This article forms part of the Decorative and Applied Arts Encyclopedia, a master reference hub providing a structured overview of design history, materials, movements, and practitioners.
By Design: The World’s Best Contemporary Interior Designers, published by Phaidon, presents an international survey of more than 100 influential interior designers and decorators. Selected by over 90 nominators from across the creative industries, the featured practices demonstrate the breadth of contemporary interior design. More than 400 photographs bring together residential, hospitality and other interior projects across different regions, scales and aesthetic approaches.
The By Design interior design book works as both a visual reference and an introduction to the practices shaping present-day interiors. Rather than promoting a single decorative style, it shows how designers respond to architecture, place, materials, clients and patterns of everyday life.
A Global Survey of Contemporary Interior Design
Contemporary interior design cannot be reduced to one movement or visual language. It encompasses restrained architectural spaces, richly layered rooms, experimental materials, historical references and highly individual forms of decoration. By Design reflects this diversity through an international selection of established studios and emerging practices.
The book’s global scope is one of its principal strengths. Readers encounter designers working across different cultural, geographical and professional settings. Their projects reveal how interior design can interpret local traditions while participating in an increasingly connected international design culture.
This breadth also makes the publication useful as a comparative reference. Projects can be considered in relation to their treatment of colour, proportion, furniture, artwork, light and architectural detail. The result is not a prescriptive guide to creating a particular look. Instead, it is a record of the many ways designers construct atmosphere and identity within interior space.
How the Designers Were Selected
Phaidon assembled the survey through nominations from more than 90 recognised figures in design and the wider creative industries. The nominators include editors, curators, designers, writers, artists and cultural commentators.
Among those identified by the publisher are Felix Burrichter, Aric Chen, Amy Fine Collins, Francisco Costa, Ronnie Fieg, Marianne Goebl, Laila Gohar, Niki Haas, Gert Jonkers, Jop van Bennekom, Lorena Mosquera, Hanya Yanagihara and Rachel Zoe.
This nomination model gives the book a broader critical foundation than a selection based solely on commercial prominence or editorial visibility. It acknowledges that significant interior work is recognised through many interconnected fields, including architecture, fashion, publishing, art and product design.
The approach also encourages discovery. Familiar studios appear alongside practices that may be less widely known outside their countries or specialist design circles. Concise accompanying texts introduce each designer and explain the wider character of their work.
Interior Designers and Studios Featured in By Design
The publication includes more than 100 designers and practices. Phaidon’s representative list names Beata Heuman Ltd, Kelly Wearstler Studio, Martin Brudnizki Design Studio, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Neri & Hu, Norm Architects, Romanek Design Studio, Studioilse, Studio KO, Studio Shamshiri, Faye Toogood and Vincent Van Duysen.
These practices do not constitute a single school. Their inclusion instead demonstrates the range of contemporary interior design. Some are known for expressive colour and decoration, while others favour architectural restraint, natural materials or carefully controlled tonal palettes.
Several featured studios work across interiors, architecture, furniture and product design. This overlap reflects the increasingly multidisciplinary nature of professional practice. An interior may involve structural planning, bespoke furniture, lighting, textiles, art direction and the detailed coordination of objects. By presenting complete environments, the book encourages readers to understand interiors as integrated compositions rather than collections of isolated furnishings.
What the Book Reveals About Interior Practice
The interiors gathered in By Design illustrate how designers mediate between practical requirements and sensory experience. Successful rooms must support use, movement and comfort, but they also communicate mood, identity and cultural meaning.
Across the book, readers can examine recurring design concerns:
Space, Scale and Proportion
Furniture placement and architectural planning determine how people move through and experience an interior. The projects demonstrate how scale can produce intimacy, openness, drama or calm.
Colour, Texture and Material
Colour is presented as more than surface decoration. Together with texture and material, it can connect rooms, establish visual hierarchy and influence atmosphere. Stone, timber, metal, glass, textiles and painted finishes contribute distinct physical and emotional qualities.
Furniture, Lighting and Objects
Furniture and lighting shape both the practical and expressive character of a room. Artworks, books and collected objects can add personal or historical associations. The strongest examples show how these elements form a coherent relationship with the surrounding architecture.
Historical Reference and Contemporary Expression
Many contemporary designers draw upon established decorative traditions without reproducing them literally. Classical proportions, vernacular materials, modernist furniture and craft techniques may be adapted to new settings. The book shows how historical knowledge can support contemporary invention.
More Than a Decorative Coffee-Table Book
The large format and extensive photography make By Design visually appealing, but its value extends beyond decoration. The publication functions as a directory of influential practices and a reference for comparing different approaches to interior space.
Design students can use it to identify studios and study composition, material relationships and visual presentation. Practising designers may find references for spatial planning, colour, furniture and detailing. General readers can use it to articulate why particular rooms feel balanced, inviting, dramatic or distinctive.
The concise profiles are especially useful as starting points for further research. They locate each practice within a wider field without attempting to replace a dedicated monograph. Readers interested in a particular designer can then pursue more specialised publications, interviews and project documentation.
Book Specifications
- Editors: Phaidon Editors
- Format: Hardback
- Dimensions: 290 × 250 mm
- Length: 328 pages
- Illustrations: More than 400 images
- Featured practices: More than 100 interior designers and decorators
- ISBN: 978-1-83866-187-8
- Publisher: Phaidon
Who Is This Interior Design Book For?
By Design will appeal to interior designers, architects, decorators, design students and readers interested in contemporary visual culture. Its combination of broad international coverage, concise profiles and extensive photography makes it suitable for browsing as well as structured research.
The publication is particularly valuable for readers seeking an overview rather than a study of one designer or movement. It maps a varied professional landscape and demonstrates that contemporary interiors can be analytical, expressive, restrained, theatrical, historically informed or experimental.
By Design ultimately presents interior design as a serious creative discipline. Its projects show how architecture, furniture, lighting, materials and personal objects can be coordinated to shape everyday experience. As an international survey, it offers both a record of contemporary practice and an invitation to explore the designers influencing how we inhabit space.
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Related Reading
Source: Phaidon — By Design: The World’s Best Contemporary Interior Designers.
