Design for EVERYONE

Most people can’t afford an interior designer or architect to help them, whether it’s for your home, business or workplace. But everyone deserves one! Teekall’s project helps educate people about design while giving them free access to a professional.

Why did you think your project was important to address health and wellbeing in your community?
“I have over 15 years of experience in different aspects of design. Now as the director of design consultancy IVY (I Value You), I'm keen to get involved in more local community-based projects where I can see the real proactive impact design can make.”

What's something that's surprised you in this process?
“I approached the project in five clear stages: Workshops, one-to-one sessions, design developments, implementation, and review – and I learned a lot. One - You need to promote events in various ways to make sure you reach people. Everything takes longer than expected. And having help helps! We loved collaborating with the other projects in The Giving Lab scheme – we helped create a stencil for the cupcake workshops and other businesses helped to promote our workshops through their networks. Collaboration is really key.”

I also loved seeing confirmed that people are interested in design! I enjoyed people thanking me for sharing my knowledge at the end of the workshop. The presentation included subjects like Sector Design Topics, Colours + Material Palette, Space Planning and The Rule of 3. We implemented design ideas in various spaces in the community, ranging from personal to professional and communal ones.”

What change would you like to see so that more people can be empowered to make decisions on the issues that affect them?
”We’re really grateful to Daniel from the TSIP & TGL team and The Giving Lab in general for the opportunity. We’re already looking for further funding to continue the Design for EVERYONE initiative, so we’d like to see that become reality!”