A Year of Interior Design: Lessons From 2025 and What’s Next

Every year leaves a mark, in spaces, in people, in the way we see our work.

This year reminded me how homes hold people through change, through renovations, relocations, growing families, and full workweeks. The design challenges my clients bring often start with one question: how can my home better hold the pace of my life?
For me and for Koto Designs, 2025 has been a year of transition and refinement. Not just in scale or visibility, but in how design itself feels, and how Koto Designs approaches it. More aware of how people actually live; of what holds up under pressure; of how thoughtful interiors can make daily life feel lighter.

Across projects this year, I’ve seen how homes carry people through change. They evolve with routines, adapt to demands, and shape how grounded we feel. My work has always been about creating that foundation, but this year deepened that purpose, showing how even small spatial decisions can hold emotional weight.

There’s been growth: new clients, new systems, new rhythms to the studio’s week. But the real shift has been internal.

Designing With Purpose

If the first years of Koto Designs were about finding direction, this year has been about clarity.
Every project began with the same question: “what does this space need to do”, and “how should it feel while doing it?”

I’ve become more attuned to the psychology of space: how people move through it, how they pause, what makes them stay. That awareness has shaped everything. Instead of chasing a perfect look, I’ve leaned into flow: creating rooms that work intuitively and feel genuinely lived in.

It’s often the small, habitual moments that shape how a home needs to work, where you drop your keys, how the morning light lands as you make coffee, or where you naturally sit to put on your shoes. Design isn’t about changing those patterns; it’s about understanding them. The most successful solutions come from observing what people already do and creating subtle supports around those routines. A stool that doubles as shoe storage or a ledge that quietly collects the day’s essentials can make a space feel more resolved without forcing anyone to live differently.

There’s a moment I always notice when that happens, when a client begins to recognise themselves in their home. It’s not dramatic, but it’s unmistakable: a sense of ease, of finally seeing the space align with the life unfolding inside it.

Clarity in Direction

Clients come to me for guidance, for someone who can bring order to complexity and keep momentum steady. 

This year I've been strengthening that foundation: refining the frameworks that shape each project, aligning expectations early, and building systems that let creativity move with intent.

When communication is clear and decisions are well-structured, projects move forward with purpose. Clients can trust that every detail has been considered, and that the design process is leading them toward something cohesive and lasting.

That foundation will keep evolving. With each project offering new ways to refine and deepen the clarity that underpins Koto Designs work.

Design as Connection

One of the clearest lessons of 2025 has been connection, not only with clients, but with the broader community that surrounds design.

Interior design can be isolating work at times especially as a solo designer. Much of it happens in drawings, sourcing lists, and coordination spreadsheets. But this year reminded me that the real creativity begins in conversation.

From early ideas with clients to exchanges with suppliers, I’ve seen how shared values and open communication shape better outcomes. The strongest projects come from genuine trust, from listening closely and translating someone’s hopes, habits, and needs into something tangible.

It’s reinforced what I already believed: interiors are never just visual. They’re emotional. They carry memory and meaning. When those layers align, a home feels more whole.

Communicating Design Clearly

Something that’s evolved for me this year is how I talk about design itself.

For many of my clients, design can feel abstract until they can see it. My role is to translate that language, to make sure they never feel left behind in the process, but guided through it.

It’s easy to assume clarity ends with the drawings, but I’ve realised that how I talk about a space matters just as much as how I draw it. Clients don’t live inside CAD files or moodboards, they live in homes that need to make sense, emotionally and practically.

That said, those visual tools are vital. They’re often the bridge that helps clients see what I’m describing, the spark that turns a concept into something they can picture themselves living in. Renders, material palettes, and sketches don’t just illustrate ideas; they create excitement and build shared understanding.

I’ve been working to bridge that gap: helping people understand the reasoning behind each design choice and how it supports their day-to-day life. Through imagery, material palettes, and simple explanations, giving form to the invisible the thinking that sits beneath the aesthetics. This has shaped how I write, how I share projects online, and how I talk about the work itself. The aim is to make design feel accessible, transparent, and grounded in the real world. 

My goal is for Koto Designs presence (online and in person) to reflect the same calm confidence I bring to every project.

Looking Ahead

As I look toward 2026, my focus is on depth. Working on projects that allow for considered design and meaningful collaboration. The kind of work that gives space for ideas to mature and details to settle into place. I want to continue exploring how design supports wellbeing: how light, flow, proportion, and tone can create a sense of calm that lasts well beyond the first impression.

The next chapter will be about balance: between precision and warmth, structure and freedom. I want each project to feel unmistakably personal to the people who live in it, yet recognisably Koto Designs in its coherence, restraint, and integrity.

There’s also a personal shift underway: a move toward writing more, reflecting more, building a body of work that extends beyond projects. Because the ideas behind design matter, they’re the framework that shapes the work itself.

This year has taught me to design not just for now, but for what’s next.
To build systems that hold creativity. To work with intention.
And to remember that calm, lasting spaces grow from clarity, from design that respects both our lived experiences and the home that holds it.

I know next year will bring new homes, new beginnings, and new challenges to solve and I look forward to helping create spaces that feel like an anchor through it all.

Here’s to another year of building with purpose, thought, and a deep respect for how design shapes the way we live.