One of the senior interior designers at SPA Creators Katy Harris looks at how she goes about creating a scheme for a boutique hotel spa project. 
Whether you are an interior designer, or someone who loves to explore new styles that can enhance their spaces, mood boards are an essential step in the design process for communicating the feeling and mood you wish to create in a chosen space. For us at Spa Creators it is the first step we take once the brief has been obtained from the client. With the brief in mind, we begin to pull together ideas that we think will work, ensuring we are considering the space and how it will be used, how guest will navigate it, and what feeling we wish to create. We take a great deal of inspiration from the site and its unique features which includes the location and the surrounding area. This helps to define the spaces and allows us the direction to create unique interiors that have special meanings or particular materials that relate to the surrounding areas. In addition we will look to the rest of the property, the interior messaging and the brand positioning of the hotel, in some cases looking at the corporate identity and colours. We are working on a scheme at the moment which is using very bold and bright colours and this brand messaging is driving the interior look and feel.
Before we move forward we create an image board giving cues to the look and feel we are trying create, we present these ideas to the hotel and the design team to confirm the direction. Next stage in the process is the spa design and development, I work with my colleagues who are developing the detailed scheme design and general arrangement drawings, with these floor plans at hand, my colleagues and I begin the process of searching through our extensive library of materials, finishes and swatches that have been carefully curated from our preferred suppliers throughout our trips and years of research and extensive travels.
This is my favourite stage in a project but also the most scary. With my desk teeming with samples and lots of ideas, I try and find the first piece to hang the scheme on, this could be a bold fabric, an unusual wall paper or texture, a ceramic tile etc. and there really are no set rules when starting, we may start in the public spaces or treatment rooms or spa lounge, once we have begun the process yo
u start to see the rest of the scheme unfold. Choosing colours, tones and pairing fabrics is exciting and sometimes the more unusual choices can make a statement and makes the spa really pop. Sometimes its not the colours but bringing in an item of furniture or an exquisite and unique light fixture. We have some great relationships with leading interiors suppliers and we draw on their expertise to to support the development.
It is easy to get carried away and spend what feels like a very long time searching for materials and fabrics, because after all it is so fun! However, it is important to keep the main objective and brief in mind to pull you back in. Our team have been working on spa hotel projects for over 20 years and our expertise ensures we get the scheme just right. Our collaborative process means we develop great looking spas that are functional and in tune with the client brief and meeting the needs of the project.
We have been working on some very exciting luxury boutique hotel spa projects over the last six months and these schemes are now being implemented and we will be sharing these projects in the coming months on our projects page. Our spa designers are recognised as leaders in their field and our clients are benefiting from the skills that we have. SPA Creators is a great place to work and to be given the freedom to create some wonderful projects. If you would like to chat to me or one of my colleagues about your spa design do get in touch.
