Recently shortlisted for five International Design & Architecture Awards, Primrose Hill-based company Cave Interiors is a go-to destination for stylish interior design.
Make-up artistry and interior design might not seem like obvious crossover career paths, but for Georgina Cave, owner of Primrose Hill-based interior design company Cave Interiors, the move came naturally.
“I was doing a lot of specialist paint work at home, just because I really enjoyed it, and people started asking me to do their homes too,” says Cave.
“I couldn’t do all the drawings and design processes I needed to do so in the end I gave up make-up artistry and retrained at The Interior Design School in Queens Park.”
Cave has now been working as an interior designer for over 12 years, setting up her business off the back of her success as a freelancer in 2002. The company has recently been shortlisted in an impressive five categories in the International Design & Architecture Awards 2015.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be shortlisted for awards from within the industry and it’s very exciting, but obviously what’s most important is my clients’ reaction to the work,” Cave says.
Her words reflect the company’s humble beginnings, with Cave previously running the operation from home so that she was able to look after her two small children.
“I could take on as little or as much work as I liked and still be a mum, but as they grew up more and more projects started coming in. I did have a proper office and a small team at home but we outgrew it and moved to Primrose Hill five years ago,” she says.
Her work seems to have inspired her now grown-up children, with her daughter studying Fine Art at university, while her son has taken on a part-time job that also reflects her career choice.
“They love the work,” she laughs, “but I think my daughter is more interested in production and set design.”
Cave offers inspiration beyond her family, putting her successes down to a combination of the fact that she both listens to people and brings plenty of ideas to the fore. She asks people to make Pintrest boards and tear sheets so she can gage what they might like to see happen to their homes.
“I like to think the reason people choose our services is because I’m not putting my identity onto their homes. A lot of designers have a certain style but I’m open to suggestions,” she explains.
Triumphs have been the work she has done on a Grade II listed building in Hampton, which she “brought back to life” after it was turned into offices in the 1970s and has completely re-space planned.
“We don’t just do decor, we do everything, including some architectural work,” she says.
She also gets a lot of work locally and has recently finished up on two houses on the same road in Belsize Park, which she won consecutively after the owners were impressed with her work on the original property. She tried hard to make the properties unique despite the fact they were structurally similar.
“Luckily one of them had quite a strong brief because the owners were very into being eco friendly,” she explains.
“I loved our work on the kitchen particularly because everything about it was earthy and the floors were made of polished concrete. The wood on the units was sawn cut oak – this lovely, organic texture.”
The beauty of Cave’s small company is that she personally heads up each project and only takes on as much work as she thinks she can handle. She employs three other women, and they work on roughly six to eight properties at a time.
“One of the girls will be assigned to the project with me. We all do little aspects of it and the clients always have the benefit of being able to speak to us directly.”
Cave says that ultimately, while she has always loved interiors, she doesn’t feel she has developed a design style and wants her clients to be left with a home they feel comfortable with.
“One of the key things for me is that I don’t want my properties to look designed, I want them to look like real homes.
“The Interior Design & Architecture Award’s are voted on by the public and it’s up to them to decide if they like that!”
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