STEVEN G JAMES, DIRECTOR, FEDERATION DESIGN
When interior design is considered early enough in a refurbishment project, even the most functional spaces can become part of the overall brand experience.
We were commissioned by a hotel to develop artwork for a WC located within the reception foyer area — a space that, while practical in nature, sat within a visible part of the guest journey and therefore needed to feel considered and in keeping with the wider brand.
As part of a planned renovation and upgrade, the client wanted to introduce artwork to the walls to create a more distinctive and memorable environment. However, the room presented some important challenges.
First, this was a high-humidity space, so the material and finish needed careful consideration. Any decorative solution had to be robust enough for the environment while still delivering a premium visual result. Acrylic was selected as the most suitable material, and because it was being incorporated at the architectural design stage, it was fitted from floor to ceiling across all four walls, giving us a full 360-degree canvas to work with.
Second, the artwork needed to be ambitious enough to transform the room, but the budget was not there to commission a traditional illustrator to create a fully bespoke piece from scratch.
The challenge, then, was to create a visually rich, immersive artwork installation that was suitable for a humid environment, worked around all fixtures and fittings in the room, aligned with the hotel’s coastal brand identity, and could still be delivered within budget.
Following a meeting with the client, a clear creative direction was agreed: the room would become an immersive nautical seascape inspired by the look of an old etched illustration. The concept included sea monsters, fishermen, crashing waves, and moonlit skies, creating a dramatic and atmospheric visual narrative across all four walls.
To make this commercially viable, we used AI as part of the artwork creation process, with Adobe Photoshopplaying a central role in turning the initial creative concept into a production-ready outcome.
A major advantage of using Adobe Photoshop in this project was its ability to sit at the point where creativity meets production. It gave us the freedom to explore AI-generated artwork quickly and imaginatively, while also providing the professional design control needed to turn those ideas into something commercially usable. Rather than treating AI as a novelty, we used Photoshop as a high-end creative environment to refine, compose, and elevate the visuals into a high-resolution, print-ready artwork set suitable for large-format interior application.
This was especially important because the design had to work across multiple acrylic panels, retain clarity and richness at scale, and deliver a premium finish once installed. Photoshop allowed us to produce photo-quality, visually rich detail while maintaining control over consistency, layout, panel breaks, and the practical demands of the installation.
Once the artwork had been resolved, it was prepared as a single-colour etched illustration across multiple panels for print. Careful consideration was also given to the room’s fixtures and fittings — including the sink, toilet bowl, towel rails, bin holder, and doorstop — so that the final composition worked seamlessly within the space.
The artwork was then printed directly onto the acrylic panels and installed on the walls using heavy-duty water-resistant adhesive, ensuring both durability and visual impact.
The finished room became far more than a renovated restroom. It became an immersive interior feature with a strong sense of character and place.
With the artwork wrapping all four walls, the space now delivers a striking nautical atmosphere that feels memorable, unusual, and highly considered. The finished design fits naturally with the hotel’s wider coastal brand identity and adds a layer of storytelling to what would otherwise be a purely functional space.
From a practical point of view, the use of acrylic and water-resistant installation methods ensured the solution was appropriate for a high-humidity environment. From a creative and commercial point of view, the use of AI and Photoshop made it possible to achieve a highly detailed, bespoke result that would have been difficult to deliver within budget through traditional illustration alone.
The result was a premium large-scale interior artwork installation that balanced imagination, technical execution, and cost-efficiency — transforming an overlooked space into a genuine part of the guest experience.
