Guillane Kerschbaumer, 27, interior designer, B3 Designers

“I do commercial design - restaurants and bars, mainly. It starts when a client approa-ches us with ideas for a bar or a restaurant. We brainstorm to come up with a storyboard of design directions, then present our ideas to the client.

“Once we’ve got the client’s reactions, we go into design development to specify the furniture and materials and make 3-D drawings. We then do a second presentation and put the project out to tender to find the best contractor to do it. London is a good place for inspiration. There are so many restaurants opening all the time, you get the latest in design. When I’m researching a project I’m allowed to go on inspirational trips to bars.

“I work from 8.30am until about 6pm or 7pm. It goes from being quite relaxed to very frantic. It’s best when you’re working on one project but that never happens. Right now I’m working on three projects: an Italian deli - we are also doing the packaging design - an Indian restaurant and the lavatories for a French restaurant. Your own style always comes through but you have to adjust it to the client.

“If I’ve just started a project I’ll go out twice a week on research trips, then there’s a period when I’m in the office doing detailed drawings. We make a package of about 30 drawings over two or three weeks. A project usually takes a few months to complete. It’s still an office job, there are always e-mails to answer. A lot of it is administration - ordering things, chasing people. I can spend a whole morning on that. When the job goes ahead we go on site once a week to check that everything is going well and the contractor is doing what’s on the drawings. You have to deal with situations when things come up that you couldn’t have foreseen. If you didn’t know what would be behind a wall - a material you can’t remove, for example.

“It’s nicer for us if the client is willing to spend money on a project. It means we can spend more time on details or looking for innovative materials. If it’s the same standard bar it’s a little bit disappointing.

“Some clients simply say ‘it’s got to be a bar and it’s got to be good’. But others do their research and have very specific ideas of colours and where everything should go. They just need us to make it happen.

"There are many best bits - the excitment of a new project and seeing it being built. It's been on paper that’s quite exciting.”

Matteo Bianchi, 32, associate, Simon Hamilton Interior Design

“We design houses and flats from top to toe - everything from knocking down walls to choosing the last accessory.

“I try to concentrate all my meetings [with] suppliers and potential clients into one day. Another day is spent visiting suppliers for inspiration - it might be a kitchen or bathroom showroom or Habitat. It’s very important for us to see the latest products and trends to stay up to date. Interior design is like fashion, collections change constantly. This year lime green or aubergine might be in and next year it’s metallic colours. The main thing is to understand what clients want and what is cost effective. With residential projects, clients often expect the latest products but they don’t have the time to go and look for them.

“After meeting the client to decide a brief, I then go out to do research - that’s the best moment. You need to understand their lifestyle. Sometimes it takes an [outsider] to tell them what they want. If it’s a City pad it might be plain lines and black and white, while if the client has a family you need to think about practicalities such as child safety.

"Initially we use sketch books, then prepare boards of ideas for each room. Presentations take a lot of work; everything has to be checked. The best reaction is when you see the client really excited. We try to exceed their expectations. “I revise my ideas and present the budget. Up to 40 per cent of my time is spent drawing - for technical drawings we use computers, working it out to the last millimetre. Implementation takes eight to ten weeks and we’ll go and check the site once or twice a week. When you see that everything works it’s really rewarding.

“I work from 9am to 7pm and sometimes at weekends. It’s very much a multitasking job. I might take a call from a builder asking where a shelf goes, brainstorm ideas for a three-storey house, then go looking for a cushion.”

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