MEET THE DESIGNER

Karine Perez Creates Timeless Elegance

Although she’s had a lifelong passion for design, Karine Perez took a rather circuitous route to heading her own, eponymous interior design agency. Karine’s journey towards her dream job shows there’s no “one-size-fits-all” formula for achieving design success!

Now a well-established designer across the Paris region, she favours a timeless style when creating living spaces that are as unique as their owners. Her approach places the client at the centre of every design decision, never losing sight of the fact that it’s the client, ultimately, who will interact with the spaces she creates. Here, Karine talks to Riluxa about her unusual career path into design, her vision of interior design trends and where she finds her inspiration on a daily basis.  

First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. How did your career in design begin? 

My name is Karine Perez. I’m a graduate of interior architecture and design and I live in Paris. I previously worked in insurance, but I’ve always been drawn to the arts. I thought about moving into fashion design, but I felt it was probably too late to get into fashion. Then I considered window dressing, until I discovered that it’s actually visual merchandisers who are responsible for window dressing. Although I was certainly interested in that world, visual merchandising requires an entirely different training, which I found both too broad for me and lacking in the aspects I wanted to focus on.

As I continued thinking about the direction I wanted to take, I realised that I liked interior design most of all. I decided to take a risk and retrain professionally as an interior designer. My first year was spent working for an agency and then I decided to go it alone, setting up my own studio in 2005: Karine Perez.

My projects are typically located in Paris and the surrounding region. They are often complete renovations, from project management to the smallest details of the decoration.

The powder pink children’s room of the Jouffroy d’Abbans project with stacked tiles and Riluxa’s Corvus Vanity Unit in Corian® Glacier White

Could you talk us through your creative process – how do you approach each client and each new project?  

My projects are as varied as my customers are. At the heart of our offering is a tailor-made design, no matter the size of the client’s budget. To me, it’s important to never lose sight of the fact that the people are going to live in this home. So, we have to put ourselves into the shoes of our customers and work to their requirements. The very act of completing this exercise often leads us to create interesting and original projects.

Of course, each project is a fusion of ideas. If I didn’t mix my ideas with those of my clients, everything would look the same! As interior design professionals, I would say that our role is to guide, to advise, and to bring forth new ideas, mixing them with those of our clients.

One thing I can’t bear is the thought of a copy and paste design or repeating the same project over and over. Clients do sometimes bring us photos from magazines and Instagram and ask us to replicate the exact look they’ve found. But I’ve always found they’re open to our point of view, which allows us to drive the idea forward in new directions together. In the end, seeing our clients’ images helps us to better understand their unique universe, but our role as interior designers is also to bring them new ideas.

Finally, some customers think we’re going to force a fixed list of suppliers on them, but not at all! The quality of a piece is always the most important consideration for me, rather than the brand. Sometimes l turn down a supplier when the products they’re offering are more focused on looks than substance. The sweet spot is to find a balance between beauty and functionality.

What inspires you? Do you have any particular resources or sources of inspiration you return to time and again?

The internet can be a rich source of inspiration, giving us access to an endless variety of beautiful images and incredible spaces. But there’s a danger of an overload of input from Instagram and Pinterest and it can sometimes be difficult to break free and do something different. So, it’s important for me to take a step back and nurture varied sources of inspiration. Travel helps me a lot with that! Travelling has always been my favourite source of inspiration, and it helps me stay open to new ideas in my work.

The light and airy bathroom of Project Vauvenarge with tea green tiles, featuring our Depay Vanity Unit in Solid Surface with One Drawer.

Do you have a signature style? How would you classify it?  

What I try to offer is a style that’s current with today’s fashions, but that won’t become “dated” in a couple of years. Many designers are so influenced by what’s fashionable right now, that they end up creating designs based entirely on current trends. It won’t be long before they look dated. When I’m coming up with an interiors scheme, I always aim for a décor that will still be relevant a few years from now.

I do use a lot of colour in my projects, but I also prefer a more neutral approach when it comes to the palette. I keep away from dramatic shades because I like my designs not to go overboard. Obviously, that also depends on the people I’m working for, because my ideas have to be based on the client and their preferences.

What would you say are the key trends within the world of bathroom design right now?

Right now, many clients want to put terrazzo or cement tiles in their homes. Even though we’re seeing them everywhere, they can still be very beautiful and timeless if you choose quality tiles and use them sparingly. We’re also seeing a lot of artificial cement tiles with repeating motifs. I really think it is important not to overload the decoration so that you don’t get tired of living with it.

Tell us about your relationship with Riluxa and why you’ve chosen to use Riluxa pieces in some of your projects. Which products have you used?

I first heard about Riluxa from a client a few years ago. We were discussing how much I love Corian, and he told me the products on Riluxa.com were excellent value for the quality they offer. So, I checked out your website and saw the range of options available, and that it was possible to have bathroom products made-to-measure at attractive prices. My first Riluxa order was all down to that client!

I was really impressed by how beautiful the products were, as well as the quality, and the fact that they were made bespoke for me. Not to mention the prices, which were accessible considering the materials and workmanship. Since then, I’ve specified Riluxa on several projects.

Finding beautiful bathroom furniture can be tricky, even more so if you need something custom made. Usually, it’s not possible to request any changes to a piece to meet specific requirements, and in terms of what’s on the market, it quickly jumps from “cheap” to very expensive. For me, Riluxa is an excellent middle ground.

The soft pink family bathroom of the Pereire project includes a contemporary vanity unit from Riluxa that combines our Corvus Double Washbasin in Corian® with a Gaia Classic 2-Drawer Vanity Base.

Another thing I appreciate is the level of personal attention and guidance at Riluxa. I have a very good relationship with Aurélie for years now, who accompanies me on all my projects. When you’re looking at a supplier’s site, you often see so many products that you don’t have time to trawl through it all. It’s also slow when you’re looking for something very specific or tailor-made. When that happens, I call Aurélie or send her an email with my requirements, whether it’s for a big piece of furniture and a bathtub, or just a very small piece of bathroom furniture. She then sends me a quote for exactly the product I need with all my criteria. This personalised support is such a plus for interior design professionals like me!

Karine chose a playful black & white theme for this parents’ bathroom which features a Corvus Double Washbasin Vanity Unit in Corian from Riluxa.

Best piece of advice for people renovating their bathroom or designing a new bathroom from scratch?

The most important advice I would give is, before you do anything else, to really plan out your bathroom’s layout properly. Don’t just launch into buying furniture on a whim, just because you’ve seen something you like. The planning stage, for me, is absolutely fundamental. You have to give it time, take the measurements, make the plans.

In Paris, since most bathrooms are small, the design stage is especially essential to make the most clever use of space. If it’s well-designed, even a small bathroom can be home to a large shower. One of the best things about Riluxa is that they enable you to design furniture to fit even the smallest spaces. It’s brilliant to have the freedom to play with the length, the depth and even the height of a basin or a piece of furniture to fit your needs exactly!

What’s been your career highlight to date and what do you still dream of achieving?

The renovation project I did in the 17th arrondissement was probably one of my best projects. It was a very beautiful apartment, which we completely remodelled, and the experience allowed me to get reacquainted with marble! Basically, I wasn’t a particularly big fan of this material, but by working with it, I must say that I find it very elegant now.

In the bathroom of that apartment, we chose to go for opulent black and white tones and to tile the space entirely in marble. We installed a double walk-in shower, as well as a beautiful black & white bathtub, a double basin in Corian® Glacier White and matching brassware.

The stunning main bathroom of the Jouffroy d’Abbans project, a Haussmann apartment in Paris’ 17th district. Karine showcased a range of Riluxa products in this striking marble bathroom, including our Biham Double Washbasin in Corian® , a Gaia Classic Bathroom Cabinet, a Bruges Freestanding Bathtub and brassware, such as the Concealed Single Lever Shower Tap & Shower Head. 

Are you currently reading any interesting books you’d recommend?

At the moment, I’ve put books about decorating aside in favour of ones about personal development. I’m reading Tony Robbins' Unlimited Power, and it inspires me every day.

Head over to Karine Perez' Instagram and Houzz accounts and explore her projects in even more detail on https://www.karineperez.com/.

If you would like your bathroom project to be featured on Riluxa's Client Projects Showcase, tag #riluxa @riluxa on Instagram or upload your images directly by clicking here. We love nothing more than seeing how our customers have used Riluxa products to create their dream bathrooms!