In my interior projects I like to find original solutions and place unusual objects. This is the only way to achieve unexpected and differentiated environments that influence those who live in them.
If, on the one hand, globalisation and international trade fairs have allowed access to an endless number of producers, on the other hand, they have homogenised the markets. All interior design professionals now have access to the same suppliers and the same products.
To be original and find differentiating pieces for interior decoration and architecture, it is necessary to go to the origin. It has become essential to search, to do detailed research, to delve deeper, to evaluate, to be persistent, to look for new products, materials and innovations.
My creative process absolutely needs constant insights of inspiration, new ideas to enrich the interior projects I develop and to always do things differently. I often say that if my mind is open and I have diverse sources of inspiration my creativity flows as easily as breathing.
The brain processes memories and conscious and unconscious experiences and orders them according to the emotions and needs of the moment. It is with this in mind that I search incessantly for everything that can contribute to new ideas and new inspirations for my interior projects.
In this sense, studying the trends and being awake to all art forms becomes inevitable to have the capacity to innovate. Among all sources of inspiration travelling the world is, without a doubt, the best boost my brain can receive. Because each place, each culture, each music or each piece of art opens my horizons and has its own particularities that together help to build a universe of inspiration that expands with every new knowledge I acquire.
When I’m abroad I allow myself to explore and get in touch with new realities. I’m a fan of going off the beaten track and getting lost in less commercial places where I end up coming across unlikely sources of inspiration. I like to explore small workshops and get to know the artisans. Based on what I see, I find different solutions and discover new techniques that help me transform materials, reinventing their image.
I also take advantage of my travels to acquire some original and unknown materials in Portugal that I use in project details or to transform and adapt them into pieces that are then personalised for clients.
I like to convert pendants from necklaces into cabinet handles, clothes hangings applied to carpet fringes or small pieces of bone into furniture carvings, as well as handmade tiles.
But if my destination is a more cosmopolitan capital, the wealth of inspirations is equally overwhelming. In this context it is the creatives, the designers and all the brilliant minds that inspire me at every turn. For example, when I come across a stunning hotel, a trendy restaurant or the shops of the most diverse couturiers that are very eye-catching and trendy but with their own cultural touches.
Going out of my usual circuit provides me with an explosion of experiences and knowledge that melts into my imagination and subsequently becomes the driving force that propels my inventive spirit to create something never before glimpsed.
When I am drawing up a decoration or architecture project, ideas and answers suddenly appear without really understanding where they came from. But they certainly come from a set of experiences awakened during the creative process.
It is life as a whole that brings me the fullness of creativity that allows me to elaborate decoration pieces and interior projects that are original and out of the ordinary.
As an interior architect, the most relevant characteristics of my creativity are the authenticity and versatility that allow me to escape the obvious, embrace new trends and collect inspirations, reinterpreting them and converting them into elements that stand out in the spaces I give life to.
Obviously none of this artistic inspiration and capacity to produce innovation would make sense if I did not have someone to make my work and my interior projects possible through the realization of the pieces I idealize. The working experience of over 20 years in the area of interior design and decoration allows me to have a vast knowledge of the best national suppliers and producers and to understand who is the right team to give shape to my ideas for a particular project and concept.
Margarida Bugarim
Interior Architect
