Our clients often raise an eyebrow or two when they hear that we draw our inspiration from philosopher, social scientist and our hero Abraham Maslow, rather than from famous architects such as Peter Zumthor and their brilliant ilk.
“What? Why?”
It really is simple: Maslow talks of needs and the prioritising of such needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs expounds the theory that we have five levels of needs which are prioritised as: Physiological Needs, basic biological needs such as oxygen, food, sex and water; Safety Needs, to protect against times of emergency or threat; Needs of Love, affection and sense of belonging; Needs for Esteem, respect, confidence and self-worthiness; and Needs for Self-Actualisation, to find what you were born to do, defining who you are. Each need can not be realised until the previous needs are met.
In many ways these simple truths are reflected in design and architecture.
At Jin Design we talk and discuss and talk some more to delve into, discover, decipher and define what your needs are. Whether your needs are for security and seclusion, design and creativity, comfort and cosiness, function and facilities, or simply choice of materials, we will make it happen. Once we know how to answer those needs, the details can, and naturally will, follow.
It is therefore our job to interpret our clients’ needs, rather than superimposing our own preferences onto them. Basically it means that you, and only you, are the boss! We bring our wealth of experience and expertise to support your desires. In fact, in our team of eight, we have specialists in all fields of design, architecture and landscaping, there are no limits to realising your imaginations.
The joy of design and architecture is that every project, large or small, is an exciting challenge. When we tell people that the owner of Jin Design studied his post doctorate at Cambridge, or that we have offices in Bangkok or Bahrain, some of them simply don’t consider us for the job. They think that we may only do expensive and large projects. That couldn’t be further away from the truth. True, we have done some pretty challenging and remarkable projects, but we get as much joy and excitement from the smallest jobs.
One client lived in a moo baan and his neighbour thoughtlessly built a bathroom right next to their garden producing some pretty negative noise! We were given a budget of a couple of hundred thousand baht to build a structure to cover the area. After some thinking – and those important talks with the client! – we proposed that they instead build a pond with a water feature and decking area. Now the noise has turned positive, the family have a great outdoors area for entertainment and the water feature is beautiful. It ended up costing 70,000 baht. So, we can seriously stretch your money and take it further than you could ever imagine.
One of the benefits of spending so much time talking to our clients is that we often become friends with them. In fact, we nearly always do. This makes the entire process fun not only for us, but we believe, for them also. The journey we take together becomes pleasurable and the sense of achievement felt by the customers, are integral to success of each project.
Come and spend some time on our website www.jindesignstudio.com and you will see how we bring projects to fruition. Before, during, and after photographs will really help you to understand how we work and what kinds of projects we do.
We really look forward to hearing from you. If you have a question, an idea, a desire, just give us a shout and we will do that thing we do – listen and talk to you – and together see what we can create for you.
This conversation is not over; trust us we have a lot more to say. We will be chatting again to you next month…unless we hear from you first!
