Ever wondered about looking around the houses of the most fashionable residents in the UK? In the personal space, we delve into design and examine the mood boards of industry insiders to understand how they plan their own space. From luxury discoveries in designer boutiques to second-hand shopping secrets, we ask experts about interior design tips to make their homes home. Next, Belma Gaudio, founder of Designer Boutique Koibird Take us through how her love of color and experimentation has influenced the store’s futuristic new redesign.
How do you describe Koibird’s interior design style approach?
Koibird’s style reflects what it offers in fashion. Bold, unique, colorful items with unexpected design elements, adventurous and personal feel, perfect for those who want their living spaces to be like art galleries or vibrant precious spaces, full of treasures and personal expressions. Whether it’s glassware, vase, lighter, mat, plate or anything, they all have a fun feeling, wit and handmade style.
If we were going to walk into the store on any day, what might we see?
Design Studio Protect Koibird Boutique was overhauled this season in Marylebone, London, introducing an eclectic gradient color scheme and including a giant planetary sculpture and floors made of painted lava stone. In the main room of the store, a bright futuristic palette is mixed with green in pink and purple, with a surprising disco behind it for the interior sections, all disco-style mosaics are included.
As Uchronia said, silver represents transformation, a visual metaphor that defines the evolution and versatility of Koibird’s identity. New to this season is the KOI11 Nutritional Cafe, which is located within the store under its unique molecular purple brand, and also has 11 menus that include supplements and nutritious key drinks and sweets.
(Photo source: Koibird)
Koibird’s style reflects what it offers in fashion. Bold, unique, colorful items with unexpected design elements, adventurous and personal feel…
Now, what aesthetic style, era or atmosphere is what speaks the most to you?
I really like what Uchronia does now in interior decoration, introducing a lot of color and romp, but in an adult, delicate way without looking childish. I love new and fun ways to play with colors in the space that are elevated and reminiscent of contemporary art painting.
What are the best locations for London stores?
We are located in the amazing Marylebone Lane, which has a huge energy and a true sense of fashion community. With so many restaurants, coffee shops and shops we feel we are in the ideal community of our brand. Our immersive store experience has always been a store appeal, a unique place to discover new things, and now, with the increase in KOI11, we are spreading this sense of discovery into food and drinks.
I think the way forward for retail space is to bring all the different experiences consumers want to have when entering the space, including discovering new fashions, cool new objects, and enjoying health-driven, visually tempting drinks and snacks.
What are the best purchases you have invested in your store recently?
One new clothing brand we are very excited about is the French luxury upgrade brand Francoise, which emphasizes sustainability by creating unique pieces from luxury old-fashioned fabrics in Paris. The collection includes silk dresses, tailor-made shirts, modern ditch coats, all dedicated to craftsmanship.
We are also excited to bring Giovanni Gerosa this season, an Italian luxury brand whose crochet dresses, silk shirts and knitted outfits all feature their unique texture and vibrant color palette. The series is a bit like a dream, and is a journey of unique and special colored, handmade clothes.
Whose internal screenshots we might find in the folder you saved as Inspo?
My inspiration folder is Very Huge, I’m not inspired by any style or era, but it’s from all kinds of old-fashioned images to Verner Panton, Jacques Lagrange, Studio Peregalli, Wes Anderson, Wes Anderson, Jacques Lacoste Gallery and I love the overall of Instagram Mix together @__dreamspacesand @decorhardcore.
How do you refresh the internal trends of each season?
It’s very based on a feeling, mood, theme, but always loyal to the brand. It is powered by travel destinations from the shops in the past, where the destination location theme is very strong. But since Covid, we have stopped focusing on that and started working on more general themes and inspiration from films to hosting party themes and then turning more people into artistic focus. Over the past few years, the store has focused on artistic collaborations, such as with Mexican artist Rafael Uriegas, who painted the entire store in one of his murals, which we used to have with New York City in the past The Salon 94 collaboration features our Korean concept Kwangho Lee. This season, we just want a fresh, cosmic, futuristic atmosphere to complement the addition of the cafe, and Uchronia brings it to life.
The recently opened KOI 11 Nutrition Bar gives shoppers the opportunity to experience shopping and drink adaptive and probiotic foods and drinks. How did you come up with the concept of healthy space and what does it mean for Koibird?
Koibird’s purpose is a sense of discovery and find something unique, fun, aspiring that we want to convert into food and drinks. Personally, I am a foodie but also very focused, and when I go to a cafe I am often at a loss because most people carry the same drinks I don’t drink (such as coffee or bad quality matcha) fatty milk , filled with additives, syrups and snacks are all very sugary and high in content, and always contain dates, bananas and unnecessary fats that are not nutritious in the amount consumed. So I wanted to create an exciting, fresh, different, innocent and nutritious food and drink place. When the break is put in, it is the perfect place for drinks and snacks in the middle of the morning or afternoon, and instead of eating a full dessert, you want to enjoy nourishment. I wanted a place where I could wonder if there were no bad drinks and bites in it. They are delicious!
What are your favorite items on the menu?
Depends on the time of day! I don’t actually like coffee, but I like our adaptive coffee, called your feeling, because it has a mixture in it called happiness that promotes hormone balance and mood. I also like our fig leaves and apple apple cider vinegar tisane, called Suga Killa, which has amazing blood sugar benefits and because I am a protein shake drinker (only at home, as I often find in external locations, they are Usually full of bad things!), I also like our matcha and UBE collagen shakes called Beauty and A Beast.
(Photo source: Koibird)
What is your favorite trend in shopping in Koibird right now?
We are not really fitting into the trend, nor shopping trends, but if I had to choose my favorite theme in the store, I would say crochet and handmade items are favorites. We also had a special artist collaboration in March, which involved a production of vases and boats that looked like they were made of sugar! This is a favorite brand that appeared exclusively in March.
Where do you personally like to shop the most:
– Retro/Ancient: Reset,,,,, Jean Vintage,,,,, locker room For old fashions, Rose uniacke, Golborne 44and apartment For antiques. Sea anemone interior For some people wilderness Works from the 1980s. For antiques, I often go to auction. Priceless treasure is an excellent application for a variety of smaller auctions.
– Affordable fragments: this Collagen Website It is a market with high and low, carefully planned market. I also like Etsy to learn about cute things, even small, old-fashioned ornaments like the Lemoges Portelain Little Files statue or the old Belleek China.
– Luxury investment worksThe firsteveryone there has something.
– Finished textiles, accessories and decorative: I tend to look for antique textiles where possible, my favorite is Lucky and Rubelli Fabric. I love Uchronia’s furniture and accessories to add a bit of fun, and then my many decorative fishing touches are Koibird or random antiques that I’m in auctions, markets, and mostly on travel. There is also a cute feed on Instagram called Octopus with cute little stuff. In the United States, I always browse Houses and parties!. Such a fun online store.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to redecorate the space?
– Small changes can make a big difference. Transfer furniture to different locations, different rooms. It makes things fresh and maybe you find something better.
– New paint colors can also make a big difference, maybe experimenting with borders around door frames or wallpaper on bookshelf, stripes on the floor, etc. Painting or decorating bones can be changed to a large extent. You can then add small decorative items such as cushions, blankets, trays, books, candle holders. I tend to like the subject or animals, and then I started collecting things on that subject and now it’s a cock!
– If you want to do a bigger rework, make sure you make it clear that it always takes more time and effort than you originally thought! Be honest from the start the steps it is going to take.
– Renovation is a rebirth. It’s an opportunity to have fresh and new blank canvas, which is really exciting because life doesn’t give us a lot. So if you break up, if you are frustrated, if you are going to move in a different direction in life, if you live in a space, then you won’t really reflect who you are, or the energy in your space is not good (This doesn’t make you happy, calm and satisfied) and you should definitely redecorate.
Shopping Belma style:
Koibird
Lola James Harper Room Spray
Koibird
Phaidon Cafe Cecilia Recipe
Koibird
&klevering twisted candlestick
Koibird
Koibird Lol Mayeras Hoodie Vase
Koibird
Wavey Casa Eco Soy Fuck Candle
Koibird
cajal flower liqueur glasses
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