luxurious, country house feel. This is when she realised she could create a lavish atmosphere with some very clever tricks. She bought fabric for the windows, but lots and lots of it. The curtains were made using masses of cloth creating thick folds for an opulent look. The other revelation was that deep coloured paint could really transform a room. She chose rich reds and even blacks for the walls with carpets to match these dark hues. Although the choice of colour was strong and bold, the rooms were calm because very few colours were used, just lots of different textures.
Soon after One Devonshire Gardens was completed, journalists from Homes and Gardens Magazine were staying at the hotel to cover a story elsewhere in the city but were so enthralled with the design that they published an eight page spread on the interior. It was her first big break. This allowed her and Ken McCulloch to start on the next project. She told me they looked for "difficult" buildings, ones which they could buy for a good price because nobody wanted them but which had lots of character. They bought St.Judes in Glasgow and the Malmaison chain was born. Amanda says rather than using the chintz formula that most other hotels were using at the time, she took a brave step and launched her signature contemporary style of bold colours, wide stripes, oversized furniture and instantly created the look of something very special.
The next venture was The Columbus Hotel in Monaco where she took a mediocre hotel and charged it with her now famous strong and luxurious style - structured but dressed. They soon started on their next project, creating the, The Dakota chain. The mixture of Amanda's interior design skills and Ken's strong ethos on how a hotel should be (a restaurant with rooms rather than rooms with a restaurant) has won them many awards including Conde Naste, Best New Hotel Award, Scotland's Most Stylish Hotel Award, and Scottish Restaurant of the Year Award.
This is a designer who is not interested in current trends, instead she creates an interior which is right for the space. She enjoys working with deep hues, especially various tones of grey and gets excited adding bolts of strong colour - even if its just a bright blue iris in front of a slate grey wall. She admires many designers from the Art Deco era and holds a place in her heart for one of her favourite architect, Frank Lloyd Wright and his inconic "Falling Water" house.
Finally I asked her, if she would choose four houses anywhere in the world, where would they be? Immediately she answers, "the first would be a fantastic log cabin in a forest in Scotland, possibly near a loch (inspired by a stay in the Point Hotel, former home of the Rockefellers, upstate New York). To contrast this, I would have a bolt-hole in New York City, definitely a penthouse. I would of course include a home in Italy, possibly in Umbria, and a pad in Melbourne or Sydney" near my sisters"
I asked her what the future holds. She jumps up, and with a sparkle in her eye, tells me "we are working on a very exciting new project..........a second generation of Dakota Hotels"
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