BE BOLD

I don’t want to talk about trends or fashion. I want to discuss about being bold. If you are a dreamer and a creator then the need to be fearless in presenting your ideas and objects is essential. Critics state we have become lazy and demand to be shown how to dress or design our homes. We are copycats relying on magazines and television home-makeover programmes to hold our hand helping us decorate.

Is your home really expressing what you love or is it representing what you are being told to love? When we look at a tree, rock or a human hand can you find one that is identical? No of course you can't. This individuality is what makes nature so beautiful and timeless. This is what we have lost in design.

Philippe Starck expresses we need to explore love, sex, joy and so on to be able to create a chair or table. I couldn't agree more. This is what my blog, Welcome Home, is all about. It's to encourage you to view life, people, cultures, emotions, habits etc rather than relying on who has designed what. Creativity is about developing something new. When we observe life we create spectacular objects, rooms or buildings.

Images by London Design Festival

I don’t believe we should coin the lack of courageous design as lazy. I think it's more accurate to say people have lost confidence in their beliefs, dreams and what excites them. It’s as if we have been in an intense, exciting relationship and along the way we have lost our way and our own identity.

Images by London Design Festival

‘Be Bold’ has become the motto for 2009. At the beginning of the year in April we saw the world leaders at the G20 stating how they needed to be bolder with the global economy and The London Design Festival theme is Be Bold – Make a Statement. 'This is an unusual year, and these aren't normal conditions, but creative things always come out of difficult circumstances,’ says Ben Evans, London Design Director.

So what has all that got to do with you and your home? When we are bold we are creative. When there is lack of money we search out new ideas. When we are forced to slow down we experiment. Interior designers, Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler are great amassadors in being fearless, not shy and noticable when they decorate a space. Loud colours, big patterns, strong themes and bravery in displaying artwork and objects is demonstrated in all their work showacasing thier own strong identities and characteristics. I'm not saying copy them but understand how they got to the point they are at in their designs.

Being bold doesn’t mean you must have a brightly coloured home. It’s just as brave to decide to transform your space into a sustainable environment, to opt for soothing, calming colours, or displaying all your artwork on one wall.

What is the heart of boldness then? I believe it's rediscovering who you are. This understanding brings confidence in knowing what you love and what you want out of life which in turn dictates how you decorate and live at home.

If you don’t know who you are, you can never be truly bold. Start really appreciating your uniqueness. Discover what makes you different and then parade it around for all to see. Put flags on it, call attention to it and love yourself for it no matter what others think.

Most people who live vibrant rewarding lives demonstrate those traits of boldness. They don't wait for life to happen to them, they go out and create it. They don't stop when they meet limits or challenges, they push on through. They have fulfilling lives because they are bold enough to go out and get what they want and most importatnly are confident in making their ideas into a reality.