Does your web designer need to be in your city?

No. An interior design studio's web designer can be in another city or another country. What has to be local is your own studio: your address, your photographer, the place names on your project pages and the directories your clients read. You do give up a few things, so it's worth asking some extra questions.

We would say that, of course. fioel is in Amsterdam and we work with interior studios worldwide, online, so read this knowing where we stand.

What has to be local?

Four things, and none of them depends on where your web designer lives.

• Your address and the area you work in. In words on your site, and the same on your Google Business Profile, Houzz and Instagram bio.
• Your photographer. Someone has to stand in the rooms. A web designer doesn't, as long as the photographs are good.
• The places in your projects. Each project page gives the town or the kind of house, the year and what you did. The client's name stays out of it.
• The pages your clients read. They differ per city. In our checks, answers about London leaned on House & Garden, and answers about New York on Architectural Digest.

Language can be a fifth. We asked one question about Paris in French, and both answers came back in French. If you want clients who ask in French, your site has to say it in French. So ask who writes those words and who checks them, wherever your designer lives.

What do you give up?

Three things, and they are real.

You can't sit at the same table. If you want someone in the room when you lay out your projects, choose someone nearby. That is a good reason.

You may not share working hours. A designer six hours away can still be quick, but you should agree when you will talk.

You may lose local knowledge. Someone in your city may know its photographers, its magazines and which editors to write to.

What about Google and ChatGPT? We haven't tested this directly, and we don't know of a test that shows it matters. These tools read your site and the pages about you, and those say where you work, not where your web designer lives.

What do AI answers say when you ask for a web designer in a city?

Mostly local names, because the question asks for them.

On 6 November 2026 we asked ChatGPT, with web search on, and Perplexity for a web designer for interior designers in London, New York, Dubai, Paris and Los Angeles. That was one question per city, asked once per tool, with the Paris one in French. ChatGPT was told the question came from Amsterdam. The result is 10 answers from one day, so treat it as a small sample.

So we don't come up for these questions, and we don't name the firms that did.

The useful part is the second row. An answer like this shows who has published about work for interior designers, not who is best. ChatGPT said as much itself, calling one first pick a fit "on paper". Open their live sites before you believe it.

What should you ask a designer who isn't nearby?

Start with the six questions for any web designer. Then add these:

1. Which hours of our day overlap with yours, and who answers if something breaks?
2. Which currency is the price in, and how is VAT handled for a client in my country?
3. Which country's law does the contract follow?
4. Who sets up cookies and privacy for the rules in my country?
5. If my clients read another language, who writes and checks those words?

How does this work with fioel?

fioel is in Amsterdam. We have no office in London, New York, Dubai, Paris or Los Angeles, and we work with interior studios worldwide, online, in English. A second language is something we agree separately, at a fixed price.

A project starts with a 15-minute call. You then get one fixed price in euro, excl. VAT, before any work starts. You send your projects with a few notes on each: the place, the year, the scope and the photographer. We write the pages, and you see one complete design with your own photographs and approve it before anything is built. The site goes on your own domain.

If you want to know whether clients in your city find you today, run the free AI check: it asks ChatGPT and Perplexity three questions about your city, live. If you would rather talk, book 15 minutes.