Design competition winner – Leonide Interiors

Leonide Interiors provides high-end bathrooms and kitchens in the Chesterfield region. As an expert marble stonemason, and with experience in installing stone fireplaces across the world from an early age, Paul Pearson set up Leonide in 2014 with a focus on specialising in marble for their designs and installations. We caught up with showroom manager and designer Nasser Fahad on his design that won our recent summer design competition.

What was the brief for this design?

The client had been recommended by a family member who had a bathroom created by us six years before. The client had just bought a new house and is having a lot of work done to extend and improve it. They have a master en-suite and their brief was simply to create one that had a ‘wow’ factor. They wanted a wetroom system and freestanding bath as part of this, with some nice lighting to create that ambience to relax in.

As marble is a speciality of ours and they had seen our previous work, this was also a key part of what they wanted in the design.

How did you go about the design process?

The waste system is the main point to figure out, as that sets out where everything can be placed. In this case, it was on the external wall and we could move it slightly, so we centred the toilet against the wall. I then looked at creating the ‘wow’ focal point they wanted by placing the freestanding bath at the end of a ‘runway’ effect lighting system and finishing off with the dark marble wetroom system.

The two different colours of the Calacatta and dark marble creates a contrast and arresting look for this bathroom design and compliment the anthracite colour of the bath and vanity units. For the lighting, we always try to create a great relaxing ambience and, where possible, use sensor lighting so that everything effortlessly come on as you enter the bathroom.

How did you get into design?

I originally studied product design at university and it was during my industrial placement that I first got experience in designing kitchens. This was taking hand-drawn designs and creating them in CAD programmes, which was Vectorworks at the time. When I graduated I had a strong interest in this area and CAD in general and I started at Leonid 4 years ago.

I love the creativity and the possibility to do anything with design. Being challenged is also a big thrill for me. When something is difficult to do, I embrace it. Sometimes the client is in the showroom and has asked for a complete change to the design. While our director Paul is talking them through the materials, I sometimes have only a short time to re-create the design and often with a complexity added to it. I love that challenge and getting it right and in time to show the customer right then is a great feeling.

Why do you like Innoplus?

I’ve tried a lot of different CAD systems, Vectorworks, Articad, Fusion 360, etc. but Innoplus is brilliant because it is so intuitive and quick to use. I can create a design in 15 minutes and, with EQ, quote in 40minutes.

This speed is so important, as it allows us to respond to customer changes instantly. While they are with us to see the design presentation and take a look around the showroom, the client is in the zone and you have their enthusiasm and buy-in. When they leave, that money can be spent on other things, such as other interior design projects, so you have to be able to get their designs changed around quickly and agree on the sale then and there. They’re often busy, so you don’t know when you will get them back.

We sell out 9 out of 10 right now, which is fantastic and this ability to respond to change is a big part of that success.

What features of Innoplus stand out for you?

File cards were a revelation for me. These group all the furniture and tiles that I need in one place, which means I can create bathroom designs in minutes, as I can just drag and drop them into the design. I have set up several file cards of all my favourites and these also reflect our showroom displays. This even includes concave or convex areas in the room, which is handy for complex room designs.

Rendering is also really good. It’s come a long way over the last 4 years that I’ve been using it but now it’s really good and gets the textures and lighting right. Linking to EQ is also key, as it means we can update the quote quickly and while the customer is there, so that helps with securing sales.

One of the other key things for me is the flexibility. I can import tiles and pictures to the design. Some of the tiles we work with aren’t on any catalogues but I can take a picture and import them to use in a design. This came into its own last year when we did the KBB Review competition for the lighthouse bathroom, as we could easily create this complex room shape.

What are your design tips?

If it’s complicated, it’s worth figuring out. I really like a challenge and when there’s something difficult to figure out, then it raises the bar and that’s why people choose us. Also, don’t give an answer straight away unless you’re certain. I often take things away to figure out first before coming back to the client with the answer, which is part of building trust.