Industrial lux, material obsession and taking real pride in her work – Dara Huang, creative director of Design Haus Liberty, gives West London Living the low down on setting up a design business in west London.
With an architecture and interior design background with Manolo Blahnik and the New Tate Modern Museum in London; last year, Dara decided to go it alone and in 2012 established Design Haus Liberty in Notting Hill’s Westbourne Grove. Her team of architects, planners and designers focus on combining art, materiality and space. With an already impressive client list feature Samsung, LaSalle and much demand from international developers – this young entrepreneur has certainly peaked our interest.
Which is your favourite element of the business: design, architecture, or interiors?
My favourite element is definitely architecture. It is what I have the most previous experience in and the most challenging. With my company, I would really love to do some more new build ground-up projects from scratch. I also love product design – we are about to launch an affordable home ware line soon. Right now all of our products are bespoke and made to order.
What is the most rewarding part of your work?
Definitely getting the product or project built and having the clients tell us how it has changed their lives. That is our goal in the end – to improve the lives of people through their environment.
What has been the most fun project to work on?
We have fun with every project we do. There is not one that is more fun than the other; it’s all very inspirational to see where an idea takes you and how it can grow and morph. All of our projects have at least one ‘hands on’ aspect where we design something, in our own studio, that is custom for each on project – for example a light sculpture or chandelier.
But, if pressed: sketching out a design under a Croatian sun was great!
Tell us about your influences, what inspires you?
Everything inspires me! Nature, fashion, art, objects, and even things people throw away! I get obsessed with materials – at one point it was copper (I still love copper), but I am moving on to other materials now!
What is Design Haus Liberty working on currently?
A lot of my current projects are on site in the construction phase. Some are developer projects that are building conversions to commerical/residential. We added our own splash of ‘industrial lux’ in those units with black mesh and window frames, our own custom glass and brass chandeliers, painted white brick, and chevron floors – it’s really beautiful and I can’t wait for it to get built. Another project we are doing is designing the office of FMG – an advertisement company who has clients such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Ferragamo and Matthew Williamson. We are doing something unique there with the concept of the advertisement board and the idea of marketing.
Having lived and worked in both London and New York, how do you find they differ? – and why London to set up shop?
New York is such a different creature to London; it’s completely incomparable. The style and market is different in the sense that London has all of these listed buildings under conservation and there’s this enormous history from eras that are petrified in the architecture. From features as small as the cornicing – to as big as the entire building. London is much more traditional in that sense, but this is certainly an opportunity to take that existing character and blend it with something more contemporary. Not that New York doesn’t have buildings rich in history, it’s just much younger than London. There’s that industrial revolution and cast iron history that also adds to the character of these beautiful loft style apartments that NYC has to offer, as well as many newly built buildings which London doesn’t necessarily have the room for. I find both cities extremely compelling and challenging in their own rights.
It’s London for my company because that is where I happened to be when I decided to start my own company – and why not here? It’s a wonderful place to start a company –international, well connected and the market value makes for a good investment.
How does it feel to have had a hand in creating part of New York’s skyline?
You must be referring to when I was a part of Herzog de Mueron who designed 56 Leonard Street. It’s a real beauty and I am very proud to have played my small part and excited to see that it is a success.
Have you had to change the way you work significantly on becoming a founder, rather than following someone else’s direction?
The biggest change is the work hours; I don’t work anymore, I live it. There are the drawbacks: not being able to plan a vacation or a weekend for that matter! But there are massive upsides: I love that I can think of a great idea and have enough momentum to just do it without needing someone’s approval. I also love listening to my team members and having everyone contribute to the company.
What sort of style is your own home done up in?
I spend far more time with my job than my home, so unfortunately it is still a work in progress. I made a lot of connections with mid-century furniture dealers (with my last client) – as a result, a lot of the pieces are mid-century Scandinavian mixed with some affordable high street pieces. I also love adding antique pieces and international pieces from when I travel. I also have some furniture pieces that my company designed. My true passion is art and painting, so I have all of my artwork adorning the walls.
We are currently looking to buy a place though – since we have our own contractors and design team, it wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t take advantage of that!
What is your favourite room in your house?
My bedroom, its not that fancy, but everything is white, with large pillows and it faces a rustic garden. It’s always cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It has a large window and I always feel at peace there.
And, what’s on the cards for the company in the future?
In five years, fingers crossed, we will be pretty big. At the rate we are growing right now, we already have to get a new space and expand our team by double its current size and it’s only been nine months. I don’t ever want to be so big that we aren’t delivering a well thought out project and we become a human fax machine. I want to remain small enough to give all of our clients our personal attention but big enough that we can handle multiple large projects at any given time. I hope that in five years we will have explored the idea of development and new build.
