Seeing our students’ success is our biggest joy. After first unleashing their creativity through our outstanding courses, watching them use their skills and knowledge in the real world is amazing. A perfect example of this is former Diploma in Professional Interior Design student, Zoe Perks. Last year, she entered and won the Best Interior Room Set at Grand Designs Live 2018, at the Birmingham NEC. The 4 day live event offers visitors top expert advice, new product launches and specialist exhibitors in six project zones. We caught up with Zoe to discuss this brilliant achievement, of which all of us at the NDA are so proud.
Based in Redditch, Worcestershire, Zoe describes herself as a “hands-on, roll-your-sleeves-up Interior Designer & Decorator” who feels completely comfortable in many areas of interior design. This extends to painting walls, hammering furniture and planning room layouts. All these skills she learnt and perfected with the National Design Academy.
Since gaining her Diploma with us, Zoe has gone on to start her own business ‘Beautiful Rooms by Zoe’, which she proudly runs by herself. No big team or studio, just Zoe and her passionate hard work. She truly values the consultation process of designing and loves getting to know her clients. One of the benefits of working with an independent decorator like Zoe is the close relationship you can develop.
Using all the skills she’d gained on the Diploma in Professional Interior Design, and following that as an independent businesswoman, she entered Grand Designs Live in November 2018 only 18 months after starting her own business. Speaking of the competition, Zoe writes on her website:
Responding to the brief ‘designs by you’ my aim was to create the ultimate inner sanctuary; a bedroom with a bath, set in muted greens and dusky pinks against a backdrop of old worn plaster to give an aged French vibe. A place to truly shut away the stresses of the day and relax, with soft luxurious textures of linen, velvet and silk, against smooth metals and satiny glass.
We have another video with Zoe to come about how she switched her career to interior design and her experience on the Diploma. Stay tuned for that, coming on our social media channels very soon!
To find out more about the National Design Academy’s Diploma in Professional Interior Design, click here.
To visit Zoe’s website, click here.
