Rowan Gillies
Rowan describes his style as Deep Funk, being fun, funky, deep and developmental by design; a style which consciously playfully provokes and inspires the current paradigm of interior design into something more holistic.
1. Who is your style hero?
Mother Nature. As Albert Einstein said "That which is impenetrable to us…behind the secrets of Nature...really exists. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion." While the philosopher Goethe reminds us that "Magic is Nature uninterrupted."
2. If you had an unlimited budget to spend on your home what improvements would you make?
None
3. Would you have the room you created in your own home?
Yes
4. What did you learn from taking part in ‘Your Â鶹ԼÅÄ In Their Hands’?
That 'design' is an unusual, unexplored and yet superb developmental-coaching vehicle; and the reaffirmation that I am (thankfully) always learning.
5. What is your golden rule when it comes to interior design?
My golden rule is to reflect deeply on what the overall system I am working in is REALLY asking for me to design, so that the overall environment may be in balance, whilst simultaneously knowing that this will always be a developmental journey for all participants by pushing us out of our comfort zones and into a space of mutual growth. (By ‘overall system’ I mean all the components of structure, space, society, (other) species, self and stakeholders like the individual clients.)
6. What is your DIY tool that you just can’t live without?
My "presencing", i.e. dynamically steering by my applied mindfulness and imagination in each moment.
7. What is your biggest DIY achievement?
The recent completion and opening of my new elemental adventure spa, which is a unique design phenomenon, redefining and upgrading the whole concept of an international luxury spa.
8. What’s your biggest DIY disaster?
There's really no such thing as a "disaster". One of the key differentiators between mediocrity and greatness is that mediocrity is petrified of failure whereas greatness embraces it as an indispensable facet of developmental success. As Thomas Edison is alleged to have said of His thousands of failed attempts to invent the lightbulb "I have not failed, not once, I have found 1000 ways to NOT make a lightbulb!"
9. If you could design a room in any building in the world, what room would you design and why?
My ultimate design dream is to create a series of unique "spectrum spaces", each of which immerses the visitor - body, heart and mind - into a direct personal experience of living in the shoes of humans undergoing life with differing characteristics and stages of development, so as to thereby deepen and broaden such visitor’s conscious life experience and potential, for the benefit of all. I take my inspiration from various models of developmental psychology, the chakra system in yoga, theme parks, and movies such as Groundhog Day, The Game, and The Truman Show etc.
