Louise Frostick, senior designer at Inspace Complete, tells Victoria Madine about the highs and lows of working for a fledgling interior design company
When did your employer start business, and what kind of role do you have?
My employer Inspace Complete started life just five months ago and now employs seven people. It鈥檚 establishing itself as the design arm of Wilmott Dixon鈥檚 fit-out business, which is called Inspace Interiors. Inspace Complete offers a complete turnkey interior design service to smaller clients for whom it wouldn鈥檛 be cost-effective to go for a consultant-led approach.

My particular job involves all sorts of activities. I take client briefs, create space analysis reports and then use CAD to space plan and come up with layouts. I also produce the plans, visuals, design schemes, boards for presentation and upon winning a job I compile the working drawings. These include power, details and logistics.

What do you think are the advantages of working for a small company?
It鈥檚 very fast-moving so the days go quickly and I鈥檓 never bored. I also get to do a greater variety of jobs than I鈥檇 be able to do in a large company. I get involved in laminating, and pricing design schemes, which I probably wouldn鈥檛 get a chance to do elsewhere. As we鈥檙e a small team, everyone also gets a say in how the business develops 鈥� we all designed the company鈥檚 brochure and its logo. All this is great experience, and it鈥檚 just as well I have a lot on my plate 鈥� I鈥檓 a lively character.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
The variety. I find the design work actually comes quite naturally to me.

It鈥檚 very fast-moving so I鈥檓 never bored. It鈥檚 just as well I鈥檝e got a lot on my plate 鈥� I鈥檓 a lively character

Does anything get you stressed out?
The amount of responsibility that goes along with my job can be very stressful. I face all sorts of demands every day, so I need to be very focused. But I find everything enjoyable as well, so it鈥檚 not too bad. I鈥檓 still able to switch off when I get home

What are your plans for the future?
I鈥檇 like to rise to design associate, and then design director with Inpace Complete. After that, I suppose I鈥檇 go global. I鈥檓 not sure! But whatever I do, I want to enjoy it.

Louise Frostick

Age
27
Current job
Senior interior designer with Inspace Complete
Employment history
Graduated in 1996; worked for a variety of space-planning consultants
Qualifications
BA in interior design and architecture
Lives
Essex