Member Collaboration: Culena and Ward & Co — The Luxury Property Forum

LPF Members and leaders of the luxury property industry Culena London and Ward & Co. Interiors have collaborated on a beautiful central London apartment. Our Founder and CEO, Priya Rawal sat down with Commercial Director of Culena London, Steven Murphy and Co-Founder of Ward & Co, Rosie Ward.

Check out their interview below.

Hi Rosie and Steven! So please, tell us about the project – what made it exciting and what made it unique?

Project Willow is a three bedroom apartment overlooking the river Thames in a new development in central London. The relaxing, peaceful views make this a perfect hub for a small family, Ward & Co’s design connects the outside with the inside, taking inspiration from olive green tones that come from the river when the sun is shining. Using a mixture of fitted and loose furniture, colours and textures, all bespoke to the client, taking into account their culture and religion, we have created a serene environment for everyday life.

The client on this was a joy to work for. After discussing the brief with us, she very much left us do what we do best. She had a lot of trust in us from the beginning, which makes for a seamless project.

Did the project pose any challenges that you needed to overcome?

Lead times of furniture and materials is proving tricky at the moment however with a very understanding client and having given ourselves a buffer in the programme, we were able to get the client in with a few hours to spare the day her rental tenancy was complete.

What was Ward & Co’s and Culena’s process in getting the best result for the client

Organisation/ teamwork and being prudent with any issues that arise

Rosie, could you tell us what differentiates Ward & Co from other interior designers?

Ward & Co. is a firm run by mother-daughter duo Sarah and Rosie Ward. We are known for delivering classic contemporary designs with a bold flair. Being a boutique company, every client has our attention, we only take on a certain number of projects a year so we can make sure each project is unique and has the best quality of service.

And Steven, what differentiates Culena from other contractors?

We use modern methods of building (mainly technology) throughout our business which identifies with the ever changing economic and domestic pressures of our projects. A good example of this is that we build most of our projects in 3D/VR before we start on site. We aim to minimise programme time, design time , inefficiencies and become more sustainable.

Steven, what was it like working together?

It’s fantastic when a team clicks and it has been a very organic journey with Rosie and her team (Ward & Co). We share the same ethics and we look for solutions while sharing ideas and the key success to our collaboration was open dialogue.

Rosie, what is next for Ward & Co?

We have a project completing in Kensington at the end of June, we are also with Culena on this. We have various others in and around London, then we are starting a couple more in the Caribbean so hoping to have a year round tan!

And Steven, what is next for Culena?

With the attention on the world stage, mainly the crisis in Ukraine, we are collaborating with another industry partner to provide welfare for Ukrainian Refugees in Peterborough. We hope to use our influence in the industry to provide some comfort from them being so far from home. Also, we are looking to close on a number of contracts currently in our pipeline which is very exciting after a turbulent couple of years but our main focus is to continue developing our industry leading methods of building and ensure our project delivery remains efficient and sustainable.