Interior Designer, Anantaya Kuleechuay, discusses her approach to creative problem solving, and how collaboration can seed new ideas across teams.

Have you always been creative?

My Thai heritage has been a large influence throughout the years, having been immersed in food, music, art and dance from a young age. This fostered a curiosity of the creative world and its richness.

How are you creative in professional life?

In both work and professional life, I like to keep an open mind to allow for new ideas, curiosity and wonder. Through trying out creative workshops such as painting and pottery, participating in design industry events and visiting art exhibitions, I gain a diverse range of experiences which help keep me on my feet and feed into my creative thinking and processes.

Can you provide examples of creativity in your work at Paynter Dixon?

Visual communication is a large part of being an interior designer and is a way of showcasing creativity. This is reflected in a range of activity:

• creating and presenting a range of physical and digital sample boards to clients
• re-organising and maintaining the samples library to ensure new sources for inspiration are current and accessible
• workshopping interior design schemes and elements such as joinery with colleagues to cater to clients and feedback, and
• considering the best ways to communicate designs, utilising software such as Photoshop, AutoCAD and Revit.

Do you think creativity is important across the design and construction process?

Creativity takes on many forms and not all minds process things in the same manner. Hence, creativity is important throughout the whole project, from conception through to delivery. Whether it’s the presentation format used to better express the design idea, the choice of a material during design for sustainability, strategising safe and efficient building methods to counter the drastic weather conditions, or selecting the highlights of the project. These all deal with creativity. Creativity is not just limited to a particular sector or industry.

How are creative processes enhanced by collaboration and partnering?

I think that collaboration in the creative process is fundamental as it brings new ideas to the table. By working collaboratively, progression towards the goal becomes much more interesting and generally results in a more thoughtful resolution which materialised from the amalgamation of ideas.

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