BIID Member Gilly Craft of Koubou Interiors wins award for charity project

A life-enhancing charity project, visited by Royalty, has landed a prestigious international award for Interior Design consultants Koubou Interiors.

Crowthorne based Koubou Interiors has won the Best Public Service Interior category of the UK Property Awards after completing a design project aimed to improve the lives of disabled children and their families in Berkshire.

Koubou beat off competition from all over the UK to win the Rolls Royce sponsored award after completing their unique design project for “Our House” a new dedicated day centre for disabled children and their families in Wokingham.

The new centre was opened in May this year by the Earl and Countess of Wessex who commented on how impressed they were with Koubou’s design.

“The Countess even felt comfortable enough to kick off her shoes and climb into the Sensory Room with the children,” recalled Gilly Craft, Managing Director of Koubou Interiors who ran the award-winning design project with her team of three along with numerous outside contractors.”

The visit was timed to coincide with Prince Edward’s 50th Birthday and Gilly was given a chance to meet the Royal couple during the event.

Gilly and her team received the UK Property Award earlier this month at a glittering event held at the London Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel, attended by a host of property developers, architects and interior designers.

Koubou has now been put forward to represent the UK in the 2014-2015 International Property Awards, competing against interior designers from all over the world. The “World’s Best” Property Awards will be revealed at a second glamorous awards ceremony in Dubai on December 4th.

Gilly Commented: “When we were commissioned to design and project manage the interior of a centre that improves the lives of disabled children and their families, we felt like winners already. To get the Royal seal of approval during the opening was also terrific. So when we heard we had won this very high profile award, we all felt on Cloud Nine.”

“I don’t think we’ve come back down to earth yet and it’s proved a fantastic way to celebrate our 10th year in business,” she added.

Koubou’s detailed submission for the award described how the project had to completed within a very tight timescale of just four months and to a very strict budget as the charity was reliant on public donations.

Undeterred by either of these challenges, Gilly and her team set about creating a bespoke design for “Our House” to create a versatile and stimulating space for all users to enjoy. The design focused on a central pod with a series of separate activity pods flowing through the space to incorporate a sensory room, therapy room, soft play area, TV and chill out areas for teenagers, computer areas and an office. The separate pods were made identifiable through clever use of colour so that children could identify each zone with a different colour.

 “Use of colour was an important consideration for the design,” explained Gilly, an interior designer for 15  years who set up Koubou 10 years ago in 2004.

 “For example, the orange floor was continued throughout so children could associate this with play. The colour orange also relates to social stimulation and is a warm and inviting shade,” she added. Whilst the centre pod was in orange, a range of colours were used throughout the design.

 The overall design with its curved shape was created to provide a free-flowing environment which would be welcoming and calming for children and their families.

 “Our overall aim was to provide a sturdy but fun multi-purpose space which was aesthetically pleasing and provided a variety of services to the centre,” said Gilly.  “Many of the walls ‘hug’ the children providing a safe and nurturing environment. When we provided our initial designs to the trustees, they were bowled over by our designs so it was full steam ahead straight away.”

 “We feel we achieved our aim in providing a safe haven for families of disabled children where they can support one another. I can honestly say it was the most satisfying project I have ever done,” added Gilly.

“Everyone worked incredibly hard to get ready for the grand opening, often working evenings and weekends and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my team and the local business community to whom I owe a huge thank you,” she concluded.

 Karen Woolford, Trustee of Building for the Future which set up ‘Our House’ said: “Koubou have given us an amazing and inspirational space for our disabled children to play in!

We are so pleased we carried through Koubou’s services to project manage the refurbishment, which took a lot of stress off our hands! The project was managed with a high level of professionalism and any challenges along the way were quickly overcome by researching ingenious solutions.”