At Nicola Holden Designs, our ethos is to design for wellness.
There is an increasing awareness that our well-being is inherently linked to many aspects of the world around us, including how we design the spaces we inhabit. Using the four pillars of Colour Psychology, Biophilic Design, the Aesthetics of Joy, and Sustainable Design, we strive to create interiors that are healthy for both people and planet.
Although we see colour with our eyes, each different wavelength of coloured light stimulates a distinct part of our physical being, evoking a specific physiological response, which in turn produces a psychological reaction.
We don’t just respond to specific, individual colours, but to all the colours present in our field of vision. That is why it is important to achieve balance of colour within a scheme – cool and warm, contraction and expansion, sedation and stimulus, yin and yang. A home without balance can appear wonderful but, for some reason that you can’t put your finger on, it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right, and so does not support happiness and harmony.
But there is more to colour than merely hue (the attribute of colour which enables us to classify it as red, blue, etc). Our colour personalities echo the patterns and natural order of the seasons, and so it is important to choose colours that match your own tonal family. Surrounding yourself with colours at odds with your own natural pattern is, in the long run, stressful.
Understanding our clients’ individual colour preferences enables us to create homes with balance and harmony.
It helps explain why crackling fires and crashing waves captivate us; why a garden view can enhance our creativity; why shadows instil fascination and fear; and why animal companionship has restorative, healing effects.
Today’s urban landscape and our growing dependency on technology is increasingly disconnecting people from nature. Biophilic design has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, enhance creativity and clarity of thought, improve our well-being and speed up healing. It is essential for providing people with healthy places in which to live and work.
As part of biophilic design, we look at bringing nature into our spaces with plants, water, breezes, sounds and scents, or through objects, materials, colours, shapes and patterns found in nature. We also look at the spatial configurations of spaces, creating prospect views balanced with intimate refuges, and a sense of mystery that entices people into our spaces.
This allows us to create spaces that are inspirational, restorative and healthy, nurturing a love of place.
These material aesthetics are the properties that define the way an object or space looks and feels, and that elicit the deep, emotional responses that give rise to the feeling of joy. Through speaking directly to our unconscious minds, we see that elements of colour, texture, shape and movement can infuse ordinary objects and places with extraordinary joy.
Without joy, we may be surviving, but we are not thriving. If we rarely laugh, if we never have glimpses of surprise, or experience the feeling of freedom; if our surroundings lack energy, abundance and harmony, then no matter how beautiful our homes might be, they will not make us feel truly alive. The drive toward joy is synonymous with the drive toward life.
We use these aesthetics of joy to design more happiness into your world.
We are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about where things come from, the people and processes involved in making them, and the impact this has on our planet. Keeping this in mind, we work with our clients to create spaces with a reduced environmental impact. We incorporate these principles in the practices we carry out within our business through:
Design for wellbeing works hand-in-hand with sustainable design – if we can create designs that are healthy for people, they will also be healthier for the planet!
Our founder, Nicola Holden, sits on the steering committee for Interior Design Declares, a collaborative movement of practices and suppliers advocating for change in the Interior Design Industry. She regularly speaks on panels where she shares the knowledge she has gained to accelerate the transition towards regenerative interior design practices for the health and wellbeing of people and planet.
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