Peter Staunton

CREATIVE DIRECTOR PETER STAUNTON DESIGN STUDIO

Peter Staunton has 13 years’ experience in this sector and the eponymous studio has been running for 6 years. Peter believes good design can elevate the human spirit by enhancing your everyday experience and wellbeing within the spaces you inhabit. To do this, Peter Staunton Design Studio ensures each project goes through a detailed process of editing to maximise the core elements within it, in order to avoid waste and appreciate the space and design at its best.

How would you describe your work/design style/ethos? ‘Raw Luxury, Refined Design’. We create modern living for our discerning clients, bringing them confidently beyond their comfort zone, utilising a mix of colour and the finest raw materials, for both contemporary and classic settings.

What led you to this career path? The family soft furnishings business. I worked with my mother learning my initial craft within fabrics and soft furnishings. That alongside the guidance from my father’s architecture career, these led to my love and self-taught path to interior design.

Please describe a highlight of your career to date. Getting to travel with my family for work is always a highlight, in particular when a client asked us to work on their house in the Majorca hills, allowing us to stay there whilst working through our designs.

How did achieving this make you feel? A project in Majorca was very early in my career, and it opened my eyes to how much potential there is with design and where it can take you. And that good design is truly global.

What inspires you? Travel, different cultures and seeing great design from other designers

What motivates you? Providing for my family, reputation, and pushing my own design boundaries to create the best design possible for each project

Where in the world do you like to retreat to? Firstly home, as this is essential for daily relaxation, peace of mind and balance. My home is definitely my sanctuary. Away from home, the quiet side of Ibiza. It has some beautiful quiet spots that are a mix of great food, culture and a more relaxed way of life.

Where and how do you find support? My main support is my wife, who creates a beautiful relaxing home for our family. Work is very busy, so coming home to our sanctuary is what keeps me sane and balanced on those really busy days. Claire also runs the accounting side of the business, which of course is crucial to a successful business. Where do you find comfort? Relaxing at home with family, and chilling on the sofa with my dog Teddy.

Has the recent global pandemic changed the way in which you work? Definitely! Having carried on being extremely busy throughout the lockdown, presenting designs to clients on Zoom and Skype, it has highlighted that we can be truly mobile within the design industry.

Has it changed your outlook? Yes. I am looking to move my studio off the high street to integrate it next to my home, and to utilise the home as a complete display for our work and how we can live.

How do you feel it has changed the world? After going through lockdown, I think it has highlighted to a lot more people how important the home is as a sanctuary.

How will it change the global design sector? Hopefully the realisation we can work effectively without the need for unnecessary travel, but still to be aware that personal connection is very important.

What are your thoughts on the future of design? The need for it to be at the forefront of sustainability, through intelligent design, as well as for designers to inform our clients of the importance of it for better living

Please tell us your aims for the next twelve months and beyond. To continue to push my own and my clients design boundaries, move my studio, and be more sustainable. I am also involved in some important movements to help give back within our industry. ‘Design Haven for Heroes’ is helping to give back to nurses through free design help from interior designers in their local area. ‘United in Design’ is a new charity set up by designers to help push diversity within our sector due to the current Black Lives Matter movement

What would be your key piece of advice for emerging designers right now? To have the confidence in believing in your designs, and pushing your client’s boundaries, without being too pushy