INTERVIEW: EMMA MAXWELL, FOUNDER, EMMA MAXWELL DESIGN

Being based in Singapore doesn’t limit the design practice. The very opposite in fact, as Emma explains she and her team take on projects in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Africa, all over. “It’s an adventure,” she says. “It gets quite addictive, you don’t want the adventure to end because you’re having so much fun!” I have no problem believing Emma when she says this, but I want to know if she finds her work challenging at all, particularly in the beginning. “I was relatively self-taught so it was a huge learning curve but I think that’s benefitted me in many ways. When I started out I didn’t know what an FF&E sheet was, I didn’t know what a full set of drawings was supposed to look like, all I knew was that I had a huge passion and an instinct.” She points out that she does offer great FF&E and drawing packages now, obviously. “It’s a love and endless obsession I’ve got with it. You’re always learning and you’ve never arrived. Design is a journey where all the questions are never answered. It’s a life-long pursuit.”

She speaks frankly about how tough the design industry can be and it’s refreshing to hear how she had to work at her chosen profession until it paid off. “There were a few years when things were a little quieter than I would have liked but you have to stick your heels in and prove yourself, then prove yourself again. Trying to build yourself up from that and build relationships with people took a lot of time. It wasn’t an overnight thing at all, so it’s lucky I love it!”

Talking about style, Emma says she takes each project as it comes and her work really varies but that there are certain things she naturally gravitates towards. “I guess I have a style in so much as liking the juxtaposition of different patterns and different layers and that’s an element that’s starting to come out through my work. I love taking graphic elements and swinging them against lots of looser types of elements.” She tells me how she loves conjuring up new and interesting worlds for people to explore. “I’m really narrative with the way I design things. I guess I’m a visual storyteller. Each new story to me is very different in what needs to be told, and likewise I’d get bored if I kept doing the same thing. I always describe how I design as being like a theatrical narrative structure – so first act, second act, third act… I like to shift people through and give them gentle guidance or pleasant surprises through the space. It’s definitely a release, escapism, but always to feel good. I think resting on your laurels or embracing something that you’ve already done last year or the year before, for me, that’s just boring and I’m not interested in that – I’m interested in discovering new things and telling new stories.”

For creativity to blossom though, inspiration has to come from somewhere, and although Emma practically recoils when I talk to her about trends, she concedes that actually inspiration comes from many places. “I’m inspired by travel – remember those days? But I do travel a lot and I’m passionate about art and I love exploring lots of architecture. When I’m in Italy all I do for 12 hours a day is walk around and look at the beautiful buildings. I saw Siena Cathedral a few years ago and the beautiful 13th/14th century tile patterns – all of those sorts of things build up layers and the language the medieval cathedrals hold in regards to the theatrical rationale, their raison d’être and all of the contrast where they used a lot of graphical elements as well as the sweeping frescoed ceilings,” she gestures with her hands in a sweeping motion above her head as to fully describe the setting, “so it’s a lot of those elements that inspire me.”