Interior Design Director at Douglas Wallace Consultants Adrian Lambe has followed his passion with some style since he was a boy.
Early Influences and a Creative Spark
Born in Galway and brought up in Mullingar (courtesy of the nomadic lifestyle of his bank-manager father), he describes himself as a youth who was “always listening to records and drawing.” There was no art on his secondary school curriculum but it never seemed to hold him back.
The notion of entering the world of architecture appealed to him as a means of getting paid to draw and sketch and in 1989, he went to UCD to study architecture.
“By the time I came out of college in 1995, the economy wasn’t great and there weren’t a lot of jobs for architects,” recalls Adrian.
70% of his class had gone to Berlin, where a post-reunification boom was happening. That bubble quickly burst but Adrian had been fortunate in keeping himself busy all through college by working with a local company in Mullingar, whose expansion allowed him a rare opportunity.
Bennett Construction gave him employment over the summers, first on site and later, in their offices.
“They asked me to redesign their offices which were in Milltown Pass at the time,” says Adrian. “For a student, I had free reign to design, apply for planning permission, go through the tendering process… everything… and this was all before I’d even left college.”
Breakthrough Roles and Recognition
This rare level of experience for a freshly-qualified architect led to employment with Quilligan Architects in Dublin. After three years there, he began his first period of working with Hugh Wallace – a man who has since become a popular television personality through programmes such as Home of the Year and Great House Revival.
That first stint working with Hugh Wallace lasted less than two years, but once again, he found himself at the cutting edge of the latest trends with regard to design. One of the first clients he worked with was Brown Thomas, who had just taken over Switzers.
“They were great because they would give you a great brief and a great opportunity to design what you thought would work,” recalls Adrian. “They appreciated my skill set and they were all about new ideas; about seeing new ideas that were out there… Head of design there at the time was Bill Simpson and he always gave you the opportunity to go out there and design.”
Some of his work ended up receiving awards, which caught the attention of many people. One of those was Danish speaker manufacturer Bang & Olufsen. Before he knew it, and with the full blessing of Hugh and his team, Adrian was International Store Designer – based in Copenhagen and London but travelling the world, designing shops. His career profile was on a sharp upward trajectory before he had reached the age of 30, but ambition was never really part of his philosophy.
“I never thought of being ambitious,” says Adrian. “I just loved the design and loved the fun of the whole thing… it was an exciting time in the early 2000s. There was almost a new focus on design; like design could bring us all to a better place… People wanted to see the ‘wow’ factor straight away.”
The Impact of Global Events and New Beginnings
This exciting chapter in his life was cut short by the September 11th attacks in New York, however. Everything changed suddenly and brutally. People began to rethink how they did things. Bang & Olufsen closed Adrian’s department and let him go in December.
Adrian had always kept in touch with Douglas Wallace and during one of his trips back to Dublin, Hugh had asked him about working with them and heading up their new office in London.
It was another exciting challenge that he wasn’t going to turn down and he spent the next three to four years setting up the office and growing the business, working mainly with major retailers in London out of a city-centre office.
Return to Ireland and a Shift in Focus
By 2003, the pull back to Ireland was beginning to tell. By this point, Douglas Wallace had grown to a large company employing almost 200 people and with offices in Ireland, Britain and Czechia.
“I ended up heading up one of the two interior design teams in Dublin,” says Adrian. “It was all in hotels and retail outlet designs. It was all about the customer journey and I was working with a team of 15.”
After 6 years of working with Douglas Wallace, Adrian felt the need for a change in 2007.
“I wanted to do something different,” he says. “My first boy had just been born and I wanted to get back to being a designer, because by that stage, I had become more of a manager than a designer.”
As the first bites of recession were beginning to be felt at the end of 2007, Adrian set up on his own. He was soon joined by a good friend of his Paul Tyndall. Together, they formed Lambe & Tyndall.
They remained recession-proof by nurturing old relationships he had built up along the way. They specialised in doing small-scale fit-outs and never said no to any work. Now and then, larger brands such as Arnotts would come their way too.
Leadership at Douglas Wallace and Design Philosophy Today
As the economy started to emerge from recession in 2012, Douglas Wallace came calling once more. This time, however, he was returning to them as a partner. He has been with them since, specialising in designing fit-outs for the hospitality sector.
“For us, it’s about our knowledge and experience. We believe that it’s our ultimate selling point. When it comes to hospitality design – whether as an architect or interior designer – we have the knowledge and experience of having done it and being able to it in the various forms and guises that it takes – whether it’s a small 3-star offer or a luxury 5-star offer.
“Whatever the level of hotel, there are always budget constraints which you need to work within and for us, one of the great things that we’re able to do is give value for money. We’re able to look at a situation and come up with a design that will give value for money (number one), which hits the mark in terms of an aesthetic… It’s customer-focused and very functional.”
It is, he says, all about knowing how a customer engages with and uses a particular space – in a hotel, restaurant or elsewhere.
Sustainability and Evolving Design Trends
Sustainability as a notion has come to bear on many decisions that are made in the way that design work operates.
“It’s all about looking at what we can use now,” says Adrian, “whereas in many instances in the past, it would have been a case of throwing everything into a skip and starting again.
“People in design nowadays aren’t encumbered by the fact that there’s an old piece with a new piece. It doesn’t mean that everything is shabby-chic, but we look at everything with a view to re-using. It’s important from an economics perspective, from a sustainable perspective too, but it’s also because it’s better for the story that we’re trying to tell.”
In other words, not everything needs to be new and brash, and that in itself is a strong style trend. This is true even with lighting, where the trend today is that less is more. In contrast to a time not so long ago where you always flooded the ceiling with light, there is now a heightened desire for nuance and atmosphere and that’s always good.
We are very lucky to have a dynamic and highly skilled team, and we have our finger on the pulse of hospitality. The industry evolves and moves at a phenomenal pace, a hotel must now be more than just a place to stay, and a restaurant is more than just a dining outlet. Our international experience, designing award-winning hotels, restaurants and wellness products adds value for our clients, increases revenues and enhances the guest’s experience. Guest experience is what makes the difference and makes every visit memorable”.
Adrian Lambe is a Director at Douglas Wallace Consultants, an award-winning architecture, interior design and project management firm. For more information see www.douglaswallace.com
