We had a young lady come over to the design studio recently. She's working in a furniture company run by a male MD. She's having a great time in her job and says she is definitely learning a lot from them and the projects she has been involved in. However, she feels she's missing something. Her hope was that in internship with us would teach her a little something extra about interior design with "a woman's touch". I initially wasn't sure how to take this but I decided it was a compliment.

It got me thinking though, about how male and female designers or architects might approach a project differently. It reminded me also of a project I was asked to look at a couple of months ago. The prospective clients were are well known restaurant in Lagos that had recently had a huge makeover. They'd flown in an Italian interior designer who had put together a gorgeous scheme. But after millions of Naira spent, they called me in to have a look at the space because it was still missing 'something'. Turned out the designer (very talented I might add) was male. I am not sure how relevant that was to the outcome. He was also gay but again the relevance of that is debatable.

I've put together a few images and wonder if you can tell which ones have 'a woman's touch'.

Photographs courtesy of  www.oliversteel.com and www.sheilabridges.com.