Interior designer Yvonne O’Brien hones her skills during lockdown

Yvonne O’Brien has a flair for interior decorating ... and there’s more than creativity behind her successful business ventures.

Yvonne O’Brien has been in the interior design industry for almost 30 years and has a wealth of knowledge and talent. She shares her experiences with design, starting out and how she views life after the coronavirus pandemic.

What did you want to be when you grew up, and what did you want to study?

Growing up, I always loved the idea of decorating, though never thought of it as a career. I was always styling and rearranging furniture in my parents’ home. When I finished school, all my friends went to university and I went travelling. I went to London for a year and stayed five-and-a-half years. I got a temp job working at Nina Campbell’s shop on Walton Street and it was then that I decided this was the career I wanted and I enrolled in a design course at KLC School of Design. After that, I got a permanent job at Nina’s, running her concession store at Harvey Nichols.

Where did your creative journey begin and when did you realise this was your calling? Did you have a so-called big break?

When I got back to South Africa, I got a job working for Dominique O’Connor. She had an agency working out of her garage in Illovo, selling Cécile & Boyd’s lamps and lights for Morgan & Associates, and it was a real hotspot for interior designers. It was during that time that I was introduced to a client who wanted his house done in Bedfordview, and that was the moment I went off on my own. I think my ‘big break’ was Londolozi. I was working on my own, I had my mother helping me with admin and production, and I got the job to do one of the camps. I was very nervous about taking on this project and it presented me with some big and nerve-racking challenges. But, having pulled off that one camp, 13 years later they have five camps and I still work on all five of them. And that has probably been my biggest journey.

What have been some of your biggest challenges in getting to where you are now, and how did you overcome them?

I think that initial job at Londolozi was also one of my biggest challenges, as it was so early on in my career. The biggest challenge of doing a project in the bush is that you’ve only got one shot at it. Everything arrives in the container and you can’t leave behind a piece of furniture or swap out something that doesn’t work.

So I remember when that container arrived, praying up to the heavens with sweaty hands that all was going to be okay. But when you are in a challenge like that, you are very focused and you look over those checklists again and again. There’s just no room for mistakes.

I advise them to go and work for someone else who has been in the business for a while so they can learn the ropes. Interior decorating is not just about being creative; it’s about having the knowledge of running a business and there is a lot more that’s involved. I always say that 80 per cent of the job is production and only 20 per cent is creative. So my advice is to get as much experience as you can before you go out on your own.

If you were to choose an area of your home for a picture, which area would it be and what is special for you in this area of your home?

Choosing a picture of my own home is always hard because, as a decorator, you are always working on a room. You are always changing things, even if it’s just the coffee table that is getting re-arranged or the cushions getting swapped out. So I would choose my entrance hall because it’s the one area of the house that I don’t often change, except for the flowers. The picture of my entrance hall often pops up on Pinterest and I always feel proud of seeing it there because I like it so much. It also tells the story of the simplicity of the design work that I am drawn to.

What are you doing at home to keep busy during lockdown? Is there anything you have taken on to challenge yourself during this time?

During this time of lockdown, I am really trying to stay in a routine. I am getting to enjoy the things that I don’t usually have the time to do. I am taking full advantage of this time at home, starting my day with meditation and then exercise. I make sure I am dressed with my ‘face’ on to start my day by 8.30am.

I am hoping to do a 3D drawing course. Whether I am going to be able to draw afterwards or not is yet to be seen! But I am going to try because I don’t know if I will ever have this time again to do something that I have always wanted to do. I think it’s also good to take advantage of this time to hone your skills – do what you have to do to be better. At least then, when we do come out of this, we will feel a little more empowered.

How has the pandemic affected your business, and do you see your business changing out of this experience?

I am just trying to be as hopeful as possible but this pandemic will have a huge impact on our economy... I don’t know yet how we’re going to come out of this on the other side – there is so much uncertainty. I’ve just told myself to surrender to the uncertainty. I have a shop where I employ 12 members of staff and to close the shop for six weeks and to continue without any revenue is really tough. But the thing that keeps me going is that we are all in this together and we have to stay positive. I don’t think the business is going to be the same after this. It is going to change and we have to be prepared for that and be adaptable. We have to look for other ways of running our businesses.