Lydia Hegbourne

FOUNDER AND HEAD DESIGNER CARTE BLANCHE DESIGN

Based in Europe’s luxury capital, Monaco, Lydia Hegbourne has worked in the design industry for 13 years with her firm Carte Blanche Design. Lydia’s firm is a high-end design studio, offering services for luxury villas, apartments, yachts, restaurants, hotels, exceptional offices and more. From the first meeting to delivery, Carte Blanche Design imagines, creates and delivers a turnkey project, leaving the client worryfree and guaranteed top quality from beginning to end.

How would you describe your work/design style/ethos? It’s about understanding how the clients live and creating a space that suits them aesthetically but also for their lifestyle. Design cannot be all about beauty but also about functionality and comfort.

What led you to this career path? After purchasing my first apartment off plan and watching the process I was inspired to create my own spaces.

Please describe the project you are most proud of to date, with reasons why this was a success? There are a few but I am particularly proud of a luxury 5-star hotel that we recently finished in Paris. Helped by the incredible existing period detailing such as the monumental staircase and oval atrium open over 4 floors, we made a truly exquisite place to stay. We raised to roof and created an entire floor at the top that can be privatised for some very exclusive clients. In the basement we kept the oval theme of the atrium, creating changing rooms in the centre. A luxury spa with sauna, hammam, jacuzzi and massage room that can be used for couples’ massages or separated to two single rooms. Outside is a small courtyard with open fireplace to relax after spa treatments, covered from view with a pergola so guests can relax in private.

Please describe a highlight of your career to date. Every time we finish a project and we have a walk through with the clients who have a wonderful smile on their face as they discover their new home, hotel, etc.

How did achieving this make you feel? Like all the time and effort and thought put into each and every project is worth it in the end.

What inspires you? Everything around us can inspire me, an architectural detail, a detail from nature like the undulation of the water or form of the mountains. Colours from fashion. It’s about having your eyes open to see all the beauty that we have around us and bringing parts of this into each project that we make.

What motivates you? To improve with each project that we do. Be in improve a detail, a new finish, something technological. We must learn and improve every day.

Where and how do you find support? In my team. Design is about teamwork; we are only as good as the people we have around us. Inside the office and my subcontractors all working together to create the very best that we can.

Where do you find comfort? With my little rescue dog. Who waits patiently for me to finish every day.

Has the recent global pandemic changed the way in which you work? It has definitely opened our eyes to working more remotely, to communicating faster and more often with quick video call catch ups. I have more online meetings with clients also. Otherwise our work remains a lot onsite.

How will it change the global design sector? I think people feel safer with their money in property rather than in the banks and I think that it could be a boost for the property industry as a whole.

What are your thoughts on the future of design? I think we are leaning towards a more comfortable way of living. Less for show and more for real comfort of living. I think this is very visible in the way people are designing these days.

Please tell us your aims for the next twelve months and beyond. I would like to take on another large villa and hotel project. And having worked on yachts, villas, offices, hotels & Formula 1 motor homes. I’d love to take on a private jet project.

What would be your key piece of advice for emerging designers right now? Don’t be afraid to differentiate yourself, be creative and do not limit yourself to create what has already been done.