Sylvia/Jenny Odam-Mitchell

I am very sad to write that Sylvia/Jenny Odam-Mitchell died in January after spending time in hospital. Sylvia was not able to return home to Bexhill-on-Sea and moved to the Avalon Nursing Home in Eastbourne where she died a short time after. 

As many of you will remember, she played a huge part in our careers, not only as the design director, along with her husband, John Odam, at the Inchbald School of Design 1-year Interior Design course but also as a strong voice on the IDDA committee, particularly where further education and ID development of members were concerned.

I had been in touch with her over the years.  We went to the Inchbald end-of-year exhibitions together and I would take Rosemary Hamilton to visit her in Seaford.  I carried on visiting her in her residential home in Bexhill on Sea and then in her flat at Northern Hotel where she was very content, surrounded by all her mementos and within sounds of the sea.

What I loved about Jenny was that she was always so interested in everybody and everything, particularly in what I and other ex-Inchbald students were doing.  She did not waste time on talking about herself, but she always took great care with her presentation, with bold, bright-coloured clothes, neat hair, and polished nails.  She was a true stalwart, facing really very difficult physical handicaps in her latter years.

Kate Ainslie-Williams, BIID Member

I always looked forward to my annual chats with Sylvia. She would call the office and insist she had to speak to me and I would update her with all the Institute business as she was not familiar with the use of modern technology. Sylvia remained enthusiastic with the development and changes of the Institute and I would always ensure that the AGM paperwork was sent through to her by post annually.

Sylvia contributed enormously to the Institute and the interior design industry: She served on Council for 20 years until October 1998 including as Chairman for the IDDA Charitable Trust during the 1980s raising funds in excess of £20k with the committee; Sylvia undertook to set the organisations Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme; Sylvia was the Chair of the interview panel setting out the guidelines and implementation of the assessment procedure for new members; Sylvia was passionate about water conservation in all its aspects and recycling and reclamation including working on consuming manufacturers to build-in biodegradable properties into their products and merchandise.

In 2005 Sylvia was awarded the first of our BIID Honorary Fellowships. Sylvia was extremely proud of this moment.

Joy Curniffe, Membership Manager