CONTINUA: Meet The Owner Karen Guvenilir

Continua specialises in creative solutions for wall, floor and kitchen countertops, from product selection through to design and installation. Today we chat with owner Karen Guvenilir about their latest projects and products.

What inspires you and helps you create such beautiful interiors with marble?

Every piece of Natural Stone is unique, from the veining, cloudy movements, and colourations. All Natural Stones have a story to tell and at Continua we marry the space and stone to create the feeling that the client was envisioning when briefing us. Often the space and colour palette lends itself to a specific Marble that harmonises with the overall look and feel. On other occasions, we mix it up and add bold colours, striking veining and artistic patterns to make the Marble the feature. The options are endless when working with Natural Stone and the tiles and slabs can be cut and shaped, sandblasted and textured to showcase the stone in its most authentic form.

You are becoming known for your contemporary furniture – what draws you to create this look in your furniture pieces?

Optimization of wastage was the beginning of our little Marble Objet and furniture range. Often there are broken slabs or tiles that started to pile up in our fabrication area and we initially made coasters and cutting boards and this progressed into an occasional table range. We played with designs working off the material aesthetic characteristics and dimensions and the technical limitations in the design and created once off curated pieces. Since then we offer an in-house custom furniture range that extends from marble cake stands and coasters to dining room tables and wall art.

Which interior designers have influenced your interior style?

The Italian design brand Salvatori naturally!

What is your personal style preference?

As Karen I am drawn to dark and moody with Natural Stone being the star feature. As a creative in Continua, I am obsessed with the natural, muted tones which display characteristics of texture.

What have been your career highlights so far at Continua?

In the beginning, we would contact leading design and architectural firms to introduce ourselves and our product and service offerings. As a small business we have grown by word of mouth and this is still humbling and mind-blowing. One happy home always brings another, and our focus is really on each and every detail of whichever project we are working on. To strive for excellence is one of the main pillars of Continua and its top of mind with every edge we polish, marble top we seal and design we create.

What do you define as the ultimate luxury?

Ultimate luxury is dependent on the client. For myself, it’s a feeling. It’s a feeling of belonging and being in a space that fills my heart with calmness, is beautiful to look at and a place that allows you to just be.

Tell us more about the latest interior project that you have recently completed.

A luxury hotel in Cape Town… The client brief was specifically using Natural Stones across all areas, keeping neutral tones, and introducing textures throughout walls, floors and furniture. The style was mixed between minimalistic zen with a splash of contemporary luxury. We had to incorporate hues of sand and sea while allowing natural lighting to be maximised. These neutral interiors are always a challenge when trying to ensure all design elements work in harmony without appearing bland and monotone.

What are your favourites in your latest furniture ranges?

Our soap dish range definitely! Its gorgeous organic shape tops that appear to be floating on super thin disc shaped legs. Its super impressive.

Tell us about your favourite use of marble in your interiors.

We love that marble is trending and taking full advantage of this. We are using marble, especially our fluted design across fireplaces, bathroom walls, marble-integrated vanities and furniture pieces.

5 Quick Questions with Karen…

My favourite thing to buy for my home is…

Food – I love colour coding and arranging my fridge and pantry. It gives me a sense of calm and order – I have 3 kids so I am always prepared 😊)

The easiest effective design technique is…

Choose 3 colours and carry these across your interior from soft furnishing to your stone and tiles. This creates an easy flow and nothing screams out of place.

One thing I never do in an interior is….

Don’t design your space around the perception of others. Stay authentic without compromising and being overly influenced by trends and fads.

My biggest design mistakes are…

Not being persuasive enough and guide the client away from following a trend to the max.

My design motto…

Keep it simple but consider the small details!