Ego Squared (commercial interior designers)

We have recently started

http://www.surgeryinteriordesign.com/

which has information and blog on dental surgery design. A lot of the information is relevant to other types of commercial interior design, but is written to appeal (?) to our dental market.

Soon we are hoping to get shopinteriordesign.com up and running too.

So, this is probably the last entry I'll make in this blog - so see you at our new page!

Natasha

Well the Ego Squared crew are back on deck after the Christmas and New Year break! And we're bigger and better than ever. We welcome onboard Shakir Pichler as Business Development Manager based in Melbourne. This year Ego Squared has decided to make the great leap across the country and get the industry stirred up on the East Coast!!

The directors, Natasha and Anthony, have ventured out of Western Australia (in a virtual design sense) with their previous employers and are eager for Ego Squared to get some notches in their belt with East Coast projects.

It's an interesting scenario, designing from afar, but it's actually not too different from being face to face with their client. With the use of the internet, phone and the great couriers of Australia, designing from Perth is easy - it's not brain surgery, after all! Initially, one of the directors may have to make a trip or two (ahhh, what a shame ;-), and from a public relations point of view (not to mention supporting their football team), this is probably a good idea, but theoretically it's not necessary.

Well, we look forward to a fabulous 2007 and hope yours is the same!

PS We would like to note that, throughout their careers, the directors and their staff have never used (or intend to use) a drawing board (except while studying) and apologise if the heading of this post has caused any confusion!

Ego Squared are commercial interior designers specialising in unique and individualised designs for fit outs and refurbishments. We create the most appropriate image for out clients target market and the most effective layout for any given workspace; improving productivity, increasing sales and maximising repeat business. The directors, Anthony and Natasha Connor have both been working in commercial design for over nine years and have completed many projects Australia wide.

We like to work very closely with our clients and prefer to have two designers attend each meeting. This maybe seen as extreme by other design firms, but experience has shown us that subtle reactions and nuances can be missed if only one designer is present. Also, as design is quite personal, the client needs to be comfortable and ‘connect’ with their designer. The chances of this happening are far greater if two people are involved. This is also great for contact with the designer - the client will, more often than not, be able to contact one of the designers for that essential 'constant contact' and reassurance often required when embarking on an important project (and what is more important than improving your business).

We look at our projects as collaboration with our client. We can’t bear the idea of forcing our likes and dislikes (or anyone else’s) onto our client. Our aim is to take our client’s vision and turn it into a reality, guiding them using our knowledge of design and fashions as well as our experience of the individual industry itself.

Well, with that serious note (!), I'm looking forward to a great Christmas and New Year and look forward to a fabulously busy and rewarding 2007 - be great if you could join us!

The opening for Council Ave Dental was on Saturday!

Dr James Wong had organised a great afternoon with the mayor of Rockingham officially opening the surgery. He had a traditional Chinese lion dance and suckling pig. The lions were fantastic - they work so hard and everyone was transfixed. The pig...well, as Anthony and I are vegetarian, not so appealing! But, everyone else seemed to enjoy it!

The surgery looked great (although will probably need the carpets cleaned again after the party!) and if any one is interested in using our services, I would truly recommend the drive to Rockingham to check it out. We need to get down there again to take some photos (maybe once all the Christmas decorations come down!)

We look forward to working with Dentpro again - they were great to work with and their quality and professionalism was fantastic.

Well, it's been AGES since I last posted. I can't really remember what was said, so I might just give an update on some highlights for Ego Squared this year.

Ego Squared started it second year rather quietly - not too dramatic as the commercial fitout industry is 'generally' reasonably quiet in January. A lot of the trades don't come back from Christmas break until well into January. We were working on some small jobs around the local area (small jobs are intensive - not complaining at all!) which is a nice way to start the year (not ideal, but nice none the less).

As we moved through February, the projects gradually became larger and more consistent. Our alliance with Diverse Shopfitters (DS) strengthened to the point where we were either spending more time at the factory or one or more of their staff were at our one room office - something had to give. Our office lease was up in mid-Feb and it was decided that it would be best for both companies that we should move in next door to DS. We checked out their existing 'store-room'. Lucky it's our job to spot potential in spaces and we designed up our new office (as well as some alterations to DS's existing office space). We went from 23sqm to 45sqm - further away from home and the wonderful cafes of Subiaco, but for the same rent.

As is typical with our industry things take longer than expected and we moved our office home temporarily (3 weeks!). Eventually we got in and haven't really looked back. Things started moving pretty quickly with lots of work coming through DS as well as our own projects.

We got so busy during the year that we put out at "Help - we need help" in May. We got a call from a girl recommended to us by David Heymans (one of our interior design lecturers). Amber started with us in late May after moving to Perth from Bunbury (infact I went to the same high school as her - small world, especially in Western Australia! And we like it that way!)

We were particularly proud of ourselves for winning a large dental surgery in Rockingham for Dr James Wong - 275sqm - 6 surgeries - brand new building shell. It was constructed by Dentpro (huge thanks to Bill Elsegood!) and equipment was supplied by West Coast Dental (thanks to Joe Minervini!) Construction was finished in October and the grand opening party is next weekend (I must admit that is my favourite part of the project!).

Typically things start slowing down for designers (especially for retail) getting closer to Christmas as the design part needs to be finished weeks ago, if the retailer has any chance of getting opening in time for this Christmas trade. Not so this year - it has be particularly hectic (maybe moreso as we have more contact with the construction side being so close to DS).

So we continue on and my 'New Years Resolution' starts now (at the end of November!) with getting this blog happening!

Will keep you posted on how things are going in the Ego Squared world!

Tonight we 'officially' open!!! We've actually been in the office for nearly 4 months, but better late than never:-)!!

We are having a cocktail party!! Black and white Russians all round!! And have made sure we have NOTHING to do tomorrow!!

Wish us luck and I'll let you know how things go!

I guess I'll start from the beginning!

My husband Anthony and I are commercial interior designers in Perth Western Australia. We met while studying for our diplomas in interior design eight years ago. We had been working away happily at our various design jobs and worked together for a few years when we decided 'hey, why can't WE do this?'

So Ego Squared (commercial interior designer) was born!

I think that's a good start!