DESIGNERS’ JOURNAL

How I Took My Interior Design Studio International

How I took my interior design studio international

Scaling up your interior design studio to an international level can feel like an impossible dream when you’re just starting out. Having the team capacity, niche local knowledge and client pool to be able to build a global portfolio takes time, and not every studio has the ability to break out of its starting territory. But what skills does it take to expand your operations into new markets?

This week, we spoke to four interior designers about their (quite literal) journeys into new countries for clients across the globe. So, read on to hear all about their strikes of luck, ambition and tenacity, from forging strategic connections to building cultural awareness, and from cracking the logistics to gaining word-of-mouth growth.

Rebecca Hughes Interiors business and interiors designers journal
Rebecca Hughes
Founder, Rebecca Hughes Interiors

Rebecca Hughes

“Expanding the studio internationally has always been a dream of mine, and now that dream is becoming a reality,” says Rebecca Hughes, founder of Rebecca Hughes Interiors. But her path to international growth wasn’t guided by aggressive strategies but by reputation and organic demand. Major milestone projects for Hughes’ studio include those in Monaco and Los Angeles, although the decision to take on international work wasn’t driven by a specific market. “Our international clients primarily come to us through word of mouth,” Hughes says, describing her approach as more project-led than market-specific.

As with any international project work, Hughes is clear on the challenges. “Factors such as time differences always make things complicated,” she says. For her team, success hinges on “having people and suppliers on the ground that you trust.” Looking back, she advises other designers to, “trust your instinct and make sure you have a good, efficient team around you.”

Juliette Byrne

For Juliette Byrne, founder of her eponymous studio, the motivations for international expansion were deeply client-focused. “The motivation was a dual purpose,” she says. “The first was to be able to offer our existing clients the design service they had experienced with us in the UK, but this time on their overseas properties.”

The second purpose was to build up a network of European contacts and work with a diversified list of new suppliers. Byrne’s studio first expanded to the Channel Islands, and then to the French Alps, where she sourced materials locally and worked with “stone masons and skilled joiners who live and work in the mountains.”

juliette byrne business and interiors designers journal
Juliette Byrne
Founder of Juliette Byrne

But for Byrne, adaptability and local intel cannot be overstressed when working abroad as a growing studio. “Of course, each country is going to be different,” she says, “so keep an open mind… local craftspeople will often bring delightful individuality to an overseas project and link it more meaningfully to its location.”

daniel gibbons business and interiors designers journal
Daniel Gibbons
Creative Director, X Interiors

Daniel Gibbons

As Creative Director of X Interiors, Daniel Gibbons approaches the topic of international work with a bent towards only taking on the projects you really want. “Go for the client you want and not the largest piece of the pie,” he says, adding, “There is too much competition to just be an interior designer for everyone.”

Gibbons' current project, a home for a tech startup founder in Atherton, California, “the most expensive zip code in the United States,” is a great example of his focus on working with international clients that energise him. For Gibbons, weekly Zoom calls spanning late UK evenings have become routine. “The Silicon Valley mindset is all about being succinct, detailed and timely with your information,” he says.

Reflecting on the lessons learned from working internationally, Gibbons advises others to “price your projects correctly from the start,” accounting for disruptions, from one-off supplier delays to high-impact global issues including conflict, Brexit or COVID. Gibbons also suggests “partnering with companies that already ship to the countries you’re working in helps to ring-fence your projects.”

Dara Huang

For Design Haus Liberty founder Dara Huang, international work wasn’t a strategy, but a natural extension of her background and global sensibility. “I feel very blessed if somebody in a different country wants to work with me,” she says. “I understand I’m taking the job of somebody more local to the client.”

Huang credits her international education and upbringing for her ability to “assimilate and understand cultural context very quickly.” Her work respects the character of a place, and she believes that “great design does not erase its location. It’s about understanding the demographic, cultural sensitivities, and the characteristics that the location brings.”

dara huang business and interiors designers journal
Dara Huang
Founder, Design Haus Liberty

Looking back, she admits to once overextending herself. “I made a mistake of building an office halfway around the world,” she says. Now, Huang’s approach is smarter and more digital. “Stay home, use a lot of Zoom and only be present when you need to.”

Anya Cooklin-Lofting

freelance journalist

Anya Cooklin-Lofting is a freelance journalist specialising in design, culture, and the arts.

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