A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending the Andrew Martin International Interior Design of the Year awards for 2017, which marked the 21st year since it came into fruition. The Andrew Martin Interior Designer of the year awards attracts global entries from interior designers who submit a portfolio of their best work to be judged by their distinguished panel.
The venues which they choose to host the events are always an area of intrigue and this year was no exception with the location being Burlington House on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. This year’s space was quite the contrast from last year’s which was at the new Design Museum in Kensington designed by minimalist architect John Pawson. The Georgian architecture this year was home for the evening to the Andrew Martin awards which made for a cosy and intimate event as it was split across 3 different rooms.
As is tradition the awards started with the founder of Andrew Martin, Martin Waller introducing this year’s award. – Whose annual interior design review booked is being coined the Oscars for Interior Design.
He began the awards in the 1990’s, with a keen ambition to draw light to the interior design community as there was nothing else out there to reward interior designers for their efforts.
This year as every year showed a whole host of talented interior designers, and Stephen Fry took to the stage to present this year’s award. As you would expect Stephen Fry was not shy of a word or two and put a fantastic and eloquent speech together not long before crowning this year’s winner Erin Martin with the honour of collecting this year’s trophy.
Waller said of her: “Erin’s designs encapsulate a joyous celebration of life. Her projects are full of her exuberant personality. She is never overawed by convention and original ideas bubble up everywhere which makes her schemes seem utterly fresh. But look closely and you can see that it is all put together with carefully calibrated discipline.”
American designer Erin Martin is acclaimed for her individualistic approach and known for her bold energetic designs and witty design philosophy. A very quick glance at the images in this year’s review book certainly demonstrates this through her beautiful interior photography. Also Erin and her team defiantly don’t shy away from the camera when it comes to their staff pictures. Andrew Martin review book vol 19’s staff photo shows them all wearing straitjackets posing for the photograph on a building site. On her website you can find her interesting philosophy behind her interior design.
‘’ Martin. Balance of art, engineering, aesthetics & personality. Martin girls, Capture the rhythm & energy of the space. Creating lifestyle. A life surrounded by fundamentals of design. Experienced not learned. Formulas of thought. World journeys. Elements of design in their truest form: architecture symbolic of culture & motifs representative of time. One of a kind pieces. Designed and created from the ground up. Home. Consistent & classic, yet absolutely unique’’.
The Napa Valley – based designer was chosen as the winner by judges Jade Jagger and Kit Kemp. Previous winners include Kelly Hoppen, Kit Kemp and Nicholas Haslam.