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Specialized, in the last years, in interior design projects of some renowned agencies, avantgarde projects, and manifesto projects that have been extremely appreciated by the clients, the public and the specialized newspapers and magazines, designer Erna Berger Moise was asked by Corina Carladeanu, the head of the 2ActivePR advertising agency, to decorate the headquarters of the company that she runs.

The design of the head office is completely unconventional for such a space: the LCI retro desk and the Seven Sedie princiary chair alternate with the sofa and the „Scroll” armchairs from designers Guild, with gracious, yet minimalist lines. The reception desk, from Esedra Italy, is perfectly white, like an icy object with glossy and translucid finishes. The lampadaire with Oriental vibe comes from Fortuny and is made from manually painted glass, with silk accessories and amber beads.

The building that houses the headquarters of the company is a neoclassical construction that dates from the inter-war period, more exactly from the 30’s, this is why it has charm and an atmosphere that has inspired the concept of the design.

The building has a ground floor and two storeys, the upper storey being a spacious attic. Despite the fact that, at first, the building was designed to be a residential space, we still managed to turn it into the main office of the company.

At the 1st floor there is the reception, but also the CEO’s office, the conference room, two spacious offices and a stylish bathroom.

The attic is primarily an open space that houses offices in a well adapted layout, that allows the infusion of natural light, and secondly, a space designed for relaxation and discussions. As auxiliary spaces, there are a cafeteria and a small kitchen.

The beneficiary, Corina Bârlădeanu, was extremely flexible towards my suggestions, having more desire for a mood than a certain direction. She made me understand that she wanted an aesthetic space, very refined and particular, designed for her own personality.

An aspect that influenced and inspired me at the same time was that I talked to young, dynamic and creative people, and last but not least, to a predominantly feminine team. Thus, I wanted to point out the femininity, the refinement, maybe the romantism, but also the modernity and intelligence that define these people. In the company there is a limited number of employees, thus, the comfort is optimized, the offices are airy and spacious, offering an ideal habitat for the activity of a 5 stars company.

The idea that I had almost instinctively for this interior was inspired by „Alice in Wonderland”, theme that I approached not through its narrative, but as a paraphrase, wanting to play, to experiment with objects, with the time periods, without being limited. In fact, I was interested in the playful attitude that you can afford if you transpose yourself into the world of fairytales, because when everything is chimerical, everything is possible.

From the point of view of the theme and of the atmosphere, it is a unitary design, but this doesn’t make the different spaces just a repetition of the same idea, but more of a coordinated collection, that allows various variations on the same theme. The unity of the project is also due to the colour pallette that was used, that combines pastel shades that have been dimmed by the patina of time, with strong, vivid colours, that give a contemporary vibe, and with different shades of white, for a fresh and spacious atmosphere.

The wall finishes are varied: wallpaper, acrylic and marmorino paint, (marmorino is a special mural technique, applied with the spatula in successive layers).

The furniture chosen for this interior is a prestigious one, not only for the very particular pieces in the CEO’s office, conference room and reception, but also for the ones in the other rooms. All were purchased in Romania on the basis of orders from the catalogues of the manufacturing companies, which are available in the furniture showrooms in Bucharest.

The lighting fixtures are part of the category of renowned high-quality art objects from other bygone times, but also from contemporaneity. The hand-painted silk or glass lamps are Fortuny Venetian lamps (in the head office, reception, and hallways). In the attic we used silver foil lamps Catellani & Smith, created in a workshop of plastic artists in Italy. Other contemporary lamps have been purchased from Orion, created by various manufacturers such as Morosini, etc.

For the head office I wanted a special expressiveness, an aesthetic, refined, feminine and informal atmosphere, with a precious, fairytale vibe. This shine, that is not common for office spaces, makes this room so individual and different. In order to emphasize the spaciousness, the original parquet has been finished with white-ivoire epoxy paint, thus making a modern and surprizing floor out of a traditional one. The walls have been finished in a warm tone of grey, a neutral shade, in order to emphasize a scenographic effect through the opulent fabrics from Designers Guild, that I coordinated from various collections.

The quality of the fabrics, as well as their confection in the form of opulent curtains, atypical for a company office, define the nonconformist style of this interior and ennoble the place, offering it glamour and feminity.

The interior design and the makeover works lasted for approximately 8 months and started in 2008.