INTERIORTRENDS

CREATING A STYLE

WHAT’S NEW FOR SUMMER 2012

A TAILOR-MADE SERVICE FOR INVESTORS, DEVELOPERS & AGENTS

02 / 03 Style to Furnish

04 / 05 Bespoke Investment

06 / 07 The Service

08 / 09 The Interview

CONTENTS12 / 13 An Investment in Style

14 / 15 Creating a Style

16 / 17 The Review

18 / 19 Meet our Team

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STYLE TOFURNISH

Beautiful designs, conceived and executed to meet your property’s demands. Why

furnish when you can style?

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BESPOKE INVESTMENT

The rise of the prime London market is notable. What does this mean for the design world?

In recent years, the number of prime developments being brought to market in London has been significant – and all the market forecasts indicate that these will grow over the next few years, with 2014 and 2015 expected to be peak years. What impact does this have on the investment furnishing world?

“I think the biggest change that we have seen” says Chris Martin, Sales Director London for Winn Hudson “is that many of the properties that we are furnishing have a dual use – this may be simultaneous; so perhaps used by a single family member for 30 weeks of the year and then as a base for a family holiday for another 4 weeks. Or it might be sequential - our clients ask us to furnish for a few years use as a rental investment which can then become a full time home. Obviously, we have to fulfil this brief while providing a level of interior design that fits with the property and in London, that may in itself involve a high level of bespoke furnishing.”

“Consequently, we’ve really increased our Design Team resources in the last 12 months, as well as equipping all of our consultants with iPads in order to produce high quality design schemes using our unique iDesign tool which provides our clients with many more bespoke options. The results speak for themselves – a few years ago, it would have been unusual to have more than 3 or 4 bespoke commissions a month – now, it’s more like 3 or 4 a week.”

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THE SERVICE

In the 13 years that they’ve been established, Winn Hudson has developed the diverse range of services they offer to keep pace with the changes in their customers’ businesses and market demands.

“When we started, it was a relatively simple furnishing service” explains Andrew Clark, Winn Hudson Managing Director – Group Sales. “Always tailored to our customers and their demands, but nevertheless quite a ‘vanilla’ set of services. We quickly realised that we needed to expand our service – because our customers want us to make their life easier, solving only part of the problem didn’t work for them or us.”

“So now when we start working with a customer, as well as personally surveying the property and producing a custom quote for a wide range of furniture and window dressings – as we always have done - we can now also ask our Design Team to produce a bespoke Interior Design Scheme if our client wants to go that way. And of course, we can deal with any work that needs doing to the property before the furnishing starts – from light refurbishment (kitchens and bathrooms) to structural work, as well as flooring. Combined with the option to choose from our range of 9 off-the-shelf furniture packages, as well as our complete delivery service of course – everything delivered, assembled and installed - we believe that we’re getting close to delivering a total service.”

Winn Hudson was one of the first, and is now the largest company in the UK specialising in

providing a tailor-made service to property investors, developers and agents

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THE INTERVIEW

As Head of Design at Winn Hudson, Stacey Winn brings more than 10 years experience in the design and finishing of investment apartments to her work and has personally designed over 2,000 schemes in that time. We caught up with her as she planned her team’s look books for S/S 2012. We wanted to know what are the hot trends to look out for in the design world, and how she is translating these into the projects that she’s involved in.

“We’re working on some really interesting projects at the moment as we’ve seen a big push from many of our developer clients to challenge themselves architecturally in recent years. That’s translating, in turn, into interiors that need us to challenge ourselves. For example, recently we worked on a penthouse scheme in Central London which featured curved walls and a very large reception room which had white porcelain flooring and a minimalist open plan kitchen. Our client’s budget for furnishings was restricted therefore we needed to be very creative with our choices to ensure that the entire space was furnished effectively and without compromise. We introduced a variety of large floor rugs which added warmth and texture, defining the living from the dining area. We selected bold block colours for the upholstery with a combination of striking patterns for the soft furnishings which visually helped to fill the space” says Stacey.

“Over the last year, we have seen an increased demand in natural wood finishes and texture – perhaps in response to tougher economic times, customers want a softer touch and feel from their properties. Hand in hand with this, we’re making more use of timeless natural colour pallets fused with bright and colourful accents to contrast.”

“Of course, our task is to translate these trends in the interiors world into schemes that deliver the best possible result for our clients, who are looking to generate a great return on their investments. That means hitting our budgets without fail! So much of my team’s focus in the last 12 months has been on achieving more with less – we’re spending a lot of time talking with our suppliers so that we can achieve exactly the finish that we need but at the same or often an even lower price than last year.”

We catch up with Winn Hudson’ Head of Design, Stacey Winn, to understand what’s

new for Spring / Summer 2012

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AN INVESTMENT

IN STYLE

“We always advise our clients to think about the yield that they are seeking and work backwards to establish what is the right budget” says Andrew Clark, Managing Director – Group Sales. “Strangely enough, it is as common for our clients to want to over-furnish a property as it is under-furnish. This is a poor decision for two reasons: the obvious one which is spending more than you need to, and the less obvious one which is that over-furnishing will inevitably lead to clutter and a property that will invariably show itself as being smaller than it actually is. So anyone who knows me knows that our advice is to follow Le Corbusier – less is more!”

“My team will often seek to substitute a signature - piece – what the industry often calls ‘eye candy’ for this clutter. It can bring freshness and a certain clarity to a room, as well sticking favourably in the minds of viewers; just what is needed to make sure that your property rents or sells quickly” says Stacey Winn, Head of Design at Winn Hudson. “We always remember that for most of our clients, their property is foremost an investment proposition, so the end is as important as the means.”

Many designers have spoken about the elements of composition that come together to create a successful scheme. But when thinking

about an investment property, what are the key considerations?

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CREATING A STYLE

Fresh. Creative. Impactful. Winn Hudson’ designs are all of these – as well as in harmony

with the properties that they sit in

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THE REVIEW

What the experts say: a selection of our clients relive the Winn Hudson experience

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ICON RELOCATIONSimon Johnston Managing Director

“Over the past 3 - 4 years, Icon Relocation have used Winn Hudson on a constant basis to address our furniture requirements. We have found their service to be prompt and flexible and would have no hesitation in recommending them to others.”

KNIGHT FRANKMimi Capas

Director

“With years of experience we always use Winn Hudson because they are the biggest and the best. For projects which need to be furnished on a tight lead-time I know that they have the capacity to deliver on time and within budget.”

LEIGHTON & HENLEY PLCPeter Moy

Director of Sales and Marketing

“We used Winn Hudson to help dress a property in Marylebone marketed at £2.25m. All the items were specified and presented by the Winn Hudson Interior Design service and then, after sign-off, were delivered quickly and efficiently. The service definitely helped sell the property; the buyers liked the scheme so much they purchased the furniture.”

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ASTON REEDKatya Olenina

“We appointed Winn Hudson to furnish a rental property... The installation went smoothly, the furniture was good quality and at every step of the process the team were available to ensure our client was completely satisfied. We would definitely recommend Winn Hudson to furnish prime London properties.”