Past Students

Design education at the Inchbald aims to prepare its alumni to enter professional interior design or garden design practice.

Among the School’s past students are many celebrated designers working in the garden design or interior design professions.

Some of our renowned alumni from the interior design school are: Stephen Ryan, Alix Lawson and Charlotte Robb, Jessica Brook, John McCall, Nina Campbell, Henrietta Spencer-Churchill.

Some of our renowned past students from the garden design school are: Luciano Giubbilei, Marcus Barnett and Philip Nixon.

On this page we will be featuring some of our alumni, adding others from time to time.

With a ten year career as a Chartered Surveyor behind him and a Directorship at Nelson Bakewell Property Consultants, Michael was an interesting candidate for the Inchbald. His desire to get into the character of a space sparked his initial enquiry into interior design. The decorative elements that perhaps a surveyor might not consider in terms of the sensory value of a space, became a much more integral part of Michael’s sphere of interest. He won the Directors Prize at the end of year exhibition for a consistently high level of design work and presentation.

When he left the Inchbald School he worked for Stephen Ryan for a year also forging links with Sieff Design and Hubert Zandberg. This experience it was a logical and somewhat easier decision to set up as an independent interior designer which he did a little over a year ago. Michael has featured in both House and Gardens magazine and the Evening Standard.

In July 2009, as if to mark the fifth anniversary of his graduation from Inchbald, Staffan made it on to House & Garden’s 100 Leading Designers directory. In his entry House and Garden called him: “A thoughtful designer, whose work is characterised by acres of bespoke storage space, a love of texture – and sometimes colour – and a boldness of scale.”

Brought up in Stockholm, Staffan worked as a film producer in the UK before enrolling on the Postgraduate Diploma in Architectural Interior Design. He worked for designer Rabih Hage before starting his own company early in 2005. The name, Staffan Tollgard Design Group, reflects the collaborative and cooperative spirit of this primarily Inchbald alumni practice. Based in Notting Hill, the group works closely on a wide range of projects, offering a bespoke interior design service to an exclusive international clientele. “Every client has a unique story. We use the language of design to tell it”. The group has completed over 75 high-end residential projects, each an innovative, creative solution to a client’s brief, each different in scale and style. Recent projects include several domestic renovation projects in central London and the refurbishment of a Grade II listed Arts and Crafts country house. Staffan’s showroom/home was featured in the June ‘09 edition of Living Etc and in the Homes and Property section of the Evening Standard. Other press includes articles in IDfx, Scan magazine, the Designer and Homes & Gardens.

In the Summer of 2008 Staffan launched another company, Red Thread, with Inchbald graduate Richard Newling-Ward. Red Thread’s focus is on commercial projects. They are currently working on a London hotel and Fremantle Media’s entertainment suites.

Sylvia Cordeiro studied languages at Oxford University before joining the Inchbald after a career in investment banking. Sylvia gained a distinction in Interior Decoration and was immediately recruited by leading design firm Todhunter Earle and later Park Grove Design, where she worked on both high-end residential and commercial projects, including Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons.

In 2006, Sylvia Cordeiro Design was launched with the focus on creating unique designs individual to each client. Sylvia’s work to date is predominantly high-end residential interiors for her clients’ private homes in London and overseas. At the core of Sylvia Cordeiro’s design aesthetic is comfort with great attention given to the detail of the textures and the finish.

Most recent projects include a luxury duplex apartment in Knightsbridge and a large family home in Wimbledon. Sylvia Cordeiro Design has also been invited to tender on the design of a small boutique hotel in London.

Marcus came to the Inchbald after working in the performing arts and in retail, when he decided that he wanted to pursue a career in garden design. He had already completed the RHS Advance Certificate in Horticulture and opened his own business when he enrolled in the full time Postgraduate Diploma in Garden Design in 2006.

Marcus describes his year at Inchbald as ‘challenging and fulfilling’ and graduated in 2007. During this year he was awarded a medal by the RHS for his Conceptual Garden at Hampton Court.

Since leaving Inchbald Marcus has been designing gardens in Surrey, Northamptonshire and London and has produced 3D images for other designers. His garden entitled ‘For Cosmo’ has been accepted to be exhibited at the Future Gardens event in St. Albans from June to October 2009.

Jonathan has completed over 250 gardens since 1993 from Victoria, Vancouver, the Gulf Islands and elsewhere in the province of British Columbia (including two gardens in zone 2b in Northern B.C.; cold!). His versatile portfolio includes everything from Contemporary, Woodland, Asian, Naturalistic Wilderness, Italian and Victorian to Penthouse gardens. With a general style that is site sensitive but bold uses architectural hard landscape layout overlaid with lush planting. He has worked almost exclusively with domestic and imported (North America, Europe and China) natural stone.

Among his portfolio he has created gardens on over 40 waterfront (predominately ocean) sites, landscaped a three acre private island accessed by float plane and helicopter. He has designed a garden for a client in Zurich, Switzerland in 2003.

James left his career as a Chartered Surveyor in the West End of London to qualify with Merit at the Inchbald School of Design with a Diploma in Garden Design. He returned home to Scotland in 2000 to design gardens. Disappointed with the standard of construction & planting by many landscapers, he set up his own landscaping business: ‘Plant It Landscaping’. He now has a team of about 10 including stonemasons, joiners, plantsmen, labourers, and himself – the designer.