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SIR TERENCE CONRAN: REMEMBERING A DESIGN VISIONARY THE STYLE MAGAZINE FOR YOUR HOME NOVEMBER 2020 £5

THE ARCHITECTURE ISSUE Inside the world’s most structurally splendid homes

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RENOVATION EXTENSION DREAM PROJECT OUR PICK OF THE UK’S BEST PRACTICES

PLUS

WAYS TO CREATE YOUR PERFECT BEDROOM

Sir David Adjaye on creating impact 11 9 770957 894236

FR E E M AGA ZI N E I N S I D E

BATHROOM GUIDE 2020 FRESH IDEAS, INSPIRATION & ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS

SUPERSIZED DECOR ATING: JUMBO CORD, BIG BOUCLÉ & EXTR A-COSY QUILTING

November 2020 NOW

bedroom focus

55

23 News This month’s round-up

of all that’s hot in design shines a spotlight on the bedroom, helping you to create the ultimate sanctuary.

Plus, Faye Toogood discusses her new chair inspired by a duvet

37 Design hero Jens Risom, the man who made Scandi style big in the US 38 Design DNA Isamu Noguchi’s enduring ‘Akari’ paper light sculptures 41 Inside story Exciting Scandinavian design talent meets sustainability at new online shopping destination Åben

43 My cultural life Chef and food writer Ravinder Bhogal’s influences 44 Gardens Learn ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, and discover the tulips to plant now for a showstopping spring display

46 Technology Artful smart lights, plus the best beauty innovations 49 Sir Terence Conran Celebrating a true design visionary 55 Architecture special Paying attention to the foundations of design, we bring you the UK’s top 25 practices, plus we meet Sir David Adjaye, and take a look inside the home of Studiomama’s Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama

STYLE

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55

77 News Sophisticated solutions for walls, reclaimed antique tiles and why, this autumn, upholstery is all about oversized textures

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83 Colour pioneer Lucienne Day

PICTURES: ELSA YOUNG/FRANK FEATURES, ANOUSH ABRAR

transformed dreary postwar interiors with her abstract textile designs in mustard yellow

84 The palette Work Day’s trademark yellow shade with accents of charcoal black

86 Decorator’s index Albion Nord, experts at reviving period homes with contemporary décor and unusual antiques

23

88 Art house Our tribute to Josef Albers sees sculptural furniture designs paired with works inspired by the modernist painter 96 Natural harmony Elevate simple, but standout furniture with handcrafted ceramics in soothing earthy shades NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 13

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HOMES

106 Out of the ruins The tumbledown walls of a 17th-century parchment factory in Northamptonshire are now an essential part of this contemporary countryside home

118 Tall order This five-storey Notting Hill townhouse has been radically redesigned to accentuate its dimensions and let in more light

130 Brutal but beautiful London architecture firm McLaren Excell has given a Georgian home in Hampstead a fearlessly modern look

144 Product of the 80s A Melbourne property from this oft-derided architectural decade has been modernised to suit family life and given a suitably irreverant colour palette

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118

154 Industrial by nature Green cement walls and a steel kitchen create a modern-rustic aesthetic at this rural retreat in the Netherlands

Escape

165 News Where to stay, eat and visit 170 The art of armchair travel See the world with our top 10 books to gift or treasure

175 Getaway Plan a city break in Antwerp

Finally

20 Subscriptions Never miss a copy

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214 Stockists Where to buy everything you’ve seen in this issue 226 Treasured Designer Yinka Ilori’s West African drum is connected to precious childhood memories of visits to Nigeria

Newsstand A striking double-height dining space in this Notting Hill townhouse by Quincoces-Dragò & Partners on p118. Photographed by Alberto Strada Subscribers Our special cover this month is a tribute to the late Sir Terence Conran, photographed by Henry Bourne. See our feature by Caroline Roux on p49 ELLE Decoration Bathrooms In this issue, you’ll also find your guide to the latest bathroom news. This look on p203 was created by Manuel Aires Mateus for Lisbon hotel Santa Clara 1728. Photographed by Nana Hagel

14 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

PICTURES: DAVIDE LOVATTI, ALBERTO STRADA

The covers

From the Editor J

PICTURE: ANNA BATCHELOR

ust as this issue was about to go to press, we heard the sad news that Sir Terence Conran had passed away aged 88 at home in Berkshire. I can’t overstate the impact Sir Terence has had on my life and career.

Long before I met him, he was an ever-present force, from my early childhood obsessions with Habitat and saving up to buy my earliest designer pieces from The Conran Shop, to eating oysters for the first time at Bibendum and being inspired beyond words when I visited the then brand-new Design Museum (all institutions we have him to thank for).

In the background, he was always there.

When I did eventually meet him, I loved his energy, the cheeky twinkle in his eye and his impeccable taste. He was such a champion of new designers and always a great supporter of ELLE Decoration, even guest editing an issue in 1995. On taking over the reins myself in 2017, Sir Terence emailed me to say how much he loved the magazine and the changes we’d made. I’ve never been more chuffed.

In memory of the man, his impact and his influence, we decided to dedicate this issue to him, with a special cover for subscribers and a heartfelt tribute written by one of his favourite journalists, Caroline Roux – he always loved what she managed to get out of him in interviews.

Sir Terence’s legacy touches upon virtually all aspects of modern British life and whether it was as a creator, a retailer, a restaurateur or an architect, he always stayed true to his belief that good design should be democratic, improving the quality of people’s lives and making the world a better place. Ideals we should all aspire to, now more than ever.

‘Long BEFORE I met Sir TERENCE, he was an ever-present FORCE, from my early OBSESSIONS with Habitat to eating OYSTERS at Bibendum’

Editor

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NOW NEWS

bedroom focus

/ SHOPPING/ ADVICE/ TRENDS

Edited by K ATE WORTHINGTON

As the nights draw in, what better time to give where you sleep a restorative refresh. From new linen to beautiful beds, here follows our pick of sleep-enhancing styles…

PICTURE: DAN DUCHARS

THE BIG SLEEP Heal’s striking new ‘Marlow’ collection pays tribute to the brand’s beginnings as a maker of quality bedroom furniture. Created by renowned designer Tim Rundle (who has worked for the likes of Tom Dixon and Conran and Partners), the handsome four-poster bed is the crowning glory of the range; exquisitely crafted details such as invisible joins on its solid walnut frame and a slim, integrated headboard create a sleek and elegant silhouette. £2,499 ( heals.co.uk).

NOW

ECO DECO

REST EASY Known for its ethically made mattresses and beds, Naturalmat’s new organic linen has been a long time in the making.

The range is Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified, meaning that every step of production, from seed sowing to garment sewing, looks after the environment and the welfare of workers. In line with the brand’s focus on keeping supply chains local, the cotton is sourced from a mill in southern India that carries out the entire making process in-house ensuring full transparency. From £22 for a pair of pillowcases (naturalmat.co.uk).

WORKING WARDROBE There’s no excuse for disorder in the bedroom with Poliform’s latest modular storage system. ‘Senzafine’ comprises chests of drawers, shelves and accessories that can be configured for any space, while its elegant design can be tailored to all schemes, thanks to an array of materials and finishes on frames, doors and handles. From £2,000 per linear metre (poliformuk.com).

ECO DECO.

PICTURE: JON DAY

Morning, noon & night

Plump it up Hand-printed on raw-edged linen using a chemical-free process, the shapely patterns of Aeand’s textiles are created from the paper cutout artworks of studio founder Alessandra Chambers.

The British brand’s range of cushions are cut from pieces of printed fabric where no two lengths are the same, making every one unique. From £115, Earl of East (earlofeast.com).

With more time at home on the agenda, comfort holds more sway than ever. A slew of brands have launched loungewear collections, our favourites combining style and sustainability.

From Denmark, Tekla’s organic cotton unisex designs have a relaxed oversized fit (far right; from £85 for shorts, teklafabrics.com). Meanwhile, Swedish menswear brand CDLP’s new ‘Home’ range is made from lyocell, which is derived from wood (from £305 for a set, matchesfashion.com).

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 25

NOW

FAIREST of them ALL Pinch’s ‘Lana’ dressing table became a modern classic when it was launched in 2013. With smaller spaces in mind, this autumn sees the launch of ‘Lana II’ (pictured in walnut), a resized version with a more modest footprint. As with all the brand’s designs, finely crafted details make the pieces a pleasure to use; the dresser features a lockable drawer with internal divider and a tilting mirror. £5,895 (pinchdesign.com).

ECO DECO.

Hunker down From her home studio in Yorkshire, textile designer Tessa Layzelle creates one-of-a-kind quilts using offcuts and end-of-line salvaged fabrics. Each new work begins with Layzelle creating a moodboard to guide the composition before designs are assembled using self-taught traditional appliqué techniques. ‘Motif’ quilt, £500 (couvertureandthegarbstore.com).

PICTURE: JAMES MERRELL

Retro glow A 1970s-era Palm Springs was the starting point for the second collaboration between fashion brand Shrimps and Habitat, with sunshine yellow and shaggy textiles at the fore.

Our favourite pieces are the ‘Dustin’ lamp (left, £130), with a woven rattan shade that creates beautiful shadows when lit, and the ‘Gene’ cushion (far left), £60 (habitat.co.uk).

INSIDER GUIDE

BEDDING What you need to know when investing in luxury linen As supplier to some of the world’s top hotels, Tielle Love Luxury specialises in all things bedding.

Co-founder Robert Lancaster-Gaye shares his advice on what to look out for when buying linens.

What’s the golden rule for buying linens? Quality is everything. We recommend bed linen that’s made of 100 per cent high-grade long-staple cotton – it’s breathable and soft, but stronger than polycotton or polyester. It may be slightly pricier but, given the right care, is more cost-effective in the long run.

Also, measure your mattress. There are so many depths, lengths and widths on the market – having everything fit correctly makes the world of difference.

Why do thread counts matter – is higher always better? Three hundredor 400-thread-count linens woven from good-quality cotton will have all the luxe factor you need. Thread count is purely a construction term – the number of threads in a square inch of fabric. If you get hot in the night, then a lower thread count in a high-quality cotton may be more suitable. Many hotels find 300-thread-count sheets are the perfect balance of luxury and practicality.

What’s the difference between percale and sateen? Percale uses a simple ‘one thread over, one thread under’ pattern of construction – this makes your sheets cool and crisp to the touch – whereas sateen uses a ‘one thread under, three threads over’ pattern of construction, which makes sheets feel buttery soft and smooth, so think about how you want your bedding to look and feel before you choose.

What’s the most common bedding myth? ‘Egyptian cotton is best.’ The main attraction of Egyptian cotton is that it can be used to make long-staple yarn, which helps produce cloth that is softer and smoother to the touch, but it’s not the sole preserve of Egypt’s Nile Delta, and not all cotton grown in the region produces long-staple yarn. tielleloveluxury.co.uk

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 27

NOW

WISHLIST

COFFEE & CLAY

2

Create a sleep sanctuary with a palette of earthy browns against warm terracotta and golden ochre

4

1 3

7 5

6 9

8

10

1 ‘Artist Canvas’ linen fabric in ‘Red Earth’, £160 per metre, de Le Cuona (delecuona.com) 2 ‘Perspectives Imaginaires’ panoramic wallcovering

by Luc Deflandre, £941 for a 2m x 3m panel, Pierre Frey (pierrefrey.com) 3 ‘Deej’ glass ceiling light, £100, Habitat (habitat.co.uk) 4 ‘Plum Brandy’ emulsion, £50 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.com) 5 ‘Fluff’ bed in ‘Canapa’ boucle, from £1,259, Calligaris (calligaris.com) 6 ‘Cala’ handmade yellow glazed mug, £16, Att Pynta (attpynta.com) 7 ‘Moss’ candleholder, £7.95, Graham & Green (grahamandgreen.co.uk) 8 ‘Ekero’ side table, £1,452, Tollgard & Castellani for Porada (porada.it) 9 ‘Dovetail’ cushion by Eleanor Pritchard, £105, Heal’s (heals.com) 10 ‘Sarono’ accent chair, £698, Anthropologie (anthropologie.com) 11 Vintage ‘Azilal’ rug, £1,260, Larusi (larusi.com)

28 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

COMPILED BY: KIERA BUCKLEY-JONES

11

NOW

5 MINUTES WITH…

FAYE TOOGOOD The British designer on her new collaboration with Swedish brand Hem How did the collaboration with Hem come about?

About three years ago, we started conversations with Hem. I was really keen to work on a project with founder Petrus and he initially suggested we design a range of textiles, but I wanted to work on something with more geometry and sculpture. So we decided on a chair, although textiles would be at the forefront of the design.

What influences did you draw on for the ‘Puffy Lounge’ chair? I started thinking about my favourite chairs and at home we have this old Marcel Breuer sling chair with a bashed-about old canvas; the children jump all over it and it’s superglued together, but I love it.

Whether we’re living in a mid-century home or a Georgian property, it just works. So, I wanted to see if I could attempt to get close to that. The chair is composed of a simple steel frame and a giant quilted duvet in a T-shape, which, when you unfold it, looks like a jellyfish or an octopus. It provides a really squashy padded seat. I’m known for my hard chairs, so I wanted to create something soft – I’m on a mission to make more ‘soft goods’.

Why was it important to make the padding detachable? What’s great about the detachable duvet is that it’s so practical. It’s held on with Velcro, so you can take it off, have it cleaned and change it if you move or redecorate – it also means it can easily be repaired.

What feeling or sensation did you want the user to have when sat in it? The ‘Roly Poly’ chair is often described as a spoon-like, protective shape. I suppose this chair has a similar feeling in a way – that idea of being encased and wrapped up.

Do you think the fashion side of your practice came into play in this design? One of the things I love about our studio is that the fashion designers work on the interiors projects and vice versa; it helps to give different viewpoints on things. With our fashion collections, we start off by making designs in a simple canvas first, which is what we did with this padding. If it looks good in canvas, you know it’s going to look great in other fabric, too.

What else are you working on? We’re working on extending the collection for Hem – there’ll be a footstool, a sofa, three duvet colours (including a leather version) and three frame colourways, which you can mix and match. We’re also about to launch our next fashion collection, working on a solo show of limited-edition pieces in New York, and in December we’ll be transforming three rooms in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne for the Triennial. In spring next year, we’re launching a collaboration with Birkenstock – it’s a busy time! ‘Puffy Lounge’ chair, from £1,439 (hem.com).

THE CHAIR IS COMPOSED OF A SIMPLE STEEL FRAME AND A GIANT DETACHABLE QUILTED DUVET IN A T-SHAPE

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 31

NOW

PALM house Whatever the weather outside, Yves Delorme’s ‘Palmea’ bed linen will inspire dreams of balmier climes with its palm-patterned damask. Made in France from long-staple combed cotton sateen, its luxuriant fibres are softer and wrinkle less than short-staple cotton, and with a thread count of 300 will give you a hotel-bed feel night after night.

From £85 for a pillowcase (uk.yvesdelorme.com).

4 OF THE BEST

Nightstands Chic and practical bedside essentials

‘Noah’ bedside table, £99, Next Home (next.co.uk)

‘JT’ nightstand , £2,800, Jack Trench (jacktrench.co.uk)

ECO DECO

PICTURES: ALEXANDRIA HALL, SUSIE ATKINSONN, YESHEN VENEMA

SLEEP ON IT

The latest material to be put to use for bedding? Eucalyptus. More breathable than cotton and naturally dust-mite repellent, it’s ideal for allergy sufferers and requires 10 times less water to produce than cotton.

Sleep specialist Mela’s ‘Air Eucalyptus Duvet’ uses the fibres for both the outer shell and the filling. From £139.99 for a duvet (melacomfort.co.uk).

‘Appaloosa’ nightstand by Bernadotte & Kylberg for Hästens, £6,490 (hastens.com)

Scents of enlightenment Loewe’s debut collection of home scents takes its inspiration from the meticulous illustrations of botanical life from the Age of Discovery.

The fragrances themselves err towards the earthy and complex – think liquorice, juniper berry and ivy. Our pick is ‘Marihuana’; its green, calming perfume makes for the perfect bedtime companion.

Candle, £70 (loewe.com).

‘Sidney’ side table, £1,650, Susie Atkinson (susieatkinson.com)

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 33

NOW

‘Gaudi’ by Matteo Nunziati for Flou, from £3,915, Aram Store (aram.co.uk)

THE EDIT

SLEEPING SOUNDLY

Style meets comfort with our pick of the best beds to create the ultimate sleep sanctuary ‘Yale’ by Jean-Marie Massaud for MDF Italia, from £4,682, Aram Store (aram.co.uk)

‘Azul’, £6,692, Molteni & C (molteni.it)

‘Ricordi’ by Spalvieri & Del Ciotto Design Studio for Zanotta, £3,316, Chaplins (chaplins.co.uk)

‘Zip’ by Daniele Lo Scalzo Moscheri, from £1,749, Calligaris (calligaris.com)

‘Clarence’, from £5,308, exclusively at The Conran Shop (conranshop.co.uk)

‘Caroline’ by Vispring, from £4,945, exclusively at Harrods (harrods.com)

‘Gregory’ by Antonio Citterio for Flexform, from £6,021, Interdesign UK (interdesignuk.com)

34 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

PICTURE: THOMAS PAGANI

‘Victoriano’ by Roberto Lazzeroni, approx £4,711, Lema (lemamobili.com)

NOW

DESIGN HERO

JENS RISOM The Danish designer who popularised Scandinavian style in the USA

WORDS: AMY BRADFORD PICTURES: ALAMY, PAUL TUCKER/ROCKET GALLERY, THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES

July 2, 1964 is a momentous date in American history. On this day, President Lyndon Bird Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, ending racial segregation.

The cane-backed wooden chair he was sitting on as he did so received little attention, but that was right enough; in any case, its designer, Jens Risom (1916-2016), would have approved, believing that furniture should be modest, not attention grabbing.

The ‘C140’ chair’s presence in the Oval Office was a sign, though, of Risom’s status in the American Modern movement. Born in Copenhagen, the son of acclaimed architect Sven Risom, his career in the Danish design industry looked set, especially once he completed his studies at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts, where his classmates included Hans J Wegner. But rather than rest, Risom decamped for New York in 1939, determined to introduce America to Scandinavian style.

At first, wartime privations made this a challenge.

There were few materials to make furniture, so Risom worked as a textile and interior designer, and did experimental projects with young architects like George Nelson. Then, in 1941, he met Hans Knoll, who had just set up his eponymous manufacturing company and was searching for someone to create an original collection. Together, the two toured the US, visiting architects and middle-class homes to discover what real Americans wanted. Their first hit was the ‘650 Line’ (1943), which included a curvy cherrywood lounge chair with a seat woven from discarded parachute straps (one of the few unrestricted materials available).

It sold in huge quantities. ‘That chair got us through the war,’ Risom’s daughter Helen later said.

In 1946, Risom set up his own brand, where he refined his simple style based on warm woods, ergonomic shapes and blocks of bold colour. In 1954, he bought a Connecticut factory and textile mill that allowed him to make his products himself.

It grew into one of the largest craft manufacturers in America. Risom was media savvy, too: he hired photographer Richard Avedon to shoot glossy campaigns (slogan: ‘The Answer is Risom’) and appeared with Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia and Eero Saarinen in a 1961 Playboy feature on the men ‘revolutionizing furniture in America’. They were dubbed the ‘Rat Pack of Design’.

By the mid 1960s, when President Johnson furnished a whole room in the White House with Risom pieces, the designer was an American icon. In 1967, his self-built holiday home appeared as a featurein Life magazine. The twostorey Block Island retreat, off the coast of Rhode Island, was constructed using prefabricated wooden A-frames Risom bought from a catalogue. Its façade was made entirely from glass and was filled with Risom designs in bright colours, plus a few treasures by fellow Danes, including Arne Jacobsen’s ‘Egg’ chair.

Risom continued to work into his nineties, when he collaborated with British brands Rocket and Benchmark to reissue vintage designs, among them the beautiful ‘T539’ magazine table and ‘T390’ coffee table. The large number of Risom creations still in production – Stellar Works makes the ‘C140’ chair, as well as bookshelves and a desk, and Knoll’s extensive collection proves how successful he was at popularising modernity, reflecting his maxim: ‘Anything good will go well with other equally good things.’ jensrisom.com; knoll.com; stellarworks.com

From top Jens Risom in 1961; his self-built holiday home on Block Island; an original ‘654’ lounge chair

by Jens Risom for Knoll

PRESIDENT JOHNSON FURNISHED A WHOLE ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE WITH RISOM PIECES

Below ‘T539 Magazine Table’ in oak, £680 by Jens Risom for Rocket (jensrisom.com) Right The reissued ‘C140’ chair, starting from £987, ‘Risom Desk’, £1,398 and ‘Risom Shelves’, £1,176, all Jens Risom at Stellar Works (stellarworks.com)

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 37

DESIGN DNA

AKARI LIGHT SCULPTURES

BY ISAMU NOGUCHI The Japanese-American artist and designer’s paper lights showed how sculpture could be integrated into daily life Although most often described as a sculptor, Isamu Noguchi’s output wasn’t confined to the realms of decorative art. He made stage sets, furniture (his eponymous coffee table is a cult piece) and created interiors as well as gardens. In 1951, he embarked on a series of designs that would become a lifelong pursuit, arguably his best known work and influential to the point of imitation the world over: the ‘Akari Light Sculptures’.

Their conception was sparked by a trip to Gifu, a town in Japan known for its manufacture of paper parasols and lanterns. Here, the artist witnessed a fishing festival along the Nagara River, illuminated by lanterns mounted on each boat. While there he sketched the first two models, partnering with local firm Ozeki & Co – which still manufactures the pieces to this day – to make the paper shades in the traditional way, handcrafting them from bamboo and paper made from mulberry bark. Taking their name from the Japanese word for ‘light’ – a play on their function and their physical lightness – Noguchi saw them as a hybrid of design and art ‘to bring sculpture into a more direct involvement with the common experience of living’. The combination of flexible materials, skilled craftsmanship and the artist’s fascination with form proved to be endlessly fruitful. Over the next three decades, Noguchi continued to visit Gifu on most trips to Japan, adding variations to the catalogue of designs – which total more than 100 and include table, floor and ceiling lamps ranging in size from a tiny 24cm to a towering 290cm – until his death in 1988.

RIGHT An early advert for the ‘Akari Light Sculptures’ showing the many variations. Although the shades couldn’t be patented because of the resemblance to traditional lanterns, Noguchi distinguished his designs from the cheap copies that appeared by developing stands and fixtures that could be.

ABOVE Intended as a form of sculpture from the beginning, Noguchi quickly realised that the traditional construction of the lanterns had a hidden benefit that other works didn’t have – they could be folded down flat for storage and shipping.

ABOVE Craftsmen in Gifu at the Ozeki & Co workshop. First, bamboo rods are stretched across the original wooden forms designed

by Noguchi, then paper from the bark of the mulberry tree is glued to the bamboo ribbing. When dry, the wooden form is removed and the shade can be folded.

WORDS: KATE WORTHINGTON PICTURES: LOUISE DAHL-WOLF; COURTESY OF THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM ARCHIVES, ©THE ISAMU NOGUCHI FOUNDATION AND GARDEN MUSEUM, NEW YORK: ARS-DACS, VITRA, STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON, BETH EVANS

E A R LY Y E A R S The lanterns became an iconic Japanese export

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WHY IT’S NOW

The paper lights have a timeless simplicity Vitra became the Europe (excluding France) and Australia distributor of the ‘Akari’ lights in 2002. The company is now expanding its current portfolio of more than 40 variations with the reissued models ‘24N’ and ‘25N’ (far right). Noguchi’s timeless designs have illuminated spaces ranging from Georgia O’Keeffe’s New Mexico house to the edgy interiors of Ace Hotels (left), and are a fixture in ELLE Decoration homes around the world, from Phillip Lim’s New York loft, featured in our September issue, to the Scottish Highlands home of designer Jill Macnair (right) as seen in April 2019’s edition. The designer was fond of his creations and recognised their wide appeal, famously noting: ‘All that you require to start a home are a room, a tatami [Japanese mat used for flooring], and “Akari”.’

‘ALL THAT YOU REQUIRE TO START A HOME ARE A ROOM, A TATAMI, AND “AKARI” ’ ISA MU NOGUCHI

BREAKOUT MOMENTS

An early appearance in a Japanese tea ceremony at the Eames House and their subsequent longevity celebrated at the Venice Biennale

Noguchi was the first artist to bring the electric bulb into the classic Japanese paper lanterns, and also the one who brought them into the Western world. In 1951, his close friends Charles and Ray Eames hosted a Japanese tea ceremony at the Eames House, with guests including Noguchi himself, actress Shirley Yamaguchi, karate master Sensei Matsumoto and Charlie Chaplin. ‘Akari’ lamps can be spotted in pictures of the event (left) and became a fixture of their home.

They quickly became almost ubiquitous in modern interiors – so much so that when Noguchi was asked to represent the US at the 1986 Venice Biennale (below), he was famously asked to show anything but the ‘Akari’ – a request he ignored, naturally.

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I N S I D E S T O RY

ÅBEN

WORDS: CLAUDIA BAILLIE PICTURE: CARL KLEINER

The new specialist online platform seeking out emerging Scandinavian design talent ‘Growing up in Australia, my friends had posters of cricketers and rugby players on their walls, and I had posters of chairs,’ says Åben founder David Harrigan. ‘My mum would drag me to the opera and ballet, but, as a six-year-old, I didn’t appreciate the performances as much as I might. I loved peering into Sydney Opera House itself, though, and each time I’d see a room or a piece of furniture that captured my imagination. It took me this long to realise I needed to turn that passion into a career, because, frankly, before now I didn’t have the courage.’

It wasn’t until he was deep into a house renovation, trying and failing to find innovative craftspeople to make bespoke furniture, that the former media lawyer and self-confessed ‘Scandi design anorak’ decided it was time to set up his own business. Initially, this involved spending hours in the cafeterias of Scandinavia’s most illustrious design schools, engaging with more than 100 students.

He and his six-strong advisory board, which includes Skandium co-founder Christina Schmidt, then settled on 10 young designers, who were to become the foundations of Åben. Launched in 2019, the specialist global platform provides a path to market for these up-and-coming creatives, while at the same time nurturing and developing their talent. ‘We’ll introduce new names every three to six months, although the headcount will never reach more than 25,’ says Harrigan. ‘We want to keep things small and give these people the attention they deserve.’

Currently on the roster are Finland’s Young Designer of the Year, cabinetmaker Antrei Hartikainen, Danish ceramicist Alexandra Nilasdotter and Finnish designer Jonas Lutz, whose carved ceramic vessels are a bestseller.

In August, the firm welcomed Sweden’s Erik Olovsson, founder of Studio EO, as its second designer in residence, and at the beginning of December, Finland’s Studio Kaksikko enters the fold. Uniting all of the work is a focus on functionality, sustainability, commerciality and indeed personality, both in relation to the pieces themselves and the people who make it. ‘Nordic designers have a well-founded reputation for quality and craftsmanship, plus all the timber used is local and FSC certified. For each product we sell, we plant a tree in partnership with One Tree Planted. Our mission is to become 100 per cent carbon neutral by 2022,’ explains Harrigan. ‘We also have a strict no divas rule; every person we bring on board is someone you’d like to sit next to at a dinner party.’

Inspired by The Apartment in Copenhagen, Harrigan plans to open a London-based showroom and rentable guest property in which all of the pieces are shoppable.

‘We’re about 18 months away from launching Åben Home London. Once we’ve got that on the flywheel, I love the idea of more Åben Homes in New York, Paris and Stockholm – Nordic boltholes away from the craziness of the world,’ he says. ‘The best thing is that this never feels like work; you’re building from scratch and there’s something gratifying about that. We’re 11 months in and already breaking even, so we’re happy and, really, we’re just getting started.’ aben.as

From top ‘Bastone x Poiat’ cabinet in ‘Natural Oak’ by Antrei Hartikainen, £5,200; ‘Spine’ table by Erik Olovsson, £8,400, both Åben (aben.as)

‘NORDIC DESIGNERS HAVE A WELL-FOUNDED REPUTATION FOR QUALITY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP’ From above ‘Drill’ vases by Erik Olovsson, from £460; ‘Arcadia’ chair by Nick Ross, £3,600, both Åben (aben.as)

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M Y C U LT U R A L L I F E

RAVINDER BHOGAL

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An arbiter of taste tells us what they’re reading, listening to and more Though it was her triumphant turn on Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word that saw chef and food writer Ravinder Bhogal beat 9,000 women to the title of ‘Britain’s next Fanny Cradock’, she’ll tell you her culinary career began at her mother’s side as a child. It’s this understanding of food’s link to identity that has won her an army of fans, including Yotam Ottolenghi and ‘ultimate food heroine’ Nigella Lawson, who declared her Scrag End Pie 2 (3) the best shepherd’s pie in London. You’ll find that and more ‘proudly inauthentic’ recipes in Bhogal’s second book, Jikoni, named after her Marylebone restaurant (Bloomsbury, £26; ravinderbhogal.com).

WORDS: CAT OLLEY PICTURES: RAHIL AHMAD, ALAMY, MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS, KRISTIN PERERS/BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING, GETTY IMAGES

The book that changed me is Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat. I bought it on my lunch break when I was an 18-year-old beauty counter girl at Selfridges and read it on the train journeys home to Kent. It was like someone had opened the window and let light and air in.

The writer who moves me most is Dominica-born British author Jean Rhys. I so relate to Antoinette Cosway’s fragility at leaving behind a lush tropical island for grey England in Wide Sargasso Sea (4), because I made that voyage, too.

My all-time favourite piece of music has to be Bulleh Shah by Abida Parveen. The humanity in the lyrics moves me to tears every time. I’m

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currently listening to Beyond Skin by Nitin Sawhney, whose song The Boatman was the track we played for our first ever service at Jikoni.

The record that makes me instantly happy?

If I Can’t Have You by Etta James and Harvey Fuqua, which takes me back to my wedding day.

My most loved cultural spot is the National Portrait Gallery. It’s where I first met the late, great writer and critic AA Gill, who was charming.

The last exhibition I saw was William Dalrymple’s ‘Forgotten Masters’ at The Wallace Collection (2), which revealed a whole new roster of artists from India who had almost been written out of history by imperialism. It gave the respect due to these brilliant master painters, who were treated with such contempt by the East India Company.

If I won the lottery, I’d buy Three Girls by Amrita Sher-Gil (1), which portrays Punjabi women contemplating a destiny they are unable to change. My ancestors are from Punjab, so it makes me feel privileged to be an independent woman and reminds me to honour the spirits of those who struggled before me.

I love to collect matchboxes (6), especially from restaurants. My favourites are ones made

by Archivist Gallery.

My favourite place in the world is Mumbai (5). It’s such an electric city full of beautiful architecture, artisans and food.

I love that you can eat simple traditional thalis or the most cosmopolitan dishes. It’s always such a treat to be there.

My desert island dish would have to be a simple dhal and rice cooked by my mother, followed by a large tiramisu made by Paolo Castelli, the chef at Trattoria Dardano in Cortona, Italy.

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GARDENS /

W E L L WAT E R E D Keep forgetting to water your houseplants? Invest in one of these matt-black iron beauties from Toast and, we guarantee, the chore will become a pleasure. The long, slender spout delivers a slow, splash-free flow, ideal for smaller pots or those in hard-to-reach places. £37 (toa.st).

EARTHLY DELIGHTS Discover the fascinating history of photography, as shown through plants, at Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new exhibition, ‘Unearthed: Photography’s Roots’. It features more than 100 innovative works by 37 photographers, from 1840 to the present day. Among them are images by keen gardener Charles Jones, who, in the late 1800s, took more than 5,000 photos of his finest fruit and veg in strikingly modernist style (right). Intended purely as a record, they were found in 1981 in a trunk at a London market. Opens mid-November (dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk).

BULBS TO PLANT NOW TULIPS

Victoria Gaiger and Tom Loxley are best known as the creators of ‘rakesprogress’ – the contemporary garden/ art magazine that runs features on everything from the nomads of the Carpathians to ghostly images of Battersea Park’s tropical plants swaddled for winter.

Their latest venture is ‘Modern Ikebana’, a book that looks at the ancient Japanese art of floral arrangement and how it connects us to nature through its 21st century exponents. Divided into ‘Modern Masters’, ‘Floral Contemporary’, ‘Punkebana’ and ‘Floral Sculptors’, it includes Wagner Kreusch of the London Flower School and Terri Chandler and Katie Smyth of floral design studio Worm. £30 (ludion.be).

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Tulipa ‘Dom Pedro’ is an historic breeder tulip, dating from 1911. Delicately scented, it has large cup-shaped blooms in a rich chestnutbrown and flowers in May.

Tulipa clusiana ‘Peppermint Stick’ is a species tulip that looks like a candy cane. Grow it at the front of a sunny border where it will come back reliably (and slowly increase) year on year.

Tulipa ‘Virichic’ is also reliable and has an elegant head of reflexed green and pink petals (technically tepals).

It looks wonderful planted en masse with ‘Black Hero’ (as shown above).

Planting tips Plant bulbs six inches deep for better flowers and stronger, longer stems. Always plant more than you think you should – you can never have enough (and it’s better value to buy in bulk). Tulips are not just for containers; we plant rows in the vegetable garden for a ‘potager’ feel, naturalise them in woodland areas and scatter them through borders.

WORDS: NATASHA GOODFELLOW PICTURES: CHARLES JONES/DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY, KYOKO HAMADA, BRITT WILLOUGHBY DYER

FLORISTRY’S new wave

November is the time to get these spring favourites into the ground, so we asked florist and flower grower Polly Nicholson of Bayntun flowers (bayntunflowers.co.uk) for her pick of the best, and her tips for success

TECHNOLOGY / 3 OF THE BEST… HAIR AND BEAUTY I N N O VAT I O N S

BETTER SHAPE UP

Recreate a salon experience at home with the latest tech

Build a wall of statement lighting with Nanoleaf ’s new ‘Triangles’, from its ‘Shapes’ collection. Joining the existing ‘Hexagon’ version and available in two sizes, the latest additions allow you to switch between 16 million colour combinations using touch, voice (via Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit) or the app. There’s even a built-in rhythm module to produce light shows that match the beat of your tunes. From £199.99 for five panels (nanoleaf.me).

‘Corrale’ by Dyson Joining the brand’s revolutionary hairdryer, these cordless straighteners claim to cut hair damage in half thanks to careful temperature control. Its clever plates also provide an even tension for efficient styling. £399 (dyson.co.uk).

ARE YOU LISTENING? For music fans, this year’s closure of live venues has been tough. Tech brand Iris offers some solace, though. Its patented software, which features in the new wireless ‘Flow’ headphones, promises to restore the audio quality lost during the recording process, for an experience that’s as close to being there as possible. It has the support of Queen drummer Sir Roger Taylor, as well as Joydeep Bhattacharya, professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, who believes the brain power required to piece together the additional information means you listen more intently. £379 (irislistenwell.com).

Customised skincare by Atolla The brainchild of a designer, a dermatologist and an MITeducated data scientist, Atolla uses its smart algorithm to create a bespoke serum to suit your skin and surroundings. A monthly health kit tracks moisture, PH and oil levels to maintain your glow. $45 per month; available in the UK late 2021 (atolla.com).

British brand Ruark’s ‘R3’ music system nods to the classic lines of mid-century design and its features are just as timeless in their appeal. There’s class-leading audio quality, as well as a smart radio tuner and CD player (not everyone has ditched their collections, after all). It’s also firmly future facing, with Bluetooth, wi-fi streaming with Spotify Connect and support for Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer. £629 (ruarkaudio.com).

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‘UFO 2’ by Foreo Perfect your own facials with this smart device. Simply lock a mask (£18.99 for six) to the ‘UFO’ and scan its barcode to begin a pre-programmed treatment that uses light therapy and cooling or warming massage. £249 (foreo.com).

WORDS: CLARE SARTIN

Sophisticated SOUND

PICTURE: HENRY BOURNE

‘THE DESIGNER’S JOB IS TO IMAGINE THE WORLD NOT HOW IT IS, BUT HOW IT SHOULD BE’ Sir Terence Conran’s vision transformed homes, shops and restaurants in postwar Britain. Caroline Roux looks back on his extraordinary career and the legacy he has left behind

he disliked from its shelves (BHS was known for its good but cheap lighting). These, it turned out, were the company’s bestsellers.

Sir Terence Conran – he was knighted in 1983 – could be abrasive and grand and willfully autocratic, but he was also deeply invested in what design can do. It’s almost become a cliché now to say he introduced dowdy postwar Britain to natty continental things like Bauhaus chairs, colourful French cooking utensils and the duvet, but actually he did. Of the last, he loved to say that it had revolutionised the British sex life, by removing the need to spend 20 minutes making the bed, as well as providing a rather more devil-may-care ambience than a set of cardboard-stiff sheets. And, once again, he had a point.

In the mid-90s, he was guest editor of this magazine. ‘I remember some lively discussions and a couple of vitriolic emails,’ says then deputy editor Jane Withers, now a respected curator and design consultant. She admits that Conran had been a major influence on ELLE Decoration, which was launched in 1989, and its ethos of making design accessible; turning modernism from a high style to influence the props of everyday life. ‘But where ELLE Decoration was pluralistic and championed different styles,’ continues Withers, ‘Terence had a singular focus and scathing opinions on those young designers he considered to be blurring the lines of modernist good taste.’

Nonetheless, he should be remembered for the extraordinary support he lent to the young designers who did measure up to his particular brief. ‘Designers in Britain, and globally, owe him the idea that design isn’t just a job where you design another widget, but something that impacts every part of your life, right down to the

Clockwise from top left Conran with second wife Shirley and baby Sebastian in 1956; a ‘Chequers’ plate designed by Conran for WR Midwinter Ltd; and his ‘Salad ware’ plate also for the Stoke-on-Trent pottery; a Conran textile from ‘The Way We Live Now’ exhibition at the Design Museum in 2011 to commemorate the designer’s 80th birthday; with third wife Caroline and children (from left) Ned, Sophie, Jasper, Sebastian and Tom; a 1973 Habitat catalogue; Conran in his ‘Cone Chair’

PICTURES: POPPERFOTO/GETTY, V&A IMAGES/ALAMY, GEFFRYE MUSEUM/ALAMY, RAY WILLIAMS/CAMERA PRESS/DESIGN MUSEUM

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lmost exactly 10 years ago, in October 2010, I went to see Terence Conran just after he’d celebrated his 79th birthday. The party had taken place at Barton Court in Berkshire, his elegant country estate with its beautiful red-brick Georgian house, and involved a huge cast of friends as well as an enormous tureen of foie gras and truffles. This, he told me, had been flown over from Paris by his son Jasper, and due to inevitable confusion over its contents at British customs, only just made it to the party.

This year, shortly before his 89th birthday, he passed away at Barton Court, his name still synonymous with bringing the joys of good design to the British public in spite of his many years in the business and his considerable age.

Conran had a renaissance-man range of practice. Apart from launching Habitat in 1964, and then The Conran Shop in 1973, he was also responsible for developing an extensive range of restaurants (50 of them came and went over the years); launching the publishing imprint Conran Octopus; authoring (or at least having his name on) around 50 books; running a fully fledged design company Conran and Partners; and having a hand in several furniture companies, including Benchmark. The latter, started with Parnham graduate Sean Sutcliffe in 1983, was a trailblazer in its emphasis on sustainability, using as local as possible wood to create handcrafted products. He had links with Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer, and, more fatefully, with the rather run-of-the-mill BHS. When his then company, Storehouse, acquired it in 1986, he removed everything

PICTURES: BRYAN WHARTON/THE TIMES/NEWS LICENSING, CAMERA PRESS/ KAREN ROBINSON, DANNY ELWES

SIR TERENCE CONRAN

paint that you buy for your walls,’ said Tom Dixon, after he’d heard the news of Conran’s passing. Thomas Heatherwick, when a student at the Royal College of Art in 1994 (Conran went on to be the RCA’s provost from 2003 to 2011), once collared the famous designer on its back stairs, and ended up building his degree project – a 6.5 metrehigh gazebo – in Conran’s own garden. ‘I went and lived in his house in Berkshire for four months to make this structure,’ Heatherwick once told me. ‘There’s this word – I only learned the full power of it when I went to Japan – ‘mentor’. That’s what Terence has been to me.’

Conran’s other lifetime achievement was, of course, the establishment of the Design Museum in London. It was opened in 1989 by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a leader with whom Conran did not necessarily see eye to eye, though there’s no doubt that the success of his restaurant and retail empire had benefitted from her free-market-friendly politics.

The museum’s original site in Shad Thames, near Tower Bridge, was a 1940s banana warehouse that Conran’s own design group converted into a modernist-style building. When the museum moved to the former 1960s Commonwealth Institute building in 2016, which had been glamorously reappointed inside by the architect John Pawson, Conran gave a rather ambiguous speech at its opening night’s party, describing the interior as the best disco in London. Its then director,

Deyan Sudjic, says that Conran often gave him advice – ‘Don’t use consultants. Are you sure you don’t have too many staff?’ – usually over martinis at his upmarket restaurant Le Pont de la Tour, which overlooked the river near Shad Thames.

Conran was born in 1931 in Kingston upon Thames. His father, Rupert, had both succeeded and then failed in the rubber import business. His mother, Christina, née Halstead, was by all accounts the creative one. Conran went to Bryanston, a public school in Dorset known for encouraging artistic subjects, but left before matriculation.

He did, however, get a place at Central School of Art and Design in London to study subjects including textile design, though he didn’t see that through either.

By 1951, he was working with the architect Dennis Lennon, making exhibition stands for the Festival of Britain – an event that was intended to and succeeded in shaking Britons out of their postwar torpor.

For Conran, it was the first of many turning points, expanding his vision of design and what we might now call ‘lifestyle’. By 1953, he’d established The Soup Kitchen on the King’s Road, the early location of swinging London. Conran’s cool café boasted its own espresso machine, then still a rarity. By 1956, he had set up his own design practice and created a store for Mary Quant, the miniskirt queen.

Meanwhile, he had taught the budding sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi

CONRAN LOVED TO SAY THAT THE DUVET HAD REVOLUTIONISED THE BRITISH SEX LIFE

Clockwise from top left The art deco Bibendum restaurant in Kensington, which was the former UK headquarters of Michelin; Conran and staff at the Habitat store in London’s King’s Road, circa early 1970s; the Habitat terracotta ‘Chicken Brick’, launched in 1968 and designed for cooking poultry, it’s still available today; a press show in 2017 at The Conran Shop; Conran, cigar in hand, at his Bibendum restaurant with its original Michelin Man stained-glass window

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how to weld, and Paolozzi had returned the favour by teaching him how to make risotto nero. In 1964, the first Habitat store opened in the Fulham Road, run by Conran and his third wife, Caroline Herbert.

Habitat sold a new way of living – clean, colourful and continental – to a population whose ration books had only been put away 10 years earlier, but were now enthusiastically doing the twist to the music of The Beatles, reading the glossy colour supplements that started to accompany the Sunday papers, and nipping around town in the new Mini that had come along in 1959. Habitat wasn’t always as financially successful as it was critically, but by the 1970s, there were outposts in both Paris and New York and in 1981 a stock market floatation brought in more cash. (It’s hard to imagine now, but when I was at university in Manchester in the early 1980s, my flatmate’s blue graph-paper design tray from Habitat seemed as fashionable as my black boiler suit – a Katharine Hamnett copy, courtesy of French Connection.)

When Ikea’s Ingvar Kamprad bought out Habitat (or Storehouse, as it had become) in 1992, the Swede apparently scolded his English counterpart for not looking after his assets. But by then Conran had his swankier eponymous stores, a range of restaurants, not to mention his thriving design consultancy. By 2000, he was also onto his fourth wife, Vicki Davis. In fact, Conran’s failure seems to have

been holding onto both his businesses and his wives. The Conran Shop was sold in its entirety to the Marandi family in March this year.

His five children are the progeny of his second wife, Shirley Pearce (Sebastian and Jasper) and his third, Caroline (Tom, Sophie and Edmund, known as Ned). Sebastian, Sophie and Jasper are all successful designers, while Tom and Ned took the food route.

In 2009, I ran a three-way interview in The Guardian with Conran, Kirsty Allsopp and Philippe Starck. It was just after the 2008 crash, and as Allsopp talked about recycling and Starck talked about ‘democratic ecology’, this is what Conran had to say: ‘In the 70s, when I was doing Habitat and it was the time of the threeday week, we started a range called Basics. We went through the standard house creating necessary things that were good value and simple. We kept it going for a few years and franchised it out to a Japanese store called Seibu. They eventually opened stores called Basics, and later these became Muji. So, you see, some of the best things come out of hard times. We’re probably entering a time of simpler things now. Pink walls and chandeliers don’t feel right. I think we’ve had enough of frivolity for a while.’

With his cigars, whisky and wives, Sir Terence Conran was very much a man of his times. But, as that quote so amply demonstrates, he absolutely remains one of ours.

HABITAT SOLD A NEW WAY OF LIVING THAT WAS CLEAN, COLOURFUL AND CONTINENTAL

Clockwise from top left Conran (left) with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the opening of the Design Museum in 1989; talking to Sebastian Cox in 2014 who was taking part in Conran’s Wish List Project at Benchmark, the furniture firm based in the grounds of his house in Buckinghamshire; Conran at a private viewing of ‘Swinging London: A Lifestyle Revolution’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London last year; with his fourth wife Vicki at their home in France in 2005

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PICTURES: DENZIL MCNEELANCE/THE TIMES/NEWS LICENSING, CAMERA PRESS/CLARA MOLDEN/ TELEGRAPH, DAVID M BENETT/GETTY, MAURICE ROUGEMONT/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY

SIR TERENCE CONRAN

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

THE UK’S BEST PR ACTICES FOR ANY PROJECT Finding the right architect is the foundation of any successful building work. Here, we’ve picked the top 25 firms that can help you achieve the best results, whatever the size, style or budget Words AMY FREARSON

LONDON T S U R U TA A R C H I T E C T S SOUTHEAST LONDON The Japanese upbringing of architect Taro Tsuruta has heavily influenced his style of building. Projects include a conservatory with a complex diagrid roof (below) and a staircase made from 2,000 interlocking components.

They say ‘We have a hands-on approach, inspired by architects like [Filippo] Brunelleschi, who even designed the scaffoldings for his projects.’ tsurutaarchitects.com

OFFICE SIAN EAST LONDON Gurmeet Sian collaborates closely with his clients to bring a spirit of individuality to his residential projects. On this Middleton Road Victorian terrace (below), he has explored combinations of form, pattern and material.

They say ‘Our approach is based on understanding the concerns of the client, why they wish for change, as opposed to what they want to change. We also feel we can make the journey of designing one’s home fun!’officesian.com

PICTURES: STÅLE ERIKSEN, MATT CLAYTON

Designed by Jørn Utzon, the Ahm house (named after builder Povl Ahm) was sensitively modernised by Coppin Dockray

C O P P I N D O C K R AY N O R T H L O N D O N Modernist home renovations are the speciality of Sandra Coppin and Bev Dockray’s studio. They have already breathed new life into structures by the likes of Jørn Utzon and Alison and Peter Smithson, and upgraded apartments in the Berthold Lubetkin-designed Highpoint.

They say ‘Twentieth-century buildings are too often torn down as their environmental performance is poor and they are tricky to refurbish. We believe these properties can be brought back into use and enjoyed.’ coppindockray.co.uk NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 55

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LONDON NIMTIM ARCHITECTS SOUTHEAST LONDON Nimi Attanayake and Tim O’Callaghan founded their practice with the aim of creating structures that everyone can enjoy.

Combining bright colours and honest materials, projects like Cork House and Slot House (below) come with bags of character.

They say ‘We bring a sense of playfulness and adventure to everything we do – to the buildings we create but also to how we inspire clients and communities, and how we collaborate with consultants and makers.’ nimtim.co.uk

O ’ S U L L I VA N S K O U F O G L O U A R C H I T E C T S NORTH LONDON Jody O’Sullivan and Amalia Skoufoglou are masters when it comes to inserting highly crafted architectural joinery into London’s terraced houses. Projects like Dewsbury Road (above) and Grove Park show off the breadth of their talents.

They say ‘We strive to make buildings with integrity, which respond to the place they are sited and are tectonic in their expression.’ osullivanskoufoglou.com

SOUTHERN ENGLAND GILLESPIE YUNNIE ARCHITECTS D A RT I N G T O N , DEVON Architects Jackie Gillespie and Phil Yunnie pride themselves on their diverse portfolio. Whether working on eye-catching new-builds such as Jackmans House, with its glazed ‘cactus house’, or renovating historic properties like Balfour Manor, their studio has a knack for mixing old and new styles.

They say ‘We like to approach every project with an open mind. We try to avoid a house style and enjoy the freedom to try new ideas and technologies where appropriate.’ gyarchitects.co.uk 56 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

PICTURES: RORY GARDINER

Gillespie Yunnie Architect’s Shell Cove terraced houses project in Dawlish

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

SOUTHERN ENGLAND CHARLES HOLLAND ARCHITECTS DOVER, KENT Formerly a director of avant-garde studio FAT, Charles Holland teamed up with artist Grayson Perry on the weird and wonderful House for Essex in 2015 (below). The designs coming out of his solo studio are in the same spirit, with a big injection of personality.

They say ‘We react to the tastes and enthusiasms of our clients, drawing inspiration from their individuality. We consistently look to create spaces that offer enjoyment and visual richness.’ charleshollandarchitects.co.uk

Ström Architects’ Kattegat House on Sweden’s west coast

S T R Ö M A R C H I T E C T S LY M I N G T O N , H A M P S H I R E Originally from Sweden, Magnus Ström brings a Scandinavian sensibility to his work. His practice designs contemporary properties that combine boldness with simplicity, from the cantilevered form of The Quest, to house-on-stilts Island Rest and the brutalist-inspired Kattegat House in Sweden.

They say ‘In today’s world of 24/7 noise from social media, advertising, emails, mobiles and traffic, we want to offer reprieve. We do so with architecture that is simple and intuitive, yet strong and elegant.’ stromarchitects.com

MELOY ARCHITECTS L EW ES , E A S T S US SE X

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RX ARCHITECTS RY E , E A S T S U S S E X It’s telling that Derek Rankin and Rob Pollard named their studio after the fishing boat code for the area where they’re based. The duo have become experts in designing for coastal settings, with highlights including a Camber Sands beach house and a larch-clad home overlooking Rye Harbour Nature Reserve (above).

They say ‘Whether it’s the patina created on metal surfaces or the natural silvering process of timber, our aim is to create architecture that complements its environment and is enhanced by the weathering process.’ rxarchitects.com

PICTURES: NU.MA

Charles Meloy cut his teeth working for the Richard Rogers Partnership, before founding his eponymous studio. Having built his own certified Passivhaus on the South Downs (right), the architect proves it’s possible to create sustainable homes without compromising on design quality.

They say ‘It is our belief that if we expend time and money in building, that we should do so with vigour and intent. Truly sustainable architecture should be undertaken to maximise both the life of the building and the wellbeing of those who inhabit it.’ meloy.co.uk

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

CENTRAL ENGLAND Douglas fir ribs combine with a concrete frame for The Houseboat in Poole by Mole Architects

BEECH ARCHITECTS THORNDON, SUFFOLK A converted 125-year-old windmill (below) and a remodelled cowshed are among the creative renovation projects produced by Craig Beech and Ruth Paternoster’s studio.

These architects like to experiment with innovative construction techniques to make their buildings both contextual and sustainable.

They say ‘We create solutions that meet our clients’ needs and aspirations, but also incorporate sustainability, green materials and architectural surprises.’ beecharchitects.com

MOLE ARCHITECTS CAMBRIDGE With architects Meredith Bowles and Ian Bramwell at the helm, this practice is adept at creating properties with striking silhouettes and intelligent use of materials. It has even collaborated with superstar architects Atelier Peter Zumthor and MVRDV for the Living Architecture holiday homes.

They say ‘We design houses that are contemporary, with an interest in materials and vernacular architecture, often finding dramatic solutions.’ molearchitects.co.uk

PICTURES:ASHWORTH PHOTOGRAPHY, JOAKIM BORÉN, PAUL MILLER, RORY GARDINER

INTERVENTION ARCHITECTURE BIRMINGHAM

HUDSON ARCHITECTS NORWICH This studio has amassed an impressive portfolio in the 18 years since Anthony Hudson founded it. From a fort-like villa with a helical staircase (above) on the Jersey coastline to a zinc-clad home on the Suffolk saltmarsh, its projects share a sense of drama.

They say ‘We respond to context with a flexible, thoughtful and imaginative approach, to create wonderful places and spaces for people to inhabit.’ hudsonarchitects.co.uk

Architect Anna Parker knows how to bring imagination to projects, no matter how small. She has a particular interest in CNC fabrication (computer-programmed cutting machinery), which she demonstrated on a reconfigurable apartment for a dancer, while other projects include a clever conversion of a Victorian coach house (left).

They say ‘We have evolved with the challenge of getting the most from typically low-budget projects. This is achieved by carefully detailing and considering an economy of materials to maximise their effects in spaces.’ interventionarchitecture.com NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 61

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

CENTRAL ENGLAND GRESFORD ARCHITECTS OXFORD

A sunken seating area forms part of a contemporary pink concrete extension by Gresford Architects

With an eclectic portfolio that includes everything from barn conversions to unconventional pink concrete extensions, Tom Gresford’s studio has proven its ability to think outside the box.

It takes an innovative approach to sustainability and recent Passivhaus projects include Chieveley and The Deerings, the latter a collaboration with Nicolas Tye Architects.

They say ‘Conscious that architects’ approach to the built environment has a fundamental impact on our cultural heritage, we endeavour to achieve the perfect marriage of the poetic and the practical.’ gresfordarchitects.co.uk

NORTHERN ENGLAND IAN HAZARD ARCHITECT YORK

ELLIOTT ARCHITECTS CO RB RI DG E , N O RT H UM B E RLA N D With much of its work in the countryside, this studio puts a contemporary spin on rural vernacular. Projects such as the stunning North Bank residence (above), which is set in a conservation area, show how founders Ben and Lynsey Elliott create homes that are beautiful without being flashy.

They say ‘Our speciality is creating meaningful architecture. We love old buildings but feel that our work should not try to replicate the old, rather bring a new contemporary layer that sits sensitively alongside it.’ elliottarchitects.co.uk 62 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

PICTURES: JILL TATE, ANDREW OGILVY

Having started his career as an apprentice to a master builder, Ian Hazard brings a practical, hands-on approach to his architecture. He has plenty of experience working with listed structures, with current projects including a sandstone-gabled cottage and a converted windmill (below).

They say ‘Clients know the way that they live, work and play better than we do. We simply help them to understand how they use their space, and to design buildings that frame their lives, and their relationship to the landscape.’ ianhazard.com

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

NORTHERN ENGLAND SNOOK ARCHITECTS L I V ER PO O L Since setting up his studio in 2005, Neil Dawson has demonstrated his all-round expertise on a wide spectrum of projects, ranging from the conversion of a 16th-century barn (below) to a new-build with an impressive rooftop balcony.

They say ‘Whether a superhome or simple barn conversion, the same attention to detail is expended on all projects. Rather than a predetermined house style, each is approached with a fresh slate.’ snookarchitects.com

One of five detached new-build properties at the Waterbank development in Prestbury, Cheshire,

by Annabelle Tugby Architects

A N N A B E L L E T U G B Y A R C H I T E C T S ST YAL , CH E SH IR E Annabelle Tugby combines rustic charm with modern style in her architecture and interiors projects, as shown by the renovated rural cottage and workshop where she lives and works. She relishes the challenges of conservation areas and listed buildings, and her team like to build models to help them flesh out ideas.

They say ‘Our projects are contemporary in nature but there is no set style. Our work celebrates beautiful materials, textural contrasts and finely crafted minimalist detailing.’ annabelletugbyarchitects.co.uk

FROM WORKS SHE F F IE LD

PICTURES:ANDREW HASLAM, BEN TYNEGATE

J O N AT H A N H E N D RY ARCHITECTS LINCOLNSHIRE Jonathan Hendry’s buildings demonstrate a real understanding of the importance of scale and proportions. With Beach Hut (above), he transformed a public toilet into a cosy chalet, while Creek Cottage sees a very simple house elevated through materials and glazing.

They say ‘When thinking about making architecture, the question of feeling is also in our minds. By this we mean things like, how does a room make us feel when we enter it?’ jonathanhendryarchitects.com

Working across architecture and interiors, Darren Hancock and Adam Eckworth bring a joy of making to their work. Their projects are as much about furniture as they are about structure, with highlights including the simple but elegant Lawnside loft extension (left).

They say ‘Our designs are the result of rigorous testing of space, light, material and detail.

This is done through sketches, physical model-making, visualisations and the collation of appropriate material samples.’ fromworks.co.uk NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 65

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S C O T L A N D , WA L E S & N O R T H E R N I R E L A N D M C G O N I G L E M C G R AT H B E L FA S T Minimalism meets tradition in the work of architects Kieran McGonigle and Aidan McGrath. Projects like RIBA House of the Year 2019 winner House Lessans (below) may look simple but, in fact, they are as multilayered and robust as the landscapes in which they are set.

They say ‘A key interest is the relationship of architecture to the ground. We use photography, drawing and models, and our work is developed from having an understanding of the found condition of the site.’ mcgoniglemcgrath.com

Hyde + Hyde Architects created a striking timber triangular lattice ceiling for the Equipoise House in Somerset

H Y D E + H Y D E A R C H I T E C T S S WA N S E A A N D C A R D I F F ‘We build emotion’ is the slogan of this office, which is led by husband-and-wife duo Kristian and Kay Hyde. If that isn’t clear from the moody visuals they create for their designs, it certainly is from the innovative structures they build, which boast strong lines, sharp angles and dramatic cantilevers.

They say ‘As a boutique architecture practice, we limit the amount of work we take on to make the best buildings we can, not the most.’ hydearchitects.com

TA P A R C H I T E C T S EDI NB U RG H This studio, led by architect Neil Taylor, knows how to bring clarity to residential projects. The focus is often on a single material – whether its black Siberian larch or rugged stone – and to celebrate it.

They say ‘There are always challenges to overcome; our skill is in finding solutions that are imaginative and elegant, creating distinctive, often sculptural buildings.’ taparchitects.co.uk 66 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

Based in the Scottish Highlands, Mary ArnoldForster has a unique understanding of how to build in remote landscapes.

With Nedd (left), she explored the potential of off-site construction, while The Black Shed reinterprets Scotland’s traditional blackhouses.

They say ‘Our approach is to be rigorously site and brief specific. We study the site in a forensic way and also read between the lines of the brief, to not only work out what our clients want, but also what they never knew they wanted.’ maryarnold-forster.co.uk

PICTURES:DAVID BARBOUR

M A RY A R N O L D FORSTER ARCHITECTS DU NK E LD , PE RTH SHI RE

THE MODERN M AVERICK:

SIR DAVID ADJAYE When did you first become aware of architecture, and when did you decide it was something you wanted to pursue?

A seminal moment in my youth was when my brother Emmanuel became paralysed. Life changed completely and I became very aware of what it meant to be a disabled body, negotiating space in a wheelchair.

I noticed how Emmanuel’s school for the disabled was inefficient and degrading, which proposed a challenge to me for design. Whilst doing my BA at London South Bank University, I designed a facility that could accommodate better care for the disabled and provide greater dignity for those who have to navigate the built environment differently.

Architecture can at times normalise movement throughout space but this normalisation cannot be singular.

Instead, it should allow for difference and dynamism reflected in societies, cultures and cities.

How can architects bring value to housing design?

I believe that architects should always consider a sense of dignity when it comes to housing design as well as to contemplate what it really means to live in a space. When you ask this question, you recognise that design doesn’t just tackle the archetype of the ‘house’ but the archetype of the ‘home’. My mixed-use affordable housing project in Harlem — Sugar Hill— provides dignified living and defies the standards and misconceptions often associated with ‘affordable housing’. The project became what I call an ‘urban system’, a building that wasn’t just about housing but brought together elements of education, generational interchange, commerce and culture. A house is its physical structure but a home exists way beyond its materiality.

Which architects or designers have had the biggest influence on you and your work?

I’m inspired by a number of artists and architects. Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy,

‘I SEEK TO FIND THE SOFT NUANCES THAT PEOPLE DISREGARD. I DON’T SEEK THE UNIVERSAL. I SEEK THE SPECIFIC. THAT DEFINES MY PROJECTS’ Opposite, clockwise from top right Adjaye’s projects include, Dirty House in Hackney, an art studio and apartment building with an illuminated roof; Pitch Black, the studio of Brooklyn artist Lorna Simpson, Adjaye’s first foray in the US; affordable housing at Sugar Hill in Harlem; Sugar Hill also features educational facilities; the Stephen Lawrence Centre in south London; the Idea Store in east London

for example, is someone I greatly admire as he pioneered architecture that responds very directly to climate, local materials and place. And the same can be said for Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi and Indian architect B.V. Doshi, to name a few.

Can you talk us through the design approach you use…

My work is less about a particular style and more defined by its process.

That process tends to be collaborative, seeks to engage with other disciplines as well as a social agenda and is research based. When I design, I think about how people relate to each other and what that means in the society that we live in. That informs how the building is made.

Ideas about access and personal freedoms are embedded in my work.

Do you have a particular aesthetic?

The notion that you can hold on to a core, fundamental, design aesthetic, which runs through all your projects, is an anathema to me.

Every context is different, and every context has a new scenario. You can find differences and specificities within context, which can drive things very powerfully. This is what I do. I seek to find the soft nuances that people disregard. I don’t seek the universal. I seek the specific. And I find that that always defines my projects. It roots them to their context within the city at that time, or the group of people that might be bringing up that project at that time. So, I find that even if I may want to, it’s almost impossible to make the same project again and again and again. Each time it mutates, to suit the context that it’s in. That’s the trick, if there is one.

If you hadn’t become an architect, what else would you have liked to do?

I toyed with the idea of becoming a scientist – but my brother did that (very successfully) so I was happy to do something different.

David Adjaye – Works 1995-2007: Houses, Pavilions, Installations, Buildings (Thames & Hudson, £60)

WORDS: JAMES WILLIAMS PICTURES: ANOUSH ABRAR, ED REEVE, TIM SOAR, LYNDON DOUGLAS, JAMES WANG, WADE ZIMMERMAN, CAMERA PHOT ARTE

The award-winning British-Ghanaian architect, whose iconic works include the Stephen Lawrence Centre in south London and Sugar Hill in Harlem, shares his early influences, process and what home means to him

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

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HOME TO MAMA Necessity is the mother of invention for Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama, the couple behind architecture and design firm Studiomama, and this London home is their colourful laboratory Words CLARE SARTIN Photography ELSA YOUNG/FRANK FEATURES Production KERRYN FISCHER

Above Nina and Jack in their kitchen, which is part of a large open-plan living space that takes up an entire floor of their house Living area The leather sofa and armchair are the ‘PK31’ by Poul Kjærholm for Fritz Hansen. On the right is Studiomama’s ‘Re-Imagined’ chair covered in David David fabric

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ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

R

emember that period during lockdown when it seemed as if everyone was posting Instagram pictures of their sourdough loaves? For the ever-inventive Nina Tolstrup, it inspired more than just a love of home baking. She began asking questions: ‘How do I store the bread so that the crust stays just right? What is the optimum humidity?’ Suddenly, a social trend had led to the creation of a helpful new product. At the moment, the wooden breadbox Nina made exists only on her kitchen worktop, but that’s how so many of this design partnership’s products begin: at home.

Founded in 2000 by Denmark-born Nina and her partner Jack Mama, a Greek-Cypriot from London’s East End, Studiomama is all about solving problems in fun and functional ways. Working across architecture and product design, the duo has collaborated with a variety of brands and organisations, from Habitat and Skagerak to the Danish Embassy and the Serpentine Gallery. Today, the studio’s beating heart is this family house in the backstreets of Bethnal Green.

The building’s industrious history precedes its current owners.

Once a sweatshop – ‘we found so much cotton under the floorboards; the remnants of 50 sewing machines going at pace’ – it is also rumoured to have belonged to a German sausage maker. Since Nina and Jack moved in almost 18 years ago, the hard work has continued. ‘When we bought it, the place was incredibly raw,’ says Jack. ‘Basically, there was maybe one window, so we had to create a whole new façade. My father was a builder and I forced him out of semi-retirement to work on the project with me.’

Today, the three-storey property features an independent groundlevel flat that is rented out to a family friend and a floor that houses Nina and Jack’s studio, plus bedrooms for their two children – Otto,

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20, and Lula, 17. The open-plan top level, which leads out onto a terrace, serves as kitchen, dining room, living room and main bedroom. It hasn’t always been like this, though. This is a home in perpetual creative flux. ‘We just never want to build anything permanent,’ explains Jack. First, when the kids were very young, the couple created a little shed, a small home within a home, for them. Then, when they began to demand their own space, a unique set-up involving more than 25 salvaged wooden doors was devised.

They joined up to create two separate cubes – each with a bed and a desk beneath – and could also be opened individually. ‘It was a bit like Monsters, Inc.,’ says Nina. ‘Great fun.’

This kind of ingenious approach to space has become a signature of Studiomama’s architectural work. Their ‘13m2’ house, completed in 2016, transformed a former north London taxi office into a tiny home, and their own beach hut in Whitstable shows similarly smart ideas. Key to the success of both is Nina and Jack’s thoughtful approach to colour. Their trick is to use one hue or material extensively, which has the effect of making the rooms appear bigger.

In the case of ‘13m2’, it was plywood offset with pastel tones. In their own home, it’s white with contained bursts of yellow, green, pink and red. ‘We love colour and that little bit of daring,’ says Nina, ‘but there’s something liberating about every wall being white. It means the interior can constantly be reorganised.’

Furniture, as well, is subject to regular rearrangements. The duo’s new designs jostle for space alongside pieces by their heroes.

There’s lighting by Ettore Sottsass and Achille Castiglioni – two Italian designers Jack praises for ‘not taking themselves too seriously’ – and a leather sofa and armchair by Poul Kjærholm

‘WE LOVE COLOUR AND THAT LITTLE BIT OF DARING, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING LIBERATING ABOUT EVERY WALL BEING WHITE. IT CAN BE CONSTANTLY REORGANISED’ Opposite Next to the window is a plywood ‘LCW’ chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra and a yellow ‘Loops’ chair by Studiomama. At the dining table is a vintage orange ‘Omstak’ chair by Rodney Kinsman for OMK 1965 and a Tolix chair by Xavier Pauchard This page Studiomama’s ‘Metamorphic’ pink wardrobe separates the bedroom from the rest of the open-plan space. To one side is the ‘Callimaco’ floor lamp by Ettore Sottsass for Artemide (above). The mirror is a prototype by Studiomama that doubles as an ironing board. On the back wall, a sideboard from Ikea has been customised with a new top and spray-painted yellow

ARCHITECTURE SPECIAL

that Nina bought when she was living in Copenhagen. Among these classics sit items inherited from Nina’s grandmother. These include vases and sculptural knick-knacks, plates and kitchen utensils – things that are, says Nina, ‘unintentionally lovely’.

A consummate upcycler, Nina can find beauty in most things.

‘You’ve got to watch out when you walk past a skip with her,’ jokes Jack. True to Studiomama’s ethos of sustainable design, she is prone to plucking objects from near-destruction and giving them a new lease of life. Whether it’s a beautiful old ladle that just needs a replacement handle or, in the case of her and Jack’s ‘Re-Imagine’, ‘Life After Catwalk’ and ‘Waste Not Want It’ collections, discarded furniture, waste fabrics and pallets destined for the dump.

‘It’s very difficult to throw something out when you know it is nicely made,’ adds Nina. ‘It goes without saying to work sustainably.

It’s about constantly thinking, “Can we justify this? Can we sleep at night?” Because we love to create, that’s what we do, but at the same time we are looking at the state of the world.’ Their solution is to think long and hard about the materials they use and only make pieces that solve a problem. Because, if you make something useful that’s also beautiful, people will hopefully keep it forever.

For a couple so fond of change in their home, that sentiment is perhaps the one constant. studiomama.com

Above and below Lula and Otto each have a cubicle room to give them privacy without the need for permanent walls. Outside is a ‘Re-Imagine’ chair by Studiomama and on the far wall is a large artwork by Danish artist Maria Dubin Studio A ‘1X1 Trestle’ table by Studiomama for Another Brand is paired with vintage orange ‘Omstak’ chairs by Rodney Kinsman for OMK 1965 See Stockists page for details

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‘IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING TO WORK SUSTAINABLY. IT’S ABOUT CONSTANTLY THINKING, “CAN WE JUSTIFY THIS?”’

ST YLE D E C O R AT I N G

/ M AT E R I A L S / I N T E R I O R D E S I G N / I D E A S Edited by KIER A BUCKLEY-JONES

PICTURE: ELLE DUNN

‘MARIGOLD’ WALLPAPER BY BEN PENTREATH FOR MORRIS & CO Interior designer Ben Pentreath had the dream task of delving into the Morris & Co archive to recolour and rescale some of its timeless designs. Here, an unexpected contrasting colour has been added beneath the pattern on the traditionally one-tone ‘Marigold’. The joyful ‘Queen Square’ collection is named after the area in London once home to Morris’s factory and showroom, and where Pentreath now lives. It comprises 18 fabrics and 18 wallpapers.

‘Marigold’ wallpaper in ‘Pink/Olive’, £79 per 10 metre roll, Morris & Co (stylelibrary.com/morris&co)

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STYLE

Delicate wash For those wanting to create a soft, sophisticated chalky plaster effect on walls, try a limewash paint. Unlike emulsion, it’s made from natural ingredients so doesn’t release nasty chemicals, allowing you and your walls to breathe easily. Australian lime paint specialist Bauwerk has formulated 20 hues for Ecora, including ‘Marrakech’ (pictured).

From £27 for 1 litre (ecora.co.uk).

REUSE, RENEW Maitland & Poate offers an extensive collection of reclaimed antique encaustic tiles that are durable enough to use in hallways, kitchens, bathrooms and even outside. Made by Spanish artisans, their faded imperfections make them a charming addition to any home. From £5 each (maitlandandpoate.com).

AHEAD OF THE CURVE Celebrating the beauty of natural raw materials and organic forms are Layered’s new ‘Textures’ wool hangings and rugs.

Constructed from pure undyed wool, they have a subtle relief pattern and are produced in small quantities to prevent waste.

‘Circular’ rug, £880 (layeredinterior.com).

PAT C H U P T H E WA L L S Simplify the dilemma of choosing paint shades with ‘Colour Patch’.

New from Craig & Rose, these 20x20cm self-adhesive paint samples can be moved around and applied to various surfaces to see how the hues look in different lights. Goodbye messy tester pots! (craigandrose.com)

TOUR DE FORCE

WORDS: KIERA BUCKLEY-JONES

Equally established in their own right, Swedish print designers Daniel Långelid and Emma von Brömssen (he has produced designs for Sandberg; she has her own range and has collaborated with Svenskt Tenn) have joined forces as Långerlid/von Brömssen for a second collection of wallpapers. The eight whimsical designs include ‘Talk About Cockatoos’ (pictured), Emma’s modern twist on a traditional toile de Jouy, and Daniel’s ‘Palm House’ design, which we featured in last month’s ‘Autumn/Winter 2020’s ultimate edit’. From £119 per 10m roll (langelidvonbromssen.com).

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STYLE

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

This season, textiles get a tactile boost with the rise of jumbo cord, oversized quilting and chunky bouclé

Above Sofa covered in ‘Cricket’ recycled cotton weave in ‘Reed’, £125 per m Top right Chair in ‘Roses’ quilted velvet in ‘Indigo’, £235 per m, both Kirkby Design (kirkbydesign.com)

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GOING UPSCALE

Extreme textiles to make a sensory statement

‘Corda’ cotton corduroy in ‘Ochre’, £55 per m, Designers Guild (designersguild.com)

‘Clouds’ linen-mix fabric in ‘Celadon’ from the ‘Nuit d’Été’ collection, £125 per m, Camengo (camengo.com)

‘Synergy Quilt Chevron’ wool-blend fabric in ‘Serendipity’, £67 per m, Camira (camirafabrics.com)

‘Argo 2’ mohair fabric in ‘0633’, £415 per m, Raf Simons for Kvadrat (kvadratrafsimons.com)

WORDS: KIERA BUCKLEY-JONES

‘There’s always something fun about blowing up the scale of things,’ says Jordan Mould, creative director of Kirkby Design, ‘and we found it was no different with fabric.’ He’s discussing the brand’s standout new collection ‘Volume’, with its oversized, extreme textured weaves. A departure from the company’s usual graphic patterns, these pieces have a ‘visceral quality and explore technical details, making you want to touch every design,’ he adds.

The launch is a response to the recent appetite for touchable, fluffy furniture. Upholstery in snowy white bouclé – Pierre Frey’s ‘Louison’ bouclette being the perfect example – has been spotted in a number of boutique hotels.

While new from Raf Simons for Kvadrat is ‘Argo 2’, a lustrously deep-pile fabric of glossy mohair that begs to be stroked, and comes in striking shades such as acid yellow, flamingo pink and a Cookie Monster blue.

For Kirkby’s ‘Volume’ collection, Mould decided that ‘with such intense textures it was important to select colours that did not overpower the fabrics’. Hence the 11 designs are available in usable hues of pale pastels, Hunter green and versatile greys. The talking points in the range are ‘Snug’, a large quilted herringbone, the plush velvet ‘Jumbo Cord’, ‘Roses’ featuring quilted, cushioned flowers, ‘Brush’, with the quality of a sheepskin coat and ‘Cricket’, a tribute to the classic sporting jumper, constructed from cotton yarns recycled from the fashion industry.

Who knows what the winter will bring in these unpredictable days, but luxuriously ‘extra’ textiles can certainly help cushion the blow. ‘Volume’ collection, from £125 per m (kirkbydesign. com). ‘Louison’ bouclette, £547 per m (pierrefrey.com).

STYLE

COLOUR PIONEER

LUCIENNE DAY

WORDS: KASSIA ST CLAIR PICTURES: MARK WHITFIELD, ROBIN AND LUCIENNE DAY FOUNDATION, JOHN GAY © NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The celebrated designer whose optimistic and modern approach to textile design transformed the dreary home décor of postwar Britain

Clockwise from top right ‘Dandelion Clocks’ linen, £75 per m; ‘Night and Day’ reissued tea towel, £19.50, both Twentytwentyone (twentytwentyone.com); ‘Good Food’ tea towel, circa 1961; ‘Calyx’ linen, £75 per m, Classic Textiles (classictextiles. com); ‘Ticker Tape’ curtain fabric, 1953; Day with her 1960 fabric ‘Halcyon’

If you were looking for a single quality to define the career of more abstract and geometric: her work following and even pushing Lucienne Day, self-belief might well be the one you would choose. the boundaries of visual design.

What else could have compelled her to stand firm behind ‘Calyx’, Her chosen palette reflected her personality. She enjoyed bold a textile design she submitted to Heal’s to be displayed at the Festival shades: teals, olives, browns, chartreuse, twilight violets and, of course, of Britain in 1951? ‘Calyx’ was… different. True, the festival was mustard. This latter hue, which had packed such a punch in ‘Calyx’, supposed to usher in a fresh, forward-looking mood after the grim returned in the whimsical ‘Dandelion Clocks’ (1953) and in geometric mire of the war years. A ‘tonic for the nation’, as one politician put splendour in ‘Isosceles’ (1955). These textiles, true to the original it. And true, her design – abstract, irregular forms resembling flower mission of the Festival of Britain, evoked the new and optimistic heads on slender stems – evoked the work of mood of the mid-century. More incredible still, contemporary artists like Joan Miró and many were affordable enough to enter the DAY’S TEXTILES Alexander Calder. But Tom Worthington, homes of people who had never been able to Heal’s design director, was not a fan. She access contemporary design before. If buying EVOKED THE NEW persisted and he relented – but would only whole curtains was too much, people could get AND OPTIMISTIC tea towels instead, such as the mole-mustardpay half the usual 20-guinea fee. turquoise ‘Bouquet Garni’ (1959) or the rather As would happen again and again over the MOOD OF THE romantic ‘Night and Day’ (1961), featuring an following years, Day’s self-belief paid off and MID-CENTURY the design became an award-winning bestseller. acid-bright sun and a star-and-owl moon.

(Worthington not only later paid her the Self-belief allowed her to decorate the remaining 10 guineas, but would go on to commission her again and Chelsea home she shared with her husband, furniture designer again. Over 20 years, she designed more than 70 patterns for Heal’s). Robin Day, with a confident good taste. And although their careers Born in Coulsdon, Surrey, in 1917, Day spent her life creating complemented each other and they often worked together, she was confident, bold designs, principally in interiors textiles. In contrast a star in her own firmament. Perhaps that is why, like botanical to the stuffy chintzes and heavy arabesques of the pre-war years, forms, heavenly bodies were recurring motifs. One of her very last she favoured abstract, modern patterns. An early print featured a pieces, ‘Aspects of the Sun’ (1990), is a silken masterpiece: an ode characterful line drawing of a horse’s head. Later on, she became to form and colour, especially, of course, sinus-stinging yellow.

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T H E PA L E T T E

CUT THE MUSTARD Take inspiration from Lucienne Day’s favourite yellow shade and pair with accents of strong charcoal black.

Introduce some textured wool and tactile velvets to lift the scheme, and finish with a few choice ikat prints 1 ‘Porto’ woven fabric in ‘Amber’, £47 per m, Designers Guild (designersguild.com) 2 ‘Smooth’ velvet in ‘Corn’, £42 per m, Kirkby Design (kirkbydesign.com) 3 ‘Nosy be’ raw raffia wallcovering in ‘RM 975 15’, £255 per m, Elitis (elitis.fr) 4 ‘Plus’ rug in ‘Mustard/Black’, from £225, Nordic Knots (nordicknots.com) 5&6 ‘Kenya’ fabric in ‘Tobacco’, £159 per m; and ‘Margo’ fabric in ‘Lemon Grass’, £95 per m, both Larsen (larsenfabrics.com) 7 ‘Mohair Velvet’ in ‘Eggyolk’, £180 per m, Rose Uniacke (roseuniacke.com) 8 ‘Mustard encaustic cement tile’, £4.92 each, Otto Tiles (ottotiles.co.uk) 9 ‘Harvard’ wool in ‘Saffron’, £110 per m, Larsen (larsenfabrics.com) 10 ‘Hop’ velvet in ‘001 Olive’, £204 per m, Dedar (dedar.com) 11 ‘Origami’ wallcovering in ‘87224’ from the ‘Kami’ collection, £185 per m, Arte (arte-international.com) 12 ‘Carbonised’ engineered hardwood plank in ‘Granite’, £230.34 per sq m, Woodworks by Ted Todd (tedtodd.co.uk)

STYLE 8

T H E PA I N T S

Bring a shot of heat to your scheme with these mustard yellows 7

9

‘Shore Lichen’, £50 for 2.5 litres, Designers Guild (designersguild.com)

‘Gamboge’, £56 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.com)

16 ‘Yellow-Pink’, £47 for 2.5 litres, Little Greene (littlegreene.com)

‘Pollen’, £51 for 2.5 litres, Atelier Ellis (atelierellis.co.uk) 17

COMPILED BY: KIERA BUCKLEY-JONES PICTURE: 3 OBJECTIVES

‘India Yellow’, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com)

15

13 ‘Lost and Found’ ikat fabric in ‘Lemon’ by Kit Kemp, £195 per m, Christopher Farr Cloth (christopherfarrcloth.com) 14 ‘Torre’ tile in ‘Mustard’, £53.86 per sq m, Terrazzo Tiles (terrazzo-tiles.co.uk) 15 ‘Larimar’ embroidered fabric in ‘Yellow Gold’ from the ‘Flores’ collection, £122.30 per m, Casamance (casamance.com) 16 ‘Anouchka’ fabric in ‘Saffron’, £62.50 per m, Camengo (camengo.com) 17 ‘Verona’ linen/silk fabric in ‘Summer Sun’, £270 per m, de Le Cuona (delecuona.com)

‘Firefly’, £51 for 2.5 litres, Andrew Martin (andrewmartin.co.uk)

‘Tigers Eye’, £51 for 2.5 litres, Zoffany (stylelibrary.com/zoffany)

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An antique Aubusson tapestry was the perfect find for the study in this Regent’s Park home Below The Albion Nord team from left: Ben Johnson, Ottalie Stride, Anthony Kooperman and Camilla Clarke

D E C O R AT O R I N D E X

ALBION NORD The London studio which specialises in reviving period buildings with contemporary colours and unusual antiques

Who are they? Founded in 2017, this Fitzrovia design studio is led by a quartet with impressive CVs: interior designer Ben Johnson, formerly of Heatherwick Studios; project manager Anthony Kooperman; and creative directors Camilla Clarke and Ottalie Stride. Clarke is a history of art graduate who’s worked at Studio Ashby and loves to paint. ‘It’s taught me so much in terms of creating compositions and experimenting with colour and texture,’ she says. Stride, meanwhile, is an alumnus of London’s KLC School of Interior Design who cut her teeth working for renowned decorator Veere Grenney. She honed her love of design as a child, at her father’s auction house. ‘I spent summers helping catalogue the pieces, which sparked my interest in furniture and antiques,’ she explains. The four met while they were all working at property developer Candy & Candy/CPC London.

What is their style? The team’s focus is on creating exceptional residential interiors with a refined, understated feel. Many of the projects are in architecturally rich locations and all incorporate their love of antiques and classic British and European styles.

‘We’re particularly inspired by Georgian design, but the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic also influences our work,’ says Stride. ‘It values balance, simplicity and the beauty of imperfection, which we celebrate by using handcrafted pieces.’ Antique finds are teamed with bespoke creations and contemporary colours to make them feel fresh and exciting. ‘We also work with natural materials such as wood, wool, sisal and linen as they bring a sense of warmth and honesty to a scheme,’ adds Clarke.

What recent projects has the studio been working on? A Kensington townhouse shows the team’s flair for blending the classic and contemporary, its grand proportions brought to life with a mix of jungle greenery, grey and stone-coloured walls and antique botanical tapestries. The studio also designed a terraced Georgian home overlooking Regent’s Park that had lost all of its period features. After sensitively restoring these, they injected a contemporary feel with midcentury Scandinavian furniture and a palette of slate and putty shades. ‘We’re drawn to earthy tones and heritage colours as they have a lovely sense of calm and history to them,’ explains Stride.

What’s currently in the pipeline? They’ve been entrusted with reviving a 1774 Grade II-listed property in Berkshire designed by architect Henry Holland and surrounded by parkland landscaped by Capability Brown. To give the home a subtle update, they’ve designed a lighting scheme that softly highlights the period mouldings, and have stripped back the colour scheme to let the architecture speak for itself. ‘Our brief was to highlight classical features but to also introduce a more contemporary feel, so we brought in a large, mixed-media abstract artwork by our favourite artist, William McLure,’ says Clarke. ‘Its tones and textures work with the scheme and show how beautifully the old and new can work together.’

They say: ‘Homes should reflect their owners: we love to celebrate the past with inherited pieces but pair them with new, bespoke designs to create a fresh look unique to each client.’ albion-nord.com

STYLE

‘EARTHY TONES AND HERITAGE COLOURS HAVE A LOVELY SENSE OF CALM AND HISTORY’

THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK Every project has its own unique list of suppliers and craftspeople.

Part of making it special is finding the right mix and match D E C O R AT I V E A C C E S S O R I E S

Clockwise, from left This bespoke scalloped headboard in a Notting Hill house is covered in ‘Lovelust’ linen by AltonBrooke; a Victor Pasmore artwork and an obelisk lamp add character; while midcentury Scandi pieces and a pendant light by Charles Edwards feature in the kitchen, both in Regent’s Park

WORDS: AMY BRADFORD PICTURES: KATRIN LOCK, EDMUND SUMNER

EXPERT ADVICE Albion Nord on how to choose antiques for your home 1 Never settle for anything you’re not in love with. As fashions fade, you will always be left with something that makes you truly happy. We knew we had to have the antique tapestry in the study of the Regent’s Park home we designed as soon as we saw it. We found it at an antiques fair at Petworth House and loved how it united all the tones in our colour scheme.

2 Juxtapose antiques with new pieces – this will help both the old and new elements sing louder. In the Grade II-listed Berkshire property we’re currently designing, we’ve used a contemporary white chandelier to highlight the delicate lines of an original moulded ceiling above.

3 Bring an antique back to life by pairing it with the right accessory. We love to place oversized arrangements of greenery on top of antique consoles or tables. You can also fill large antique bookcases with your favourite things.

4 Reupholster an antique chair or sofa.

They always have far more interesting shapes than anything you can buy off the shelf. Cover them in a light linen or contemporary geometric pattern – it will be an instant transformation.

Brownrigg Interiors & Decorative Antiques in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, is a treasure trove of eclectic furniture and accessories. Objects are always combined in interesting ways and the stock is constantly changing – you’ll never leave empty handed. brownrigg-interiors.co.uk ANTIQUES

Anton & K Decorative Antiques is wonderful for its sense of timeworn beauty and simple, understated luxury. It sells online, or by appointment at its warehouse near Cheltenham, and specialises in French and Swedish pieces. Every item feels raw and authentic and celebrates materiality, which chimes perfectly with our design philosophy. antonandk.co.uk E C O PA I N T S

Edward Bulmer’s eco-friendly natural paints come in a range of beautiful colours that are taken from historical, natural pigments. Our current favourite is ‘Drab Green’, an 18th-century brown-green shade once used for wooden panelling. edwardbulmerpaint.co.uk H E R I TA G E C O L O U R S

The grand staircase, newly built in this Kensington townhouse, with a custom stair runner by Tim Page

Paint & Paper Library is one of our go-tos for neutral colours.

Its ‘Slate’ range works really well for highlighting period architectural features, as the shades are neither too grey nor too yellow. When the room is naturally light, we use the deeper shades ‘Slate III’ and ‘IV’, but for smaller, darker rooms, paler ‘Slate I’ and ‘II’ work well. paintandpaperlibrary.com

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ART HOUSE Our homage to Josef Albers sees works influenced by the modernist painter juxtaposed with these striking sculptural designs Styling ELISA OSSINO STUDIO Photography ANDREA FERRARI

From left ‘Tetris wall unit tower’ by Fabio Bortolani, £4,926, My Home (myhomecollection.it). ‘Ondulation’ table by Matali Crasset, £699, Pimar (pimarstore.com). ‘Hendrick’ chair by Archirivolto, from £1,270, Quinti (quinti.com). ‘Barcelona’ daybed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Knoll, £11,280, Nest (nest.co.uk). ‘Elementi’ table lamp by Elisa Ossino, from £884, De Padova (depadova.com)

From left ‘Void’ console by Guglielmo Poletti, from £2,990, Desalto (desalto.it) On console ‘Luna’ vase, £89, 101 Copenhagen (101cph.com). ‘Smile’ sculpture by Marc Caelenberghe, £1,460, Gardeco (gardeco.eu).

‘Bardi’s Bowl Chair’ by Lina Bo Bardi for Arper, £4,610, Artemest (artemest.com). ‘Arrangements’ pendant light by Michael Anastassiades for Flos, £3,583, Aram (aram.co.uk). ‘Vicino’ side table by Foster + Partners, from £1,314, Molteni & C (molteni.it). ‘Taco’ oak stool by Goula/Figuera, £390, Gofi (gofi.es). ‘Chouchou’ stool by Lorenzo Zanovello, from £630, Pulpo (pulpoproducts.com). ‘Kensington’ dining table by Jean-Marie Massaud, price on application, Poliform (poliformuk.com) On dining table, from left ‘I Crudi’ clay pot by Domenico Orefice, price on application, Do Studio (dostudio.org). Brown bowl by Christoph Radl, £399, Bitossi Ceramiche (bitossiceramiche.it). ‘Alma’ lamp by Matteo Cibic, from £951, Il Fanale (ilfanale.com). ‘HT 112 Cerchia’ chair, £2,458, Henry Timi (henrytimi.com)

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From left ‘Joaquim’ table by Giorgio Bonaguro for Tacchini, £1,603, Archiproducts (archiproducts.com) On table ‘Alchemie T’ light by Giulia Archimede, from £2,758, Catellani & Smith (catellanismith.com). ‘Guest’ sofa by Antonio Rodriguez, from £3,746, La Cividina (lacividina.com). ‘Tortuga’ coffee table by Jiun Ho for Porada, £2,611, Chaplins (chaplins.co.uk) On coffee table Modulated brass sculpture, f rom £1,426, Michele Reginaldi (michelereginaldi.it).

‘Etna’ vase #3 by Martinelli Venezia Studio for Lithea, £1,415 part of a set of four, Artemest (artemest.com). ‘Calandra’ cabinet, £1,900, Cara\Davide (caradavide.com). ‘Zero’ pouf by Andrea Bonini, from £2,450, Turri (turri.it)

94 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

From left Large ‘Charta’ side table by Domenico Orefice for Le Terre, £1,035, Pamono (pamono.co.uk). ‘Sunset’ side table, from £1,440, Decastelli (decastelli.com) On side table ‘Etna’ vase #3 by Martinelli Venezia Studio for Lithea, £1,415 part of a set of four, Artemest (artemest.com). ‘Kontur’ vase, £49, Kähler (kahlerdesign.com). ‘Eda-Mame’ sofa

by Piero Lissoni, £5,380, B&B Italia (bebitalia.com). ‘ED054’ suspension light, £1,374, Edizioni Design (edizionidesign.com). ‘Belt’ armchair by Federico Peri, from £7,620, Baxter (baxter.it). ‘Eclisse’ wall light, £239, Cangini & Tucci (canginietucci.com). ‘Ring’ coffee table by Nendo, from £1,850, Minotti (minotti.com).

Sculpture, price on application, Mauro Mori (mauromori.it)

Unite contemporary craft with elegant design by taking inspiration from traditional Japanese aesthetics and coveting the simple and meaningful Styling SANIA PELL Photography RORY GARDINER

Opposite, from left ‘Victoria’ table in ‘Whitened Oil’, from £2,415; and ‘Victoria’ bench in ‘Whitened Oil’ both by Terence Conran, from £1,245, Benchmark (benchmarkfurniture.com).

‘Teixidor’ throw (on bench) in merino wool, £280, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com).

‘Brushstroke’ rug by Collett Zarzycki, £14,165, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com). ‘Staked’ black bench, £575, Bibbings & Hensby (bibbingshensby.co.uk). ‘Avery’ solid European oak armchair, £1,235, Pinch (pinchdesign.com).

Vases on table, from left ‘Ribbed Flask II’, £440; ‘Striped Bottle MD1050’, £635; ‘Limed Vase MD1046’ all by Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling, £1,095; ‘Tierra No 016’ by Louise Egedal, £395; ‘Scorched Oak Flask 1064’ by Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling, £440; ‘Tierra No 015’ by Louise Egedal, £505; ‘Limed Vase MD1047’, £495; ‘Striped Vessel 1062’ both by Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling, £635; all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). Large plate in ‘Black’, £85; medium bowl in ‘Black’, both by Takashi Endo, £130, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com) From left ‘Windsor’ rocker in ‘Ash’, £3,000, Katie Walker (katiewalkerfurniture.com).

‘Untitled 1957’ rug by William Turnbull, £12,000, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com).

‘Anders’ pendant light in ‘Medium’, £1,485; ‘Nim’ coffee table, £7,495, both Pinch (pinchdesign.com) On table, from left Wood-fired cup, £50; wood-fired teapot both

by Sofie Berg, £350; medium plate in ‘Ecru’

by Takashi Endo, £70; hand-built ‘Moon Jar’

by Mariana Alzamora, £1,550, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com)

From left ‘Shake’ sideboard by Sebastian Cox, £3,995, Benchmark (benchmarkfurniture.com). ‘12’ medium pitcher in ‘Ecru’ by Nobue Ibaraki, £145; large bowl in ‘Ecru’

by Takashi Endo, £150; ‘12’ birch spoon by Marie Eklund, £125; medium plate in ‘Ecru’ by Takashi Endo, £70; soda fired bowl in ‘Black’ by Jack Doherty, £180; large bowl in ‘Ecru’ by Takashi Endo, £150, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com).

Wall painted in a mixture of ‘Cornforth White’, ‘Shaded White’ and ‘Skimming Stone’ paint, all £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com) Opposite, from left ‘Twinx’ curtain fabric, £87 per m, Kinnasand (kinnasand.com). ‘Vessels No 0083’ vase by Enriqueta Cepeda, £240, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com).

‘Shadow’ rug by Gregory Parkinson, £2,500, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com). ‘Writing’ desk, from £3,200, Bibbings & Hensby (bibbings-hensby.co.uk). On desk, from left ‘Vessels No 6771’ vase, £290; ‘Vessels No 9967’ vase both by Enriqueta Cepeda, £290; large plate in ‘Black’ by Takashi Endo, £85, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). Japanese paintbrush and ink (on plate), stylist’s own. For similar, try London Graphics (londongraphics.co.uk). Canvas painted in ‘Thames Mud’ paint, £72 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.com). Blue Hour, Pogradec ink on canvas artwork by Josephine Cottrell, £600; small cup in ‘Ecru’, £40; water pot in ‘Ecru’ both by Takashi Endo, £295; ‘Vessels No 9988’ vase by Enriqueta Cepeda, £415, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). ‘OVO’ low stool in ‘Ebonised Oak’ by Foster + Partners, from £615, Benchmark (benchmarkfurniture.com). Vintage Japanese calligraphy book, stylist’s own. ‘Beata’ pendant light in ‘White’, £905, Pinch (pinchdesign.com). ‘Audoux and Minet’ rope chair, £3,000, Béton Brut (betonbrut.co.uk)

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100 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

From left ‘OVO’ low stool in ‘Ebonised Oak’ by Foster + Partners, from £615, Benchmark (benchmarkfurniture.com).

Medium canvas painted in ‘Hardwick White’ paint, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com). Large canvas painted in ‘Thames Mud’ paint, £72 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.com). Plinths painted in ‘Shaded White’ paint, from £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com). ‘Shadow’ rug by Gregory Parkinson, £2,500, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com). ‘Cordemeijer Cleopatra’ daybed, £1,700, Béton Brut (betonbrut.co.uk).

Vintage notepad, stylist’s own. All ceramics by Akiko Hirai, from £285, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). Medium plate (on daybed) in ‘Ecru’ by Takashi Endo, £70, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). Wall painted in a mixture of ‘Cornforth White’, ‘Shaded White’ and ‘Skimming Stone’ paint, all £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com) Opposite, from left Small plinth painted in ‘Plummett’ paint, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com).

‘Shouldered Glazed & Smoke Fired Vessel 5’ vase; ‘Shouldered Glazed & Smoke Fired Vessel’ vase, both by Hannah Blackall Smith, from £290; ‘Large Vessel’ vase by Abigail Schama, £1,700; large plate in ‘Black’ by Takashi Endo; ‘Tierra No 016’ vase by Louise Egedal, £395, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). Canvas painted in ‘Hardwick White’ paint, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com).

Canvas painted in ‘Thames Mud’ paint, £72 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.com). Hand-built ‘Moon Jar’ by Mariana Alzamora, £1,550, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). ‘Large Round Smoke Fired Vessel 1’ vase (just seen) by Hannah Blackall Smith, £245, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). ‘Sitio Outdoor’ rug by Commune, £5,500, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com). ‘Daybreak 2’ curtain fabric, £74 per m, Kvadrat (kvadrat.dk)

STYLIST’S ASSISTANT NINA HOLDEN PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT ANDY MACKIE

From left ‘Maiden’ stool in ‘Oak Clear Oil’ by Russell Pinch, £745, Benchmark (benchmarkfurniture.com). Plinths painted in ‘Shaded White’ paint, from £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com). Hand-built ‘Moon Jar’ by Mariana Alzamora, £1,550; vase in ‘Black’ by Kenta Anzai, £5,500; bronze teapot by Kin Leung, £215; rice bowl in ‘Black’, £50; large plate in ‘Black’ both by Takashi Endo, £85, all Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com). ‘Sitio Outdoor’ rug by Commune, £5,500, Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com). ‘Steltman’ chairs

by Gerrit Rietveld, £1,600 for a pair, Béton Brut (betonbrut.co.uk). ‘Shouldered Glazed & Smoke Fired Vessel 5’ vase by Hannah Blackall Smith, £290, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com).

Small canvas painted in ‘Hardwick White’ paint, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball.com). Large canvas painted in ‘Thames Mud’ paint, £72 for 2.5 litres, Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary. com). Medium canvas painted in ‘Pointing’ paint, £47.95 for 2.5 litres, Farrow & Ball (farrow-ball. com). ‘Large Round Smoke Fired Vessel 1’ vase

by Hannah Blackall Smith, £245, Maud & Mabel (maudandmabel.com)

HOMES NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

/ LONDON/ MELBOURNE/ ZEELAND

PICTURES: MICHAEL SINCLAIR, JAN VERLINDE/LIVING INSIDE

Edited by CL ARE SARTIN

Architecture is often referred to as the bones of a home, and, as one look at any catwalk model or Hollywood idol proves, good bone structure is the key to timeless beauty.

WELL-DESIGNED walls, just like angular cheekbones, transcend age.

That’s why, this month, for our focus on ARCHITE ECTUR A LLY interesting properties, we have a selection that spans both the decades and the centuries. There’s a Georgian townhouse in Hampstead (p130) that has been stripped back to its roots, with EX POSED BR ICK and raw plaster. Also in London, a project by Milan-based architects Quincoces-Dragò & Partners brings Italian luxury to a tall and ELEGA NT Edwardian villa (p118).

We look inside a Melbourne party house (p144) that’s championing one of the most maligned of architectural eras, the 1980s, and also head to the Dutch countryside NTEMPORARY to see a completely CON take on the idea of a rural retreat (p154).

To begin, though, we explore a unique Northamptonshire home that’s a marriage of Victorian cottage, 17th-century ruin and cattle shed (p106) – each part special in its own right but, as a whole, BREATHTAKING.

OUT OF THE RUINS Set respectfully within the crumbling walls of an old Northamptonshire parchment factory, this home is a celebration of the countryside’s past and present

Words CLARE SARTIN Photography MICHAEL SINCLAIR Styling OLIVIA GREGORY

W

ere it not for the natural spring that runs beneath the picturesque Welland Valley in Northamptonshire, this unique home would not exist. It was the pure waters, which flow directly under this site, that led to the building of the early17th-century parchment works that gives this project its name.

It may be little more than ruins today, but in its time the structure contained a flourishing business that transformed animal hides into writing materials rumoured to have been used by royalty. When the current owners – a semi-retired project manager for construction sites and his wife, a councillor at a local school – took over the property, they inherited not just these historic tumbledown walls, but also a Victorian cottage and a cattle shed. Thanks to the vision of Will Gamble Architects, all three buildings have been connected for the very first time. ‘What we did,’ says Will, ‘was the last piece in the jigsaw.’

He’s talking about the striking glass and Corten-steel box extension, housing a new living area and kitchen, which sits neatly within the ruin’s walls. It links to the cattle shed, which now features a main bedroom and ensuite beneath its rafters, and the cottage’s more formal receptions rooms. Planning regulations dictated that an archaeologist watch over every step of this delicate project, ensuring no damage was inflicted to the scheduled monument. They need not have worried, though.

Everything about this build has been planned with the utmost respect for the past.

‘The whole concept was not to cover anything up,’ explains Will, who wanted to accentuate the individual qualities of all three elements of the house. ‘Even where old rusty nails were set in the walls, we didn’t want to take them out. It was a very honest project – we just made the most of the materials that were around us.’

And, as luck would have it, there was quite a lot to be found amid the rubble.

Will and his team discovered beautifully preserved six-metre-long oak beams that they used as lintels above the doorways.

An old stable door was converted into a coffee table and, where they did have to repair the ruin to make it safe, they used stones found in the garden. ‘They were an exact match – from the same time, quarry and aged in the same way,’ says Will.

When it came to the interior, the watchwords were: ‘clean, contemporary and minimal’. Will’s idea being that the furniture should not compete for attention This home is with the architecture. At night, when the featured in full in ELLE crumbling remains of the factory that Decoration Country form the courtyard are atmospherically Volume 17. Our latest lit, it’s hard to imagine anything upstaging look at the world’s most the view. willgamblearchitects.com Living room The coffee table is made out of an old stable door upcycled from the ruins. Around it sit two ‘Scott’ sofas in ‘Petrol’ from Made and a teak and leather ‘Anya’ chair by Mui. On the wall behind the sofa hangs Falling Silk by Studio Earle from MAH, and the side table is the ‘Plateau’

by Terhedebrügge for Fést Amsterdam

beautiful homes in the country, on sale now at WHSmith and selected stores. Buy back issues at elledecoration. co.uk/specials

Living room A ‘Bury’ woodburner from Bronpi provides visual interest at the end of the dividing wall. Next to it is a black ‘Marais’ basket by Fést Amsterdam from The Conran Shop. The artwork is Portrait Roma by Tiffany Bouelle from MAH. On the vintage stool is a handwoven alpaca throw by Catarina Riccabona for The New Craftsmen. The ‘Large Birch Nest with Reindeer Moss I’ by Joe Hogan on the coffee table is also from The New Craftsmen

Dining area Above the French farmhouse table, which was bought at an antiques shop in Lewes, hangs a reeded glass pendant lamp from Mullan Lighting. Metal chairs from Next give the space an industrial feel that complements the ruin’s past. On the table are a ‘Tube’ glass jug and ‘Light Water’ tumblers by Ichendorf Milano, ‘Ombra’ crockery by Laboratorio Castello, a ‘Canopy’ vase by LSA and ‘Jug in Red’, part of a serveware collection by The Conran Shop

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‘THE WHOLE CONCEPT FOR THIS PROPERTY WAS NOT TO COVER ANYTHING UP’ Kitchen Designed by Will Gamble Architects and realised by the firm’s joiner, the sleek cabinetry and island have minimal embellishment to keep the focus on the older elements of the architecture, which have been faithfully preserved. ‘Nordic White’ oak flooring from Reeve Wood unites this corridor space in the former cattle barn to the formal rooms of the Victorian cottage beyond. A ‘London Plane Platter’ by Hampson Woods leans against the doorway

‘Paris Blue Tumbled Limestone’ floor tiles from Mandarin Stone are used to designate the kitchen area. The stool is the ‘Industry’ from Maisons du Monde and the brass taps, which complement the cabinet handles and feet, are from Crosswater. A ‘Spring Frost’ grinding stone by Nicola Tassie, available at The New Craftsmen, and a ‘Large Olive Wood Bowl’ and ‘Ceramic Carafe’ in ‘Misty Grey’, both from The Conran Shop, sit on the worktop

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Above Original Victorian features, such as the fireplace, window seat and red quarry floor tiles, create a welcoming space. From this spot in the house there is a clear eyeline through all three structures, from the Victorian cottage to the cattle shed and the new extension slotted within the ruin’s walls.

The ‘2184/BO’ rug is by Larusi and the ‘12 Fathoms’ velvet cushion on the window seat is by Kirsten Hecktermann

Exterior A Corten-steel beam is the only instantly visible portion of this well-disguised extension, whose floor-to-ceiling glazing affords unbroken views across the valley. Tucked within the remains of the factory, there’s also a private courtyard where a furnace, reclaimed from its working days, now serves a new purpose as an outdoor fireplace

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Bathroom Clean and contemporary in style, this monochrome space is clad in Carrara marble tiles from Travertine Store. The vanity unit is bespoke, made by a local metal worker, with a Cararra marble top from Finnemore Stonemasons in Uppingham. For a similar tap, try Vola and for a similar wall mirror, try the ‘Patsy’ from Habitat. The towel is from Society Limonta

‘IT WAS A VERY HONEST PROJECT - WE MADE THE MOST OF THE MATERIALS AROUND US’

Main bedroom Set within the eaves of the former cattle shed, this space has retained the original oak beams. The vintage bed frame was bought from an antiques shop in South Africa, and the bedside table is the ‘Clyde’ by Pinch. On it stands a ‘High Rise’ pitcher by Ichendorf Milano from The Conran Shop. A ‘Big’ throw and ‘Rem’ pillowcases, both in ‘Agave’ from Society Limonta, are paired with a ‘Riviera’ velvet cushion by Kirsten Hecktermann See Stockists page for details

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Once dark and tired, this five-storey Notting Hill home is now luxuriously bathed in sunshine thanks to a redesign that accentuates its dimensions Words ROSARIA ZUCCONI Photography ALBERTO STRADA

Dining room This bright, open, double-height room, adjacent to the kitchen, sits directly in the shaft of light that falls from the skylight in the attic. Bespoke shelving houses a library that stretches across two floors and a trio of vintage ‘Bubble’ pendant lights by George Nelson for Herman Miller further accentuate the space’s height. The table, with its brass base and lacquered top, was designed by David Lopez Quincoces for Six Gallery.

Above the marble fireplace sits an artwork by Chung Eun-Mo

Notting Hill there is a special atmosphere, thanks largely to its architectural history. In this culturally diverse slice of west London, brightly coloured homes rub shoulders with blocks of elegant Edwardian villas in glistening white stucco. And now there’s a new addition to the special mix: a transformed townhouse by Milanese architecture practice Quincoces-Dragò & Partners.

The property’s classic brick and stone façade offers no clues as to what lies inside. This project is 50 per cent London and 50 per cent pure Italian luxury. ‘It was a challenge, but also a great opportunity,’ says the firm’s co-founder Fanny Bauer Grung.

‘The project was born from one determined, courageous goal: to bring light back into this dark, tall and narrow house, which had deteriorated and become a little sad.’ By adding a large skylight above the attic, she and fellow co-founder David Lopez Quincoces have created a beam of natural light that floods down a new sculptural staircase, filling every floor with sunshine.

Brightness even extends all the way down to the basement, which is now the heart of this house. With a new glazed wall opening out from the kitchen to the lush and shady greenery of the garden, it’s a peaceful spot. The adjacent dining room, meanwhile, is a showstopping space designed for entertaining.

Emphasised by a bookcase that stretches across two floors, and dramatic vintage pendant lights by George Nelson, this central location shows off this home’s long, narrow bones in the best possible way, adding a sense of freedom and openness.

As well as transforming the feel of this property, the architects also had a chance to improve its environmental footprint. ‘When this house was built, sustainability was an absolutely unknown concept,’ notes Fanny. ‘For us, being green is very important and something we are always aware of. In this townhouse, we have chosen high-quality windows that lock in warmth and an innovative heating system that reduces energy waste.’

Not only has this home’s updated layout allowed the original architecture to breathe, it’s also given its owners, a young artloving couple, a renewed energy and love of where they live.

‘Today, the house represents both their personalities and our vision of timeless interior design and architecture,’ adds David.

‘We sincerely believe that our projects are not, and should not be, about us, but instead about the people who live there. This time, those people have become friends as well as clients.’ quincocesdrago.com

Opposite, and top right Custom made in black walnut and Calacatta marble, this kitchen is simple and streamlined. On the wall hangs a work by emerging British artist Camilla Emson. ‘Nina’ high stools by David Lopez Quincoces for Living Divani offer a pleasant spot to enjoy breakfast Right A glazed wall opens out from the kitchen onto the serene garden

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Living room Situated at the bottom of the house, this space features custom-made sofas and a bench, all by David Lopez Quincoces. The Murano glass lamp is by Yali, purchased at Six Gallery, and the coffee table is an original 1980s ‘Alanda’ by Paolo Piva for B&B Italia. The rug is a vintage Moroccan design – try Larusi for similar Staircase Visually elongating the house, this bespoke structure features a mezzanine walkway that enables its owners to fully appreciate the double height of the library and interior architecture

‘ The project was born from one determined, courageous goal: to bring light back into this dark, tall and narrow house’

Formal sitting room A vintage sofa, reupholstered in linen, is paired with two armchairs designed in the 1950s and a ‘Zig Zag’ chair by Gerrit Reitveld for Cassina. The screen (right) is a bespoke piece and the nesting wooden tables are from Six Gallery Study Tucked into a sunny corner of the landing, this work area features a vintage desk and chair.

Ideal for contemplation, it affords an unrivalled vantage point across the garden

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Staircase Winding through all five floors of the house, the style of this grand architectural feature, with its slim brass handrail that catches the light, is key to the success of this home’s design Snug Reupholstered in terracotta coloured velvet – for similar try Dedar – this vintage sofa offers a cosy spot to hide away Bathroom A spa-like space made elegant in Italian Corchia marble, with a beautiful ribbed glass shower screen

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‘Today, the house represents both the owners’ personalities and our vision of timeless interior design and architecture’

Main bedroom An enveloping walnut and straw headboard from Vienna complements the delicate tapestries by Japanese textile designer Chiaki Maki. Made with natural fibres and colours in his atelier on the slopes of the Himalayas, they were purchased at Assab One gallery in Milan Opposite The cashmere-covered entrance to this bespoke walk-in wardrobe is another example of the luxurious details that define this home See Stockists page for details

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BRUTAL but BEAUTIFUL

Directional London architects McLaren Excell have given this Georgian home in the capital’s leafy Hampstead a fearlessly modern look that’s sensitive of its history Words KATE JACOBS Photography TARAN WILKHU

Living room A ‘S359C’ daybed by Sönke Martensen for Bazar Noir faces an original fireplace on the lower-ground floor. To the left of the fire is a vintage ‘FM62’ chair by Radboud van Beekum for Pastoe, while to the right is a plywood chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra – both were sourced via Pamono. The ‘Arrow’ ceiling light is by Apparatus

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ithin earshot of the birdsong that emanates from London’s Hampstead Heath, sits a street of elegant brick Georgian cottages. This one belongs to Lea Schwartz, a Czech-born former academic and doctor of sociology, and her American husband Peter, a lawyer.

Hidden under heavy curtains, cream carpets and Laura Ashley wallpaper when they found it in 2013, the listed building also sported an unappealing 1950s side extension. For Lea, though, it was easy to see this property’s potential. ‘Georgian architecture is very modern in its own way, with its simplicity and clean lines – it reminds me of the functionalism of the architecture when I was growing up in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia,’ she muses. ‘Peter and I both love old and modern looks and this place allowed us to combine the two.’

‘I wanted a monochrome scheme that was warm and edgy, yet timeless,’ explains Lea, who is drawn to the low-key, rough luxe of the Antwerp design aesthetic. ‘However, at my initial meetings with architects, they kept pushing the same sleek, polished look.’ Then she stumbled across a project by McLaren Excell, which, at the time, was an up-and-coming practice.

‘It was exactly what I wanted: raw, genuine, natural, simple.’

In the original part of the house, the architects remained sensitive to the period architecture, but they rebuilt the side extension and created a new Corten steel-clad rear extension for the kitchen-dining area. Its rust-coloured steel is part of a tactile palette of robust raw materials, including concrete and Douglas fir, deployed throughout the house. Lea has long admired the use of wood-shuttered concrete in Brutalist buildings and here it brings a brooding quality to the beamed ceilings and panelled walls of the extension’s rooms. McLaren Excell also had the brilliant idea to juxtapose the concrete with areas of the actual timber that had been used for the shuttering process, creating a pleasing visual rhythm. In the older parts of the property, exposed brickwork and unpainted plaster walls reveal the layers of history.

To do justice to the architecture, Lea has curated a mix of modernist furniture, custom-made pieces and globally sourced contemporary designs. Rather than focusing on an era, she is guided by a love of geometric forms and the warm, tactile materials. ‘I’m naturally drawn to what are often perceived as more masculine styles,’ she explains. ‘Visual noise and clutter make me unsettled, but I’m not a minimalist; that feels too cold. I need to have a relationship with the space I live in for it to feel real and genuine. Concrete and brutalism will always mean “home” to me.’ mclarenexcell.com

Opposite and left An outdoor store room has been transformed into a light-filled reading area. The vintage Jorge Ferrari Hardoy ‘Butterfly’ chair was picked up at Spitalfields Market, and the metal floor lamp is the ‘AD’ by 101 Copenhagen. An artwork by Czech painter Petr Veselý hangs on the wall above an original ‘Togo’ sofa by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset Above In the living room is an ‘Inheritance’ sofa made by LA-based studio Stephen Kenn. It’s upholstered in a green waxed canvas – a vegan alternative to leather. The ‘Dawn’ floor lamp is by 101 Copenhagen

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Kitchen McLaren Excell combined shuttered and cast concrete with Douglas fir cabinetry in this large open-plan space. Lea sourced the table, made from recycled floor planks, from Parazaar in Antwerp. The chairs are a mixture of ‘DAX’ chairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra and ‘Hembury’ chairs by Solidwool. The horizontal ceiling lights are from the ‘Roest’ collection by VanJoost for Karven

Kitchen On the zinc-wrapped island is a tap by Watermark Designs.

The ‘Roest’ pendant lights above are by VanJoost for Karven and the vintage plywood-topped stools were purchased at Spitalfields Market Snug This room sits below the former carport and is lit from above via a skylight. Another vintage ‘Togo’ sofa by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Roset is paired with a black sofa from Klein Agency in Los Angeles. The artwork is by Arran Gregory and the side table is the ‘Nimbus’ by Heerenhuis

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 Bedroom Original Georgian features, such as the door and ďŹ replace, have been preserved in this space. Dressed in linens from Larusi, the bed complements the panel of gentle grey paint on the wall. A Tolix stool by Xavier Pauchard acts as a bedside table and the hanging bulb is from THPG. Bespoke built-in wardrobes utilise the full height of the room

Study When not in use, the pull-down guest bed is neatly concealed within this wall of bespoke Douglas fir cabinetry by Stem & Agate. At the built-in desk, a vintage office chair

by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra is teamed with a ‘Mantis’ desk lamp

by Bernard Schottlander for DCW Éditions, which was sourced from Twentytwentyone

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PICTURE: SIMONE BOSSI

Bathroom Smooth cast concrete walls contrast with the geometric pattern of the reclaimed Spanish oor tiles from Bert & May Exterior The kitchen extension is clad in striking rust-hued Corten steel. Its colour provided the inspiration for the planting scheme, which was created by garden designer Miria Harris See Stockists page for details

PRODUCT OF THE 80S It’s the architectural decade that some consider brash, but here it’s been celebrated and modernised in a Melbourne home that’s always ready for a party Words CLARE SARTIN Photography DEREK SWALWELL Styling HEATHER NETTE KING

Entrance Terrazzo flooring from Signorino runs from the outside steps into the hallway. The wall light (seen through door, above left) is ‘Concentric’ by Rob Zinn for Marset and the black and white sculpture on the wall (above right) is by Liam Snootle from Studio Gallery Melbourne. Below sits a ‘Grain Cut’ side table by Jaime Hayon for Wittmann Dining area Directly below the glass atrium is a ‘Liqueur’ table by Ross Didier and chairs from Hub. On the table is a sculpture by Anya Pesce from Studio Gallery Melbourne

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esigned by renowned Australian architect Peter McIntyre, this visually arresting house, with its central glass atrium, was the hottest property in Melbourne when it was first built. In fact, it was at one of the many lavish pool parties held here in the 1980s that, as a teenager, its now owner first experienced its charms.

‘She remembered how the place made her feel. That sense of generosity and freedom of space,’ explains Mardi Doherty, director of Doherty Design Studio, who, with designer Niv Kelkar, was tasked with ‘bringing the disco back’ to this home. It had lost its mojo over the years, but there couldn’t have been anyone better suited to retrieve it. A dedicated devotee of the decade, Mardi was keen to show the positives of an era that often gets a bad rap. ‘Eighties architecture was considered an ugly duckling, but it has so many strong design elements,’ she says. ‘The way the buildings capture natural light, the voids and angular forms – I’m really drawn to it.’

What was acceptable in the 80s, however, is not always ideal for modern family life. That’s why Mardi devised a plan that moved the kitchen from its small space at the front of the property to a new, expansive entertaining area underneath the pitched double-height glass atrium, overlooking the garden and pool.

Working with building designer Ari Alexander Design Group, she also created a new double garage, repositioned the staircase to the centre of the house and transformed two of the upstairs balconies

into rooms for the owners’ teenage daughters. The existing bridge connecting the two wings of the building has been retained and celebrated with the addition of custom balustrading.

All of the changes have remained true to the spirit of the original architecture, but bespoke curved cabinetry and modern details soften its edges. Similarly, the interiors nod to the era of excess, but without being garish. Colour is used boldly but sparingly. ‘It’s a largely white scheme,’ says Mardi, ‘and because there is so much glass around, the owners wanted areas of relief from the brightness.’

Most notable of these is the green room. This snug, occupying the space that once housed the kitchen, hides behind a peach-hued sliding door. The palette is pure Palm Springs resort style – inspired

by Mardi’s trip to the Californian city’s Modernism Week a fortnight before the project began. It’s the only room on the ground floor without a view of the surrounding parklands, so, says Mardi, ‘the idea was to give it its own connection to that greenery and lushness’.

Elsewhere in the property, colour is introduced using art. The owners are part of a group of friends that buy several pieces every year and rotate them between everyone’s homes. ‘I love the idea that the art is transient, but the architecture is so solid,’ says Mardi.

Like guests at a party, the paintings and sculptures enliven this house for a short period of time, sparking conversations, and then move on. dohertydesignstudio.com.au; arialexander.com.au

TH E PALET TE IS PURE PALM SPRINGS RESORT ST YLE – INSPIRED BY A RC H ITEC T M A R D I’S TR I P TO TH E C IT Y’S MO D E R N I SM W E E K

Living room Custom-made curved cabinetry by Doherty Design Studio frames this space. A pink ‘PaïPaï’ armchair and footstool

by LucidiPevere and a blue ‘Togo’ sofa by Michel Ducaroy, both for Ligne Roset, add gentle colour to the white scheme. The wall light is from the ‘Beaubien’ collection by Lambert & Fils and the artwork is by Korean artist Lee Young-Hwa – curated by GBC art consulting. A ‘360 Degrés’ coffee table by Roberto Paoli for Ligne Roset sits on a pink rug by Australian brand Fenton & Fenton

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T H E A I M FO R M A R D I WA S T O ‘B R I N G T H E D I S C O B AC K’ TO TH I S PA RT Y HOUS E TH AT HAD LOST ITS MOJO

Kitchen A huge marble island and sleek, handleless units bring modern luxury to the 80s architecture. The black leather ‘Iva’ bar stools are from Grazia & Co and the triple pendant light is from the ‘Laurent’ collection by Lambert & Fils. A cocktail bar has been incorporated into the bespoke storage for the party-loving owners Hallway Architect Mardi Doherty moved the stairs to the centre of the house, with open treads increasing the flow of light. Hidden behind a large sliding peach door is the cosy snug

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Snug To create an intimate feel in this sunken space, walls and custom-made cabinetry have been painted in the distinctive ‘Mosaic Tile’ by Dulux, with a carpet in a similar shade of green. Brass details – on the door handles and cabinetry – and a mirrored wall lend a touch of glamour. A vintage ‘Numero’ chair by Australian designer Grant Featherston and a mustard-coloured ‘Bonnie’ armchair by Pierre Paulin for Ligne Roset sit either side of a ‘Plec’ coffee table by Antoni Pallejà Office for RS Barcelona

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‘80S A RC H IT E C T U R E H A S S O M A N Y S T R O N G D E S I G N E L E M E N T S . T H E WAY I T C A P T U R E S N AT U R A L L I G H T, T H E VOIDS AN D TH E ANGUL AR FOR MS’

Bedroom ‘Indi’ pendant lights from Articolo hang on either side of the bed – the headboard is bespoke. The chair is the ‘Round’ armchair by Yonoh from HC28 Cosmo, purchased at Domo Main bathroom Wall tiles from Urban Edge are paired with ones from Artedomus (on the wall behind the Agape bath) to create a layered look. Hanging on the wall is The Passage by local artist Meg Cowell Garden An orange sculpture by Caleb Shea brings a pop of colour to the lawn See Stockists page for details

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INDUSTRIAL BY NATURE

It may be inspired by the landscape, but this rustic retreat has a new take on countryside charm – all sleek steel and uncompromising simplicity Words EMMA LOVE Photography JAN VERLINDE/LIVING INSIDE

Kitchen A mahogany ceiling and terrazzo floor is paired with green cement walls that echo the colour of the trees outside. The homeowner designed the steel kitchen island himself and the shelf on the back wall is vintage. In the dining area, a 1930s wall light by Johan Petter Johansson for Triplex hangs above the round Hans J Wegner ‘Heart’ table and chairs for Fritz Hansen

Portrait Derek Van Heurck, artistic director of fashion brand Bellerose, in his weekend home on his father’s farm in Belgium’s Zeeland province Exterior The two-bedroom property has retained its original red-brick façade. On one side of the building, a ground-floor side extension has been added to create an open-plan kitchen-diner with folding, floor-to-ceiling Crittall-style doors that open onto a terrace and the garden beyond

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or many of us, having a regular escape from the hustle of the city is wishful thinking, but for Derek Van Heurck, artistic director of Belgian fashion house Bellerose, that dream is now a reality. ‘I live in Antwerp, work in Brussels and spend weekends at the seaside – it’s the best of all worlds,’ he says, neatly summing up his enviable arrangement, which happened serendipitously when his father decided on a change of scene.

‘He was living 10km away in the Belgian town of Knokke but wanted to be in the country, completely surrounded by nature and with no neighbours, so six years ago he bought an old farm.’ As well as the main property, the hectare of land in the Dutch province of Zeeland came with a barn and a second, smaller house, which is now Derek’s retreat.

The original red-brick façade and two-bedroom layout remains largely the same, but Rotterdam-based architect Maartje Lammers was tasked with making one crucial change: adding a ground-floor extension on one side of the building. This would become an open-plan kitchen-diner with folding glass doors that lead out onto the garden. ‘We wanted it to feel almost like an outside terrace,’ says Derek of the space, which took two years to complete and has been kitted out with bespoke, industrialstyle steel units. ‘The island has been designed in a modern, geometric shape to provide a nice contrast with the old house,’ he adds.

The effect of using such strong, solid materials throughout – lacquered mahogany ceilings, terrazzo and wenge flooring – is uncompromisingly masculine, yet the interior also takes its cues from the leafy surroundings.

‘I like natural colours, so we used a green cement mix on the walls and a lot of wood to reflect the outdoors,’ he explains. The other element that lends character is the cherrypicked collection of vintage furniture, including the Hans J Wegner ‘Heart’ dining table and chairs, and the Jean Prouvé desk in the study nook. Many items were sourced from Morentz, a specialist mid-century dealer and gallery in Waalwijk. Derek has also introduced a large selection of second-hand lighting, including the quirky 1970s ‘Palm Tree’ lights by Maison Jansen. ‘It’s important to have lots of lamps but only a little light, especially in the living room, so it feels cosy at night,’ he continues.

While Derek hunkers down in the evenings, during the day he’s outside, making the most of his surroundings. ‘Cycling, playing golf and kite surfing are the three things I do when I’m here,’ he says. ‘I have lots of friends in the area, so I often cycle to visit them or head to the beach for a barbecue and beers with my dad and older brother. It’s important to spend time with family.’ Which, of course, is just one of the many upsides to having such an idyllic, back-to-nature weekend bolthole. bellerose.be; maartjelammers.wixsite.com/earthbound

THE HOUSE IS COMPLETELY SURROUNDED

BY NATURE, WITH NO NEIGHBOURS

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Living room The 1960s Italian shelving unit was sourced from Morentz, a specialist vintage dealer. Next to it is a 1950s teak and hemp floor lamp by Ib Fabiansen for Fog & Mørup.

On the walls are ‘Palm Tree’ lights – a 1970s design by Maison Jansen. The second-hand chair is an ‘Ap-14 Anneau’ by Pierre Paulin for mid-century Dutch manufacturer A Polak

‘WE USED A GREEN CEMENT MIX ON THE WALLS AND A LOT OF WOOD TO REFLECT THE OUTDOORS’

A CHERRYPICKED SELECTION OF VINTAGE FURNITURE LENDS THE HOUSE CHARACTER

Living room Next to the brown leather sofa, which was originally bought for a Bellerose boutique, is a wooden side table on castors that was handed down from Derek’s grandparents. Derek is a keen collector of vintage and second-hand lamps and these are used throughout the rooms to provide an ambient glow in the evenings. Sheepskins and a zebra print cowhide rug – try Amara for similar – lend a cosy rustic edge and help to soften the masculine interior’s hard surfaces

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Study A vintage Jean Prouvé desk (from the Jean-Claude Jacquemart antiques store in Brussels) is paired with a wire chair – for similar, try Harry Bertoia’s ‘Side Chair’ for Knoll. The desk lamps are more vintage finds from Derek’s collection Bedroom The bespoke mahogany bed frame was designed by architect Maartje Lammers.

Its rich hues are picked out in the goat skin rug, on which sits a ‘DCM’ dining chair by Charles and Ray Eames for Vitra See Stockists page for details

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Alpine retreats, seafront villas, reimagined ruins and more – answer the call of the countryside with the brand-new issue

ON SALE NOW O R D E R Y O U R C O P Y O N L I N E AT E L L E D E C O R AT I O N . C O . U K / S P E C I A L S O R P U R C H A S E AT Y O U R L O C A L W H S M I T H S T O R E

ESCAPE T R AV E L

/ R E S TA U R A N T S / C U LT U R E / H O T E L S Edited by CAT OLLEY

Riverside RETRO LA and London-based design firm Fettle has drawn on the distinct character of Milanese coffee bars for Italian eatery Tavolino, which frames views of Tower Bridge via a curved stretch of floor-to-ceiling windows. Interiors pay tribute to old-world Italy but with a playful edge – see the bentwood chairs with pink mohair pads, which flank aged oxblood leather banquettes. Italian fare is booming in the capital, but ex-Bancone head chef Louis Korovilas is sure to have a few tricks up his sleeve (tavolino.co.uk).

From above Enjoy an aperitif at the elegant wood bar; ‘Saddle of Lamb, Peperonata and Spinach Sauce’

The interior features fun retro touches, such as the patterned curtains and painted stripes on the wall

ESCAPE

MEMPHIS MAGIC

PICTURES: COURTESY OF MEMPHIS POST DESIGN GALLERY/STUDIO AZZURRO, PARIANO ANGELANTONIO, JACQUES SCHUMACHER/MODE & WOHNEN, ALDO BALLO/GUIDO CEGANI/PETER OGILVIE

Milton Keynes arts hub MK Gallery will stage ‘Memphis: Plastic Field’ this month, in tribute to the seminal cohort of young designers who spurned the status quo in favour of colour, kitsch and forms that defied function. Led by Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass, their debut collection at Milan’s Salone del Mobile in 1981 caused a sensation. Here was a proverbial middle finger to the very notion of good taste, and the streamlined modernism that had dominated for decades. Though the movement in its truest sense was largely defunct by 1988, its riotous style and spirit lived on in the diverging careers of the original collective and the superfans who snapped up their designs. In the intervening years, Karl Lagerfeld’s Monaco home had become a shrine to Memphis design, and David Bowie had begun to build the collection of more than 100 pieces that would only be revealed after his death.

This new retrospective will eclipse even that effort, with over 150 works by key Memphis contributors, including Michele De Lucchi and Nathalie Du Pasquier. From 21 November to 24 April 2021 (mkgallery.org).

‘D’Antibes’ cabinet

by George Sowden

‘Gabon’ textile by Nathalie Du Pasquier Memphis Group designers in the ‘Tawaraya’ boxing ring by Masanori Umeda in 1981

A ‘Dublin’ sofa by Marco Zanini and ‘Beverly’ cabinet by Ettore Sottsass in Karl Lagerfeld’s Monaco apartment in the 1980s

‘Plaza’ dressing table by Michael Graves

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE

GEORGE SOWDEN

A move to Milan led the Leeds-born product designer to the forefront of the Memphis movement Memphis is an attitude.

And it was our attitude, which became a movement, that has influenced the aesthetics and identity of global design since our first exhibition in Milan in 1981. It will continue to be discussed and criticised, added to, copied and reinterpreted by generations to come, but the freedom that Memphis represents will remain.

The 1981 exhibition was an extraordinary collage.

It was the overwhelming effect of that collage which created the unpredictable reaction and recognition that something unusual had occurred. None of us could have created Memphis alone – it was the collectivity that produced such encompassing, powerful imagery.

I believe it was the sense of freedom that people identified with. I suppose it could also be argued, as with all events that question the validity of established ways, that Memphis was the style of dissent. And that it was inevitable that such a rebellious change should happen, as it did with rock ’n’ roll or pop art or street fashion or punk.

Modernism had simply become unchallenging.

Memphis opened a lot of doors, and updated the language, as it is now clear looking at the many directions designers take today. The title [Ettore] Sottsass gave to the first exhibition, ‘Memphis, The New International Style’, with impeccable irony, takes on added meaning as each year goes by.

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THINK PINK A local nickname is surely the mark of a much-loved hotel – for Palazzo Avino, which sits pretty atop a cliff in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast, it’s ‘the pink palace’.

Last year, Milan-based designer Cristina Celestino clad its grotto-like Pink Closet boutique in powdery pink and green ceramic shells, and she’s now turned her hand to a capsule collection of rooms and suites.

All seven are signature Celestino, and make clever use of her home-grown collaborations: think tiles inspired

by Italian formal gardens for Fornace Brioni and hand-knotted rugs for CC-Tapis. Alcoves artfully mirror vaulted ceilings and arched windows, while curved headboards and pearl-like wall lights hint of the sea beyond. From £600 per night (palazzoavino.com).

Designer Cristina Celestino has created a capsule collection of rooms and suites, such as the opulent Belvedere (left)

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WHEN IN WARSAW That cross-continental hotel group Nobu has set up shop in Warsaw is a show of confidence in the Polish capital, which has culture and character in spades but a curious lack of design hotels. Nobu’s deftest trick – besides its revered restaurants – has always been the balancing act of Japanese design with a sense of place, and restful rooms at this outpost are divided quite literally between an elegant art deco wing and an ultramodern new build.

From £175 per night (warsaw.nobuhotels.com).

PICTURES: DAVIDE LOVATTI

Nobu’s Polish outpost includes the stylish Nobu Suite (right), situated in the new wing

THE ART OF ARMCHAIR TRAVEL Roam the world via 10 of the best new travel books to gift or treasure

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Wanderlust Europe

This epic portrait of Europe by foot traces bucket-list routes through lush Greek valleys, Icelandic fjords and Corsican hinterlands, plus a showstopping trek through mountainous northern Georgia, where the loftiest peaks dwarf the Alps.

Practical notes cover stopovers, supplies and which months will best aid efforts to dodge crowds, midges or unexpected snowdrifts, and there’s a bonus section at the back with further ideas in brief. Make no mistake: many are geared towards the experienced hiker or the seriously enthusiastic amateur – some walks are weeks long, topping out at a 60-day odyssey through Latvia and Estonia – but its visions of life on the trail will even tempt those with little intention of whipping out the walking boots (Gestalten, £35).

A series of arches, made from elaborate brickwork, lead to a pool in the heart of the Medina

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Inside Marrakesh

It’s little wonder that a city built by artisans has proved such an enduring source of inspiration for the world’s creative class (perhaps most famously, Yves Saint Laurent arrived in the 1960s with his partner Pierre Bergé, who later set up a museum in the designer’s name). Decades later, the bohemian spirit and sensuality of Marrakesh has captivated a new wave of wanderers, including designer Jasper Conran, artist Brice Marden and entrepreneur Vanessa Branson. Your guide to the city is local interior designer and hotelier Meryanne LoumMartin, who has charted a tour of sensational private residences, including refurbished riads, lush gardens and a few deceptively modern spaces (Rizzoli, £46).

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Scotland First conceived as an outlet for Sheffieldbased photographers India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson to archive their favourite shots, the Haarkon blog has since spurred a series of printed photo journals.

This second travel title, which centres on Edinburgh and the country’s wilder north, reveals an eye for both drama and detail: on one page a staggering shot of Skye; on another, a selection of characterful signs they stumbled across on the way. Pictures are punctuated by evocative introductions and useful tips: a stylish place to stay; a checklist of local wildlife to spot; and which side of the train has the best views (Haarkon Adventures, £15).

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The majestic Loch Coruisk on Scotland’s Isle of Skye

Sacred Places

Though author Clare Gogerty admits that defining a sacred place is an ‘elusive business’, she suggests that some have an inexplicable resonance that’s been recognised for hundreds – if not thousands – of years. This guide to these spiritual centres, from Machu Picchu to Mont-Saint-Michel, is framed by a discussion on the transformational power of travel (Aster, £20).

5

Living in the Mountains

‘There is something timeless in the beauty of mountain landscapes.’ So opens this coffee-table tome, which makes a convincing case for living among the peaks through its global survey of 50 architecturally designed homes. The appeal of life at high altitude is clear – profound remoteness, knockout views – but it’s easy to overlook that each abode is an unlikely feat of design and engineering. To tackle such challenging terrain requires imagination, resourcefulness and grit, and the results showcased represent the cutting edge of architecture today. A cantilevered house in the Andes and a modern barn conversion set on a sloping pasture in Poland (right) are among some of the biggest triumphs (Phaidon, £29.95).

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The World

Less a travel guide and more a visual tribute to our planet in all its startling wonder, this ambitiously named book begins with nature photographer Michael Poliza’s qualifier that he ‘hasn’t been everywhere and seen everything’. What he has seen, though, he’s recorded spectacularly. This new edition is a little less weighty than last year’s limited XXL run (TeNeues, £50).

The moss-green Mælifell volcano in Hálendið, the highlands of Iceland

Longboats at a market in Nampan, Inle Lake, Shan State, Myanmar

7

Postcards Is there any format so steeped in nostalgia as the postcard? With life on lockdown, the team behind indie travel magazine Lodestars Anthology asked their favourite photographers to delve into their hard drives and – without brief or expectation – reflect on a single shot that spoke to them. The resulting compilation of cards is a meditation on the fleeting and treasured moments of travel (Lodestars Anthology, £10).

PICTURE: MICHAEL POLIZA

A mezcal farmer in Mexico, and right, Oaxaca de Juarez, both by Rebecca Stumpf

ESCAPE

8

Nordic Cycle

You don’t have to be handy on a bike to appreciate this astonishing portrait of cycling in some of the world’s most northernmost reaches, though it’s likely to inspire you back into the saddle. Mountain biker Tobias Woggon’s musings on his adventures in Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula (below) are dotted with profiles of their inhabitants and dramatic shots of landscapes that dwarf their determined riders (Gestalten, £25.99).

At Denbou-In Temple Garden, Tokyo

9

Travel by Design

WORDS: CAT OLLEY PICTURE: BETH WEBB

Spanning six continents and 60 countries, this world tour is shaped by the personal photographs of 150 top US interior designers and architects, who share incisive insights into the creative inspiration on offer. Highlights include Bolivian salt flats, Japan’s Naoshima island and riotous colour in Colombia’s Cartagena, plus a snapshot of the British Isles through the eyes of outsiders (Assouline, £70).

10

The New York Times Explorer: 100 Trips Around The World

This compilation of travel columns from The New York Times is by turns poetic and practical – and sometimes both at the same time. Its most compelling entries are also its most idiosyncratic: think abandoned fishing towns in Newfoundland; the ins and outs of catching a ride on a cargo ship; and a saga tracing the origins of absinthe in Switzerland and France. One to dip into or devour (Taschen, £30).

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GETAWAY /

ANTWERP

Belgium’s second city is the global centre for the diamond trade, but its real gems are cool concept stores, baroque architecture and a cultural offering that belies its compact size

THE CITY A thriving trade hub since medieval times,

PICTURE: FRANS RUITER/UNSPLASH

this port is now best known for its creative exports, which it puts to good use at home, too – this is a city that recognises its own talents. Cobbled streets and squares are filled with slick restaurants and retail spaces designed by native Antwerpians, galleries triumphantly touting Belgian works and starry flagship stores from the famed Antwerp Six. This troop of fashion designers that studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the early 1980s, including Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, has become a byword for the city’s avant-garde edge, which is refreshingly without ego. Arrival by train is preferred, if only for a glimpse of the soaring Antwerpen-Centraal station.

The 10-storey Museum aan de Stroom, designed

by Neutelings Riedijk Architects, looms over Antwerp Harbour

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Clockwise from top left One of the bedrooms at Granmaart 13; Yust’s welcoming lobby; French fare is on the menu at Evidence; August’s bar is the perfect setting for a pre-dinner cocktail

So named for the former Augustinian monastery that provides its spectacular shell, August, which opened last year, is an exercise in soulful restraint from Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen (from £148 per night; august-antwerp.com). As a sleek concept store, gallery, restaurant and rentable apartment, Graanmarkt 13 is a jack of all trades – and somehow it masters them all. The pared-back accommodation in question occupies the top two floors of the neoclassical townhouse (from £1,160 per night to sleep six; graanmarkt13.com/ apartment). There’s more stylish homeware on sale at characterful 17-room boutique Hotel Pilar, located in buzzy neighbourhood Het Zuid (from £122 per night; hotelpilar.be), or try youthful, aparthotel-style Yust, where those staying for two nights or 20 are welcomed with equal gusto (from £75 per night; yust.com).

BREAKFAST & LUNCH

Barchel bucks the all-day formula – it’s closed by mid afternoon – but that channels focus into hearty brunch dishes like the breakfast bagel with cream cheese, bacon, avocado and poached eggs. There’s now a second venue in the city’s south, but we prefer the stylish original, with its white grid tiles and parquet floors (barchel-antwerp.com). You’ll have longer to linger at cosy Buch Bar, a part cafe, part bookshop that only sells titles staff have loved (buchbar.be) and local favourite Vitrin, which serves light eats in the afternoon and cocktails until late in a cool plywood-clad space (vitrin.eu). If you’re after an antidote to Antwerp’s minimalist inclinations, take high tea in the plush pink parlour at Domestic bakery (domestic-bakkerij.be).

WINE & DINE

There’s more to Antwerp’s food scene than beer and frites – though you’ll find plenty of both if you’re looking. The buzziest new opening in town is Le Pristine,

where Danish design firm Space Copenhagen has honed in on historical details and the moody hues of the Old Masters. Seats in the covered inner courtyard are the most coveted (lepristine. com). Its three Michelin-starred Dutch chef Sergio Herman previously launched The Jane, which is sensationally housed in an old military hospital chapel repurposed by Studio Piet Boon and regularly named as one of the best restaurants in the world (thejaneantwerp.com). It’s a little easier to snag a table at bijou French restaurant Evidence, a reminder of Belgium’s neighbours to the south, with its green ribbed banquettes, original mosaic floor and white wood panelling. Dinner is a four- or six-course seasonal tasting menu over two hours (evidence-antwerpen.be).

THE CENTRAL KLOOSTERSTRAAT IS A DESIGN MECCA, WITH VINTAGE STORES AND LIFESTYLE BOUTIQUES

ART & CULTURE

With the renovated MoMu fashion museum’s reopening postponed until next year, Antwerp’s modern art double act is in the spotlight. Acronyms abound here: first stop is the Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA), with its predilection for Belgian artists, arthouse cinema and joyful Keith Haring mural in the café (muhka.be), before a stroll north along the river Scheldt to the striking red sandstone Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) – Dutch for ‘Museum by the River’. Head to the rooftop for panoramic views over Antwerp’s port (mas.be). En route is art and design gallery Valerie Traan, whose friendly owner Veerle Wenes helped spark the design collaboration of Belgian husband-and-wife Muller Van Severen

PICTURES: ROBERT RIEGER, PHILPPE CORTHOUT

WHERE TO STAY

G E T A W AY

Clockwise from top left Take in panoramic views from the terrace at MAS; Axel Vervoordt’s Kanaal project; pop into art and design gallery Valerie Traan; enjoy art in the park at the Middelheim Museum

(valerietraan.be). For fanciful house hunting, take a stroll down Cogels-Osylei in the grand Zurenborg district, with its parade of turn-of-the-century art nouveau and neo-gothic villas.

WORDS: CAT OLLEY PICTURES: JORIS CASAER, FILIP DUJARDIN, RIZON PAREIN, JAN LIÉGEOIS

SHOPPING Antwerp’s fashion flagships are as distinct as their designers – for maximum juxtaposition, team a trip to Dries Van Noten’s elegant 19th-century Het Modepaleis with Ann Demeulemeester’s monochrome sanctum or Christian Wijnants’ airy gallery. The central Kloosterstraat is a design mecca, with a lengthy stretch of vintage stores and lifestyle boutiques, including the mix of nostalgia-tinged furniture, fashion and accessories by niche designers and artisans at The Recollection (therecollection.com). If you go off-piste, make sure it’s to Magazyn for exquisite handmade homeware showcased in a warm minimalist space (magazyn.be), or St Vincents, whose owners have transformed a former printing house into a treasure trove of collectible design and art (stvincents.co).

ESCAPE THE CITY

Architect and art dealer Axel Vervoordt is a master of the understatement, and one of Antwerp’s finest exports. Make a pilgrimage to his ambitious distillery-turned-cultural campus Kanaal on the city’s easterly edge, which houses workshops, showrooms, and cavernous exhibition spaces, as well as an artisanal bakery, organic food market, and Japanese restaurant overlooking the Albert canal (kanaal.be). For a greener excursion, head to the much-loved open-air Middelheim Museum. Set over 30 acres and free to enter, the permanent sculpture garden is dotted with a stellar 239-strong collection, with works from Ai Weiwei, Alexander Calder and Rodin, plus Brit favourites Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Antony Gormley (middelheimmuseum.be).

THE INSIDER Dries Otten Founded in 2012, Dries Otten’s studio proves Antwerp’s design scene has more up its sleeve than minimalism and monochrome. Spanning furniture design, interior architecture and scenography, it’s best-known for the punchy, colourful kitchens the team create for bold clients (driesotten.be).

O Copyright A beautiful art and architecture bookshop designed by Vincent van Duysen (copyrightbookshop.be).

O Saint Charles Borromeo Church Antwerp baroque architecture at its finest. It’s best entered via the arch in Sint-Pieter-en-Paulusstraat (carolusborromeus.com).

O Hopper A no-nonsense institute on the café scene, with live jazz and an art deco interior (cafehopper.be).

O Mayer van den Bergh Museum This private collection is a little Antwerp secret (museummayervandenbergh.be).

O Luddites A new bookshop we designed with an exquisite wine menu in the bar upstairs (luddites.be).

To discover more design-savvy destinations, get your copy of ELLE Decoration City – on sale now at hearstmagazines.co.uk/ed-city

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VOLUME 5

FRESH IDEAS, INSPIRATION & ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS

WELCOME…

If ever there was a need to create a sanctuary from the pressures of the outside world, 2020 is it. The time we spend in the bathroom may at first seem humdrum, but on closer inspection it’s crucial, bookending our day and offering an opportunity to reset, rejuvenate or relax, if even for 10 precious minutes.

So rather than think of it as a space for routine, consider it the backdrop for mood-altering daily ritual and create an environment that makes you feel good – whatever that means to you. We’ve collated the best new products, from tiles to taps, along with the latest trends and ideas to inspire you to make your bathroom a stylish safe haven for that all-important ‘me-time’.

CONTENTS 185 N E W S

The latest launches, from dream showers to statement tiling. Plus, industry experts on the emerging bathroom trends to watch

196 M A K I N G A S P L A S H Three creatives show us round their characterful and considered bathroom spaces, and share their daily rituals

203 B AT H R O O M S T H AT G O B E YO N D Practical yes, but these stylish interiors have heaps of drama, too, to help uplift or slow you down from dusk to dawn

214 S T O C K I S T S Love something you’ve seen in ELLE Decoration Bathrooms?

Find out where to buy it in our address book

Piet Boon x Cocoon deck-mounted basin mixer in stainless steel, from £755, CP Hart (cphart.co.uk)

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4 OF THE BEST

MIXER TAPS

‘Bill’ wall-mounted three-hole basin mixer in ‘Aged Brass’, £1,168, The Water Monopoly (thewatermonopoly.com)

NORM CORE

‘Horizontal Round’ single-handle basin mixer, £712, Kanth (kanth.london)

Danish practice Norm Architects’ latest foray into the bathroom is the ‘Arc’ freestanding bathtub designed for Spanish brand Inbani.

Characteristically discreet and elegant, its two shapes – round (pictured) and oval – derive from the arches and vaults of neoclassical architecture and are available in a range of innovative and natural materials, such as Cementsolid (pictured) and marble. Price on application, West One Bathrooms (westonebathrooms.com).

NATURE’S PALETTE As warm, earthy tones grow ever more popular in bathroom spaces and replace white as the go-to shade, Otto Tiles has homed in on a palette of nude hues for its new-season ranges. Designed to be mixed and matched, the collection runs the spectrum of creamy whites to blush pinks, and sandy beiges to chestnut browns. They can be used across walls and floors, including wet areas. Clockwise from top left: ‘Castango’; ‘Bellagio’; and ‘Torino’ terrazzo, all £91 per square metre (ottotiles.co.uk).

‘Engineer Mono’ basin mixer, £588, Matki (matki.co.uk)

‘Valvola01’ mixer tap, £720, Studio Adolini for Quadro Design (quadrodesign.it)

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PIPE DREAMS The ‘Chessleton’ surfacemounted shower marries fine craftsmanship with a contemporary industrial edge. Cast in solid bronze using the traditional lost-wax process, its sleek, art deco-inspired exposed pipework creates a dramatic statement, while allowing both the shower rose and hand-shower to be used independently or at the same time. From £5,742, Drummonds (drummonds-uk.com).

Ocean drive Swedish designer MarieLouise Hellgren is the latest creative to put her stamp on Marrakech Design’s cement tiles.

Themes of nature and sustainability are often at the forefront of her designs – the ‘Mareld’ tiles are primarily inspired by the ocean and memories of swimming in a sea lit up by luminescent plankton.

The range is available in five muted shades.

From top ‘Mareld’ cement tiles in ‘Honey/Ivory’, ‘Pigeon Blue/Ivory’ and ‘Maroon/Ivory’, all approx £130 per sq m (marrakechdesign.se)

INSIDER GUIDE

BATHROOMS Founder of Balineum Sarah Watson shares her insights on emerging bathroom trends

FALL IN LOVE Bathroom purists are sure to appreciate Dutch bathroom brand Not Only White’s latest launch of basins. The ‘Fall’ series by designer Joost van der Vecht marries striking minimalist lines with delicate nature-inspired hues, such as ‘Sea Oat Quartz’ and ‘Peanut Butter’ (pictured). Based around the concept of playing with height, the four countertop models of varying size require shelves to be mounted at different points – the taller the basin, the lower the counter will need to be – leaving space for plants and accessories to be placed next to the sink. From £2,209 (notonlywhite.com).

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There’s more of a sense of freedom in bathroom design now – bathrooms are becoming much more seamlessly integrated into the rest of the house. Details such as wallpaper, lighting, furniture, plants and natural materials are now appearing.

We’re seeing a demand for tiles generally, and specifically custom-decorated tiles. We have been having a lot of fun with decorators and pattern designers, translating wallpaper and fabric designs on to tile. And our ‘Flora’ mirror has been a surprising success.

I was worried it wasn’t interesting enough, but we make it in a lot of colours, so it’s always a joy to see what people pick for their projects.

There’s definitely a revival of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Interiors of those eras are being revisited by the new generation of designers coming through and it’s brilliant.

Where do bathroom trends come from? Right now, I’d say it’s Instagram. There are a few tribes of design aficionados who are amazing at digging through old archives and editing imagery of a period or style. Some of my favourite accounts include Michael Bargo (@michaelbargo), Beau Traps (@beau_traps), Kim Coleman (@kimcoolmon) and The 80s Interior (@the_80s_interior).

Looking forward, our aim is to slowly and consistently build upon what we have. We are launching a tile collection with Wayne Pate later this year and another with Louis Barthélemy in 2021. With the latter, we are doing stuff that I’ve never seen on a tile. balineum.co.uk

BRAND TO KNOW

TONITON

The colourful new bathroom brand set up

by Swedish interior designer Tekla Severin

Archive finds Having started as a reclaimed-tile supplier in 2013, Bert & May’s new ‘Antique’ collection sees the brand go back to its origins. Four favourite designs from the firm’s archive of vintage designs sourced from across Spain have been reworked and reissued using traditional artisan techniques, giving a second lease of life to classic patterns. Richly decorative with deep colours and an authentic patina, they’ll bring a sultry, Mediterranean flavour to bathrooms in need of a lift.

‘Espiga’ (above), £180 per square metre (bertandmay.com).

SPA TURN Having turned to aromatherapy to help deal with anxiety, Eve Williams found her calling in the age-old practice of using plants as a holistic treatment, and wellness brand Ede was born. Made by hand in her home studio, products contain only natural, organic ingredients, while stylish glass bottles ensure daily routines look as good as they smell and feel. From far left: ‘Burnout roll-on therapist’ , £15; ‘Post shower nirvana body oil’, £38 (theedestore.com).

PICTURE: TEKLA EVELINA SEVERIN

Tell us about why you started Toniton. We created it because we believe in colour and that the world and everyday life needs more of it.

Toniton translates from Swedish as ‘tone on tone’.

How would you describe the brand’s style?

Geometric, colourful and refined. Depending on what combinations you choose, you can create a range of aesthetics, from contrasting to soft and tonal. Toniton’s signature look is the combination of our six ‘Toniton colours’.

Where do you turn to for inspiration for your colour palette and products? Our aim is to create ageless palettes and products. We have done a lot of research about each colour tone, such as what was the perfect tone of pale green in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, what is it today and what do we believe it to be in the future. It was important for us to create a diverse universe, with both strong and pale shades that can be combined in various ways to suit all personalities.

How can colour improve a bathroom? A great tip is to paint the ceiling. If it’s a small space, paint it the same tone as the wall; if it’s a bigger space, paint it in a contrasting tone to make it dynamic.

What’s coming next for the brand? Kitchens! toniton.com

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High and dry For a quick bathroom update, look to Society Limonta’s new bath collection. Designed to be layered and mismatched, towels in richly textured fabrics, such as waffle linens and cotton terry towelling, come in a palette of earthy autumnal tones, including brick red ‘Marte’ (right). From £125 for a towel set (uk.societylimonta.com).

4 OF THE BEST

MIRRORS

‘Nimbus’ mirror, around £486, Krøyer-Sætter-Lassen for Menu (menuspace.com)

SMOOTH OPERATOR Reflective of a growing trend for different textures in the bathroom, Victoria + Albert Baths has added a new finish, ‘Standard Matt’, to its repertoire of tubs. Providing a welcome contrast to the glossy finishes more familiar with sanitaryware, the 100 per cent matt surfaces reflect light differently, creating a spa-like feel, while the sheen-free finish enhances the architectural outlines of the tubs themselves.

‘Ios’ bath in ‘Standard Matt’, from £3,000 (vandabaths.com).

‘Adelio’ gunmetal wall mirror with shelf, £225, Habitat (habitat.co.uk)

PICTURE: ON A HAZY MORNING

‘Lipstick’ mirror, £240, Seletti x Toiletpaper (selfridges.com)

‘Orwell’ slim swivel mirror, £168, Graham & Green (grahamandgreen.co.uk)

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5 MINUTES WITH…

Cecilie MANZ The Danish designer on her latest additions to the ‘Luv’ series of bathroom products for Duravit

How would you describe the look and feel of the ‘Luv’ range? Clean, warm, natural, uncomplicated, discreet.

What do you think makes a successful bathroom space? The bathroom is one of the most intimate spaces, so words like ‘clean’, ‘functional’ and ‘comfortable’ are essential. Everything should work well, be easy to maintain, but you should feel happy with the atmosphere – it’s your everyday-life ‘spa moment’, even if you only have two minutes and your favourite shampoo.

The new colours and finishes added this year are beautifully subtle – tell us about how you made your selection. I wanted to bring even more warmth to the space; normally, cool colours are seen in the bathroom, but since the design itself is clean, I thought an earthy tone could be interesting. I often find inspiration in nature. I always end up with a pebble or two in my pocket.

What is the greatest challenge with designing bathroom products? It’s the same process as designing anything else, but it feels much more personal in a way – as if each single piece is bespoke to the particular person who buys it.

Perhaps it’s because each piece is so vital in that space – you can have 12 different chairs in your home, but you only need one, perfect-for-you wash basin.

How do you think tastes in bathrooms are changing? It seems bathrooms are getting bigger. Also, warmer colours, natural materials and a sense of cosiness are being brought in from the rest of the house alongside inventive solutions for keeping it clean and using less water. From £6,820 for a basin (duravit.co.uk).

SET the TONE A passion for clay runs through Ceramica Cielo founder Alessio Coramusi’s DNA. Descended from a line of master potters that can be traced back to the 1800s, Coramusi’s aim is to evolve ceramic traditions via contemporary bathroom products. One example is the ‘Elle’ collection of suspended basins. Ultra light and compact, yet robust thanks to a frame of steel that houses an integrated splashback and mirror, the basin comes in oval or circular shapes and in 16 shades, including ‘Cipria’ (above).

From £1,850, CP Hart (cphart.co.uk).

ON A ROLL Simple, stylish and sustainable fittings and fixtures can be surprisingly tricky to track down; enter Danish brand byWirth. Its bathroom rack is typically clever – two steel rods mounted to the wall by oak battens can house toilet roll or folded hand towels, freeing up surfaces and floor space. Approx £57 (bywirth.com).

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4 OF THE BEST

WALL LIGHTS

Smart CHOICE

‘LB4010’ classic 8in globe wall light, £325, Lefroy Brooks (uk.lefroybrooks.com)

As hygiene becomes ever more important, VitrA is setting standards high with the launch of the ‘V-Care Prime’ shower toilet. Combining a toilet and bidet in one, the space-saving design allows users to personalise their washing experience by adjusting the intensity, temperature and direction of water with remote, voice and app controls. The design also has a quick-release seat and a nozzle that cleans itself before and after each use, adding to its hygienic credentials. Due to launch this winter (vitra.co.uk).

PREMIUM BOND

‘Corner’ wall light, £120, Houseof (houseof.com)

With a plethora of stylish hospitality and residential projects under its belt, New York design firm Gachot Studios has mastered the art of creating an elegant bathroom.

Now, the firm has brought its refined aesthetic to a fittings collection with kitchen and bathroom specialist Waterworks. ‘Bond’ includes three series of taps, with ‘Tandem’ (below) introducing two-tone elements.

From £680 (waterworks.com).

‘Bide’ wall light, from £510, Bert Frank (bertfrank.co.uk)

Known for its distinctive lava-stone surfaces, Made a Mano has branched out into porcelain for the first time with a new collection of tiles called ‘Hospitality’. Originally created for a hotel in Sweden, the designs are durable, low-maintenance and come in three soft hues. Approx £180 per square metre (madeamano.com).

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‘Fascio’ 24in sconce, £1,462, Lauren Rottet for Visual Comfort, (visualcomfort.com)

PICTURE: MONDO OLFI

Go the EXTRA tile

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I N S I D E S T O RY

CP HART

The showroom at the forefront of bathroom design

explains. The showroom also plays host to pop-up installations by leading design names, to whom Reynolds gives the relaxed brief ‘come up with something interesting using our products’ – Peter Mikic, Norman Foster, Kit Kemp and House of Hackney have all transformed areas with their signature styles and more are to come.

Along with curating the best pieces from a sea of bathroom products, CP Hart collaborates with its manufacturers to develop its own pieces, such as the new art deco-inspired ‘Epoch’ collection and the award-winning ‘SO’ taps. It also stocks numerous designs exclusively, including the minimalist brassware collections

by John Pawson and Piet Boon for Dutch brand Cocoon.

As the go-to for bathrooms, the brand has its finger firmly on the pulse. ‘Ceramic colours are becoming bolder, brassware finishes are hugely expanding and large-format bookmatched tiles are coming in,’ predicts Reynolds. ‘Ways to approach hygiene are progressing, such as touchless operation and water that’s electrolysed to eliminate bacteria, and sustainability initiatives are continually evolving, harnessing developments in technology to address water conservation.’ As for CP Hart itself? ‘We have a very active pipeline of new products in development,’ Reynolds smiles. cphart.co.uk From top Designer Peter Mikic’s bathroom installation at the CP Hart flagship showroom in Waterloo; a huge range of brands are on show there; Piet Boon x Cocoon thermostatic bath mixer in raw copper, from £1,400; Cocoon bath in ‘Beige limestone’, £14,000, CP Hart (cphart.co.uk)

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WORDS: KATE WORTHINGTON PICTURE: PETER MIKIC

Charles Percival Hart and his sons, John and Tom, opened their first shop in 1937 in London’s Elephant and Castle, selling and fitting not bathrooms, but fireplaces. After buying a batch of basins at a price impossible to turn down, CP Hart swiftly sidestepped into sanitaryware and established its ethos that every customer should receive unrivalled expertise and service, which is still the brand’s focus today. ‘We build trusted partnerships with our clients – they know if they come to CP Hart, we’ll deal with the whole bathroom process, from planning to installation and aftercare,’ explains managing director Richard Reynolds. ‘We’re known for both the quality of our products and our service.’

CP Hart moved into the cavernous space beneath Waterloo’s railway arches in 1975, where the flagship still remains, now one of 15 showrooms nationwide. ‘Our Waterloo store is a cornucopia of premium bathroom products,’ Reynolds tells us. ‘There is nowhere else in Britain where you can see such a broad range.’ Alongside displaying around half of the 60 brands in its portfolio, which includes Axor Starck, Hansgrohe, Grohe, Dornbracht and Duravit, the space also features an innovation gallery showcasing prototypes and trends, a café and a meeting area. ‘It’s somewhere for customers to discuss bathrooms as well other aspects of projects,’ Reynolds

MAKING A SPLASH

Whether you’re designing a bijoux ensuite or family bathroom, take your lead from these three creatives with their characterful and considered bathroom spaces Words EMMA LOVE

TOMASO ANFOSSI fashion designer Co-founder of womenswear brand Cote, Anfossi has lived in a converted 1930s factory loft apartment in Milan for the last 14 years. In 2018, he bought the property next door, rejigging the layout to create a new ensuite designing my ensuite, I wanted to respect the 1930s building, so I referenced the shapes and materials from the time. For instance, the white-glass globe ceiling light and pair of opaque sphere lights by the mirror are typical of the era.

O Architecture from the 1930s can be seen all over Milan: in the gates of the palaces and in historic houses such as Villa Necchi Campiglio, designed by the architect Piero Portaluppi, which I love. It was a marble mirror from that house that inspired the one I now have in my bathroom. I wanted to recreate its beauty.

O The bath and sink are both made from Rosa Portogallo, a Portuguese marble that was widely used in Milan in the 1930s. For me, this marble is special – the softness of the pale antique pink with greenish hazelnut veins is something different and gives the

bathroom its feminine character. I also liked the fact that it is no longer used much because it’s considered old-fashioned – it was perfect for my project.

O Plants have always been part of my DNA. As there is plenty of space in the bathroom, I designed a bath using a single slab of marble and had three holes cut in it – with one either side for plants. The tallest plant, which will soon start growing around the window, is a Monstera deliciosa; the other is a Ficus alii.

O The floor is petroleum blue enamelled concrete, the same colour as the carpet in the bedroom. I like that there is visually no change between the floors in each room.

Also, the contrast with the pink marble makes the bathroom feel fresh and modern, rather than old-fashioned. The bathroom fittings are also deliberately minimal for this reason. co-te.com

‘The softness of the pale antique pink marble with greenish hazelnut veins adds feminine character’

I N S I D E MY B AT H R O O M

Anfossi on his must-haves Bath or shower? Luckily, I have both, but if I had to choose one, it would be a bath.

In the morning, I take a shower because I’m in a hurry; after work, I relax in the tub.

Any bathing rituals? I nearly always add Dead Sea salts to my bath water and have a gin and tonic on the side. I also like to use Aesop Classic Shampoo, which smells of mint, and Nuxe Rêve de Miel Face And Body Ultra-Rich Cleansing Gel. Bathroom soundtrack?

Aretha Franklin and any soul songs.

Or alternative music, such as Collectress, a multi-instrumental chamber-music collective.

What’s around your sink?

By the mirror, I keep a silver atomiser with rose-water tonic, an old crystal container with vitamin supplements and a ceramic soap dish made by my sister, an artist.

How does the space make you feel?

Relaxed. When I’m submerged in the tub, I feel like I’m in another place, on vacation.

PICTURES: FRANCESCO DOLFO/LIVING INSIDE

O When

CASE STUDIES

Opposite, from far top left Anfossi in his 1930s converted loft apartment; the flooring in the bedroom and bathroom are similar shades for continuity; minimalist fittings allow the striking pink marble to take centre stage; two majestic plants flank the luxurious bath tub

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CASE STUDIES

CARINE OTTOU chef Cameroon-born, London-based chef Ottou and her husband, Jacob, bought their Victorian terraced house in 2011. Last year, Yoko Kloeden completed a top-to-bottom refurbishment, which included creating a new bathroom for their two daughters, Maj, aged seven, and Moa, aged one O I

wanted a bathroom that was not only playful for the girls but somewhere they could grow into. One minute, children love pink; the next, they’re all over purple – so this needed to be a space that they can enjoy for many years, and that is also suitable for guests to use. The Jim Lawrence lights by the mirror add a grown-up touch.

O I like natural materials and colours, so Yoko decided to play with pattern instead. We initially talked about stars – I wanted to play on this idea of the sky is the limit – then added moons as well. The grey floor tiles are from Emery & Cie; the wall tiles, including the randomly placed geometric ones, are from Mandarin Stone.

O Both from a food and style perspective, I like things that are earthy, so there are plants all over the house. For the bathroom, we chose a money plant and a Monstera deliciosa. Around the window, we also used ‘Seashell’ Kalklitir paint. It has a barely noticeable hint of blush pink, which softens the floor tiles, but as it’s lime-based it also helps the bathroom to breathe, reducing the risk of mould.

O In the early stages of working with Yoko, I sent her a Pinterest folder of images I liked. Most of them needed a lot of space, but one of the features we used was the alcove shelf above the bath.

O It’s not a large bathroom and we wanted to create as much storage as possible. The vanity unit has a hard-wearing silestone top and stained oak drawers, with a shelf underneath where we keep their bath toys. inspiringchefs.com; marielittlejar.co.uk; yokokloeden.com

‘I like natural materials and colours – things that are earthy – so we decided to play with pattern instead’ I N S I D E MY B AT H R O O M

Ottou on her daughters’ rituals Daily routine? They both have a shower in the morning; twice a week, they have a bath, too. Maj is very confident and capable of using the bath tub on her own.

PICTURES: CATHY PYLE, MARK COCKSEDGE

Favourite products? Maj used to love anything that smelt fantastic, like strawberries, but now she is getting into more natural products. I make her hair and body butter, soap bars and suncream, but for the shower she prefers liquid soap by Savon de Marseille. She also loves bath bombs in funky colours from Lush.

What’s in the bathroom cabinet?

Hairbands, spare toothbrush heads...

Clockwise from top A chic grey palette ensures the style will last as the girls grow up; Ottou had her London home renovated last year; the geometric wall tiles are Mandarin Stone and the floor tiles are by Emery & Cie

Top bathroom memory? Recently, Maj wanted to give me a spa treatment in her bathroom, so she painted my nails and feet, and put cucumbers on my eyes.

Best thing about the bathroom?

It feels grown-up but also playful and accessible – everything is within easy reach.

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CASE STUDIES

ALESSIA GARIBALDI architect Garibaldi founded her eponymous Milan-based architecture practice in 2007. She lives in a first-floor, one-bedroom apartment in a 1920s building close to the Santa Maria delle Grazie church, which contains Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’. As well as the main bathroom, the bedroom also has its own compact ensuite O I first saw a tiny piece of Titanium Travertine marble during the

Salone del Mobile furniture fair one year and used it for several projects. Then, when I bought my own apartment, I thought it would be perfect for the shower in the ensuite. The colour is very particular – it has grey and brown tones, which make it look warm.

I also like the rawness and sculptural quality of the material. The shower enclosure is from the Gliss collection by Vismaravetro.

O I have a big passion for art and the shower shelf reminds me of a minimalist Donald Judd sculpture. In my projects, I always think about details that could be useful – and one of the most useful things to have in a bathroom is towels that are within easy reach.

O To make the floor space feel bigger, I chose a suspended vanity unit with floating shelves. I decided on oak because you can see the grain of the wood, which complements the veins of the marble.

O I’ve also tried to make the room feel more spacious by designing a mirror for above the sink to reflect the light (the rim also matches the gunmetal finish of the Fantini tap). Above the shower, there is a glass panel, which lets in natural light from the bedroom skylight.

O The wall behind the sink is painted with eco-friendly ‘Travertino Romano’ Oikos paint. It’s a decorative plaster made from powdered quarry waste and the idea is to recreate the effects of natural stone.

I like it because the texture and colour can vary depending on how the craftsperson applies it to the wall. studiodc10.com

‘I like the rawness and sculptural quality of Titanium Travertine marble – the colour is very particular’ I N S I D E MY B AT H R O O M

Garibaldi’s everyday rituals Daily routine? I like to go running early in the mornings, then I have a shower before I go to the office. I don’t have time for a bath. In my old home, I had one and I only used it once in a year.

Best thing about the bathroom? The lighting. There’s a mix of technical light – the spotlights in the ceiling by Flos – and a decorative light from Viabizzuno.

It’s really soft, so when you use the bathroom in the night, you’re not shocked by the brightness.

200 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

Clockwise from top A bespoke mirror maximises light in the small space; the Titanium Travertine marble is shown off to best effect in the Vismaravetro shower enclosure; Garibaldi in her Milan apartment

PICTURES: HELENIO BARBETTA/LIVING INSIDE

Favourite bathroom products? Hand and body soap by Culti. It’s a very Italian, very elegant brand and smells of sandalwood, which is nice.

:

Do you listen to music? I sometimes take my iPhone into the bathroom and play Spotify. I like to wake up gradually, so in the morning I start with relaxing music; I like piano pieces by Japanese composer and singer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

BATHROOMS that go BEYOND Brimming with personality, warmth and drama, these stylish spaces highlight how bathroom design has evolved beyond mere practicality into a space that can enhance everyday life Words KATE WORTHINGTON

SPA SENSE

To treat a bathroom as merely a functional room is to miss out on the opportunity of creating a spa-like space for relaxation. Consider it as an extra living area with homely additions like fabric window dressings and an inviting lounge chair.

Opt for a textural palette of neutrals, such as warm-toned stone and wood accessories, to keep the space peaceful yet cosy.

PICTURE: NANA HAGEL

Designed by Portuguese architect Manuel Aires Mateus, this bathroom for Lisbon hotel Santa Clara 1728 features a bespoke bath carved from Lioz stone. For a similar bath, try Cocoon’s special-edition bath in ‘Beige Limestone’, £14,000, CP Hart (cphart.co.uk). ‘CH25’ chair by Hans J Wegner for Carl Hansen & Søn (carlhansen.com). For similar tiles, try ‘Hoxton White Gloss Porcelain’, from £46.67 per sq m, Mandarin Stone (mandarinstone.com)

B AT H R O O M I N S P I R AT I O N

AVOCADO REVIVAL

Above left ‘Oska Jungle Green’ matt porcelain tiles, £47 per sq m, and ‘Casablanca Mono Décor Hexagon’ porcelain tiles, £48 per sq m, both Mandarin Stone (mandarinstone.com) Above right Designed by London-based firm Morales-Finch, this space features a bespoke sink by Mass Concrete (moralesfinch.com; mass-concrete.com). ‘Loft’ taps in ‘Vintage Brass’, £1,194, The Watermark Collection (thewatermarkcollection.eu) Left A bathroom at The Siren hotel in Detroit featuring custom terrazzo tiles by Ash NYC. For similar tiles, try ‘Siren Terrazzo’, from £276 per sq m, Balineum (balineum.co.uk)

204 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

PICTURES: MANDARIN STONE, OSKAR PROCTOR, CHRISTIAN HARDER, AVENUE ROAD

Yes, the trend nobody expected to get a second chance is back – the avocado bathroom is here to live another day and is proving that our appetite for all things 70s is at its zenith. Get past the (somewhat undeserved) stigma and you’ll find that, once removed from the context of fluffy toilet-seat covers and chintzy wallpapers, the shade is livable, warm and versatile, which is presumably why it was such a hit the first time around. The trick to ensuring the tone looks contemporary is to team it with modern details and go bold – the best uses of the colour we’ve spotted have embraced the hue unashamedly via wall-to-wall ‘Metro’ tiles, incorporating it with of-the-moment surfaces like terrazzo, or teaming with brass in a sleek bespoke basin.

ANOTHER DIMENSION Combining practical benefits, such as durability and hygiene, with sculptural flair, it’s easy to see why three-dimensional tiles are booming in bathrooms.

Whether there’s a large expanse of wall to fill or just a small stretch, choosing a relief design brings subtle interest to bathroom walls without becoming too overbearing, especially in muted, restful shades.

‘Soap’ tiles, approx £480 per sq m,

by Sebastian Herkner for Kaufmann Keramik (kaufmann-keramik.de).

‘Shell’ sink, approx £1,950, Nina Mair (shop.ninamair.at)

TAKE TO THE FLOOR

Owing to their practical and clean nature, bathrooms can often be devoid of pattern.

While walls are the obvious place to introduce an element of surface design, the floor is more peripheral – which means you can go to town on a brave and striking treatment that might not work on a vertical plane. To ensure a harmonious feel, pick out tones from the rest of the space in the design.

Created by Joanna Lavén, this room features Vanitas Studio’s ‘Semi I’ hard surface in Bianco Perlino marble, Jura limestone and Emperador marble, approx £921 per sq m (vanitasstudio.com).

Bespoke sink also by Joanna Lavén (joannalaven.se). ‘Golden Bell’ pendants

by Alvar Aalto for Artek, £434, Finnish Design Shop (finnishdesignshop.com)

B AT H R O O M I N S P I R AT I O N

BRUTALIST BEAUTY

PICTURES: VANIAS STUDIO/JOANNA LAVEN DESIGN, GREG COX/BUREAUX/LIVING INSIDE, JAN VERLINDE/LIVING INSIDE, KRISTIAN SEPTIMIUS KROGH/HOUSE OF PICTURES

Rugged textures and versatile shades of grey make concrete and stone the materials of choice for those seeking an edgy, utilitarian feel. Their innate strength and longevity are highly practical, and although concrete is naturally porous, it can be easily sealed and used for everything, from basins to walls and floors. These unadorned materials also provide the perfect canvas for playing with contrasts – go graphic with sleek black or white fixtures, or use warm metallics, such as brass or copper, to add a luxe highlight or two.

Above left For this guest bathroom, Daffonchio Architects created a bespoke brass vanity to counter its concrete shell (daffonchio.co.za). For a similar vanity, try Fish Fabrications (fishfabrications.co.uk), from around £2,500 Above right This space designed by Belgian architect Hans Verstuyft features a bespoke sink hewn from Grigio Alpi natural stone and matching floors.

Grigio Alpi stone, from £280 per sq m, Cullifords (geraldculliford.co.uk).

‘590H’ taps, £888 each, Vola (vola.com). For a similar bespoke mirror, try Alguacil & Perkoff (alguacilperkoff.com), from £900. For a similar ladder, try ‘Black Ladder’, £35, Barker and Stonehouse (barkerandstonehouse.co.uk) Right The concrete look in this space has been created with a waterproof Moroccan surface treatment called Tadelakt. From £179 per sq m, Tadelakt (tadelakt.co.uk)

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 207

B AT H R O O M I N S P I R AT I O N

WRITTEN IN STONE

When it comes to creating a show-stopping focal point, this spectacular slab of multi-hued stone proves that a little goes a long way – the clever use of a single splash of richly patterned, coloured stone is all that’s needed to make a statement.

Designed to be admired from every angle, this bespoke console can be viewed from two spaces, thanks to floor-toceiling windows behind.

PICTURE: ANSON SMART

Bespoke vanity unit, price on application, SJB (sjb.com.au). For similar marble, try ‘Blue Beauty’, from £1,200 for a 1.70m x 2.7m slab,Imperial Marble (imperial-marble.co.uk). For a similar tap, try ‘MEM’ three-piece basin mixer by Dornbracht, £1,364, CP Hart (cphart.co.uk

NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 209

B AT H R O O M I N S P I R AT I O N

HIP TO BE SQUARE

With tiles of every imaginable shape, colour, texture and decorative style on the market, it’s easy to overlook the humble square. But, as these striking bathrooms prove, there’s much creative mileage to be had from the simple shape. Create graphic arrangements with different coloured tiles to build interest and lead the eye around; play with scale using checkerboard mosaics for drama and a classical element; or immerse the space in a single colour using wall-to-wall tiles with integrated units and furniture.

Above right Interior designer Sandra Benhamou has created a unique design using plain tiles (sandrabenhamou.com). For similar tiles, try ‘Trasparenze’, available in various colours and sizes, from £50 per sq m, Domus (domusgroup.com). Vintage stool by Pierre Chapo Left For similar tiles, try ‘Maha’ unglazed mosaic tiles in ‘Black’; and ‘White’, both £56 per sq m, Topps Tiles (toppstiles.co.uk)

PICTURES: DEPASQUALE+MAFFINI/LIVING INSIDE, GAELLE LE BOULICAUT, ELSA YOUNG/ FRANK FEATURES (PRODUCTION: KERRYN FISCHER/FRANK FEATURES), KAREL BALAS

Above left The bathroom in this Belgian bungalow was conceived by design studio Altu (altu.space). ‘Colorful Series’ tiles, from approx £108 per sq m, Delft Tiles (delfttiles.com). ‘Cliff’ bath/shower mixer tap by RVB, from £1,074, West One Bathrooms (westonebathrooms.com)

SCREEN TIME

More than just a clever space-saving device, a screened-off ensuite has the potential to be a striking design feature and a way of incorporating unexpected materials into a scheme.

Choosing a translucent material also has the benefit of letting in light from adjoining rooms – industrialstyle mesh, coloured perspex or fluted or stained glass would bring instant character to both sides of the divide.

This ensuite by architecture and design studio Marcante-Testa features a custom vanity unit and a metal mesh divider.

‘Bonola’ basin by Flaminia Ceramica, from approx £533, Davroc (davroc.co.uk).

‘Life’ mixer tap, price on application, Bellosta Rubinetterie (bellostarubinetterie.com)

B AT H R O O M I N S P I R AT I O N

RUSTIC CHARM The area of the home where we’re at our most vulnerable, it makes sense to create a bathroom in which we feel comfortable and cocooned. Venturing to the moodier end of the spectrum and using tactile surfaces, such as reclaimed timber and plaster walls, is a fail-safe way to foster this feeling, but temper them with streamlined fixtures – such as taps and mirrors – to maintain a contemporary feel.

PICTURE: PIET ALBERT GOETHALS/VOLA

Brandler London can make similar bespoke vanity units, starting from around £4,800 (brandler.london).

‘021-28’ tap spout, approx £281; and ‘500-28’ tablemounted tap mixer, approx £621, both Vola (vola.com).

For a similar wall and floor treatment, try ‘Slate Grey’ and ‘Bronze Lantern’, both from £179 per sq m, Tadelakt (tadelakt.co.uk)

212 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

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Advertising feature

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Prices include VAT and UK delivery. www.glazebrook.com Tel: 020 7731 7135 216 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2020

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LUXURY LIVING For you and your home

THE SOHO LIGHTING COMPANY Two new sensational switch and socket ranges from Soho Lighting – ‘Edge’ and ‘Fusion’. Unique, screwless and hand crafted, offering unprecedented choice with a blend of up to three different finishes to complement your interior.

See www.soholighting.com or contact info@soholighting.com for trade enquiries.

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Visit: www.theoakglasshouse.co.uk or Email: info@theoakglasshouse.co.uk NOVEMBER 2020 ELLEDECORATION.CO.UK 217

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WINDOWS

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INTERIOR DESIGN, FURNITURE & FURNISHINGS

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ART & FASHION

In conversation with Fashion Crossover London Artist: Angela Thouless

“We want to celebrate female artists and how their discourse is voiced through their artistic and creative practices.”

Angela Thouless Fashion Crossover London Artist

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TREASURED /

YINKA ILORI Growing up in a Nigerian household, religion was important. Every Sunday we’d go to the Pentecostal church, and the thing I’d always look forward to was the dancing. Nigerian churches are full of music, and services on a Sunday might last seven or eight hours – you’d see friends, share jollof rice and suddenly most of the day was gone.

I made a bit of a name for myself with some self-taught percussion.

I’d be invited to play in different churches, and my mum would drop me off. I’d even get paid! I always remembered the talking drum [an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa] as such a big part of each orchestra and an incredible storyteller, as it’s often played to mimic voices as they sing. There’s far more to it than meets the eye.

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Witnessing the drum in action awakened me to the idea that a simple object can forge narratives, which has translated to my furniture as well – I think a lot about how a chair might tell a story.

I happened to express my interest in the instrument to an old friend, and on her next trip to Nigeria she brought me back this drum. The sound is so connected to memory for me – I can recall every time I danced to it in church. On one of my earliest visits to Nigeria, my mother organised a big party in a field in remembrance of my grandfather. It was like a family festival, with a band hired to play. I’ll always remember how powerful it was to see everyone dancing to the talking drum and celebrating my grandfather’s life.

INTERVIEW: CAT OLLEY PICTURE: RICK PUSHINSKY

Music is the common thread that connects the London-based designer’s most precious memories