Best Wishes from us at A Designer at Heart

Hello everyone, here we are again at the end of another year, and I want to take the occasion to wish all happy holidays and a great start to the new year.

After the strange and unprecedented 2020 we all went through, this year we finally saw some improvements, and some activities restarted as we were used to. It was great to finally be able to participate in some meetings and live events. Many interesting things happened in 2021, and looking back we are all grateful and proud of what we achieved this year.

Collaborations

One of the best things throughout the year was getting in touch with many interesting realities and amazing groups of people that are shaping the industry and making it better.

At the beginning of 2021, I was a speaker in a webinar organised by Forta Pro with whom we focused on modularity among other topics around construction and sustainability. It was an amazing insight into the technique that is really improving lead times and overall sustainability when it comes to big developments in architecture and interior.

We also got in touch with amazing companies working on sustainability such as Stykka in our article about solutions for Long-term sustainability, and great designers like James Shaw which was an absolute highlight of the London Design Festival.

New Projects and Clients

Throughout the whole year, we kept developing our projects with Nido Student, our long-standing client with which we realised now several great projects.

Along with us have also come new partners. We started a collaboration with Valeo Management for their student accommodation brand Liv Student, and also with Tribe for a series of new developments. But we also realised residential and retail interior designs.

All in all, 2021 has been also a sort of new beginning with many different professional experiences and challenges which helped us improve and consistently deliver work we could be proud of, and that will hopefully improve other people’s lives.

Events

As mentioned before, one of the most interesting parts of this year, and one that I missed a lot (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this), are the live events.

Last, and as an achievement, the most important has been the Student Accommodation 2021 Conference Showcase & Awards by Property Week, during which I was awarded the Rising Star of the Year 2021 title. It was a huge honour for me to receive this prize which felt like the perfect completion of three years of hard work and dedication. We have been extremely grateful also for all the encouraging messages received on the occasion (probably by some of you reading right now! So thank you again!).

There were many other highlights, such as the Class Conference by The Class Foundation that we were able to attend in person in Amsterdam, or the London Design Festival 2021 with its numerous exhibitions, and several more online.

Spreading Awareness

Mental health and sustainability were the two topics on which we focused the most throughout the year. The first has become even more important and central to the discussion around PBSA and shared-living in general due to the impact of the pandemic. So, we paid attention to the ongoing developments on this topic and tried to bring our point of view on the trends that we think could shape the industry like in the 4 Future Trends in Co-Living.

We also kept working on sustainability. From both our point of view as designers, with materials and trends, and from that of the industry itself, with modular construction, other techniques to save energy, recycling, and reporting from important events.

Despite the challenges 2021 has been another year of learning and growth. We all thank you again for the people that have been with us, followed us here or on social, and collaborated for new exciting projects.

We send you all the best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you all soon!