Q&A with Laylah Holmes

Creative Director of Holmes Bespoke

I sat down with Laylah of Holmes Bespoke to learn a bit more about her style, her creative process and how she became a bespoke rug designer. Laylah started her own business from the ground up, whilst raising her daughters and has completed projects for clients internationally. Most notably, bespoke designs for The Hoxton brand, The luxury Austrian Hotel Schloss Mönchstein and Boat & Co in Amsterdam.

Tell me about how you became a designer. What led you here.

I did my degree in fashion design and went on to work in the fashion industry for a number of years, for the most part at Ralph Lauren. I had an amazing time and learnt a lot but found myself wanting something different. I had always loved interiors so decided to retrain in interior design. I worked for a selection of Interior design studios but ultimately I always knew I wanted to work for myself. I dabbled in furniture and accessory design whilst working for a Chelsea based design studio, so when an opportunity came up to freelance for a rug company, I decided to go for it. I quickly decided I’d found my niche and fast forward a few years, I took a leap of faith and launched Holmes Bespoke. I was very lucky to have some loyal clients who took a chance on me and supported me in the early stages, I’m very thankful for that.

How would you describe your style?

I would say my style is contemporary and quite feminine, I love colour and texture. In my own home I like to mix contemporary and classic, and layer print, colour and texture. In terms of my work, I try to offer something unique and different from my contemporaries. I like that I can offer a variety of different techniques; hand-tufted, hand-knotted and hand-woven; this allows me to work on all sorts of projects with a wide range in style. I believe in liveable luxury with a real emphasis on original design and quality craftsmanship.

How do you begin a project? Describe to me your creative process.

It really depends on the project; some clients will come to me with inspirational images that they’d like me to interpret. Others will present a concept or scheme and ask me to design the rugs from scratch, which I love as it means I get to be really creative. I have an extensive sample library with over 300 designs so lots of clients will look through these for inspiration and they may just alter the colour, fibre or the scale of the pattern. My weavers are amazing and we can create almost any design you can dream up!

Where do you look for ideas; do you follow trends?

When it comes to designing my own collections, I notice trends and take inspiration from what’s around me. I am very lucky to have some amazing interior designers as my clients so I am often inspired by the projects I work on. My own collections seem to take on a life of their own, take ‘Storm’, for example, it was one of my first designs, it has now been reinterpreted to fit so many different spaces over the years but it is still one of my most popular.

Finally, can you share any upcoming projects?

I’ve got a very exciting collaboration coming up; I’ve teamed up with Lucy from Barlow & Barlow to design an amazing collection of rugs that is due to launch in October...watch this space! I am also working on two hotel projects at the moment which are super exciting and I cannot wait to share. We will also be showcasing lots of fresh new designs at Decorex this Autumn so please SAVE THE DATE 10-13th October and come & say hello!