Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i The English Home

Creating our October edition is without doubt our busiest time of year. This is primarily because it features our annual curation of the most tempting new fabrics and wallpapers from the autumn collections (page 74), and believe me, given the number of launches there are across the whole interiors industry, this is no mean feat. The design studios work right up to the last minute, refining and perfecting their creations, tweaking colours and deciding what is and isn’t going make it into the final collection: they don’t stop until they are certain of optimum results. I love that pride and passion, and even if it does make our turnaround time to reveal them to you a touch challenging, it is a hugely exciting process, as we reveal in our Creating…

PURSUITS Take fine British yarn for a spin Since the Stone Age, wool has been revered for its unique properties which science cannot match. This 100 per cent natural fibre is renewable and biodegradable, and adds a cossetting cosiness when used to enhance a home. His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales launched The Campaign for Wool in 2010, a global endeavour to raise awareness about wool’s many benefits. Its annual Wool Week, held this year from 9 to 15 October, sparks activities and initiatives nationwide, reviving interest in fine British yarn and the hypnotic allure of clicking needles. Choosing yarn that has been reared, sheared and spun in Britain helps support local farmers and cottage industries. Visit campaignforwool.org for more information. Diary – events worth noting FESTIVE FAIR Seasonal…

In the pattern book, this wallpaper print of colourful Mediterrranean pots looks like it might overwhelm a room, but, created by the renowned interior designer Nina Campbell, it looks fabulously scaled when in situ on the walls of a beautifully decorated room. It is a lesson in trusting the eye of infinite experience to achieve the most sophisticated results Wallpaper: Collioure (NCW4300-01), £72 a roll, curtain and chair in Beau Rivage (NCF4295-01), £60 a metre, all Nina Campbell distributed by Osborne & Little.…

Each spring and autumn is catwalk season for the interior design world. No one is walking, of course, but there is an equivalent buzz of anticipation as the countdown begins for the shows where our best-loved textile and wallpaper companies introduce new collections. This is the moment that trends are spotted, colourings discussed and new techniques observed in the season’s prints and weaves. Every major fabric and wallpaper company has its own design studio, and planning large collections from original concept takes at least a year, often more. It is not just the design and manufacture that fills the months, but having pattern books made up to ship to designers and shops, too, and ensuring stock is in the warehouse to meet early orders. This timeline means next spring’s collections…

The selection of carpet is a means of adding interest to a room scheme, even if that effect might be as subtle as that of a pale painted wall. Considering the floor as a canvas will unleash the decorative potential of any room, with both plain and patterned carpets able to achieve this end. PATTERNED PERFECTION Of all the possible choices for carpet, a patterned design provides the most eye-catching result. “Patterns often add glamour to a space,” says Peter Page, director of Tim Page Carpets. However, with the introduction of pattern, the visual balance of interest in a room is altered and attention must be paid to the room’s other elements. “Keep other materials simple but mix it up,” advises Page. “Add textures such as leather, metals, velvet and…

FAVOURITE PAINT COLOURS I like soft, light and natural colours to accompany our papers. I tend to choose a light blue, grey, cream or brown from a bird’s egg, and in that lovely matt finish that most birds’ eggs display. Mylands is good for paint. FURNITURE & LIGHTING Birgit Israel and Richard Taylor have lovely pieces. Giorgetti makes beautiful Italian furniture with unbelievable attention to quality and form. I use Focus SB switchplates – translucent acrylic ones with brass switches that are almost invisible on our wallpaper. CRAFTSMEN Collier Webb makes amazing metal items and hardware – the beautiful, discreet touches that people often forget. We employ amazing craftsmen in Jingdezhen, China – the historic source of all Chinese Imperial porcelain pieces – to handmake de Gournay porcelain. INSPIRING LOCATIONS…

Aesme Sisters Jessica Lister and Alexandra Nutting established their business in 2015. A cutting garden in Hampshire provides flowers and foliage, and a workshop space in Shepherd’s Bush, London, accommodates classes. “Weddings form the basis of our work, but we’ve also done a fragrance launch for Jo Malone at Charleston in East Sussex, shop windows for Toast and a launch for fashion designer Christopher Kane,” says Alex. Tel: 020 87413543; aesme.co.uk Achillea Working from their shop in West Hampstead, London, Clare Embury and Kate Rader are inspired by the seasons and English flower farmers. “We love being part of someone’s story, creating moods and feelings with colour and texture, using the most amazing flowers we can find.” Tel 020 74311727; achilleaflowers.com Flora Starkey “I can’t think of anything I’d rather…

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC It was after the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in South America in the early sixteenth century that chocolate arrived in Spain. Served as a hot drink, with sugar or honey added, it soon caught on as a delicacy and was a favourite at the Spanish Royal Court. Within 100 years, hot chocolate was all the rage with the elite throughout Europe. Chocolate was also thought to possess health-enhancing qualities and was marketed as a cure-all. One pamphlet from 1660 ran: “By this pleasing drink health is preserved, sickness diverted”. The famous London diarist Samuel Pepys used it as a hangover cure: it apparently relieved his “sad head” and “imbecilic stomach”. Chocolate was even believed to cure women of infertility. CHOCOLATE HOUSES In June 1657, the first of…

The story of Vispring begins with an act of love. In 1899, James Marshall – an Englishman living in Canada – decided to make a comfortable bed for his wife, who had fallen ill. Using methods only previously seen in upholstered chairs and sofas, Marshall, an engineer, wrapped steel springs in muslin, padded them with horsehair and covered the construction in quilted ticking. Thus the Marshall Sanitary Mattress, as his invention became known, emerged as the world’s first pocket-sprung mattress. Marshall’s mattress design reached Britain in 1901, but with no bed manufacturers willing to adopt the design, two entrepreneurs – John Nolan and Frederick James – decided to produce it themselves. In 1911 the pair conceived a new name which has lasted ever since: Vispring. “The first two letters are…

• Looking forward to selecting and awarding Best of British Craftsmanship at Decorex. This will be my eighth time as sole judge: an annual pleasure as well as a challenge thanks to all the wonderful pieces on display. We will cover the results on our website and on social media (see below right for details). • Applauding support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month from a number of interiors-related brands. Little Greene will be making donations to the Breast Cancer Haven charity from sales of its paint during October (see page 17 for details) and Branche d’Olive will be donating £2 for every Peony diffuser they sell on their website during October to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. littlegreene.com; branche-dolive.com…

There is a true sense of craftsmanship to multifaceted objects due to the quality of work that goes into creating a piece and the resulting tactile detailing. The desire to champion craftsmanship has provided a new lease of life for mesmerising prismatic designs, the addition of which – whether hand-cut crystal, playful wallpaper or carved natural wood – will inject the home with a dash of eye-catching panache.…

Share in our excitement as we present a careful curation of some of our favourite designs from the autumn/ winter 2017 fabric and wallcovering launches over the next few pages. Whilst stylistic themes are broad, with no obviously dominating story – meaning there is something for everyone and, thankfully, no urge to follow a ‘trend’ – metallic finishes abound in many of the collections, adding glamour and modernity, whilst still retaining a timeless elegance. A case in point being James Hare’s Argento Silks, a sophisticated range of semi-plains with iridescent surfaces and interesting textured patterns resulting in a beaten-silver effect. Tropical prints have been pervading collections for a few seasons now, and there continues to be an exotic flair to some of the design motifs, with palm leaves, jungle flowers…

With the nights drawing in, thoughts turn to lighting – an often neglected element of interior design. How many of us simply make do with updating fittings or managing with existing sockets when, with a little forethought, rooms could be transformed into spaces that are both serviceable and beautiful? “Often considered the jewellery of the home, light fittings have the power to lift and complete a scheme,” says Peter Bowles, managing director of Original BTC. “However, consider not just the fittings themselves, but how you use them.” The approach is one we are all more than familiar with: each room’s lighting design is best undertaken individually, with the combination of ambient, task and accent lighting conceived to accommodate and enhance its proportions, levels of natural daylight and purpose. “Planning ahead…

NATURAL SETTING Foraging on an autumn walk can provide the perfect ingredients to decorate a rustic autumn dinner party. To make a napkin decoration, simply start with a bed of dry autumn leaves in marbled colours. Next, lay seed heads or berries on top – keeping their stems on for easy wrapping. Place two ears of wheat at the centre of the arrangement, and finish off by tying the stems together in a bow with co-ordinating raffia.…

Gardens – like gardeners – mature, grow and alter with time, occasionally favourably, more often less so. There is something wonderfully cathartic about reviewing, reassessing and redesigning an established garden. Sometimes this point of action is reached as a result of increased frustrations with a long-lived-in plot, or perhaps as a consequence of inheriting or adopting a garden, or moving to a new house and not wishing to live with a previous occupant’s garden layout. Whilst the idea of a mature garden seems an ideal scenario – with the combination of physical graft, design, vision and patience all having been achieved – the reality is often a harsh awakening, with the realisation that age and establishment do not necessarily equate to quality, practicality or the satisfying of personal tastes. It…

SARAH WARWICK , writer of Decorative Footnote, a buyer’s guide to carpets (page 114), has been editor and deputy editor of a number of high-profile interiors publications and is now a well-respected freelance writer and editor on interiors, design and property for magazines, national newspapers and websites. Having renovated and decorated homes in both England and France, she has put her research and knowledge to regular practical application. “As a serial house renovator and decorator, I treasure the daily inspiration my work writing about interiors brings me, while the licence to ask the country’s leading designers, creators and manufacturers for their insights is simply matchless. The essential ingredient for every English home? I’d have to name two: a nook for wellies and waterproofs, and a dog or cat to share…

When acquiring barware for the home, it is easy to conjure up a mental image of hosting in the 1950s, but the new appreciation for whisky, and a boom in the gin market, have made good bar accessories a necessity. Crystal decanters are a wonderful present for red wine drinkers, and beautiful wine coolers are a must for fizz lovers. Throw the ultimate cocktail party with our selection of elegant essentials.…

Julia and Phil Danaher’s architecturally notable house is a very special property, tucked away in the Somerset countryside, on the edge of a historical estate. “We do feel blessed to live in this part of England, where we can enjoy such natural beauty, peace and privacy,” they both agree. Designed by eminent architects Forbes and Tate, the Danahers’ six-bedroom Grade II listed Arts and Crafts home was built in the 1920s to house the estate manager of nearby Barrington Court – a Tudor manor house leased at that time from the National Trust by Colonel Lyle of Tate & Lyle. Barrington Court is still owned by the National Trust and was used in 2014 as a location for the BBC’s televisation of Hilary Mantel’s novel Wolf Hall. Julia discovered the…

Lady Fitzalan Howard married Lord Gerald in 1990, and in 1991 when their first child was only a few months old, they moved to the Fitzalan Howard family seat, Carlton Towers in Yorkshire. As it had lain empty for 20 years, the couple had to undertake an enormous restoration job, something Emma – as she likes to be called – admits to initially finding “very daunting”. Today, the magnificent house hosts more than 70 weddings a year and also has a cookery school, Cooks. Lord and Lady Gerald Fitzalan Howard live in a wing of the house with their three children, Arthur, 25, Flossy, 23, and Grace, 22, and their three dogs. How would you describe Carlton Towers? I always use the French term jolie laide when describing the house…

Colour has a powerful effect on the way a space looks and makes us feel within it. With paint and wallpaper companies offering a multitude of beautiful colours to tempt us, the use of colour in our own homes is limited only by our ability to visualise what can be achieved. Depending on factors such as the natural light source in a room and the existing architecture, a colour palette can be created to alter our perception of space, adding light or giving depth to certain areas. Colour can also be used to create a sense of flow within a room or between adjoining spaces. A well-thought-out colour scheme will provide a great backdrop for soft furnishings and other accessories, with the fabrics and wall colours serving to enhance each…

When I was collecting in the early 1970s, there were many more antiques shops in every High Street. There were more general auction sales where potential ‘sleepers’ (unidentified treasures) could be found. There was no internet. Collectors scoured the country and abroad to find that hidden gem. The recession and changing tastes have hit the antiques market. Many shops have closed and many traditional areas of the market are struggling to survive. However, there are indications of an upturn. Many dealers have joined together in antiques centres, many display their antiques at fairs and many deal primarily online. Some areas are very strong, such as the Oriental, Russian and Indian markets. Any good-quality, top-end antique in original condition that is fresh to the market will excite collectors’ interest. I am…

There is nothing quite like an online community for sharing ideas and information. With an evocative image, the briefest of captions, and a tap of the screen here and there, entire worlds may be discovered, revolutions fomented and love professed. And of the myriad topics that may be explored, few subjects are as transporting as floral design, where a tulip – deeply hued and painterly – a breath of spring blossom or a dahlia as rich as silk velvet communicate emotion unspoken. It is little surprise that the busiest of these accounts – by Swallows & Damsons or Charlie McCormick, for instance – attract tens of thousands of followers and garner a popularity almost unheard of until now, to become, in many ways, the rock stars of the world of…

ÅKESSON’S Bertil Åkesson’s chocolates are made from beans grown on his plantations in Brazil, Bali and Madagascar. As well as creating his own single-estate chocolate, he supplies many top chefs and chocolate makers around the world. Visit his shop at 15b Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London. akessons-organic.com COCOA WONDERLAND This delightful Sheffield-based chocolate shop and cafe is a self-styled ‘emporium of delights’. Staff handmake these tempting treats in a sweet little chocolate factory on site. Chocolate afternoon teas and chocolate parties are also part of the experience. cocoawonderland.co.uk PRESTAT Founded in 1902 and one of London’s oldest chocolate shops, Prestat boasts two Royal Warrants. View its tempting range of handmade chocolates and artisan truffles, sold in beautifully designed boxes, at 14 Princes Arcade, St James’s, London and good supermarkets. prestat.co.uk…