1. Beautiful photography of modern interiors captured by Michael Wells via Plastolux.

2. This interview with brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec on the Magis Facebook page.

3. Impressed by the launch of the new home decor site Domaine (and glad to see its love for Charles and Ray Eames).

4. Inspired by clue #4 in our “Everywhere in Your Day” contest: “Insane Photos Snapped From Kites” from Architizer.

5. “Brilliant Words of Advice from 14 Great Graphic Designers” (including Charles Eames) via Co.Design.

6. Contemporist’s feature on the simple elegance of Casa Sulla Morella by Studio Cittaarchitettura in Castelnovo di Sotto, Italy.

7. The fluorescent shades of green, yellow, and blue in this sports hall design in the Netherlands by Slangen + Koenis Architects (via Dezeen).

8. “Bold, punchy, in-your-face sculptures” by artist Matt W. Moore featured at It’s Nice That.

9. Interior Design‘s look back at the ”greatest hits” of Maharam, the textile company recently acquired by Herman Miller.

10. Don’t forget: May 5 is the last day to enter for a chance to win in our “Everywhere in Your Day” contest. Click here to find out more.

Featured in photo: Eames Desk Unit, Eames Storage Unit, and Eames Molded Plastic Chair by Charles and Ray Eames

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? For nine years. London EC1. It’s an area that is a lively mixture of residential and business, so even though I work at home, it doesn’t feel like it.

How would you define your aesthetic? Modernist, but not at the expense of content. I try to be informationally organized, but visually interesting.

How do you keep your work space organized? Books on the shelf. Papers and notes for current projects on the desk next to the computer. Everything else in boxes along the wall. And unfortunately the thousands of things that don’t fit into those categories in piles on the floor. I suspect, like many designers, I have extreme hoarding tendencies and can amass all sorts of things ‘that might just come in handy.’ However, if someone is coming for a meeting, I will clean up fairly ruthlessly in order to give the illusion of a calm, ordered, desirable environment.

When you set up your home office what did you have to keep in mind? Were there any particular obstacles to overcome? I think my office is the nicest room in the house, with big floor-to-ceiling windows — and as I have to sit here all day, it should be! When I started working from home, my son was very small, so it had to be somewhere that could be cut off so he couldn’t spot me. (It’s worth pointing out he was being looked after by someone while I was working; I wasn’t just hiding.) We did a bit of space re-configuring, built a wall, and now there are two doors between the office and the rest of our home. But the interior of room evolved — it hasn’t been planned or designed as such. I just needed a desk and computer and got on with it. Maybe it’s a bit like a lot of people in fashion who wear black; I expend most of my creative energy on other people.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet right now? I will confirm the designer stereotype and say the Eames Desk Unit.

What desk accessory can’t you do without? A box (not strictly a desk accessory, I guess). I always seem to need one to put something in, either pencils and drawing things or samples or just for bits. I am only just beginning to realize there is no perfect box. The other thing is one of those really heavy metal sellotape dispensers. I don’t have one as I can’t face carrying it back from the stationery shop, but I really want one. Perhaps I should order one online.

What would you change about your work space? More storage, of course. But I don’t want to see it, so it would have to be invisible. If that’s not possible, a walk-in stationery cupboard would be really brilliant.

You established your firm in 2002. What led to that point? For the previous 18 or so years, I had worked in different design companies. When my son Hal was born, I didn’t want to go back full-time so I started working for myself — initially around three days a week and now pretty much full-time again. But it’s my full time, not someone else’s. But maybe the most important thing is I wanted to choose who I worked for and with.

What drove your decision to live in London? I was born in Auckland, NZ. When I was 21, I wanted to go to London and work in design. In the early 1990s, it seemed to me to be where lots of interesting design work was happening. So I did, and I am still here.

How does working from home impact your work? It’s really nice. I don’t have to spend any time commuting. I spent many years working in offices with lots of other people, which I loved — but I don’t miss it now. I spend a lot of time collaborating with clients or other designers, so uninterrupted design time still feels like a bit of luxury.

What and who inspires you? When I was a student and when I started working, it was designers or artists, because I was still learning what design was and needed to see lots of visual things and understand them. Now it can be almost anyone or anything, from car boot sales to fossils.

What about your work has changed since becoming a parent? As I have much less time, I have to be extremely compartmentalized about everything. With design, playing around is a good thing — you often need that extra time to explore things. But as I have to be very efficient with my time, there isn’t as much time to do that as I would like, so I tend visualize things in my head or try to work out solutions to things when I am not at work. This probably makes me look a bit pre-occupied a lot of the time.

What drives your creative decisions? Problem-solving.

Photos: Marcia Mihotich