Designer Notebook With Vicki Rothschild

Lighting designer Vicki Rothschild?of Rothschild & Bickers shares her favourite places, spaces and inspirations.

1. I grew up in Dublin?but moved to London in 2000 to start an MA at the Royal College of Art and never went back. I love the pace of life and mix of people. It’s an inspiring city to live in and seems to nurture creativity.

Victoria Rothschild (right) with business partner Mark Bickers

2. As the heat in our glass blowing studio can be unbearable, I like to spend as much free time outdoors as possible. I live beside the River Lea in Hackney Marshes and there is plenty of space to hang out and explore.

Glass blowing in the studio

3. My favourite projects are the ones where we get to collaborate with the interior designers and architects. These are always the most challenging but get the best results. We recently finished lights for a new restaurant in London called The Coppa Club with Archer Humphryes Architects. The designers are keenly aware of our craft and the finish for each interior is impeccable.

The Coppa Club

4. My definition of good interior design is to have a clear vision of how the space will look and be decisive. I don’t think that customers realise how difficult a job it is to be an interior designer, until they start trying to do it themselves. One of my favourite shows this year was in Milan at the Atelier Swarovski, with some outstanding work by Norwegian designer Kim Thom?. He has also designed some gorgeous furniture in collaboration with Balenium.

Kim Thom?’s glass candle holders

6. One of my favourite buildings is Ireland is The Royal Hospital at Kilmainham. I love meandering through the long corridors. There is an incredible feeling of history and the shows are always beautifully curated.

Royal Hospital Kilmainham

7. When I go back to Dublin, I love to eat in Coppinger Row. The food is always fantastic there and they do the best cocktails.

8. I am still amazed that all the tools we use for glass blowing in our studio really haven’t changed since Roman times. Utility is the basis of all good design and when it is done well, it becomes ageless.

Handblown glass lamps from Rothschild & Bickers

9. I love India and have been there a lot over the past ten years. Delhi is one of my favourite places to stay. It is completely chaotic but there is so much to see and the everything is so vibrant and inspiring.

The FRAME chair by Notion and Mourne Textiles

10. A lot of my favourite design is mid- century, in particular work from factories like Whitefriars and Scheurich, the west German potters. I was recently part of a show called Liminal for the year of Irish Design and there was some beautiful work on display, in particular the fabric/furniture collaboration from Mourne Textiles and Notion.