INSPIRATION

INSP IRATION New fabric collections, inspiration, monkeys, flamingos and why the Left Bank of Paris is home from home for the Ashburton based interior design company, Artisans and Artists - Dec 2016.

INSPIRATION

Interior designer Susan Folwell of Devon based Artisans and Artists talks about new fabric collections, inspiration, monkeys, flamingos and why the Left Bank of Paris is home from home for the Ashburton based interior design company.

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Inspired New Collections The approach of winter has seen the launch of some inspired new fabric and wallpaper collections.

Nina Campbell's new Fontibre and Bargello Velvets collections feature designs, colourways and names inspired by places visited by Nina’s great uncle, the watercolourist Stratford Hely-Hutchinson Keightley. The monkey illustrated on the Barbary Toile is particularly engaging and reminds me of growing up in the Far East where monkeys, enticed by the banana trees, were regular visitors to our garden, I must confess to having something of a fascination with monkeys as a result.

Matthew Williamson, a designer known for his love of travel, presented his new Cubana Collection of fabrics and wallpapers.

Colours direct from the catwalk conjure up the glamour and excitement of pre-revolutionary Cuba in the era of Hemingway.

Flamingo Club depicts a nonchalant flamingo peering through exotic flora and is available in six colourways on fabric and seven on wallpaper, any one of which is sure to deter the winter blues. The design team at Black Edition have

Images 1. Nina Campbell's Barbary Toile from her new Fontibre Collection for Osborne and Little. Fabric and wallpaper available in 5 colourways.

2. Matthew Williamson's Flamingo Club from his Cubana Collection for Osborne and Little. Fabric available in 6 colourways and wallpaper available in 7 colourways.

3. Named after a castle on the River Tagus, Nina Campbell's' Belem wallpaper from her Fontibre Collection for Osborne and Little is available in 5 colourways. Also by Nina Campbell for Osborne and Little is the Bargello Velvet on the sofa, named after the Renaissance palazzo in Florence, available in 5 colourways, from the Bargello Collection.

4. Inky florals and weathered paint effects in the Kansai Collection from Black Edition. Kansai floral fabric (velvet or linen) and wallpaper both available in 3 colourways. Antica paint effect printed velvet in 3 colourways also available as a wallpaper in 4 colourways plus 2 colourways in flock wallpaper.

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5. Black Edition's Iroko wallcovering which is available is 6 colourways and their Mistra wide-width decorative sheer fabric which is available in 6 colourways.

also looked to high end fashion for colour themes and combined these skilfully with Japanese inspired florals printed onto velvets and linens. Kansai is an experimental collection that merges art with innovative layering and contemporary photography in a bold and vivacious palette, the results are elusive inky florals, elegantly weathered paint

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effects and atmospheric abstract landscapes.

Iridos, also from Black Edition, is a modern collection of lightweight weaves, sheers and semi sheers inspired by oxidised metals and earthy minerals presented in a metallic palette of copper, silver and gold that works perfectly with their

new Iroko wallcoverings collection of intriguing and deconstructed designs that add a contemporary twist to classic damasks.

Inspiration is vital for anyone involved in a creative profession whether curating or creating - and these new collections clearly show that inspiration comes in many forms.

La Rive Gauche - A Home from Home In our studio we are inspired by our clients and the houses that they ask us to work on. The setting of a property and the dreams of its inhabitants combine to fire our imagination, we add to this our experience and technical ability and then draw further inspiration from the materials that we work with, the films, art and theatre that we see, the books that we read, the music that we hear, the changes in the seasons and nature's wonderful offerings, as well as the places that we visit at home and abroad. We cannot, however, always explain every element of the design process - there is a little bit of magic that happens along the way. We visit Paris regularly on buying trips for the showroom and projects

(it is a short and convenient hop from "La Rive Gauche" shares characteristics Exeter airport), staying on the Left with our adopted home town of Bank in the 6th arrondissement. In Ashburton - the shops are individual, fact we now stay in a particular hotel the antiques and art galleries are that opened a few years ago and we fascinating, it is foodie and the even book the same room. We regard architecture is eye catching. We can buy superb macarons at LadurĂŠe on this creative area of Paris as a source of inspiration and a home from home. Rue Bonaparte on the Left Bank and we can buy them in the award winning Our preferred hotel, the Hotel Ashburton Deli. da Vinci, is a compact and bijou Renaissance inspired hotel housed The Left Bank is also full of creative in a typical Left Bank building with an enterprises such as fabric companies, intriguing history - the Mona Lisa was designers, architects, artists, antique temporarily stored here when stolen dealers, florists and perfumers and from the Louvre in 1911, hence the what drives these enterprises is inspiration for the hotel's name and the passion and inspiration of the its interior design. individuals who create and manage them.

Continued overleaf...

INSPIRATION A Curious Mind

One of the bedrooms at the Renaissance inspired Hotel da Vinci, Paris.

BELOW A Few of Our Favourite Places to Stay, Eat, Drink, Shop:

ADDRESS BOOK ASHBURTON

PARIS • Hotel da Vinci hoteldavinciparis.com • Semilla Restaurant 54 Rue de Seine, 75006 • Hotel Costes Restaurant and Bar hotelcostes.com • La Société restaurantlasociete.com

• Moorish Restaurant moorishrestaurant.co.uk • Number 14 14 North Street • Taylor's Tea Rooms 5 North Street

• Ladurée 21 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 • Stéphane Olivier Antiques stephaneolivier.fr • Galerie Epoca epoca.fr

• Francolins 17 West Street • Ella Artisans Baker 9 West Street • The Ashburton Deli ashburtondelicatessen.co.uk • The Fish Deli thefishdeli.co.uk • Kate Higham Jewellery kate-higham.com • Yume Martin Jewellery yumemartin.com • Tom wood Antiques & Curios 7 St Lawrence Lane • Etc Etc Antiques 19 North Street • East Street Antiques 8 East Street

• Galerie Geraldine Banier geraldinebanier.fr • Deyrolle deyrolle.com • 7L Bookshop librairie7l.com

• Alchemy Antiques 22 East Street

• de Gournay degournay.com 15 Rue des Saints-Pères, 75006

• North Street Gallery 22 North Street

• L'Officine Universelle Buly buly1803.com

Another key ingredient for any creative enterprise or individual is curiosity ... why that colour / will that texture make for a great result / if we combine those two materials will it work? ... endless research, questions and curiosity, to that end I decided to combine some research with errands and shopping in order to ask some of the creatives who are also lucky enough to live or work here in Ashburton what inspires them.

Popping into Moorish Restaurant to buy some of their fabulous drinking chocolate I find Owen the owner / chef is busy in the open kitchen along with his sous chef, he doesn't stop preparing food as he answers my question about what inspires him. "The Mediterranean, in particularly the Eastern Mediterranean, the Levant, those flavours. Yes it is about seasonal freshness but it is also about endless research and thought about what flavours go with what, Olga (his Spanish wife who runs the restaurant with him) and I may be in London or Spain and see something that makes me consider a new recipe - ideas come from everywhere.", he tells me as he places a tray of freshly prepared large and lovely looking lamb meatballs into the oven.

A few doors down Ella the Artisan Baker is busy in her open kitchen bakery as she tells me that she draws inspiration from her roots, that her parents were flour millers and had a windmill in Lincolnshire where, aged 15, Ella opened her first bakery at the mill. Nowadays people queue to purchase bread and cakes from Ella's Ashburton bakery, testament to the passion and skill that goes into the creating and baking.

"Oh definitely the seasons, look the John Dory are just arriving, that will inspire us to think about what we can cook." says Nick at The Fish Deli with a smile as he gestures towards his young fishmonger who is expertly filleting a large John Dory. This award winning deli is a feast for the senses and never fails to please.

We have not one but two jewellery designers in Ashburton and they can be found in their respective studio / showrooms creating unique and special designs. Yume Martin shows me her new Neptune's

Treasures collection and confirms that she continues to be inspired by nature. Kate Higham tells me that she is inspired by "the sum of all of my passions, interests and loves.".

Kate's partner, Tom Wood, can be found in his antiques and curios emporium next door to Kate's studio - this is a veritable treasure trove and Tom not only finds the most amazing treasures he is also inspiring when he tells you the background story to a piece.

"For me I can only see objects in terms of shape and colour, whether ancient or modern, valuable or not, if a piece appeals to me I will buy it.", Tom tells me in answer to my question as he places the most delightful small, carved monkey into my hand - he knows about the monkey fascination and knows that I am very unlikely to leave the shop without purchasing the piece.

The colourful palette of the macarons available from The Deli, Ashburton

Next stop is North Street Gallery to collect four pictures purchased at a recent exhibition. Christopher Johnson is the curator at the gallery and I ask him what inspires him to choose particular work to exhibit and the inspiration for the gallery's displays of work. "It only takes one really good piece of work to inspire a whole exhibition, whether it's a solo or group show there will usually be that killer piece that inspires how the whole exhibition will be presented, as soon as I see that piece I can see the whole show.".

Different answers to the same question but essentially saying the same thing - creativity is about an innate desire and ability to create, to draw together different threads of inspiration, experience, research and thought to produce something that resonates ... and then to do it anew. www.artisansandartists.co.uk

artisans and artists INTERIOR DESIGN

Bespoke kitchen featuring brushed oak cabinetry, stone composite surfaces, Pearl Ashes Aga, bespoke Venetian settle, African salt sculptures, Fortuny lighting, French antique holy water font, Indian antique inlaid table.

One of a kind interior design Oxford House West Street Ashburton Devon UK TQ13 7DU

info@artisansandartists.co.uk 00 44 (0)1364 653276 artisansandartists.co.uk