Interview with Argyro Vlachou from the United Kingdom

The Artistic Architectural Designs of the 2023 London Design Awards
July 21, 2023
Krittin Leelakritsadakorn | London Design Awards
Interview with Krittin Leelakritsadakorn from Thailand
July 25, 2023

Argyro Vlachou

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!


Interview With The 2023 London Design Awards Winner – Argyro Vlachour

1Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.

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.

2What made you become/why did you choose to become a designer/artist?

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.

3Tell us more about your agency/company, job profile, and what you do.

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.

4What does “design” mean to you?
For us, design is a process where it is really important to bring people together, to create places from our heart. We believe that through the contents and the details of people’s lives, the most memorable spaces emerge.
5What’s your favorite kind of design and why?
The one that uplifts your energy, enhances beauty, embraces imperfections and stimulates all your senses. The places you feel you belong.
6To you, what makes a “good” design?
Good design is design with empathy. We need to find the "Why" behind our choices that is rooted to our values, our beliefs and desires. Then we create design with a purpose, we create a unique story.
7 How did you come up with the idea for your award-winning design?

“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.

8What was your main source of inspiration for this design?
The arch in the middle of the two parts of the shop where we connected the retail with the seating area. The curves brought gentleness and comfort, inviting you to seat, relax and enjoy your treats.
9Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?
Yes, of course. Greece has such a rich cultural history that definitely impacted my design process. Great architects and philosophers embraced simplicity, harmony, human nature, hospitality and togetherness. Light and shadow, topos, raw materials are some of the subjects we study for each project.
10Congratulations! As the winner of the London Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?

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.

11Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2023 London Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
A great concept with a strong character and clear vision. It combines 5 different elements, chocolates, nuts, pastries, sweets and wines. People can walk around, smell, touch and choose whatever they desire. The seating area is where they can enjoy their treats as they watch people move, taste, smell and offer the delicacies to all customers. All the products are presented like being in a gallery, where everything is unique, with rich value and attention to excellence.
12What were the main challenges you faced during the design process, and how did you overcome them?
The planning permission took more time than we thought so we needed to open the shop with the current shopfront. When we got the permission we closed the shop for a few days to complete the work and installation.
13How do you think winning this award will impact your future as a designer?
This award will give me more courage, resilience and passion to follow my design career and influence more people to follow a more humanistic approach in the design industry.
14What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?

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.

15Where do you see the evolution of design industry going over the next 5-10 years?
Design needs to be close to human nature. Needs to focus on our wellbeing and how we can create environments that enhance and express humanity.
16What advice do you have for aspiring designers who want to create award-winning designs?

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.

17What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the design industry?
Travel, read books from philosophy to design, architecture and poetry, visit art galleries, sketch, walk to nature, draw and paint.
18Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
I will write a book about "the art of making a home".
19Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Many people inspired me through my life journey. Firstly my parents, my husband and my two kids. But also may friends and people that live their life with courage, generosity, authenticity, resilience, passion, love, kindness and true purpose.
20What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?

"None belongs here more than you."

-B. Brown-

Winning Entry

Fyome Patisserie | 2023

Fyome Patisserie | Argyro Vlachour

“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

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.

 

Muse.World