We talk to Peter Grech , Principal Designer and Director of The SpaceMaker Interiors Ltd. 

How would you describe yourself?

I am passionate and creative. I love pouring myself fully into everything I do. If it’s a client project I totally embrace the home as my own and make sure every decision I make is true to my vision and something I would do in my own home. I enjoy the creative journey I take with my clients and love being inspired by their stories to help me create a truly bespoke and personal space for them. 

Where is home? And work? 

Home is Altrincham and Malta. It is so true what they say, that home is where the heart is. I love living in Altrincham, there is such a great community here and loads of places to hang out. Malta is where I grew up and where most of my family and friends are, so I will always think of there as home too. 

Work is everywhere. Recent projects have been in Cheshire and London and I work with clients across the UK, helping them realise the value and opportunities in their properties and creating beautiful spaces. 

What did you want to be when you were younger? 

I dreamt of being a pop singer, but I can’t sing very well. I have always been passionate and obsessed about design so it was inevitable that I would find my way back to it in the end. 

Name a few of your favourite places to be...

My favourite restaurant has to be Osteria del Tempo Perso in Ostuni, Puglia. Best food ever! The MOMA in NYC is my favourite place for art. The Dauphine Market in Paris for the most incredible antiques experience. And Fisherman’s Bastions in Budapest, Hungary has the most romantic scenery.

What or who inspires you? 

I find artists and their work very inspiring. The way they see and feel the world, and interpret it in their medium has always fascinated me. I love what happens from the artist’s perception, interpretation and expression and how the end result goes through the same process again on the viewers side. 

What was the last gift you gave someone?

I organised a little treasure hunt for my husband on Valentine’s Day. It’s always fun to gift someone an experience rather than just an object. 

Tell us a secret/fun fact? 

I love languages. I can speak Maltese, English, German and Italian! But I was awful at languages when at school. My love for them came from travel later in life. 

Who or what would you place in room 101?

Single use plastic.

What’s been your biggest life lesson?

You can spend your entire life making decisions to try and make other people happy, but in the end, you need to make sure that your decisions make you happy – and your happiness will make others around you happy too. 

What was the moment you decided to leave your role as a Doctor and follow your true passion of design? 

I had always loved design and chose to do medicine as a safe option but throughout my career I always knew I wanted to transition into a more creative and design focused job, and medicine would never do that for me. I got to a stage where I had to do yet another set of exams, and I was working all hours of the day (and night) with very poor work life balance, and decided I had enough. I was done compromising on my dreams, so I took some time out to really reflect on it and make sure I was happy with my decision – and with the help of my husband, I took the plunge and resigned and worked on my journey into the design world. There is not one day that I ever regret that decision. 

How did you find the transition from healing people to making their design dreams come to life? 

There are a lot of transferrable skills between medicine and design. You have to listen to people properly to be able to understand what it is they want and need from you. Being able to solve their dilemmas comes from knowing your strengths, and your weaknesses. Knowing who to call for help and where to get answers from. These are true for both jobs. 

The plus side for me now is I am back in control of my time and my hours. I get to be the boss and that is great. The con is that you have to learn how to be a boss – which is an interesting journey as well as a chore.

How did your appearance on BBC’s Interior Design Masters come about? 

I had met a number of the contestants of the previous series at an event I had gone to and they all encouraged me to participate. The application was a series of interviews, video calls and mock briefs. I thought the show would be a great opportunity for me to showcase my love for design and challenge myself to work on commercial spaces – as the majority of my work so far has been residential. 

What were you biggest challenges working on the show?

The hardest challenges were designing and sourcing within the super tight deadlines and budgets. Neither of which are representative of design in the real world. This along with the fact that I took the show a bit too seriously. I treated every challenge like I would a real client, which isn’t really appropriate for a TV show. 

Looking back at your time on the show what new skills did you learn and what is your biggest take away?

I learnt how to sew, very basic stuff, but it is an incredibly useful skill. My biggest takeaway was a re-affirmation in my design principals of delivering high quality, incredible value design services to my clients. 

Are there any behind- the-scene secrets you can share? 

The sofa time is around an hour or so in total, sometimes longer. As there are many lengthy conversations about the design decisions behind each space and answering questions from the judges. I would always ask a lot of questions back to the judges to try and learn as much as possible. This obviously gets edited down to a few minutes. Alan is always very warm and hilarious. He is a very genuine person and had great banter with some of the contestants. 

What does the future look like for The Space Maker?

I am currently working on around 10 residential projects in the UK and overseas with some commercial spaces and brand collaborations and product lines in the pipelines. It’s a very exciting time for me and I cannot wait to share it all with people who love great design. 

www.thespacemaker.net

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