Two college friends are pooling their design talent - with remarkable success, writes Eoin Lyons
SKETCH DESIGN was set up by Joanne Peat (above left) and Liz Dolan (above right) two years ago, after they finished degrees in Interior Architecture at Dublin Institute of Technology, Mountjoy Square.
"During our final year in college we gravitated toward each other because we have very different skills. Then we started to work together and ended up being really excited by the results," says Dolan. After college they opened an office together. Already, they have completed the design of a hotel, several restaurants and many homes.
Their work is characterised by an unusual playfulness. What they do is colourful and fun, but sophisticated, too. This comes about thanks to the dynamics of their collaboration.
"Myself and Liz have a very different approach to design - when we challenge each other the results are far better than what we would be capable of individually," says Peat.
They believe what sets them apart is that once they receive all the information for a particular project - the brief, the client's vision, location and so on - they flip it, twist it and stretch it until one strong concept evolves. It is this concept-driven approach that determines the design. "A concept gives the environment a story. We don't want to just create a pretty space, we want to create something stimulating, interesting and remarkable," says Peat.
Joanne Peat and Liz Dolan of Sketch Design can be contacted at 01-8829753. See www.sketchdesign.ie.
CAFE ON THE RIVER
The Boardwalk Cafe (right) in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, looks on to the River Shannon and has amazing views. "We wanted to bring the outdoors in, and the design of the space represents a walk along the river. There is a large circular path that 'flows' around the main bar. The floor is made of pebbles cast in resin, to represent the river bed, and 1,000 hand-blown glass bubbles, made by Jerpoint Glass, are suspended overhead to represent water bubbles." The digital images of flora and fauna were produced by Tom Watts (www.imaginewallpaper.ie).