Louise Frostick, senior designer at Inspace Complete, tells Victoria Madine about the highs and lows of working for a fledgling interior design company
When did your employer start business, and what kind of role do you have?
My employer Inspace Complete started life just five months ago and now employs seven people. It’s establishing itself as the design arm of Wilmott Dixon’s fit-out business, which is called Inspace Interiors. Inspace Complete offers a complete turnkey interior design service to smaller clients for whom it wouldn’t be cost-effective to go for a consultant-led approach.

My particular job involves all sorts of activities. I take client briefs, create space analysis reports and then use CAD to space plan and come up with layouts. I also produce the plans, visuals, design schemes, boards for presentation and upon winning a job I compile the working drawings. These include power, details and logistics.

What do you think are the advantages of working for a small company?
It’s very fast-moving so the days go quickly and I’m never bored. I also get to do a greater variety of jobs than I’d be able to do in a large company. I get involved in laminating, and pricing design schemes, which I probably wouldn’t get a chance to do elsewhere. As we’re a small team, everyone also gets a say in how the business develops – we all designed the company’s brochure and its logo. All this is great experience, and it’s just as well I have a lot on my plate – I’m a lively character.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
The variety. I find the design work actually comes quite naturally to me.

It’s very fast-moving so I’m never bored. It’s just as well I’ve got a lot on my plate – I’m a lively character

Does anything get you stressed out?
The amount of responsibility that goes along with my job can be very stressful. I face all sorts of demands every day, so I need to be very focused. But I find everything enjoyable as well, so it’s not too bad. I’m still able to switch off when I get home

What are your plans for the future?
I’d like to rise to design associate, and then design director with Inpace Complete. After that, I suppose I’d go global. I’m not sure! But whatever I do, I want to enjoy it.

Louise Frostick

Age
27
Current job
Senior interior designer with Inspace Complete
Employment history
Graduated in 1996; worked for a variety of space-planning consultants
Qualifications
BA in interior design and architecture
Lives
Essex