Sophie & Daniel Masterclass Follow Up!

Hello everybody! If you have been following the blog lately you may have spotted that over the weekend I had the amazing opportunity to attend the ‘Sophie & Daniel Masterclass in Interior Design’ & it was BRILLIANT!

My day began with travelling down to London on the Friday ahead of my early start for Saturday’s class. Being a fairly new Mum amongst running two companies (& squeezing in home renovations) my spare time is pretty limited. Even though I was travelling for work & taking a course, (as this is my year of ‘creative development’) it really felt like a bit of a holiday. I managed to read a great business book on route & have a little time to myself. I also caught up with two of my designer BFF’s the night before for a lovely meal & really made the most out my trip before returning to my lovely hotel in the Belgravia area.

Over the years I’ve designed patterns & illustrations for almost every product area but my passion for interior based collections has become more apparent since we are renovating our forever home. The talks were everything I was hoping they would be & more… Daniels’ presentations were more interior design & process focused & were wonderfully executed as he has such a lovely way with words but he delivers in a way that you can full relate too (don’t get me started on his detailed diagrams & flow charts… They were so helpful & such an eye opener). We were then teased with drool worthy interiors & we even got a sneak peek of his own home! Whereas Sophies’ presentations specialised more in colour & styling & of course a bit of her legendary pattern clashing; her energy & enthusiasm is infectious & it was all so fun, she truly has bags of effortless style & was such a pleasure to listen too. Every talk was extremely informative, inspiring & presented with ease in such a relaxed & welcoming environment. They are both utter talents & are extremely friendly, warm & approachable people. I loved that they both have their own specialism. Sophie described their pairing as “chalk & cheese” – it made for a great class as we all felt like we had liked we had learned so much from two very different expert angles. The group was lovely too & I even met a a very lovely lady called Debbie who actually lives fairly close to me. We bonded as we chatted about all things interiors & plan to meet up in Liverpool to take an upholstery & up-cycling class together! It’s so great to meet like-minded people as it’s so important to find your own tribe.

Before attending the workshop I thought I’d like to pack a little gift for them both & I thought “no they might think I’m being a bit of a fangirl”…  However I decided to be brave & did it anyway as I remembered all of the times that people have came up to me after my own talks at design shows & I’ve always really appreciated it. I just went for it & presented them both with a gift during the coffee break & they seemed genuinely delighted & Sophie very kindly shared it all over on her Instagram stories. She even popped on my apron & I snapped a picture. I was chuffed as she is so stylish & the perfect model for my Bohemian print. The group was fairly small so we all got to chat – Daniel & Sophie even came & sat next to me during lunch & at the coffee break. I really admire the dynamic duo so much & I did feel a little giddy & probably looked a little red in the face when I met them! It’s a lovely feeling when you get to meet the people that you look up to & have the upmost respect for.

Oh & as I type this we are currently ripping out our own downstairs bathroom… I’m feeling inspired!

I’d really love to do more workshops & classes this year & you can keep up to date with me over on Instagram (@rachaeltaylor_) & Twitter (@rachael_taylor_). You can also find all of my products shown below that I gifted to Sophie & Daniel in my online shop.

You find out more about the lovely Sophie on her website as well as the wonderful Daniel over on his website.