Boberika and I recently met up with the extremely talented and driven interior designer Ana Foster-Adams to chat about her career and what inspires her.
Q: How do you get creatively inspired and what designers do you most admire?
I love looking at design blogs for inspiration and I can waste a lot of time and money on magazines. Pinterest has changed my life, it’s such a great creative tool. Getting out and exploring is really important, there’s inspiration everywhere. One of the interior designers I really like is Suzy Hoodless, she has a really nice touch about her work.
Q: How would you describe your creative style?
I don’t have a particular style that I follow but I think vintage and mid-century are probably my favorite design styles. I like an eclectic mix of things really.
Q: Was it a conscious decision or fate that lead you into interior design?
A bit of both! It’s a bit of a cliché but when I was growing up my mother dragged me to antique markets and thrift shops to find pieces to decorate her house. She really inspired me to get into interior design. My first job was for a textiles company in New Zealand and we would put these amazing fabric schemes together with interior designers, it was a wonderful way to start out. After that I worked for a furniture manufacturer and then a commercial interiors company. I then moved to London, and after a tough year in a terrible job, a friend got me a job working as a runner for Godrich Interiors. I couldn’t believe I was working for this amazing company. I had two great mentors who luckily believed in me and I pretty much learnt everything on the job. Godrich kept me on and I stayed with them for seven years working my way up to designing and managing my own projects.
Q: What has been the most challenging project of your career?
It was for a client based in India who wanted us to design his holiday home in London. It was incredibly stressful because I had to design the entire space over email, I met him once when my boss and I flew over to India for 24hrs to do a 2hr presentation. We usually work so closely with people and develop a bit of a friendship, but with him I had absolutely nothing to go on. When the apartment was finished, he came to London to do a walk through and I’ve never been so terrified in all my life! Luckily he absolutely loved what we had done and I’ve since worked on his villa in Bangalore and another holiday home in Goa.
Q: What has been your best career experience?
One of my favorite jobs was in Majorca with a lovely client who had bought a 15th century villa in Deia. It had its original chapel, an amazing olive press, and absolutely stunning scenery. We helped restore the villa by working with all its original features, we didn’t change anything, we just gave it a nice little makeover.
Q: What advice would you give to any budding interior designers?
If you can get a foot in the door somewhere then it’s up to you how you manage that opportunity and prove yourself. You either have an eye for interior design or you don’t and everything else I believe you can learn on the job. It definitely comes down to initiative, if you’re passionate about it you can do whatever you want.
Q: What are your plans for the near future?
I’m in the process of setting up my own business and have a few interiors projects bubbling away, plus I’m hoping to go on a sourcing trip soon for pieces for a pop-up shop over summer.
Q: If music is the soundtrack of our lives, what would your theme song be?
‘Go Your Own Way’ – Fleetwood Mac
Thank you for taking the time to meet us, we can't wait to hear about how your new venture goes...
