Studio Cord is an Interior Design Studio founded by Argyro Vlachou. The Studio is based in London, UK where I moved from Greece 9 years ago. I have a Bachelor's degree in Interior Design. Most of my experience comes through my mentor's and people's stories. My design guru Ilse Crawford but also G. Bachelard, Alice Munro, C. Perriand, P. Zumthor, H. D. Thoreau, A. Konstantinidis and so many more.
With 20 years of experience in the Interior Design industry, we focus on residential and commercial projects around the world. Studio Cord was born after my deep desire to put human needs at the centre of everything we do. We make places that enhance and express humanity. Design is a frame for our living.
I lived and grew in a nurtured environment where my parents were both creative and open to my desires. There was always a messy big table to draw, make crafts and explore our own creativity. I had a really strong sense of home in those early years, a soulful environment that gave me confidence, calmness, openness and freedom.
Bringing this sense to my projects was the main reason I became a designer. I also wanted to bring people together, to design places where they feel they belong.
I am the founder of Studio Cord, where is based in Surrey, UK.
Empathy through design is our mission. We see places as active sources of emotion and sensation. We explore memory, atmosphere, topos, light, materials, forms, sounds as key elements of the environment we create.
The way we treat our place, the way it feels is a reflection of who we are. Our space is a vessel of life. We focus on Residential and Commercial projects but we also organise Workshops and Retreats about the meaning of “home” and how it affects our life and wellbeing.
“Without foreknowledge of her doom, she must have said to herself, Just one seed, and then tasted it, and then another, until she had consumed all seven, the juice staining her lips crimson.”
Jill Bialosky-
We started creating the Fyome story having that poem in mind. A strong sense of taste, something that will create a sweet memory. We aimed to create a curated collection of unique products. Gourmet nuts, dry fruits, chocolates, pastries and desserts.
People can walk around, smell, touch and choose whatever they desire. They will enter a place where timeless design is combined with timeless quality and craftsmanship.
It is an honour to win this award. But it is also a reminder that working hard, having a clear vision and mission in everything you do pays off. This is an award for my clients and my team who worked enormously hard to achieve this result. Their dedication to excellence brought us so far.
This is also a message for the design industry that I serve now for more than 20 years. My mission is to create human-centered emotional places, not just spaces. My aim is to connect people to a space, make them feel good and carry that feeling with them and most importantly in them.
1) Through design I connected more with myself, my true needs, values and desires. Exploring those elements with my clients, finding what makes them truly happy and content is my goal.
2) Each project is a unique story. There is never a same concept or idea. This is what makes design beautiful to me.
3) Through design and the way we live, we improve our wellbeing.
Find your purpose. Find your "why". I found mine when I moved from Greece to UK where I lost my sense of home. I had to go back to my childhood and find what were the places, the people, the tastes, the sounds, the smells that gave me that sense of home.
Finding my own way was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I found so much meaning through my choices, I found me and a new genuine way of living. If you want to create genuine design, you need to find a purpose, a reason that drives you to create meaningful environments.
"None belongs here more than you."
-B. Brown-
“Without foreknowledge of her doom, she must have said to herself, Just one seed, and then tasted it, and then another, until she had consumed all seven, the juice staining her lips crimson.” Jill Bialosky …
(Read more at London Design Awards)
Argyro Vlachour founded Studio Cord, an interior design studio based in London and has a collective experience of 20 years in the interior design industry with a focus in residential and commercial project that takes her around the world!
Read more about this interview with Xuefeng Li from United States ,the Platinum Winner of the 2023 London Design Awards.