Sometimes sitting in the studio it’s hard to feel inspired when it’s pouring with rain, all I want to do is hibernate with a cup of tea and sink into my desk hoping that a great design will magically appear in my mind.

In reality pulling together sample boards for client presentations should showcase new and exciting ideas which can’t be found staring at a computer screen. That’s when a trip to Chelsea Harbour Design Centre usually springs to mind – interior design heaven.

‘Che Harbs’ as I like to call it, is the home of high-end interior supplies that is always buzzing with designers; familiar faces all eagerly exploring new collections.

Home to 99 showrooms and hundreds of brands it can be a bit overwhelming if you haven’t got a basic design concept in mind. Therefore I tend to bring with a few mood pages of interiors and fabric samples from the studio and aim to build upon those to create schemes. The design centre is split into three-glass domes, divided over a few floors.

The circular domes have a spectacular glass spiral staircase that sweeps through the middle overlooking the floors below and the natural light peeping through the glass domes above.

To set myself up for a day of productivity I relaxed in the design cafe with a large vanilla latte before the search began. Caffeine hit is usually needed before the exploration takes off.

I searched through the latest fabrics, flicking through books, sprawling amongst hanging fabric displays and collecting sample cuttings as I went. I viewed the latest furniture collections and tested how comfy the chairs and sofas were thinking of my clients needs, nothing to do with my sore feet, honest. I admired wall coverings, made of grass cloth, silk, hand painted and some hand stitched with embroidery. Next stop was to explore the incredible lighting and tiles.

Here are some of my favourite stops from the day that I’ll share with you. The first showroom Porta Romana, a stunning lighting and furniture supplier, cutting-edge designs that manage to squeeze into almost every project.

I collected a few fun fabrics from Altfield that houses a variety of fabrics, leathers and wallcoverings. It’s impossible to leave the showroom without a bundle of the latest samples.

Onto the harder finishes I checked out Ann Sacks that has incredible displays of hand-crafted tiles, mosaics and stone from collections all over the world.

Lastly but not least, Bolier, a residential range of high end bespoke furniture available in almost any finish possible ranging from lacquer, timber and metals the list is endless.

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