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– You’ve done fit outs for some of the best hoste
lries in the city including working with Colin Harmon across his 3FE empire and also John Mahon on Lucky’s and The Circular. What have you learned along the way with these projects? What have been the biggest successes and challenges? With Colin, he has such a knowledge of what works and what doesn’t for him and his clients. That’s been a great education. I know what works in retail, but that advantage of knowing what restaurant customers require has been really beneficial. With both John and Colin, they trust you to do your job. They are both open and ambitious with their design choices which makes it fun for us. The most successful project with those guys has been redesigning the 3fe Daniel location. it impossible for us to refuse. We learned a lot. The project was enormous and all-consuming. Taking on these vintage projects is no small feat. Constant unknowns and unattainable parts. But, like I said before, we love a challenge. – Your favourite projects so far and why? Probably the Shaw Street Project in Toronto in 2016. That really was the catalyst that focused us on furniture design and interiors. The client wanted bespoke pieces for each room in the house to tie it all together. It’s featured on our website. The project combined all the multi-disciplinary skills we had acquired the previous 15 years into a beautiful and thoughtfully curated project. Plus, it was permanent. Everything in film and display is disposable. Once the clients saw we were capable of at Shaw Street, the requests for beautiful pieces poured in. – An epic project you took on was the refurbishment of an Airstream. This was not just bringing it back to its former glory but literally labouring over every element to make the ultimate place on wheels. Can you talk us through how this came to be and how the project went, from your perspective? We met the client while doing a large outdoor installation in Fayetteville Arkansas with Maser. The client mentioned he had an Airstream on his land and asked us to work on it about five times over as many years and we turned it down. After he saw the Shaw Street pieces, he basically said, tell me where and when you want it and I’ll send it to you. It arrived in Toronto in March 2017. It was an amazing offer to be given carte blanche on a project like this. Obviously the cult of the Airstream and Eoin’s love for vintage car culture, plus the mid-century timeframe, made – Your workshop playlist? We are a silent disco studio. Eoin prefers crime podcasts and English Grime. I’m usually painting in the workshop so I like more chill old man folk, Roxy Music if I need a pick-up and You Must Remember This, a podcast about old Hollywood scandals. I’m a nana. – Your reading list. What are the books you intend to devour in this coming year? Mostly we read kids books and fall asleep. I got an Almanac in my stocking so I’m psyched about that. – Three rules you live by and would give to others setting out on a similar path to yourselves. Oh God. Be confident in your ability. Go with your gut – and that includes people you’re working with and for. It’s so important to work with good people and cultivate those relationships. Measure twice and then measure again. – Rumours abound that you’re considering a return to the city in the not so distant future. Why move back, is it professional or family or something else that is informing your decision? We’ve had some time to see where the work is coming from, and that’s Dublin. I’m a city girl at heart and I miss the buzz of a good neighbourhood. We haven’t ruled out country life, but it would be nice to be closer. I’m always on the lookout for the dream location and project for our family. borienstudio.com 17