In the Kit Kemp Design Studio, we’re always playing with a collage of color, pattern and texture. My style is best described as carefree and colorful—color always makes me smile. When working in an uncompromising city landscape, I like to return to a room filled with light and color.

Loft Suite at Charlotte Street Hotel, London

I believe people gravitate towards color as it makes them happy, especially during these darker, uncertain times. Here, I reveal my top five tips on how to use color in design.

Hallway at Rossferry Barbados

Be inspired by nature

I often look to nature for ideas related to color palettes that work, such as the natural hues of ochre, terracotta, sienna or indigo. From these organic base tones, I can create different moods with various color and pattern combinations.

Kit Kemp MBE has forged an internationally-acclaimed reputation, not only for her unique hotel interiors, as founder and creative director of Firmdale Hotels, but also as a successful textile, fragrance and homeware designer, author and a champion of British art. She has won many accolades for her designs, such as House & Garden’s Hotel Designer of the Year prize and The Crown Estate’s Urban Business award.

She has collaborated with leading global design brands, including Anthropologie and Christopher Farr, creating collections of tableware, fragrances, furniture, fabrics and wallpapers.

In 2012, Kit published her first book, A Living Space, followed by Every Room Tells A Story. Her third and latest book, Design Thread, was published last year. In 2017, she launched Shop Kit Kemp, an online homeware store. To see more on how we use color in our interiors, visit my new blog and website Design Thread kitkemp.com and follow @Kitkempdesignthread on Instagram.

C0ver image: Kit Kemp for Andrew Martin, Pear Tree Sunset Orange wallpaper with Faubourg dining table and Bespoke Bacall chairs in Original Guatlemalan textiles; Images courtesy of Kit Kemp