Talking architecture and interior design with Maria MacVeigh …
At a packed Design Talk during Design Week Dublin, interior designer and registered architect Maria MacVeigh gave a fascinating insight into her work. The session, facilitated by architect Amanda Bone, began with Maria describing how she grew up in a “creatively nourishing household”. Her dad was an architect from Belfast and her mum, who was Spanish, was a dressmaker, so creativity, design and making within the family was an early influence. She can remember in detail the floor plan of their first home, when she was just a toddler, and recalls the annual builders’ holidays spent as a family backpacking around Europe on architectural and art tours. From an early age, she believed that the insides of buildings represented “a world of possibilities”.
After graduating in interior design, and years working in London, Barcelona and Chile, she returned to Dublin in 2004 to set up MMV Design, bringing extensive international design experience in both architecture and interiors to her new firm. She then qualified as a registered architect. As the centre of the design world, Barcelona had the biggest influence on her work, she said: “Even our youngest clients had a thirst for design, an appreciation of materiality, finishes and form.” There she worked for Ricardo Bofil’s practice, and lived in an apartment he designed. From this experience, the influence of Mediterranean style took hold.
Maria’s deep knowledge of construction, making and landscape funnels into her award-winning work. She explained how her two professions – both that of architect and interior designer – cross over, and how this combined strength informs her approach to the rearrangement of layouts and sequences of spaces as well as in the detailing, finishes, furniture and lighting. She highlighted the importance of creating connectivity and continuity between spaces in her projects.
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The restful quality of her sophisticated and subtle interiors, delivered through a rigorous design process, detailed construction stage, and carefully appointed materials and finishes, was evident in her presentation. The audience had the opportunity to view various projects, including her beautiful work on the Michelin-starred Chapter One restaurant and her sister’s house where there are many references to their shared childhood memories of home.
SEE MORE: See Inside This Lovingly Renovated 1950s Home In Dublin
Maria with John Kelly and Eoin Lyons of LyonsKelly.
Maria greatly values the collaborative process and the names of the skilled people who work with her on projects, including David Coyne on joinery and Bernard Hickie on landscaping, come up time and again. “Everything has to make sense, that’s my design philosophy.”
For details of Design Week Dublin, in partnership with Range Rover, see www.designweekdublin.com.
Click into the gallery to see the guests who attended.
Photographer: Conor Healy, Picture It Pix; @pictureitpix
