Louisa Blackmore is an interior design blogger and retailer of antique and vintage one-off pieces of furniture. Louisa established West Egg Interiors in 2010 after finally taking the plunge and escaping city life. Based in Blunham, Bedfordshire she loves nothing more than sourcing quirky home accessories, furniture and interior products for her customers. She also offers a design service, sourcing products and designing soft furnishings. So we are proud to bring you the Designer Insights of Louisa Blackmore.
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1) In your own words describe your unique style and creative aesthetic?
Our style revolves around modern country living. We love unique British heritage and quirky French vintage pieces all mixed up with some beautiful oriental designs. We don’t like things to be perfect, we like the personality that imperfections bring to a piece of furniture.
2) When starting a new project, what is your creative process?
For me, I get ideas for projects in different places – whether it’s sitting on a plane day-dreaming, wandering through auctions and fairs, visiting exhibitions – I am always so inspired to see different things. I then like to spend time in our studio looking at different ways of doing things, and then I just get stuck in. Most of the time you just need to get on with it and see what happens.
3) Out of the creative people you have worked with, who is it that you respect and admire the most?
I’ve been really lucky to work with some amazing designers and creative directors. I really loved working with Liz Le Dorze at Komedal Road in the US recently. I went over there to teach some workshops on furniture painting, restoration, upholstery and interior styling at Liz’s new studio space. Liz has amazing experience in the interiors world, an incredible eye for detail and is super interesting and fun to work with. She has so much energy – I get exhausted just watching her work. We had a day off and she took me on a mini tour of Seattle to see her favourite designers and stores. It was a real highlight of the trip.
4) When looking for inspiration is there a particular thing you do to get inspired?
I don’t think there is a magic formula for inspiration. I think inspiration is everywhere, you almost just have to clear your head and be open-minded. For the interior design of a 17th century cottage I let the fabric of building itself be the inspiration and we ended up being able to expose the beautiful old inglenook. It’s now a stunning centerpiece of the home.
5) What has brought you to this point in your career? And what is your advice for people looking to follow in your footsteps?
Perseverance and a great love of all things related to interiors and interior design. Before I set up West Egg I had worked on the legal desk of a hedge fund and at a city law firm. I had no experience of the interiors world and not a single contact. In 3 years West Egg has become an award-winning online store, I teach workshops all over the world and we were just named in the #Decorex100 for top interior design influencers. People ask me what about my work / life balance? I tell them, most of what I do doesn’t even feel like work, so what is there to balance?
