'I am hauted by a passion to build.' Jean Pouvre.
Luxury Home Canada takes its readers into residences large and small, showcasing the people, projects, designs and products that make up the custom home industry.
"The story
of Robert Bailey Interiors must begin with the story of Robert Bailey,"
reads the opening of a strategic storyline that documents the trajectory of the
interior design firm (http://robertbaileyinteriors.ca/). So let us turn first to Robert Bailey. Upon being
asked why he became a designer, Bailey responds: “I was born this way.” Many of
his earliest memories involve “arranging things to appeal to a personal sense
of rightness” and in particular, he credits his mother “for her unending
support and encouragement, which gave [him] permission to follow this passion.”
One thing
followed the next, Bailey’s passion at the same time became his vocation, and
eventually led him to found his company, Robert Bailey Interiors. “My designer
instincts began as primarily about style,” he explains, “but over time have
evolved to prioritize the people who inhabit our work.”
Robert Bailey
Interiors focuses on highly customized, client and site-specific design. “The
work of our office is primarily residential, with a lesser percentage of
hospitality, retail and commercial work,” Bailey notes. “We work in a
contemporary manner for lifestyles of today.” However, he also highlights that his
company does not work exclusively in a modern style; on the contrary, “most of
our work is a blend of styles, resulting in a very personal portrait of our
clients and their desires,” he adds.
According to
Bailey, it is this fact that makes his company particularly unique and
successful. “We offer very personal service to our clients. And work very much
in a collaborative style,” he explains. “We also 'own' our clients
program and always put ourselves in their place, never designing without their
needs being addressed.” Although each project is different, it is the norm that
Bailey’s clients are involved throughout the design process in varying degrees.
In fact,
Bailey’s inspiration frequently stems from his clients. “Inspiration comes in
many forms, but usually the jumping off point is our client(s),” he observes.
“As projects proceed they take on a life of their own, and the project itself
becomes the inspiration.”
Both the Fairmont Penthouse and the Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC, could
be considered such projects that took on a life of their own. With regards to
the former, Bailey explains that the clients “are an international couple,
whose global business bring them to Vancouver several times per year.” In terms
of the objective for the project, he adds that with the penthouse, he and his
team sought “to create a refined, peaceful interior, that reflected our clients
goals for a visually quiet space that is at once luxurious and comfortable.”
At Deep Cove, in turn, Bailey explains that the goal “was to create a
contemporary pacific home to be lived in, by an active family and their
guests.” (Specifically, the clients are a young family with two pre-school
children and two dogs). “The house was built ground up, and every aspect of the
design was considered as part of the whole,” Bailey affirms.
As is the case
with the Fairmont Penthouse, almost all of the furniture was designed
especially for Deep Cove North Vancouver, including custom soft and case pieces.
All in all,
Bailey considers all of his projects rewarding on different levels. The
“satisfaction for me is not comparable, as each experience is unique,” he
explains. There is, however, a common denominator throughout: “The most
rewarding principle of our design, is longevity,” Bailey affirms.
