THE JOURNAL
CAREERS BY DESIGN
How did today’s leading industry names get a foothold in interior design? Emma Love explores the industry’s rich ecosystem and the many paths that can lead to success, from marketing and media to the auction house
M
uch like other creative industries – film, fashion, media – interior design has no fixed career pathway. Which somehow makes it seem both easier and harder to
break into. And while, understandably, the dream job for many involves design itself, there are many other related roles to consider, from visual merchandiser to showroom manager and procurement co-ordinator. “We have around 500 employees and only 50 are designers,” says Lisa Montague, CEO of Sanderson Design Group, whose background in languages led to her first job as a showroom assistant for the French fashion house Cerruti. Having worked her way up to managing director,
then senior roles at Mulberry and Loewe, Montague believes there are more similarities than differences between fashion and interiors. “At the end of the day it’s a creative business. Sanderson has heritage, luxury, craft – all the things I love,” she says of the brand, which has a showroom at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour. “It helps to understand the design process; I know what
I think sells, how to read the data and edit a collection.” Side-stepping from one creative industry to another is
more common than it might seem. Take antiques dealer and interior consultant Guy Tobin. He cut his teeth working for a silver and jewellery dealer at Portobello Road market, then as a porter at Bonhams. “Back then,
“RUNNING A DESIGN STUDIO IS 10% DESIGN AND 90% MAKING THINGS HAPPEN ON TIME AND ON BUDGET”
porters could bid on behalf of dealers. Through that network I got a job,” he recalls. Later, he worked with interior designer Rose Uniacke, restoring antiques sold in her shop and overseeing bespoke product design. His best tip: touch things. “Everybody scrolls through catalogues on a computer, but you need to feel the weight of an object, open a drawer and smell its age.
I can count 10 people who genuinely understand why some pieces are so exceptional. The only way to learn is by attaching yourself to someone who gets it.” Interior designer James Mackie took a similar
auction house route with a career in the art world that culminated in a position as head of impressionism and modern art at Sotheby’s. “Making the segway to design isn’t as strange as it might sound,” explains Mackie, who cites Pierre Frey, Turnell & Gigon and Tissus d’Hélène as Design Centre showroom favourites. “I always had a desire to work in interiors and left Sotheby’s in 2020 to set up a design studio. There’s a direct correlation between looking at how the composition and colour of a painting is formed to analysing a room.” A less obvious connection is broadcasting. Interior
designers Sarah Delaney (of Sarah Delaney Design) and George Townsin were both once television producers. “Running an interior studio is 10% design and 90% making things happen on time and on budget,” says Townsin, so her past comes in handy. Having retrained in interior design and worked for Suzy Hoodless,
ABOVE: Sanderson Design Group is one of the UK’s most renowned design firms, but its CEO Lisa Montague started her career in the fashion business. The group’s latest collections include Morris & Co. x The Huntington – The Unfinished Works, an exciting collaboration with California’s Huntington Library, whose cache of Morris’ incomplete designs are finally seeing the light of day
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