With touch-me faux fur walls in glacier blue, leather-lined rooms, wallpapers that resemble mountain peaks, and lighting that hangs like icicles, ski chalet specialist Claudia Dorsch's VIP lounge at the design trade fair is super cool.
A specialist in ski, sea and surf homes. Claudia Dorsch Interiors brings ice-cold rigour to every corner of the VIP space that designers, suppliers, architects and aesthetes are currently gathering in to meet clients at London-based Decorex.
An annual affair for high-end designers, including our own Brian Woulfe and Roisin Lafferty, it helps them expand their contact books, woo clients and win business. It means long days and lots of small talk.
She’s gifted those working at the show a space with many noteworthy details, most specifically the lobby walls, which look like she may have been channelling Sully from Monsters, Inc.
The exceedingly sensory space is infused with soft smoked woods, fresh birch and rich patchouli combined with clove leaf, amber and creamy vanilla, a scent The White Company calls Fireside.
It wafts through the rooms via diffusers and electric atomisers that help to layer the scent, giving it a smoky, earthy base, explains Claudia Dorsch of Claudia Dorsch Interiors, who specialises in ski, sea and surf homes.
The sound of a wood-crackling fire carries through the rooms so you can touch, smell, see and hear her designs come to life.
But it is the talking-point lobby that has been lighting up social media feeds all weekend. Clad in glacier blue faux fur walls, this is a space that demands your attention and your touch. It’s been lighting up social media all weekend.
“You can’t upholster with it, but it was the exact icy blue I was looking for,” explains its designer, adding that the texture also dampens sound.
The mountains claim a special place in her heart, so she’s channelling the golden age of après ski, the 1970s, when conversation pits and firepits were a key feature of shacks at the pinnacle of ski runs as well as designer chalets.
In the lounge is a suspended central fireplace, in snow white, a classic by French brand JC Bordelet, that forms its centrepiece.
“As a place to come to the show, meet clients and have a drink, it creates a central point for ritual and community,” she says.
Because this is an exhibition space, there can be no open flames, so she used Caleo water vapour technologies to deliver a fine mist of water vapour combined with LED lighting to create 3D floating flames and smoke effects.
Above the fireplace is Vetta, one of several statement lighting pieces by Cameron Design House.
Decorated like an icicle-like collar, its crystals reinforce the glamour of her 1970s fire and ice concept.
She brings in the mountains too in her brand choices, using Swiss modular metal furniture brand USM, which she used in many of her clients' chalets to create a room divider within the lounge area.
She says the flexibility of the range can be seen in the minimalist mountain lodge, the Omnia in swish Swiss ski resort Zermatt, which was opened by Alexander Schärer, CEO of USM and a member of the founding Schärer dynasty, in 2006.
In the lounge, she uses USM to divide the room, an approach she regularly takes as it allows light to pass through.
The seating here is upholstered in a selection of fabrics by Dedar and Casamance, while some of the walls feature a print by House of Hackney, which was co-founded by Dubliner Frieda Gormley.
In the bar, there’s a large table by Rodam, a German firm that has engineered its own extension system for dining tables. It means you can accommodate up to 20 people when you’re entertaining. Flanking it is a selection of chairs by Billiani.
Here, cowhide wall panels help to bring the Alpine mood in. Additionally, the walls here are leather-clad, a finish by Arte. “It is all about the materials,” she explains.
“The room smells of leather. It’s a combination of stone, wood, leather, glass and crystal.”
The European glamour of après ski is most apparent in her terrace area, a feature of mountain-top bars, restaurants and cafes.
The space is strewn with deckchairs, something every mountain terrace has, she says. These have custom striped fabric in her brand’s colours.
Fabricated by Colours of Arley. It is a decorative approach that can be used in deckchairs or parasols.
The wallpaper by Philip Jeffries is an abstract print that she feels resembles the mountains. The ceiling and walls are painted in a Benjamin Moore colour that is the blue of the sky.
“It’s about sitting and looking,” she says.
“Time slows down, and you’re at one with nature. The air is good; there is less noise. It calms the nervous system.
"Whether you’re there in summer or winter, that view of the horizon. It is so calming, like looking at the ocean.”
You can see Claudia Dorsch Interiors Back to the Future, The Chalet Reimagined at Decorex, in the VIP lounge at Olympia London, Hammersmith Road, which runs until the end of tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14th.
