In the third of the series of Sofa Chats, top interior designer Daniel Hopwood talks about his relationship with us and the importance of the timeless design of the Minotti furniture.
Daniel’s skills as an architect and interior designer are evident in his use of efficient space planning to turn what could be a challenging space into a celebration of versatile design and living in multipurpose spaces. His signature blend of rich colours and versatile furniture choices.
Hit the play button below to watch the full conversation, or read the full transcript below:
Daniel Hopwood: ‘My name’s Daniel Hopwood. I’m an interior designer. I’ve been designing and running my own company for 27 years now, which is actually about how long Minotti’s been around in London. And I came here in the early days on the quest for perfect furniture, and way back then there wasn’t so many interesting things around.
The problem you have as a designer is trying to find pieces of furniture, which are really comfortable, beautifully made, and at the same time, and this is the really elusive thing, is actually are very stylish. Now, Minotti does that for me. And so it’s an easy sell because it’s a natural sell. I can just say to a client, “Come down to the showroom,” because you’ve got to go and sit in them. “Come and sit in a sofa.” And they come back telling me that they want them.
I think one of the key things about buying a piece of furniture is you need to see it. So many people rely on the internet, then they get the thing delivered and realise it’s not the colour they’re expecting, and it’s not got the quality that they’re expecting. And also, it’s about sitting in something. You’re going to be sitting in that for long periods of time.
Now, what’s great about Minotti, they’ve got a fantastic showroom. It’s in Central London. It looks great and it’s a nice place to be. So I suggest if you’re going to invest in Minotti, come and sit in it.
I think when you take a brand like Minotti, which is seen around the world and is very stylish, but it’s globally stylish. And I think about the Brits, we’re just that bit different. We are a little bit quirky. We’re quite independent.
It’s an island nation after all. So you’ve got to twist it and play a game with it. And that’s what I’ve done. There’s a number of projects where I’ve thrown an overscaled piece of Minotti furniture into quite a tiny room and covered it in some turmeric yellow, as naughty as anything. And actually, I think I pulled it off. It works.
My advice when you’re buying furniture, especially if you’re young: invest. Don’t go and buy a piece that you’re going to throw away in four years time, because that’s a very expensive piece of furniture.
Get something that you can live with, something that you can reupholster multiple times. And if you get someone like me, I’m actually realising that I’ve had pieces of furniture in my home for over 30 years and I still love it.’
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