Meet The Creative Force Behind Christopher de Bod Designs

Today, we’re sitting down with Christopher de Bod, the creative force behind Christopher de Bod Designs, to learn more about his journey from event visionary to interior design innovator. What started as a passion for designing impactful event spaces has evolved into a thriving brand known for its unique, authentic, and sustainable approach to interiors.

What inspired the founding of Christopher de Bod Designs, and how has the brand’s vision evolved in response to current design trends?

I started Christopher de Bod Designs after having run a successful events and promotions company for many years. As the creative director, I lead the design, look and feel of all activities in the company, including stage design, set and event design and promotional activations – How everything looked and felt. This led to family, friends and event clients asking me to assist with design of their homes, offices and other projects. With an inherent acumen and talent for design, and an absolute love for the work, it felt like the logical next step in my life’s journey. Starting up this business and being able to imagine, design and create things and spaces that people use and love everyday isn’t a job, it’s a realisation of purpose.

2. How does Christopher de Bod Designs incorporate sustainability into its design and production processes?

Sustainability is such a buzz topic at the moment. And although we do acknowledge this we don’t believe that sustainability efforts should be a separate workstream or focus action, it should be a way of life, and it certainly is for us as a team. Within our business processes like design and production, but also in our personal lives. We encourage everyone on our team to take the essence of sustainability home with them and try to make a difference in their own lives as well.

In our studio, we try and do as much as we can where we can, from the small things like only printing what is absolutely essential and reusing paper. We all know what an office printer looks like – normally sitting in the corner with a pile of papers stacked as high as the printer with prints that were done in error, or simply forgotten about. I repurpose these for general office note taking, doodling or as it is our space – banging out the initial concept sketches for a project or product. You know, the rough drafts that inevitably get binned after they have served their purpose.

We source local and sustainable materials as far as possible for all our projects as far as possible, and use local manufacturing facilities for manufacturing and production of a large amount of our products. This also supports the “sustainability” of local businesses supporting their families to grow and prosper.

A big problem in the built environment is building waist and rubble. With many refuse yards now closed, construction waist has nowhere to be taken after being cleared from a site. This leads to the increase in amount of roadside dumping. This is not only unsafe, but also polluting our neighbourhoods and cities. We work with reputable building waste management companies to manage waste from our sites. Before we just dump items into a skip though adding to the waste problem, we try as far as possible to salvage any items that we may be removing from a project like, built in cupboards, sanitaryware and fittings, kitchens, curtain rails, rugs, carpets and of course furniture pieces that a client may no longer need or want. We work with various charitable organisations who use these items to build bathrooms, kitchens, homes and other projects in under privileged or disadvantaged areas. This way we not only save them from landfills, but allow them to bring much needed relief to others.

Besides the above, given the severe shortage and problems with power supply, the studio runs off of a total solar power solution using no Eskom power, only power generated by the solar panel during the day eliminating the need to utilise power generated by fossil fuels in order to complete our day to day tasks.

3. What are the key design principles that guide your work, especially in relation to contemporary trends?

I am often asked what my design style is. I proudly replay that I do not prescribe to a specific design style. I take the best attributes and principals of any of the styles that I need to fulfil a clients need and use these to create an “Authentic” result for my clients, a project or event for furniture or décor piece.

The process that guides my work is the Design Thinking Process. I find that sticking to these principals helps us to create things and spaces that truly work for our clients. Noone ? can sprint ? out of the starting gates with a completely tested and resolved design immediately. One needs to spend time testing it and acknowledging when something doesn’t work and circle back to the design process to make the changes that then need to be tested again to ensure that this is the right solution. And in reality this process may need to be repeated several times before the solution is 100% correct.

4. How do you stay informed about the latest trends in furniture design and interior decor?

Staying on top of all trends all the time is a full time job. I would need to make a decision on whether to continue being a designer or becoming a full time researcher and trend analyst if I wanted to do this.

I am fortunate to have built solid relationships with suppliers and partners in the industry. These are my go to guys when I need to know what’s new, what the next big thing and what is going to be the next disrupter in their field.

One cannot shed all responsibility though and I do allocate “quiet time” in my day, typically very early in the morning while the mind is fresh to go through social media and other information sources to understand what is happening in the industry from a macro perspective.

Networking is an invaluable tool to stay on top of industry trends. As a member and Chairperson of the IID’s PR Committee, I attend many industry events as a guest or speaker. This allows me meet suppliers, manufacturers and service providers and understand what they are doing that is going.

5. Can you share examples of how you’ve adapted your designs to reflect current consumer preferences?

We discussed previously that I don’t subscribe to a specific design style. My work is led by what the vibe is at the moment and what the client needs. This means each project is different with a different need, influences and the resulting outcome.

I do however have a specific design accent which has grown and developed over time. I may work on projects with varying looks and styles, but people often tell me that they can immediately tell when my hand has been in a design project.

People grow and develop over time though and, if we are open to it, continue to learn and develop our skills. If I compare earlier projects against some of our more recent ones, I can notice a sense of refinement in the work. Continue growth and development is something that I strive for.

6. What role does technology play in your design process and product development?

We live in a technological era. That is the reality. Software and technology has made design and development processes quicker, faster and somewhat less expensive. I eagerly adopt technology if I feel it will benefit our studio, our processes and our clients.

We all know that the entire design process is now a digital one with a host of digital design platforms available for any part of the process. I do however still love immersing myself in physical sketching process at the outset of a project. This helps me to open my mind and explore possibilities and options in a sort of casual way before what feels like committing to them in the digital space.

The team often giggles under their breathes when there is a design problem in the air and we are brainstorming solution an I bang a bucket of markers, pencils and other sketching tools on the table with a stack of forgotten prints for the document centre and ask them to sketch what they are explaining.

I often get asked if I think AI will be the end of the design industry. I am no aficionado on AI and have probably not spent enough time learning exactly the extend of its capabilities, but at this stage I can tell you that it is an amazing tool that help speed up some of our processes, but I doubt whether it will ever replace human emotion – one of the factors that is key in any design process.

7. How do you balance timeless design with the need to stay trendy and relevant in today’s market?

I’ve spoken a lot about design styles, principals and processes as well as trends and influences. My go to position on this is to always stay “authentic”. A designer should stay authentic to themselves and their design accent and strive to design authentic spaces and things for their clients. A client will bever feel comfortable is space that does not feel authentic to them. This could be a residential client, corporate, commercial or even hospitality.

8. What feedback have you received from customers about emerging trends, and how has it influenced your offerings?

The first bit of information that a client brings me is always a host of images downloaded from the internet and other sources, the go to source remains Pinterest. These images typically represent what the trends are and how people are translating them into space and things. This information is always the starting point in our process, after which we start interrogating this content to understand what exactly about it a client likes or wants to achieve.

9. How does Christopher de Bod Designs engage with the design community and collaborate with other designers or brands?

I am honoured and very fortunate to be a member of the IID which is the only regulatory body for the Interior design and décor industry in the country. This organisation spends the largest part of their efforts to connect designers with each other and with suppliers and manufacturers. They create and host wonderful industry events to achieve this. Moreover, my position as the Chairperson of the organisations PR Committee, who’s main focus is to connect and communicate, allows me the opportunity to continuously interact with all role players in the industry and we work to create meaningful and beneficial connections in the industry. We work on communication and development strategies across the industry from student designers, young designers, established designers and corporate members who represent supply and manufacturing to the industry.

10. Looking ahead, what trends do you predict will shape the future of furniture design, and how is your brand preparing for them?

The world is becoming a crazy place. A place, however, that we need to live and work in, but humankind is feeling it. The result of this is the human race moving away from cluttered, over stimulating environments to more subdued spaces. We have recently noticed a trend towards more muted colour pallets, less clutter, but more meaningful styling decisions resulting in more peaceful spaces. A sense of tranquillity with a connection to natural elements. We work hard to push this back into our supplier network and participate in the developing products and materials that speak to this ethos.