Own Your Time Zoe Hewett
I’m joined this week by Zoe Hewett on Own Your Time.
In today’s episode I’m going to be chatting with Zoe Hewett.
Zoe is an artisan interior designer and founder of Style Mongers of Bristol. Zoe's mission is to enhance well-being and sustainability through creativity and interior design, without compromising on style.
A former set designer, scenic artist, and costume maker, Zoe brings a fascinating perspective on how our environment impacts productivity, creativity, and focus.
Let’s get into it…
Key takeaways from this episode:
Your space affects your productivity – Clutter and disorganised spaces can drain energy and increase stress.
Design is a powerful tool – Small changes in lighting, color, and layout can transform how you work.
Sustainability isn’t just about materials – It’s also about making intentional, long-lasting choices.
Your environment should support your goals – Align your workspace with the kind of work you want to produce.
Read the transcript:
Please note - this podcast episode was transcribed by an AI tool, there may be some typos or errors.
00:00 Welcome to Own Your Time, a podcast for small business owners. Get ready to harness your most precious asset, your time, with intention, enabling you to create a life that thrives in simplicity, ease and joy.
00:17 I'm your host, Sarah Stewart, Glasgow-based time management expert. My approach combines the wisdom of traditional time management strategies with the transformative power of mindfulness.
00:30 My commitment is to help you to get more time for the things that really matter. If you are ready to ditch the hustle culture and overwhelm, and instead embrace peaceful productivity, you are in the right place.
00:43 In today's episode, I'm going to be chatting with Zoe Hewitt. Zoe is an artisan interior designer and founder of Style Wongers of Bristol.
00:54 She's on a mission to improve well-being and sustainability through creativity and interior design without compromising on style. Zoey is a former set designer, scenic artist and costume maker and she has such an interesting story.
01:11 Let's get into it. Hey, welcome Zoey. Thank you so much for joining me on my podcast. How are you today?
01:19 She's having me. I'm fine. Thank you. We've got a little bit of sunshine here in Bristol today. So that's put me in a good start to the day.
01:27 It's actually, Well, the sun's sort of out here in Glasgow. It's been very cold past sort of few days. But yeah, when the sun comes out and it's dry, I think that's sort of, yeah, makes a difference.
01:44 We get a lot of wet weather in Glasgow. It's normally a little bit dreary. That's, that's its reputation. Yes, it is.
01:54 Yeah, I have it. So why don't you start off just by telling the listeners a little bit about you and your business?
02:03 Okay, so I'm an interior designer based in Bristol from Cardiff originally. I used to be a set in costume design for theatre and I did a bit of, I did a lot of scenic art as part of that and I did a bit of film and TV art directing and then got fed up, burnt out and decided to switch to interior design
02:29 because it's basically the same skill set. It's just a really different application. So there's no gap for tape and everything has to last more than like three weeks.
02:40 And I was admiring before we started recording, admiring your sort of mood boards behind you. Like I am very creative and all this sort of stuff lights me up, so I'm excited to get into it.
02:54 And I did actually, when I first moved to Glasgow, I did a few night classes to try and meet like minded people.
03:02 And interior design was one of the classes that I did. fantastic. And yeah, I really enjoyed it. Right. Oh, did you do any wacky projects, anything really unusual?
03:15 No, not really. And I feel like this room that I'm recording again doesn't reflect my interior style at all because it's sort of like a white box, whereas a lot of the other rooms in my house are quite like more colorful and yeah, arty and so on.
03:35 I'll need to get projects and turn this room around. Yeah, make some time for yourself to get it, how you want it.
03:42 Yeah. And so when you pitch to come on the podcast, like, you know, there was lots of different things that were really interesting to me.
03:52 And one of the, one of the things that stood out as you talk about sort of the different careers that you've been in was the different pace in careers and, you know, depending on what niche you're in, how fast-paced it is.
04:10 Do you want to maybe explore that a little bit more? Sure. So, in the theater world, there's never any money and there's never enough time to do what you're trying to do.
04:23 And of course, the shows are always in the evening, so that's It's just fundamentally quite an anti-social industry to work in and it involves a lot of late nights, you know, finishing off stuff, making till 2 a.m.
04:38 often, I mean, and sometimes even as a professional, not just as a student with a deadline, but that deadline of curtain up is absolute, like no one is waiting for you, so you just have to be ready.
04:50 So it's quite hardcore and it's sort of similar in film and TV really because it's usually a little bit more budget but time is similarly finite and so it's quite fast paced, high pressure, 12-hour days and you'd best not be the person keeping camera waiting because you just don't.
05:17 And I'm pleased to say I don't think I've ever been the person making Campbell wait. Maybe once, we had to spray some fake cobwebs onto something and it was outside and it was windy so it wasn't going well and a man came along and sort of took the candle from me and did it a bit more robustly and it
05:42 got done. But I mean, we're talking like 30 seconds here. So I didn't really keep anyone waiting a day. No.
05:49 That's funny fake cobwebs. Love that. Actually, that's the difference between film theatre and TV and interiors. Everything used to end up having to look old and fake to stress.
06:02 And now everything has to look new and clean and tidy. Yeah. One of the phrases that you had shared you'd said that deadlines are elastic in interior design and I found that fascinating.
06:20 Do you want to talk to me a little bit about that? Yes. It's almost like the opposite of the theatre world because you're managing so many different trades.
06:34 Well, that's the same, but in property world, you know, things have to be done properly and there's no room for okay well this will do for now we can we can make this work for tonight and then we'll fix it better tomorrow for the rest of the run.
06:52 It's got to be done right and of course you know you strip off some wallpaper you look behind some plaster board and you find a problem that you just couldn't have found until you did that or under the floor and then it creates this whole other set of problems you have to solve and with these different
07:10 trades people they're usually, unless you're using like a whole design build company where they've got staff, you're often dealing with sole traders who are managing multiple different projects so it's like it's an absolute nightmare sometimes and you'll say to a client, oh yes we think this bathroom
07:28 will take three weeks and it ends up being six, I mean that's happened to me. Gosh, so it's frustrating, but it's just, I don't know how you can change it, really.
07:41 I just have to deal with it. It's interesting. My little, it's my corporate background's project management. So this sort of stuff, I really enjoy, like, trying to troubleshoot and so on.
07:57 But even I had, you know, I did an extension at my house and similarly, you know, I was told it would be seven weeks and it ended up being months and months and it was, yeah, it was difficult.
08:11 My kids were a lot younger at that point. So it was really hard having to live through a renovation. It's happened enough times now that as an industry, we would know in construction, whatever we think is the length of time it will take, which just basically needs to double it.
08:35 You know, it's interesting. So I forget the name of the principle, but there's some sort of law around that where it's like the law of estimating time and I forget the name of it.
08:49 But I did see some like little cartoon thing and it was a case of take the time that you think it's going to be double it and then double it again and then spend and then spend the next like you know 10 minutes doubling imaginary numbers then realize that you're behind and then the little character starts
09:07 screaming and like run They're not on track, but there is definitely some, I think it begins, if I can find that, I'll put it in the show notes.
09:21 Right, so that people can look at it. Yeah, and I'll drop me an email with the details. And so when you think about your sort of personal experience, then going through these different careers or niches or whatever has your perspective on time changed?
09:41 I know at the start you touched on you know you sort of got to the point where you felt burnt out.
09:46 How has your perspective on time changed? For me it's a constant battle to manage it well because from childhood my well my parents clocked that I'm just a fundamentally late person pretty early and obviously I was late and was called to say.
10:06 And the irony is I had prepared yesterday and planned everything. I was going to do this call at home to make sure there was no possibility of me being late and then realised my headphones were at my studio shop so I had to dash here last minute sorry.
10:25 So yes from childhood I've been criticised for being late and for being slow. But actually, I don't think I am always slow.
10:36 I think I have worked with other designers and I've worked in different situations and now that I'm an entrepreneur with my own business rather than a freelancer, that has changed my thinking and my perspective on time.
10:52 I've looked around me at other people and the pace they move sometimes and I just think how on earth do you get anything done and I think it's because I'm used to being in this kind of adrenalized rush which is probably not very healthy at all and I'm trying to calm down and at some point I'm gonna have
11:13 to take on staff to assist me and I can't expect them to work with the intensity that I sometimes have to work at because it's just not acceptable.
11:23 Yeah, so I'm having to rewire my attitude towards time and the kind of work effort, really. Productivity just calm down a bit.
11:38 Yeah, it's interesting because so one of the previous guests on the podcast we talked about this exact thing and Katie Williams who is on, I think she's season two episode two and she works with busy women, busy and vicious women and it is all around this sort of concept of busyness and the how that
12:06 impacts our nervous system. And I think, yeah, when you're used to going at that pace, it then doesn't feel good when you try and slow down because it's just different.
12:18 I think when I reflect on my journey as well in my corporate job, I was a senior project manager in a global role.
12:32 I had teams across the world reporting to me. I was on call all the time. I was working with the unit peons in the morning and then the Americans at night and and I was like busy and didn't like to sit still and very much had this view on productivity around you know it was getting the most done and
12:54 so on but it is now working for myself that I've been able to carve out time and I you know take lots of time for myself and it's needed and I think I'm sort of being able to embrace that slower pace and I'm more used to it now so it's easier for me to sort of be with a quiet and so on.
13:22 That's good. That's reassuring for me because I'm definitely in the in the throes of trying to reach that point right now.
13:29 I think my my advice would probably be to start small like you know so I've been doing a lot of mindfulness and I've been trained as a mindfulness practitioner and so that's one of the things I do every other week I I've carved out time to volunteer and I go to my local hospice and I run mindfulness
13:52 meditation sessions which is like one of the highlights of my week. I really enjoy it. But what I encourage my clients to do is to start really small.
14:04 And so, you know, the thought of maybe sitting for half an hour, you know, doing a meditation or whatever, might fill a lot of people with fear.
14:14 But can you just take 30 seconds or a minute to just pause? And the exercise that I try and get my clients to do like a lot of um busy women that I work with, you know, they'll they'll go and you know throughout the day they'll maybe stop for a cup of tea but they would put the fill up the kettle and
14:38 put it on and then rush off to do something else and then come rushing back to fill up the mug and then rush off to do something else before they finally finish making the cup of tea but it's actually just use that as a trigger and instead of rushing around just focus on doing that one thing and make
14:57 the cup of tea or the cup of coffee from start to finish without doing all the other things. Yes, that's really sage advice.
15:08 I'll definitely try that. I'm quite guilty of cleaning my teeth and then thinking well I've got three and a half minutes now.
15:17 What else can I do putting on a wash and doing about 15 other things? I saw this articulated very well in a real recently, and it was about ADHD showing up in women.
15:27 I was like, I think I'm actually in the throat of being assessed, and yeah, I was like, has this woman been watching me clean my teeth because that is literally what I do?
15:41 Interesting. It's similar when I make a cup of tea, but I'm trying to get it to happy with doing my my daily stretches whilst making the tea or coffee and nothing else.
15:50 Yeah. It's going to be a practice. Yeah. Well, I think it is just that. And it's sort of viewing it as that, isn't it?
15:58 Because, you know, we're never finished article. Or, you know, like it's a sort of CS, you know, your life is a project.
16:08 And it's, we're on a continuum, like it's just going to keep going. interesting. And then maybe tell me a little bit about the work that you do now.
16:22 So I know that you sort of are running workshops and you're helping people like love their interior spaces. And you also sort of shared around, you know, how that can then make our spaces less distracting and more uplifting, like I love all of this sort of idea and and I do firmly believe that our environment
16:48 has a massive impact on our productivity or use of our time or energy, all of these things. So are there any sort of tips or anything that you could share if people want to sort of start thinking about improving their environment?
17:05 Yeah sure, I mean, I could go on for days. It's my favourite subject. Yeah, I think I completely agree with you, that it massively impacts our well-being and our activity even how we sleep, everything, and of course everyone's different, and my approach to interior design is much more about supporting
17:32 our lifestyles, as well as the aesthetics. That's hugely important to me. I studied history of style as part of my degree.
17:40 but it's not just about how it looks for me. It's very much about supporting how we live. So clutter is the enemy, for sure.
17:54 I'm also full disclosure, I used to live in a house of horrors, arguably. It was not what you would expect an interior designer to lift in.
18:03 So it was a terrible mess. we kept having rats, it was I couldn't get my partner to agree to do anything that would help all of us.
18:15 I left in the end. I wouldn't recommend that as a first point of strategy for him but a bit extreme but it was all for you know it was messy beyond it was cluttered it was and it really affected my mental health for sure, but also just physical day-to-day, what if you have to move five things to get
18:41 to the thing you want to use? I mean that the frustration and the waste of energy to then go and be productive is it just can't, it's it's it's the thief of joy, it's the enemy clutter, and I think sometimes we regard things being beautiful as a bit of a frivolity, but I I think we don't have to spend
19:05 loads of money to make places beautiful, but we do need beauty. So I think I love that. Accepting that, giving yourself permission to paint or whatever is a good thing.
19:22 And also visual noise. I mean, I've got quite a busy brain and I look at colors and patterns a lot as part of my work.
19:30 And so sometimes I just want to be in a very paired back white room with not much going on in it.
19:42 So my shop, I know this is a podcast but I don't know if it goes on YouTube as well, but if anyone sees that this recording behind me is very colorful on my wall because I've got all my projects, some fabric samples pinned up behind me.
19:56 And this is actually a shop, so it's very colourful in here, but my rear space where I host my workshops is just hail gray, and I've got some white ledges on the walls where we can place things.
20:10 But I've deliberately kept it quite low visually. I can't speak low visual noise, it's just sedate, that's the word I'm looking for, so that people We've got that mental space to think.
20:23 They're not being bombarded with too much visual stimulation. Love that. Good for a bedroom, that approach. Yeah. There's something around, so when we think about clutter, like I am an advocate of having a decluttered, clean and clear environment, I think it definitely helps me to be more productive.
20:47 I think I probably can be more creative. I can be more focused if the space is clear. But I think there are a lot of creatives who would maybe say that they want the visual stimuli to help maybe spark ideas or whatever.
21:07 or do you, is that, like, would you agree with that or? Yeah, I think, I think it really varies. I can't be in a space that's clinical or sort of corporate.
21:21 I think they just feel so unloved and that's the problem for me. So anything to sort of shiny or plasticky, but I have also seen the designer and I can't remember for life for me who it is.
21:35 it's some like Megalith. Megalith is that word? Some kind of mega graphic designer who I think was on the cover of Time magazine.
21:44 This is some big shot guy whose name I cannot remember. And he had an amazing design studio where white walls, white desk and nothing else.
21:55 It was like the ultimate blank canvas and it was kind of quite austere but he needed that absolute clarity to be able to think, I thought that was pretty amazing, but yeah, extremely.
22:08 That's not pretty. No, I mean, my office is sort of white, at least behind, you know, a little plant and some books and stuff, and that probably is about it.
22:20 There's a couple of bits of art on the wall or whatever. But yeah, I do sort of find that I just need that clear space to be able to work, Yeah, more effectively, clear but friendly.
22:35 That's why I need. Yeah, I love that. And when we also think about speed, so I am in your pitch, you would sort of explore the idea of speed and sustainability and how that sort of plays into interior design, and that you are now different from, you know, in your past career where, like in TV and film
23:08 and stuff, I think you were saying it was quite sort of wasteful, whereas now you're sort of embracing more of a slower, intentional approach.
23:18 Can you maybe elaborate on that? Sure. I mean, I'm trying to, imperfectly, of course. I've written that into my manifesto, actually, in a progress over perfection because if we're all trying to do everything perfectly, we're going to fail and people will be put off even trying.
23:39 So I'll go there. But yes, I associate the need for speed with kind of most of our environmental problems to be honest, travel if we had time and space in our day to walk or cycle or bus or train then that helps and it's kind of that it's sort of filtered through to everything so if you're doing a project
24:08 in the rush you're going to end up sourcing things and if you need it on a next day delivery because suddenly the builders have said yeah we need the tiles tomorrow, and they've surprised you with that.
24:20 Then you've got to just get something that you can get. So one, it's not going to be your favourite best decision that you will be happy with for the longest amount of time.
24:32 And two, it's going to end up being from somewhere where they keep a massive stock of things, and that usually ends up meaning waste, so overstocking and waste.
24:45 And so I'm just trying to encourage people who I'm teaching in my workshops and also my own projects, my clients.
24:55 I'm trying to encourage everyone to plan ahead, make decisions from a place of love, not kind of fashion. And to allow that time then to order things that are maybe made to order which takes time or to find things so you can't find antique or vintage things that you need in a hurry that takes time to
25:20 keep your eyes out looking for them. Yeah, I think allowing time will help us make better choices and making tears more sustainable.
25:31 Yeah, I love that. And I am a massive advocate of planning, I think, you know, and not everyone is, but, yeah, I love planning, I think it's so important in so many different areas.
25:48 Absolutely. I think it allows for more spontaneity, weirdly, because if you're sort of organised enough and it also allows you to sort of find the joy in the creative journey and yeah we spend so much time kind of rushing around crashing around because we're in this society that's obsessed with productivity
26:13 doing things fast but we kind of miss out on the enjoyment of the journey and part of the fun of creating like a really unique interior is being able to find things, all the things find you and you can only do that if you've allowed time.
26:32 I'm talking about charity shop treasure or antique reclamation your treasure surprises. Yeah, I love that. I've got a fantastic reclaimed fireplace in my bedroom that I got from a salvage yard in Glasgow.
26:50 And it's quite a good route out next day to Nibbari. No, exactly. And it's quite a grand scale. It's very like oversized and ornate and everything.
27:01 And I love it so much. But it yeah, it took time to find the right pieces and and so on.
27:10 And I think when I, you know, think about my interiors, like It's the difference between like clutter and the pure minimalism, whereas I'm probably slightly in the middle in that I'm trying to curate a space that's got meaning.
27:31 So a lot of the things that I have and, you know, there's like a story behind it or, you know, there's like it.
27:39 So it's all all the, you know, I've got lots of like treasures from my late grand or my late mom.
27:46 and there's like, you know, pictures that my dad has taken on the wall. Like there's just lots of things that really mean something to me.
27:56 Yeah. I love that. That's so precious. It's like, this is something I end up talking about a lot. I don't know if you know that Wind in the Willow's story.
28:07 No. It's such an old, old classic. And in the 80s when I was a kid, It was televised, there was a lovely cartoon or animation of Winter and the Willows and there was a story, yeah, I had a book version of it as well and there was this particular passage that really stood out to me and a client referenced
28:31 it in giving me a brief on one of my first and two redesign projects which is so serendipitous and it's this moment where the character Moll smells his house on the breeze and he hasn't been there for months because he's been adventuring with his new mate Rattie and they're in a storm when they get to
28:48 Ratt's house to get safe and more like no we've got to go to my house immediately. So they do and then suddenly he's embarrassed because it's covered in cobwebs and stuff and Ratt lives in a nice posh river house but Ratt's really complimentary about his cozy home and then Moll explains how he got this
29:11 from a certain out of going without you got that from a certain amount of saving up you got that from an aunt and it's like really it's just so cute and heartwarming I'm always saying to people that's how your design has you know it's like you said the things from late relatives and these precious things
29:29 and taking time finding joy in it and saving up and not just buying it all from Amazon but delivery to mine.
29:36 Love that! What a nice story I mean like the characters of it. Yeah, really cute. I can't remember. I'm in my early 40s, so I do remember that cartoon, but I wouldn't be able to tell you the story line.
29:52 I love that so much. I read it as a bedtime story once on Instagram on a real like a leaner tick.
30:02 I just love it that much. Be more mole. be more mole. I love that. Am I you have to like turn that into a Instagram post to promote this podcast?
30:21 That's funny. So I guess sort of as we start to wrap up like thinking about the workshops that you run.
30:31 Are you are they run for like individuals that are updating their own homes? Tell me a little bit more about the work that you do.
30:40 Yes, so in a formal lifetime, I used to run, I was a community artist alongside my set design work so I experienced in helping other people find their creativity and sort of finding their confidence in it.
30:57 So I decided to apply that to interior design some time ago, about eight years ago I think, So I've been running a kind of whole day workshop rather than a commitment of months to evening classes because people already do that.
31:12 So I've run an interior design workshop where people come and think about their project. Occasionally I'll get people who are just doing it for fun, who they can just let their imagination go completely wild.
31:24 And I take them through a process and by the end of the day, they're more color-confed and they've got a better sense of what they're trying to achieve so that they don't sort of spend eternity lost on Pinterest.
31:39 And the other problem I try and solve for them is whittling down a million ideas and that sort of choice overwhelm into one cohesive design idea and they make a mood board, they can take it away, they can use it as a conversational pool with their partners, or just to please themselves and then use it
32:01 . So I teach that to individuals. I've just invented some new workshops actually, some sort of bite-sized ones for different things that are just like two hours long.
32:09 But also going forwards, I'm running these for corporate teams as well. Because so many people spend all day on a screen.
32:19 There's no screens in my workshops and it taps into that mindfulness thing because you're using your hands and making mistakes, experimenting, playing and also having a sense of achievement by the end of the day because I think quite often in corporate if you're working on a large project or if you're
32:41 quite removed from like the customer you're ultimately serving, you don't always get that kind of satisfaction trying to solve those kinds of things through the medium of creativity.
32:54 Love that. And I think the other thing that sort of comes to mind thinking about that, you know, from the, I guess the corporate space, maybe also, you know, an individual, it's taking yourself away from the day-to-day and doing something creative or different that can help spark ideas to maybe solve
33:16 other problems too. You know, I tend to find that I have my best ideas, not when I'm at my desk trying to think, but maybe when I'm cooking or doing a bit of gardening or like out for a walk or whatever.
33:31 Absolutely. It sort of sounds so counterintuitive, doesn't it? Oh yes, we'll just send the team for an art day, but actually it's exact same for me.
33:41 I don't get my ideas when I'm sat here trying to force them. They come when I've had a break, I've relaxed and there's just a little bit more bandwidth for a solution to kind of come in and it's so important.
33:56 Yeah, that sounds like a great, like corporate team activity, I think that's brilliant. Especially given that so many people are working from home or in sort of a hybrid role where they'll maybe do some working from home as well as the office.
34:13 Yes, and also they learn useful skills that they can take away and nice up to the place, nice up their own home office or whatever.
34:20 Yeah, I love that. Is there anything else Zoe that you'd like to share with us? What would I like to share to you?
34:34 Oh my goodness. I don't know, where to find me online or more things about time. Yeah, I guess if there's any sort of anything that we haven't covered that you feel that you would want to share or maybe there's nothing.
34:51 Maybe there's nothing. I was just trying to think of something really useful and profound but I don't I don't I don't I feel like you're the time expert and I'm the amateurs.
35:01 That's the time management. I think there may be the takeaway is be more mole. Yeah, that was brilliant.
35:19 And so where can the listeners find you online? I am at stylemonger'sofbristol.co.uk or Instagram stylemonger'sofbristol and I mean if anyone's interested in sustainability and design, I've just written a manifesto on that so holding myself very publicly accountable now, topics such as that, I've got
35:48 a middle 3B, I've a checklist on how to improve your well-being through interior design, anyone's interested in that. Yes, that pops up on my website so you can can get that there and it's not just about aesthetics, so.
36:05 Love that. Okay, so I will make sure in the notes for this episode that all your links and different things will be included as well.
36:15 But yeah, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me, I'm going to go and implement that that teemaking tip right now.
36:22 I love that. Okay, I'll speak to you soon Zoe thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you for joining me on another episode of Own Your Time.
36:35 If you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe, rate and leave a review if you can. Connect with me on social media for additional resources, community engagement and updates.
36:49 You'll find me on Instagram at www.saidoutsteward.co.uk. Until next time, bye for now.