Meet Sarah

Insights

Meet Sarah

‍At Studio Said, we’re pretty good at sharing the amazing work we do through our portfolio pages. But we thought it was high time we allowed you a peek at our inner workings to look at the team responsible for making the magic happen…

Here we find out who everyone is and what they do at Said, but perhaps more importantly we’ve thrown in four quickfire questions to discover what really makes them tick!‍

Sarah, our Creative Director, established Studio Said back in 2022 with the vision of developing a design practice that isn’t committed to just one sector. Loving the balance of working on residential to commercial projects.

Originally from Hull, Sarah now lives in the Colne Valley in the bustling village of Slaithwaite. perfectly placed for hopping on a 30-minute train to Leeds or Manchester.

When not in the studio or working from home, she is usually found out walking in the moors with her two pooches and partner.

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Positive, resilient, and dependable.

What inspired you to become an interior designer?

I have always liked to think of myself as being creative, initially studying textiles, I became more interested in interior spaces rather than finishings and decoration. This was sparked by my curiosity about how we naturally interact in spaces. I really started to appreciate interior design when going on a holiday in college and travelling through an airport and knowing exactly how to navigate through all the gates from how well-designed the floor plan was. On the flip side the particular focus is on the unseen, the back of the house areas, which are the veins of the airport. Ensuring smooth running of the operational areas which have clearly been thought about and designed to be as efficient as possible. I like how they balanced the spaces to ensure that proportionate space is given to the back of the house areas and the passenger spaces. After returning home from holiday I changed my application to university to go and study interior design instead and I haven’t looked back. 

Can you share your favourite project you've worked on and what made it special?

Every project I feel is a favourite as you spend so much time working on the concept, designing, and figuring out the technical aspects it is difficult to not get attached. But one of my favourites must be an office design I had the privilege of working on in Yorkshire it was unique to the employees of this location. Each floor was entirely different from one another and represented a different aspect of the city celebrating the arts, sports, industry, and surrounding landscapes. 

How do you approach designing for different spaces and client preferences?

Each approach is the same if this is for a home, office, or wellness space. It starts with questioning, really delving into our client's physical, emotional, and psychological wants and needs. Holding off our opinions, asking questions, observing, and listening. For some projects our clients aren’t too confident about what they want, so this is where our observation comes in to see where the pain points are, what doesn’t work, i.e. lack of functional space, inefficient layouts, rooms that don’t flow and we start the creative process from there. 

What are some common challenges you face as an interior designer, and how do you overcome them?

A common challenge we have people have a view that Interior Designers push their own vision and not the clients. Our primary function is to carefully listen, study, and understand a client’s tastes and requirements. Converting a client's personality and culture into a space requires a significant amount of effort and patience. We see ourselves as translators or facilitators, helping to bring the client's vision from an idea to a concept and ultimately to reality.