Inner Spaces: Designer Silvia Minciarelli of Spaces Interiors

Hailing from Italy, world traveler Silvia Minciarelli settled in Beijing 11 years ago to begin working as an interior designer. Five years ago, she started her own studio, Spaces, which has most recently worked on the new Soho Sanlitun tower. In her clean, contemporary studio by 798 Art District, she gave Agenda the scoop on her vision, creative process, and hopes for the future.

How did you get started as an interior designer?
I guess my interest was restoration, and then I studied art in university. From there I developed an interest in architecture. I started Spaces five years ago, after I had worked for many years with another interior design firm. I was ready to do things on my own.

Where do you get the inspiration for your designs?
First of all I need to ask myself exactly what would be the vision that the client would want to communicate, because usually, when we design spaces, we design for a certain function. The initial idea is to try to understand the ultimate function, and then the inspiration can come from a walk outside, a movie, looking at a magazine, a piece of fabric or a pattern.

Does Spaces have a specific design style?
Yes. Usually, I try to keep everything, in terms of styling, very contemporary and clean, but I also like to acknowledge the fact that we’re in China. For example, even in my office, you don’t really see any Chinese things, but then you see elements of nature or black inkblots on the glass, and you can see those on our website. There is a Chinese reference and understanding, but it is not really obvious.

What distinguishes Spaces from other Beijing design studios?
We always seek innovation, new ideas and new ways to use materials. So we always think ahead with new solutions. What distinguishes us from others is our contemporary appeal, and also the presence of graphics. We also like to introduce graphics in our projects and great attention to detail.

What makes designing for China or Beijing different from designing for Europe?
It brings two worlds to-gether. It brings two cultures together. You work with layers. You could bring these two cultures together and create connections or contrasts. Your vision is great; it’s wider. It’s more open; it’s more interesting. You have a wider and deeper vision.

What have been some of the most interesting projects you’ve worked on?
Soho Sanlitun was definitely an interesting project for me. I also really enjoyed working in this other project, the Commune of the Children at the Commune by the Great Wall Kempinski. We devised these two projects considering completely different target markets, targeting different needs. The Commune of the Children I liked a lot because we were entering the world of children. I like to bring a level of surreality into our projects. So on one hand, we were working with reality, the towers, people living in the city, people living in apartments. And on the other one, we are designing a space for children, for children to play and do their own things and have fun at the same time.

Are you influenced by other artists?
I always keep myself open and informed, and I usually like to get inspired by the work of designers, not necessarily only interior designers. I also like to keep up to date with what’s happening in the world of design; I go to international fairs and I look at what international designers do. But I also look at product design, industrial design, fashion designers, so I always like to get inspiration from these people. I also like a lot of the work of female designers. For example, I like a lot of the work of Patricia Urquiola or Paola Navone – I think they are doing interesting projects and developing interesting products and I am very fascinated by that. I am inspired by them and their work.

How do you find a balance between functionality or practicality, and creativity?
I don’t find it quite a challenge. It guess it comes quite naturally when you design a space, you have to look at all aspects at the same time. You have to produce something appealing, creative, beautiful, but at the same time, comfortable.

Are your clients mostly corporations and companies or are they private individuals?
I have a variety. I have corporations who want us to design their office spaces and I have private clients and we design their private homes. For developers, we design buildings or for commercial spaces, shops, so it depends.

Is there a difference between working for companies and working for individuals?
The main difference, I would say, is usually time. Usually, when you design an office or a commercial project, you’re dealing with a much shorter amount of time. When you design for a private residence, yes, you may come across a client who is time concerned and really needs to move into the apartment quickly, but you also have clients who don’t have that urgency.

Which one can you be more creative with?
I would say sometimes you can be more creative with commercial projects. They expect much higher level of creativity, so if you’re designing a public space, they may want to be surprised. When you are designing a private home, you may have a client who is interested in that, because there are considerations of functionality and private comfort at play in different ways. So, sometimes you have to be quite convincing to let the client know that the idea could very interesting.

Have you worked on any projects related to “going green”?
Yes, of course. This is something that we are looking at more and more. Now, every client is much more concerned about it, so I’m searching for ideas. We can use materials which are environmentally-friendly, and also in interior design, when you make choices for heating, you propose solutions that are more nature-saving – for example types of lighting and heating. You have to have something that looks good but which also has a mechanical aspect. Interior design is a combination of aesthetic elements and technical aspects. We need to come up with creative, beautiful environment, but at the same time, incorporate mechanical function.

What are some of your favorite things to do around Beijing?
Aside from working? I like to go to see art, I like to go see new places, new buildings, new shops, I like to visit local producers and I can see if I can use these artifacts in different ways. I am still search for what is here that is locally produced that could be brought to a different level, like porcelain.

Why did you decide to take the big step and start your own design studio?
I like the challenge. I wanted to be able to express my thoughts and ideas to a creative team of people.

Does Spaces specialize in anything?
No, not yet. Actually, I don’t like it. I think that if you are a designer, you should design different types of spaces. Actually, what I want to do is, I want to design not only spaces, but also products – like furniture, since we already do that when we design spaces.

Spaces Interior Design
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm. Area B, Caochangdi art district, 46 Caochangdi, Cuigezhuang, Chaoyang District. (6431 1842) www.spacesinteriors.net 朝阳区崔各庄草场地46号草场地艺术区B区