Cabbages & Roses: Living Life Beautifully

Š CICO Books 2014 CABBAGES & ROSES

Living Life Beautifully Christina Strutt

Text by Nancy Alsop Photography by Simon Brown

© CICO Books 2014

Š CICO Books 2014

contents Introduction 6 Chapter 1: Talking shop 10 Chapter 2: Odds and ends 56 Chapter 3: Floral tribute 78 Chapter 4: All the world’s a stage 94 Chapter 5: Plain truths 106 Chapter 6: Of fantasy and fairy tale 116 Chapter 7: Cottage industry 128 Chapter 8: London calling 176 Fabric directory 188 Index 191 Useful addresses 192

© CICO Books 2014

Š CICO Books 2014

Opposite: The fresh blue frock hanging up by the window

alongside the blue plimsolls perched on the window give the impression that you have stumbled into somebody's particularly exquisite dressing room. The bench-hung jumpers and the armchair do nothing to disabuse you of the notion.

Above left: When seen in detail, the beauty of these collectable

eighteenth-century volumes is clear, from the handmade paper to the elegant lettering on the spines.

Above right: A detail of an eighteenth-century frame, its wear

and tear imbuing it with all the more character.

Right: From Dickens to ramblers’ guides: the miscellaneous

literature on offer at Cabbages & Roses.

Overleaf, left: These unfussy white shelves provide a simple

and effective backdrop to the objects they harbor, from wire cages and candles to the elegantly feminine forms of gleaming glass decanters.

Overleaf, right: An oversized white teacup expresses perfectly

the simple life as espoused by Cabbages & Roses.

Š CICO Books 2014

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odds and ends

© CICO Books 2014 “We mosey into the office, we check emails, we arrange for people to come visit. And when they do come, they’re normally here for about three hours.

It is lovely—they sit on this chair, and that one, and then maybe they walk around, and they have a cup of tea.”

Opposite and above right: The sitting

room of Brigette and Robin’s house provides a perfect balance to the veranda. While the former is emblematic of care-free summers, the latter is like a warm, enveloping embrace, ushering you in to its deep, warm colors, beckoning with its deep red tartan sofa, and inviting with its excess of rugs. Rich, deep colors are everywhere, from the flower-patterned cushions to the joyfully striped pouffe.

fabrics are named after the children, whose pictures, in turn, decorate the interior of the house. Angus, the eldest of the Buchanan brood, is poised to start working alongside his parents, the idea being that he will eventually take over from them. However, as Brigette says, “I think it’s better for him to have his own area, so he doesn’t tell us what to do and we don’t tell him what to do. We don’t really want to change, however bad we are at the computer and all that! He will bring in young, fresh ideas and run it in a much more up-to-date fashion—which it needs. It’s nice that he’s interested, because we’ve never told him he has to be.”

Meanwhile, Brigette and Christina’s earlier collaboration—and, moreover, their longstanding comradeship—is evidenced not only in the fact that they still hold annual sales together (alternately here and at Brook Cottage in Somerset), but also by the photographs dotted about the Buchanans’ kitchen of the two together before Cabbages & Roses or Odd were even conceived. “I don’t think our styles necessarily influence odds and ends

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© CICO Books 2014

© CICO Books 2014

© CICO Books 2014 Beauty, simplicity, longevity, integrity, and sustainability are the core values that underpin the ethos of Christina Strutt’s iconic company, Cabbages & Roses. Living Life Beautifully shows how Christina has put these values into practice in her own home and work spaces, and those of a number of artists who share a love of Cabbages & Roses, to create beautiful places where life and work mingle. From a country house to an urban apartment, Christina shows how easy it is to live life beautifully.

interiors £25.00 US $40.00 Priced higher in Canada

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