June 2017

18 BUILD / June 2017 , “To get new ideas, I leaf through magazines and I like to visit the smaller fairs where many young, creative and innovative designers exhibit their work. I love to throw around ideas with like-minded colleagues and have also been known to click through Pinterest boards. I also find films and TV shows very inspiring.” Whatever Sabrina’s strategy to success, it seems to be working well! She tells us about two particular projects which have been especially satisfying to her during her career. “One was my very first project when I had just started my own company five years ago,” she embellishes. “What was at first “I only need a kitchen” finally turned into “Sabrina, I want you to furnish my whole apartment”. And the client felt this way because I had been gutsy enough to stubbornly veto a solution the architect and builder were arguing for but which I knew was far from ideal for my client. He was so impressed by that he decided I should handle the whole project for him. I ended up communicating with and for him, and also acted as a mediator between him and the hired professionals. And I still assume this role in projects to this day. This first project pointed the way my company would take shape. “The second example is an ongoing collaboration with a client for whom I have already realised interior design concepts for three apartments in the same building. It was the first time that my ideas required a crane. I suddenly discovered that really anything is possible if you work with the right partners and that the right partners will share and support you in your concerns. I have also learnt that I have to pencil some flexibility into my tight time schedules and that, regardless of the number of plans I draw, I need to be on site. It is not so rare that final decisions are made at the construction site.” Recently, Sabrina was chosen to receive the prestigious accolade of Innovator in Design, for her hard work, dedication and client satisfaction. “It feels Simply amazing to receive such an award,” Sabrina enthuses. “I was, and still am, so touched and can’t really believe this great thing is happening to me. Once I have fully grasped it, I will be sure to celebrate! “To me, the award means that my projects and I are being noticed. It also means that the path I have chosen for my company and myself is receiving a positive response from my surroundings. “I would particularly like to thank my customers, who trust me to realise their visions of where and how they would like to live. I don’t take this for granted, it is a great honour. And I also want to take this opportunity to thank my family and friends, without whom my company could never have developed into what it is today.” With regards to her future aspirations, Sabrina lets us in on a few little golden nuggets as to what we can expect to see from her, and Uniek, within the next 12 months. “Various projects I am working on leave me little time to spruce up my own company and develop all kinds of possible and impossible visions for the future. But I am working on a new website (uniek.rocks), and I am always looking for new manufacturers to collaborate with, as well as radically redesigning my showroom at the moment. In the end, however, surprises and being inspired by my customers to create individual solutions are still what I love the most.”