Talin's interior design career started upon graduation from the Academy of Design in Montreal, Canada.
She traveled to Dubai where she worked with large architectural and design practices, working on large hotels, residential projects and retail outlets in newly built shopping malls across the city.
After moving to London, she was able to work for Greenline Interiors, which specialised in yacht interiors, and for large scale royal residents based in the Middle East.
Having founded her own company some years ago, she has managed to build her own clientele and has worked on refurb projects across the city as well as being involved in new build apartment projects in newly developed areas of London. She works closely with clients who have requested her expertise in office layouts, retail units and is currently working on a few commercial projects.
Her attention to detail and working closely with each client is what makes her method unique.
My background is all creative, I used to paint from a young age and always thought I would be an artist. Fast forward to Uni, and I decided to use my natural creativity to do something I can have a career in and interior design seemed to fit that mould. Once I started studying it later in my first job out of Uni, I realised how much I enjoyed it and how much more there was to it.
I enjoy teaching those who have a passion for interior design and are fully focused on building a new career path for themselves. I find that inspiring, to change careers later on in life is no easy feat. Seeing how much students gain from your knowledge is rewarding and to see a student succeed beyond the course is even more rewarding.
I think you need to start with having a keen eye. Knowing how to put colours together or enjoying the process of decorating a space is a great starting point. What makes interior design so exciting is that it is so subjective and varied, each individual designer adds their own flavour to a space.
I think it is more recently since moving more into Home Staging, I have been lucky enough to have worked on some exciting projects, mainly empty houses on the market to sell, that need a little 'pick me up' to make it look more appealing and impactful. I love interior design, but home staging is much more fun! I spent a few months in the States where home staging is a huge business, through my contacts there I managed to work on some houses which I will be adding to my portfolio.
Mainly that each student is different and works at a different pace. Colour theory might be easy for one student to understand, but technical drawing might be easy for another.
I suppose it would be the technical drawings and the softwares used in the industry that the course offers.
I don't like to categorise a specific style as it really depends on the space you are working with. Perhaps though, if I had to! I would say more Mid-century modern, contemporary, modern traditional. My inspiration comes from the space, I look out for key existing features that I can use and usually I use that as my starting point, so if a space has an original Victorian fireplace, I will design the space based around that.
I love Dorothy Draper's work, very vibrant, deliberate and colourful Phillips Starck is another designer whose work I have admired for a long time, his interior design is nonchalant but creates quite an impact.
My favourite part about being a tutor is seeing my students progress throughout the course, particularly the students who were lacking in confidence in the beginning but gain a huge amount of self assurance as they complete each task.
Keep going, completing the course will feel incredibly rewarding.
Image source: Talin Leask from @talindesigns
There are parts of the course that I was a complete novice to, especially with respect to the business element. Any problems I had, or questions that arose, were answered helpfully by tutors and student support. It doesn’t feel like you are being handed a ton of information and then left in the dark to complete your studies. Help and encouragement are there when you need it.
Tochigi City
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