As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, health & wellness have become topics of great interest around the world. How can interior design & interior designers use their skills to help create a revolution in personal health & wellness?

We spoke with interior stylist Ali Cohen of The Curated Block about how can interior design improve your health & wellness. Here’s our conversation…

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  Health & wellness topics impact many aspects of our lives - physical, mental-emotional, social, spiritual, environmental, occupational & financial. Since COVID-19, our home lives have completed merged with our working lives, making our homes even more important to our health & wellness.

Do you think interior designers can play a part in helping our health & wellness?

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block:  Yes, interior design definitely can help our health & wellness!

Our mood is easily influenced by our surroundings, and in turn can affect our health, productivity, and quality of life. Spaces with clutter, poor air circulation, and harsh or not enough lighting are proven to cause stress in individuals, leading to both mental and physical illness.

On the contrary, there are so many ways that interiors can help our wellbeing: plants, crystals, and neutral tones are just a few examples that make me, personally, feel at peace. Especially in times like these - we spend so much time in our homes that instead of simply being a place to eat and sleep, it has transformed into a place of growth, productivity, and reflection.

The role of interior design is to create spaces where people feel comfortable and at home.

With wellness-focused design on the rise, it is the designer’s responsibility to tap into these ideas and implement them in spaces. I think most would not realize, but designers are healers and have the ability to transform one’s life, simply by the space they live in.

When designers use practices such as feng shui, biophilic design, lighting, and colour healing, the benefits to one’s health and wellness are transformative. Proven by science, we have a neurological response to beauty, which sends shots of serotonin through the brain. 

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  In regard to our physical wellness, how can interior designers help people improve their physical health?

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block: Good design is not only aesthetically pleasing but is made for functionality. It is supposed to benefit us, and aid us through our daily routines.

Lighting plays a key role in our circadian rhythm, from how energized we feel throughout the day to how well we sleep at night. Natural light is key to productivity throughout the day and staying energized. When you think about it, it’s much easier to stay focused and productive in a room with natural light flooding as opposed to one with minimal or fluorescent glaring light. I know it’s not always that easy, so LED light bulbs with cooler blue hues are preferred for an optimal workspace environment. Later in the day, when it is time to wind down, try switching to warmer hue lighting, it will alert the body it is close to bedtime. Having dimmers or secondary lighting creates a relaxing feel for your home, allowing your eyes and brain to rest and recharge. 

Something to try at home; An hour before you usually fall asleep, turn on a lamp and read instead of scrolling through social media. You’ll have an easier time falling asleep and reaching REM. 

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  In regard to our mental-emotional wellness, how can interior designers help people improve their health?

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block: Growing up, my mom always said to me “a clean space is a clear mind” and to this day it has never failed me!

The act of cleaning your space and decluttering is not only a productive act in itself, but sets the tone for how productive you will be in other aspects of your life. It is inevitable, especially during quarantine, that we get stuck in the mundaneness of daily routine, but if we take the ancient teachings of feng shui and space planning, an entirely different space can be attained.

Feng shui in a nutshell is arranging your surroundings in a way that everything harmonizes and radiates positive energies. For example, your home office should be filled with achievements and motivational tokens. By surrounding yourself with positive items and a minimalist lifestyle, you in lieu are creating space for more of those things to come into your life!

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  In regard to our social wellness, how can interior designers help people improve their health? How can interior design help our relationships with others?

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block: Such an important question given families are back living all under one roof, and spending more time together than ever! Space planning is so important, and allotting for different areas so everyone doesn’t feel on top of each other. An inviting space is one with lots of seating that gives a sense of comfort and relaxation.

Colours play a large part in the feeling of a space. Neutrals and natural colors are said to be calming, red is stimulating, green is associated with balance, yellow is energizing, blue is cooling, black is dramatic.

When creating a common space it is best to use neutral and earthy materials, so it is peaceful for everyone.

Texture is a great way to bring interest into a room. Think pillows, drapery, ottomans, for textured fabrics and rattan baskets, cane furniture, and ceramic vases for visual texture. 

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  In regard to our spiritual wellness, how can interior designers help people improve their spiritual health?

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block: Covid has been a great time to discover and work on our spiritual wellness. I love the idea of a zen nook since it does not take up a lot of space and can be tucked away when not in use. A meditation pillow, crystals, and any other items that bring you joy is a simple way to carve out an area for you to go into every time you want to practice meditation, gratefulness, or just be still. 

Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto:  In regard to our occupational/financial wellness, how can interior designers help people improve their spiritual health? With Covid forcing people to work from home, office space or spaces that convert into a home office during the day have become very important

Ali Cohen - The Curated Block: One of the biggest challenges from the onset of Covid is working from home and managing one’s work-life balance. When possible, I would avoid having your office in your bedroom and put an effort into making your space one you enjoy being in, even if your couch is five steps away. Tons of storage space to keep things organized, investing in a comfortable chair, and having greenery are great key factors in creating a productive workspace. The snake plant is proven to be a great office plant as it produces oxygen which helps keep you alert and removes toxins in the air.

Also, don’t forget that just because we are all working from home, it’s okay to turn your laptop off and unwind at the end of the day! 

About Ali Cohen & The Curated Block  

Ali Cohen, creator of The Curated Block is an interior stylist and is currently a student of Interior Design at George Brown College. The Curated Block strives for wellness and design to converge on all axes. Starting as an inspiration page to share my love for interiors, it has now turned into a space to connect with people and help them create a space they love, and with fellow interior lovers in the field.

Website: www.shopcurato.com

Phone: 905-802-3422

E-mail: alicohen01@icloud.com

Instagram: @thecuratedblock

Instagram: @shopcurato