LO S A N G E L ES N E W YO R K LO N D O N

Sicis masterfully evolves its presence in the word

of interiors and lifestyle with an exclusive collection
of prestigious fabrics and unique decors,
gracefully highlighting the mosaic inspiration
transformed into elegant and prestigious weaves

SICIS Showroom London

15A Dover St, Mayfair, W1S 4LR

www.sicis.com
Redefi ning Interiors
 CONTENTS MARCH 2020

47 BOOKS 110 A MARRIAGE OF MINDS

Reading on art, architecture and design Robert Kime sprang to mind at once when
fashion designer Tory Burch sought to zhoosh

57 SERIOUS PURSUITS
up her husband’s Normandy manor. It’s now
as spicy as a snuff box, says Ros Byam Shaw
Auctions, antique fairs and diverting activities

60 DESIGN WEEK FABRICS 122 GOLDEN OLDIE

Showing the season’s new fabrics, Jessica No-one can hold a candelabra to Orfebre Seco
Hayns and Max Egger get the show on the road in Seville, the longest-trading goldsmith’s in
southern Europe. From trophies to tabernacles,

73
Hugo Beccacece lauds the firm’s lustre for life
ADDRESS BOOK
Suppliers in this issue
128 DAYLIGHT SAVIOUR
COVER Norwegians wooed – ‘fainting rooms’
off this green salon in an 18th-century pleas- 74 NETWORK
Designed to follow the sun’s course, Jacques
Dupuis’s postwar Brussels house is full of
ure palace near to Bergen were set aside for Merchandise and events worldwide
amorous liaisons. Make advances on page 76. surprises, from an in-wall aquarium to a
Isn’t it good? Photograph: Ivan Terestchenko cocktail bar. Valérie Lapierre is hot on its trail
148 INSPIRATION
How to recreate some of the design
effects in this issue, by Grace McCloud ART & ANTIQUES
152 106
20
EXHIBITION DIARY
ANTENNAE The Baroque perspective, Him here, paint HEADLINE NEWS
What’s new in style, decoration and design, pioneers, plus Charlotte Edwards’s listings Picasso could make high art out of humble
chosen by Nathalie Wilson objects – be it a napkin turned into a face or

176
real newsprint collaged into a picture. Charles

26
JOURNAL OF AN ISLAMIC DESIGN Darwent records the roar of a paper tiger
THE LAING VIEW EXPERT Eric Broug has made himself an
John Laing & Sons built the Barbican, the M1 authority on the faith’s dizzying geometry
and much more, as Stephen Patience reports
138 ARTIST’S DIGS

INTERIORS In the farm in upstate New York she shares with

33 ANTENNAE ROUNDUP
husband Gary Hume, Georgie Hopton makes
monoprints from her own fruit and veg.
76
Our selection from London Design Week
MOURNING GLORY She shows what she reaps to Augusta Pownall
Perhaps the best-preserved wooden building
in Europe, this Rococo summer house in
Bergen, Norway, was built for entertainment. FROM THE ARCHIVE
Marie-France Boyer parties like it’s 1799
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Receive 12

96 86
issues delivered direct to your home address. Call
01858 438815 or fax 01858 461739. Alternatively, FUEL MARKS
SCIONS AND SIGNIFIERS
you can visit us at www.worldofinteriors.co.uk
A Qing-dynasty study hall near Hong Kong, Juerg Judin transformed a 1950s Shell garage
Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ. Postmaster: Send address built by the powerful Tang family to train its into Berlin’s grooviest gallery and apartment.
corrections to ‘The World of Interiors’ c/o Mercury Airfreight Inter-
national Ltd Inc, 2323 Randolph Avenue, Avenel NJ 07001, ‘The World of
sons for civil-service exams, is an object lesson A pumped Jane Neal puts leaded in her
Interiors’ (ISSN 0264-083X) is published monthly. Vol 39 no 3, total 450 in honouring the past, learns Corentine Guillot pencil. First published: November 2008
 smeg.com

Refrigerator FAB50
Shared Intimacy:
The Greatest Modern Luxury.
Introducing Plural designed for VitrA by Terri Pecora.

plural.vitra.co.uk
To find your nearest showroom please visit: vitra-showrooms.co.uk
/ @vitrabathrooms
THE HEVENINGHAM
COLLECTION
Vogue House Hanover Square L ondon W1s 1Ju Tel 020 7499 9 08 0

EDITOR Rupert Thomas

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jessica Hayns

ART DIRECTOR Mark Lazenby

DEPUTY EDITOR Nathalie Wilson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, PARIS Marie-France Boyer

FINE ARTS & FEATURES EDITOR Charlotte Edwards

SENIOR EDITORIAL STYLIST Miranda Sinclair

EDITORIAL STYLISTS Max Egger, Maude Smith

EDITORIAL MANAGER/
INSPIRATION EDITOR Grace McCloud

CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Damian Thompson

SUB-EDITOR Gareth Wyn Davies

ART EDITORS Simon Witham

Liam Stevens

EDITOR’S PA Ariadne Fletcher

NEW YORK EDITOR Carol Prisant

FOUNDING EDITOR Min Hogg
$

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Sarah Jenson

COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER Xenia Dilnot
SENIOR PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Helen Crouch
ACTING PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR Milly Aylott Harvey
COMMERCIAL, PAPER & DISPLAY
PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Martin MacMillan
$

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Richard Kingerlee

NEWSTRADE MARKETING MANAGER Olivia Streatfield

SUBSCRIPTION Patrick Foilleret (Director)

Anthea Denning (Creative Design Manager)
Lucy Rogers-Coltman, Brittany
Mills (Direct Marketing Managers)
Alan Paterson (Database Insight and
Marketing Manager)
Claudia Long (Assistant Promotions and
Marketing Manager)
US SUBSCRIPTION SALES The World of Interiors, Freepost PO Box 37861,
Boone, Iowa 50037-2861 (Tel: 888-737-9456.
E-mail: [email protected])

THE WORLD OF INTERIORS (ISSN 0264-083X) is published monthly by The Condé Nast
Publications Ltd, Vogue House, 1 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JU. Telephone 020 7499 9080.
Fax 020 7493 4013. ©2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written
permission is strictly prohibited. Printed in the UK by Walstead Roche. Colour origination
by williamslea. Dis tri buted by Frontline, Midgate House, Peterborough, Cambs PE1 1TN,
United Kingdom (tel: 01733 555 161). ‘The World of Interiors’ is a registered trade mark
belonging to The Condé Nast Publications Ltd. Subscription rates (per year, inc postage): UK
£59.88. USA (air-assisted periodicals postage) $99; USPS Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica, NY
11431. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15,
146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Europe (airmail) EU 99 euros, outside EU
£80. Rest of World (airmail) £99. Subscription enquiries, change of address and orders payable to:
The World of Interiors, Subscription Department, Tower House, Lathkill St, Market Harborough,
Leics LE16 9EF (01858 438815). Orders on www.subscription.co.uk/woi. Subscriptions enquiries
on [email protected]. Subscriptions hotline: 0844 848 5202, open Mon-Fri
www.heveningham.co.uk 8am-9.30pm, Sat 8am-4pm. Manage your subscription online 24 hours a day by logging on to
www.subscription.co.uk/help/condenast. The paper used for this publication is based on renewable
[email protected] wood fibre. The wood these fibres are derived from is sourced from sustainably managed forests
and controlled sources. The producing mills are EMAS registered and operate according to highest
environmental and health and safety standards. This magazine is fully recyclable – please log on to
+44 (0) 1424 838483 www.recyclenow.com for your local recycling options for paper and board.
 CONNECT, CONVERSE
& CREATE WITH
MASTERS OF DESIGN

OVER 10 0 EVENTS +
NEW COLLECTIONS

TRADE PREVIEW
8 – 10 March
ALL WELCOME
11 – 13 March

w w w.dcch.co.uk | @designcentrech | #LDW20AtDCCH

 Vogue House Hanover Square L ondon W1s 1Ju Tel 020 7499 9 08 0

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Emma Redmayne

PA TO PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Freya Hill
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Sophie Catto
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS (EUROPE) Alexandra Bernard
(Tel: +33 5 5652 5761
E-mail: [email protected])
Christopher Daunt (Tel: +44 20 7152 3755
E-mail: [email protected])
ADVERTISING DIRECTORS Georgina Penney, Marina Connolly
ACCOUNT DIRECTORS Lorna Clansey-Gramer, Nichole Mika
SENIOR DIGITAL ACCOUNT DIRECTOR Sayna Blackshaw
SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGERS Olivia McHugh, Olivia Capaldi
ACCOUNT MANAGER Pandora Lewis
THE INTERIORS INDEX Sophia Salaman (Editor)
Aliénor Cros (Account Manager)
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Sophia Salaman
SPECIAL PROJECTS Melinda Chandler (Head of Special Projects)
Joan Hecktermann (Art Director)
Richard Sanapo (Art Editor)
Rebecca Gordon-Watkins (Art Editor)
Arta Ghanbari (Special Projects Editor)
Christie Berry (Project Co-ordinator/Copywriter)
Freya Hill (Event Co-ordinator)
CLASSIFIED Shelagh Crofts (Director)
Lucy Hrynkiewicz-Sudnik (Senior Advertisement Manager)
Fiona McKeon, Charlotte Morris (Sales Executives)
MEDIA RESEARCH Jamie Rudick (Head of Research/Insight)
Lauren Hays-Wheeler (Research Executive)
US ADVERTISING Nichole Mika (Tel: 011 4420 7152 3838
E-mail: [email protected])
REGIONAL OFFICE Karen Allgood (Regional Sales Director)
Heather Mitchell (Account Director)
ITALIAN OFFICE Christopher Daunt (Associate Publisher)
Cesare Fiorucci – interiors
Carlo Fiorucci – interiors
(Tel: +39 0362 232210
E-mail: [email protected])
Valentina Donini – fashion
(Tel: +39 028 051422
E-mail: [email protected])
$

CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER Simon Gresham Jones

DIGITAL COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Malcolm Attwells
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Helen Placito
$

EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATION & RIGHTS Harriet Wilson (Director)

EDITORIAL BUSINESS
MANAGER Jessica Borges
$

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Sabine Vandenbroucke

HEAD OF FINANCE Daisy Tam
HR DIRECTOR Hazel McIntyre
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Emily Hallie
$

MANAGING DIRECTOR Albert Read

THE WORLD OF INTERIORS is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation

(which regulates the UK’s magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors’ Code of
Practice [www.ipso.co.uk/editors-code-of-practice] and are committed to upholding the highest
standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a
complaint please see our Editorial Complaints Policy on the Contact Us page of our website, or
contact us at [email protected], or by post to Complaints, Editorial Business
Department, Condé Nast Publications Ltd, Vogue House, Hanover Square, London W1S 1JU.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO
or the Editors’ Code, ring IPSO on 0300 123 2220, or visit www.ipso.co.uk
Matki EauZone Plus
The most luxurious Shower Doors and Shower Trays
Beautifully engineered in the UK

Shower Controls, Deluge and Basin Mixer supplied by Swadling Brassware

F O R A B R O C H U R E A N D N E A R E S T B AT H R O O M S P E C I A L I S T C A L L 01 4 5 4 3 2 8 811 | W W W. M AT K I . C O. U K | M AT K I P L C , B R I S TO L B S 3 7 5 P L
 antennae
What’s in the air this month, edited by Nathalie Wilson

1 ‘Gorgeous light fittings and accessories are

the lifeblood of our business,’ says Lee Lovett,
of Soho Lighting. For proof, look no further
than the company’s ‘Schoolhouse’ collection,
which is based on early 20th-century designs
and made with the original moulds and cast-
ings. Shown from top: ‘Warwick’ strip light
(£960) and ‘Glasshouse’ pendant (£420). Ring
020 3314 1433, or visit soholighting.com.

2 Little Greene and the National Trust have re-

newed their acquaintance, with seven wallpapers
that span 200-plus years of interior-decoration
history.‘Clutterbuck’ (shown) is named after an
owner of the Tudor hunting lodge Newark Park,
where a fragment of the c1805 paper survives.
Available in five colourways, it costs £85 per 10m
roll. Ring 020 7935 8844, or visit littlegreene.com.

3 With the introduction of its first passemen-

terie range, designed by Kit Kemp, Christopher
Farr Cloth has all the necessary trimmings for
2
chic soft furnishings. Shown: ‘Pop
Art’ border and ‘Ombre’ fringe,
which are both £90 per m and
come in a variety of colours.
Ring 020 7349 0888, or visit
christopherfarrcloth.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON WITHAM (3, 6, 8). © NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/DAVID SELLMAN (5)
4 There’s shabby chic
and then there’s shabby.
All upholstered furniture
will end up in the latter state event-
3 ually, but when it’s as well made and
timeless as Ensemblier’s the occa-
sional re-covering will revive it. If
that’s not the antithesis of the throw-
away society… Shown: Moor ish
‘Livia’ headboard (from £2,235 for
a single). Ring 07841 261220, or visit
ensemblierlondon.com.

5 This is not your common-or-

garden-centre variety of planter. It’s
a copper vessel that Vita Sackville-
West repurposed as a plant pot at
Sissinghurst. Architectural Heritage
has now created a replica measuring
94cm in diameter, which is yours
for £2,880. Ring 01386 584414, or
visit architectural-heritage.co.uk.
4 5
6 Being nine years shy of its 200th birthday,
Craig & Rose has an archive dripping with con­
tenders for inclusion in its ‘1829 Vintage Col­
our’ paint range. Fleurie, troubadour, Ottilie
and Victoria (clockwise from left) are four of
6
the 11 latest additions. Available in three fin­
ishes, they cost from £15.50 for 750ml of gloss.
Ring 01383 740011, or visit craigandrose.com.

7 Barbara Koeberle of L’Elefantino dishes up

the ‘juicy and fresh colours of southern Italy’ on
her porcelain tableware made in collaboration
with an artisan studio. ‘Colour Splash’ costs 7
from £20 approx for a dessert or breakfast plate.
Ring 00 41 79 362 7027, or visit lelefantino.ch.

8 Wool generated such wealth for England

in the Middle Ages it was decreed that the 8
Lord Chancellor should sit on a bale of
the stuff. Larsen’s ‘Thar’ (£115 per m)
probably isn’t suitable for reuphol­
stering the present­day ‘wool­
sack’, as its fibres come from
goats as well as sheep and
none of the 12 colour­
ways is scarlet, but that 9
need not stop the rest
of us from enjoying this
handsome cloth. Ring 020
8874 6484, or visit larsenfabrics.com.

9 Faux­bois effects have been created in various

ways over the centuries. Antique dealer Andrew
Weaving turned to digital printing, applying
images of his mid­century furniture’s surfaces
to create ‘Woodees’ products. Cushions start at
£48, including pads. Visit andrewweaving.co.uk.

10 The newish concept of

the garden as room has raised
the bar when it comes to furnish­
ings. Cassina’s debut outdoor
collection includes classics like
Charlotte Perriand’s 1947 ‘Dor­
on Hotel’ armchair in teak and
water­repellent fabric (from
£3,156 approx) and the contem­
porary, such as Rodolfo Dord­
oni’s ‘Dine Out’ tables (from
£4,164 approx). Ring 00 39 0362 10
3721, or visit cassina.com. r
antennae

1 Just as fancy hats are requisite attire for ladies

at Ascot, so stylish shades are essential trapp­
ings for well­dressed lamp bases. Lazuli Design’s
‘Turkish’ collection (from
£150) uses vintage textiles
found in the west of the 1
country. Ring 07932 545092,
or visit lazulidesign.co.uk.

2 ‘Handblown in Murano’
and ‘Pyrex glass’ rarely appear
in the same sentence let alone
apply to the one product. Yet
Campbell Rey’s ‘Cosima’ (left)
and ‘Cosimo’ glassware prom­
ises all the finesse of the former
and the durability and heat re­
sistance of the latter. From £85.
Ring 07944 140899, or visit campbell­rey.com.

3 Like giant 3D jigsaws, Patrick Schols’s be­

spoke cabinets are hand­constructed from
hundreds of custom­made parts, though they
look like one piece of sculpted OSB (oriented
3
strand board). Shown: ‘Congo’ (top) and 2
‘Mistral’, from £8,935 approx each. Ring
00 31 46 437 7108, or visit patrickschols.com.

4 Patterson Flynn Martin has brought its‘mod­

ern design sensibilities and colour palette’ to
bear on braided rugs, which traditionally used
scraps of fabric. There’s not a rag to
be found in the six designs com­
prising the company’s ‘Admiral’
collection, but they are all made
in the USA – a country closely
associated with the craft (from
$2,500 for a 1.83 × 2.74m rug). 4
Ring 001 212 688 7700, or visit
pattersonflynnmartin.com.

5 Looking for a hose fit for her 5

house, Linda Brattlöf found ‘the
same sad story: green, green, green
and orange, and giant ugly wall
mounts’. The six snazzy 20m PVC
ones (£85) she created resemble
handbags when coiled and come with co­ordi­
nating or patterned nozzles (from £42.50) such
as ‘Cobra’ and ‘Leopard’. Ring Garden Glory on
00 46 10 207 0507, or visit gardenglory.com $
This page, clockwise from top left: Basil Spence’s cathedral is aligned north to south, rather than the traditional east-facing ori-
entation, so that the building could incorporate the ruins of its 14th-century precursor; an RAF Belvedere helicopter was deployed
to lower the spire on to the roof. ‘The German air force knocked it down – we’re putting it up,’ one serviceman was reported to
remark; the concrete shell of the new cathedral rises over the ruined walls of the old, preserved to form a public space for reflec-
tion and memorial; the Flying Cross sculpted by Geoffrey Clarke, ready to be winched into position on top of the spire. Opposite:
Laing workers fasten the flèche – a 24m spire of interconnected triangles – in position on the roof of the cathedral, 27 April 1962
THE L AING VIE W
Involved in constructing everything from the M1 motorway to the Barbican complex, John Laing
& Sons employed photographers to chronicle its projects. Now, as Historic England makes
10,000 images from the company’s archive accessible to the public, Stephen Patience focuses
on how the engineers helped to build the new Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by the Luftwaffe r
 MILANO PARIS LONDON NEW YORK ATHENS BEIJING BUDAPEST CHENGDU CHICAGO DUBAI GENEVA HONG KONG ISTANBUL JAKARTA
LOS ANGELES MADRID MANILA MEXICO CITY MIAMI MOSCOW NANJING OSAKA SEOUL SHANGHAI SINGAPORE TEHERAN TOKYO TORONTO

#MolteniGroup

GREGOR SEATING SYSTEM— VINCENT VAN DUYSEN

 THE L AING VIE W

THE NIGHT OF 14 November 1940 was clear and crisp.

The full moon shone over the English Midlands, glinting on the frosty
roof of the Cathedral Church of St Michael in Coventry. And then the
fires came: for more than five hours, the incendiary bombs of the
Luftwaffe hailed down on the city, destroying its Medieval centre and
some 4,300 houses, killing 568 people, and reducing the 14th-century
cathedral to a burnt-out shell.
The decision to rebuild the cathedral was taken the next day. But it
was not until 1947 that a public competition was launched to find a
suitable architect from within the Commonwealth, which elicited 219
entries. The winning design, by the Scot Basil Spence, was one of the
most radical: rather than rebuilding on the site, he proposed leaving
the ruins as a kind of memorial piazza, a walled garden formed by the
skeletal Gothic arches and the original steeple, which had survived.
Spence’s new cathedral was to be built adjacent to it, seemingly growing
out of the ruins. An elegant essay in International Modernism, it finds
harmony with its Gothic neighbour by means of pink sandstone and an
airy colonnaded entrance that bridges the transition from old to new.
Construction, which began in 1956, was undertaken by John Laing
& Sons, a Victorian firm (est. 1848 and still operating today) that in the
atomic age became associated with various major public infrastructure
works, from the M1 and M6 motorways to the Barbican complex and
the first commercial nuclear power station. The pictures on these pages
are drawn from the John Laing Photographic Collection, a cache of
some 230,000 historic images – taken for the most part by anonymous
photographers from the engineering company – that has been pre-
served for the nation by Historic England. Its ‘Breaking New Ground’
project, dedicated to digitising and cataloguing these images, has just
made 10,000 of them freely accessible to the public, offering an intrigu-
ing insight into the construction of everything from car parks to Center
Parcs. An oral history is also being compiled to archive the human con-
tributions behind these gargantuan postwar projects. John W. Laing,
who took over the family firm in 1914, was something of a pioneer in his
concern for his workers’ welfare, introducing such innovations as paid
holidays and a company benevolent fund. The new Coventry Cathedral
was a project close to Laing’s heart, and signing the contract in 1956 From top: the ecumenical Chapel of Unity was de-
was one of his final acts before standing down as chairman; a deeply signed to resemble a tent; craftsmen work on one of
spiritual man, he resolved that construction ‘must be done without any the 195 stained-glass panels in John Piper’s abstract
profit motive, and that everything must be of the very best quality’. baptistery window; one of the 14 cruciform columns
While defiantly Modernist, Spence’s architecture seems to reim- of reinforced concrete needed to support the vault-
agine the Gothic for the 20th century; it ruminates on what those r ed ceiling is manoeuvred into position in the nave
THE L AING VIE W

Medieval masons could have achieved if they had had access to civil-
engineering techniques of the 1950s. For example, the cathedral’s geo-
metric ceiling – which evokes Medieval fan vaults and was inspired by
a fly’s faceted eye seen through a microscope – is held up by astonish-
ingly slender reinforced-concrete pillars. These columns, arranged
in seven pairs, lead the eye to Graham Sutherland’s vast tapestry of
the risen Christ, which hangs behind the concrete altar. Coventry is
a cathedral built around art, rather than vice versa, and it drew on
some of the foremost talents of its age. Most striking of all their contri-
butions, perhaps, is John Piper’s baptistery window, a kaleidoscopic
abstract in stained glass that evokes a new dawn.
The cathedral is a serene space, dedicated to the principles of peace
and reconciliation, but nevertheless echoes of war are always present.
The new spire, a heavenly aerial of bronze triangles, was put in place in
1962 by the RAF’s Operation Rich Man; the 1,815kg needle was lowered
into position by a Belvedere helicopter flown by Squadron Leader John
Dowling, a former bomber pilot. There is also the matter of the cathe-
dral being consecrated to Saint Michael – most militaristic of all arch-
angels, the commanding officer of the empyrean army. The bellicose
angel is depicted in Saint Michael’s Victory over the Devil, a bronze by Jacob
Epstein that hangs on the east wall outside the cathedral’s entrance. It
was the sculptor’s last major work before his death in 1959, and was
transported to Coventry on a flatbed lorry. The two-part statue shows

ALL IMAGES: © HISTORIC ENGLAND ARCHIVE, JOHN LAING PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION

Michael, his attenuated physique like something out of an El Greco,
brandishing his spear over the supine figure of Satan, bound in suitably
Miltonic chains. The archangel’s face was modelled on Epstein’s son-
in-law, the noted economist Wynne Godley; that of the Devil, mean-
while, was a distorted version of the sculptor’s own countenance.
Economics vanquishing art? Well, it’s rather unlikely that was what
Epstein had in mind. But it’s tempting to view such mid-century pro-
jects as the last triumphant gesture before exactly that came to pass.
It’s clear from the cranes that loom over London’s skyline that large-
scale construction still goes on, but it is mostly corporate high-rises
or luxury flats that are tailored more to investors than inhabitants;
from where we are today, the idea of public works on such a scale – and
From top: part of Epstein’s bronze of St Michael’s vic- one, moreover, where the building firm waived any interest in making
tory, a bound Satan arrives on the back of a lorry; a profit – seems very remote indeed. But Coventry Cathedral stands as
Lady Epstein, the artist’s widow, stands with digni- testament to the idea of public spirit as much as spirituality. And these
taries at the sculpture’s unveiling ceremony on 24 photographs allow us to glimpse its genesis $
June 1960; press photographers gather on a balcony ‘Breaking New Ground: The John Laing Photographic Collection’ can be seen online at
on the 14th-century steeple, which survived the Blitz historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/new/breaking-new-ground-project
ULL A JOHNSON.COM
 antennae roundup
From chandeliers to sheepskins, Max Egger offers a few of his favourite things from London Design Week
For details see page 73

3
2

4
5
PHOTOGRAPHY: LIAM STEVENS (2, 5)

6
7 8

1 ‘Supernova’ chandelier, £17,994, Bella Figura. 2 Vases, by Edition Limitée, from £295 each, Ceccotti Collezioni. 3 ‘Rocky’ mirror, £2,250, Paolo
Moschino for Nicholas Haslam. 4 ‘Alfred’ cabinet, £6,480, Julian Chichester. 5 Left: ‘ET03’ tile, £220 per sq m; middle and right: ‘SC13’ tiles, £90
per sq m; both Via Arkadia. 6 ‘Navajo-Churro’ sheepskin, £1,170, Edelman. 7 ‘Max’s’ chair, £760, TH2 Studio. 8 ‘Florence’ table lamp, by The Lamp
Factory, £1,950, Nada Designs. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

33
 L O N D O N

Up to 40% off selected antoniolupi products

0333 011 3333 |

 antennae roundup

1 3
2

6 8

1 ‘Kimono’ wallcovering, £140 per m, Arte. 2 ‘Carrick’ wall light, £414; ‘Pembroke Lily’ linen lampshade, £63; both Vaughan. 3 ‘Hikira’ rug, by A Rum
Fellow, £440 per sq m, George Spencer Designs. 4 ‘Amanda’ throws, £299 each, Nobilis. 5 ‘Berkeley’ sofa, £3,330, David Seyfried; covered in ‘Snake
Dance’, by Jim Thompson, £86 per m, Fox Linton. 6 ‘Taurus’ rug, £864 per sq m, Pierre Frey. 7 ‘Historic Range’ curtain tiebacks, by Edward Bulmer,
from £160 each, Collier Webb. 8 ‘Oval’ bar cart, £600, Nina Campbell. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r
 antennae roundup
1

PHOTOGRAPHY: LIAM STEVENS (4, 6)

7
8

1 ‘Cremone’ with T-Knob, from £700, Nanz. 2 ‘Suhling’ side tables, £1,990 each, McKinnon & Harris. 3 ‘Athens’ lounge chair, by Thomas Pheasant, from
$7,497, Baker. 4 Mats (from top: ‘Tufted Stripe’; ‘Trellis’), by Fran ois Gilles, from £421 for 1 × 1.6m, George Spencer Designs. 5 ‘Elystan’ table, £16,533,
Davidson. 6 From top: ‘Uma’ embroidered border, £71 per m; ‘Ayana’ bouclé border, £64 per m; both Samuel & Sons. 7 ‘Clyde’ centrepiece, £315,
Arteriors. 8 ‘Plume’ marble mosaic, £35 per 30.3 × 35cm sheet, Artisans of Devizes. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

36
 antennae roundup

1 2

4 5

6 8
7

1 ‘Do-Re-Mi’ flatweave rug, £746 per sq m, Perennials. 2 ‘Madison’ sofa, by Andrea Bonini, £5,623, Turri. 3 ‘Bishop’ lamp, £1,554; ‘Bongo’ shade,
£263; both Porta Romana. 4 ‘Constantinople’ wallpaper, £420 per 7.4m roll, Andrew Martin. 5 ‘Nara’ tables, by Jean-Marie Massaud, from £1,641
each, Poliform. 6 ‘AC908’ occasional table, with Winch Design, £2,120, Summit. 7 ‘Phuket’ ottomans, from £1,928 each, Flexform. 8 ‘Hilton’ room
divider, by T. Colzani, £8,794, Porada. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book $

38
 French Art de Vivre
Nouveaux Classiques Collection
Photo Michel Gibert. Photograph used for reference only. Casa Bonay Hotel, Barcelona/wallpaper: sandbergwallpaper.com.

Eden Rock. Dining room, designed by Sacha Lakic. CHELSEA – HAMPSTEAD – HARRODS – WANDSWORTH
MANCHESTER – WALTON-ON-THAMES
Médusa. Light suspension, designed by Carlo Zerbaro.
In store interior design & 3D modelling services
SHORTLIST
1 ‘Green-handle Bambus’, by Ichendorf, £22, Designers Guild. 2 ‘Mia’ pitcher, by Mario
Botta, £125, Alessi. 3 ‘Ca’ d’Oro’, by Michael Sieger for Fürstenberg, £93 approx, Thomas
Goode. 4 Crystal ‘Octopus’, £495, Asprey. 5 ‘Gluggle’, £34, Graham & Green. 6 ‘Interior
Clover’, £260, Dior. 7 ‘Aviary’, by Sir Madam, £109, Amara. 8 ‘Oriente Italiano’, £186,
Richard Ginori. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

1 2
3

5 6
 PRETTY AS
A PITCHER
If you can’t get a handle on the loveliest jugs, let us pour oil on troubled waters.
Before you reach tipping point, check out these creamers, carafes and other con-
tainers, says Maude Smith, and go with the flow. Photography: Anders Gramer

7
8
 1 Painted ware jug, by Martyn Thompson, £450, 1882. 2 ‘New Standard Ware’, by Bernard
Leach, £70, Objects of Use. 3 ‘Cat’ measuring pitcher, by Kaye Blegvad, £22, Anthropologie.
4 ‘Voyage en Ikat’ creamer, £400, Hermès. 5 Terracotta jug, £126, Charlotte Barker. 6 Tilting
pourer with handmade willow handle, by Pat O’Leary, £100, Living Earth. 7 ‘Midnight Sky’, £100,
Ralph Lauren Home. 8 Lidded jug, £85, Mary Gladstone Pottery. 9 ‘Lundstrøm’, by Nicholai Wiig
Hansen, £95, Twentytwentyone. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book

1 2 3

4 5

7 8 9

42
 SHORTLIST
1 ‘Falcon’, £34, Amara. 2 Jug, by Hay, £35, End. 3 ‘Incalmo’, by Jochen Holtz,
£195, The New Craftsmen. 4 ‘Cleo Joffe Maeko’ carafe, £200, Selfridges.
5 ‘Strom’, by Raawii, £94, Heal’s. 6 ‘Pearl’s’ pitcher, by Joel Levin for Lily Juliet,
$390, Neiman Marcus. 7 ‘Ursula’, by Ursula Munch-Petersen, £49.90,
Skandium. 8 ‘Geo Vacuum’, by Nicholai Wiig Hansen, £60, Normann
Copenhagen. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

3 4

6 8
7
SHORTLIST
1 Slipware jug, £95, James Burnett-Stuart. 2 ‘Textured Armadillo’, £65, Debbie
Mitchell. 3 ‘Claude’, $450, Frances Palmer Pottery. 4 Jug, by Solimene, £42,
Divertimenti. 5 ‘Delft Swirl’, by Katrin Moye, £395, The Shop Floor Project.
6 Victorian-style floral milk jug, by Alex Dufort, £22.99, Brixton Pottery. 7 Late
18th-century vinaigrette jug, £800, Rose Uniacke. 8 ‘Cockerel’, by Andrew
McGarva, £98, Tinsmiths. Throughout: wine boxes supplied courtesy of Berry
Bros & Rudd. All prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book $

3 4

6 7 8
Chimneypieces | Lighting | Furniture
020 7730 2122 | jamb.co.uk
 Bullion heirs, wizards of Oz, chapter houses, ore inspiring, painters’ plantings books

FRINGE, FROG AND TASSEL: THE ART OF THE TRIMMINGS MAKER IN INTERIOR provided textiles and trimmings in lavish quantities to furnish them.
DECORATION (by Annabel Westman; Philip Wilson, rrp £50) In this A final blow to his female counterpart came with the introduction of
book a distinguished textile historian traces the use of trimmings ‘Dutch’ engine looms. Arriving in London in 1610, they could weave
from 1320 to 1970. It is a scholarly, painstakingly researched and between 12 and 24 ribbons and tapes simultaneously.
well-written account, copiously illustrated. Medieval royal, noble The book’s (chronological) chapters follow the waxing and wan-
and episcopal households had, of necessity, to lead a peripatetic life, ing of the trimmings trade, as it reflected national fortunes: the
and precious textiles could be easily loaded on to a cart and hung Commonwealth was a disaster for passementerie, but the Restoration
anywhere to bring an instant sense of luxury, power and prestige. of Charles II brought an upturn thanks to French ideas of luxury. It
Westman has used paintings to show details of trimmings from also brought the apotheosis of the state bed. It would have taxed any
the early centuries, many of them simple tassels painter to render the swirling silk-covered scrolls,
and fringes of gold thread, or brightly coloured coiled wire loops, silk-wrapped vellum and flossy
silks. In Salome with the Head of St John the Baptist, tassels of the festoon fringe on a Burghley bed,
German School, c1450, the charger with the saint’s shown here across a double page, in all its Baroque
head reposes on a linen tablecloth with a charm- splendour. A century later the Fifth Duke of Dev-
ing blue-and-white trellis fringe. Early trimmings onshire spent nearly a tenth of the total furnishing
were made by ‘silkwomen’, one of the few trades it budget for the private reception rooms at Chats-
was socially acceptable for a woman to undertake. worth on trimmings (the equivalent of £112,300
This was piecework done at home, making fringe today). The rise of the influential cabinetmaker
and woven lace (braid) using wool, linen and im- in the 18th century meant fabric ornaments were
ported silk. Many lived in Cheapside, in London, used sparingly, to emphasise, rather than disguise,
known for its numerous goldsmith’s shops, and the shape of a piece of furniture. Chippendale sug-
some silkwomen made fringes and lace from a gested that a chair should be finished with a sim-
very fine gold thread, imported in skeins from ple row of brass studs. Through the spare elegant
Venice. One of Henry VIII’s extravagantly hung 18th century to the overstuffed, over-trimmed
beds had ‘vallaunces frengid with a depe fringe 19th, Annabel Westman describes processes and
of venice golde and crymsen silke’. artisans, textiles and fashions in meticulous detail.
The change from the Medieval house and its John Fowler, in the early 20th century, was one
wandering life to the settled magnificence of the of the last interior decorators to use trimmings
Tudor nobility, who built such ‘prodigy’ houses as extensively. Westman, finally, despairs of fash-
Burghley, Hatfield and Knole, saw the rise of the ion ever embracing their use again $ ELFREDA
more professional, and expensive, silkman, who POWNALL is a freelance writer r

To order Fringe, Frog and Tassel for £43.75 (plus £4.50 UK p&p), ring the World of Interiors Bookshop on 0871 911 1747

47
 PICKETT.CO.UK

10-12 BURLINGTON GARDENS, LONDON W1S 3EY

149 SLOANE STREET, LONDON SW1X 9BZ
+44 (0) 20 7493 8939
 books

AUSTRALIA MODERN: ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE AND DESIGN 1925-1975 (eds Hannah

Lewi and Philip Goad; Thames & Hudson, rrp £39.95) The title of this erudite sym-
posium evokes a vision of the vibrant contemporary scene down-under, as mani-
fested in the work of Glenn Murcutt, Peter Stutchbury, Sean Godsell and their peers.
They’ve put Australia on the world map of architecture, as surely as Jørn Utzon’s
Opera House changed the Sydney skyline and outsiders’ perceptions of the country.
In fact this handsomely illustrated survey focuses on a hundred sites from the middle
quarters of the 20th century. The editors, two professors of architecture, may not share
the delusion that Modernism was defined by Le Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture, but
they speak of it as a historical phenomenon, distinct from what has been done since.
Modernism never went away. It has always been a hardy growth, with deep roots and
many branches, and it has continued to evolve, quickly shedding the decorative eclec-
ticism of Postmodernism that the late Charles Jencks so enthusiastically espoused.
Australia Modern is a valuable resource, though its claustrophobic layout and un-
dersized type give it the character of an overstuffed suitcase. It explores a legacy of
creativity that is little appreciated at home and almost unknown abroad. A team of
writers contribute thematic essays and describe a diversity of buildings in scattered
locations. They show how architects developed a thoughtful response to climate and
the aspirations of a newly independent country looking to break free from colonial
models. An isolated continent, many weeks by sea from Europe, could have served as
a petri dish for innovation, much as flora and fauna took on strange forms. But most
of the buildings in this collection are restrained variations on contemporary work in
Europe and the US, and radical departures such as the Opera House are rare. Popular
taste – excoriated by Robin Boyd in his 1960 book The Australian Ugliness – remained
timid and provincial through this era.
Boyd was one of the architects who pushed back; so too did Harry Seidler, who
settled in Sydney after working for Walter Gropius and Oscar Niemeyer. Seidler
launched his Australian career with a trio of houses he built around 1950 for relatives
– levitated boxes that are masterpieces of simplicity. As evidence of its broad appeal,
the Rose Seidler house was featured on a postage stamp. Boyd went even further in
the Walsh Street house he constructed for his family in 1958. The talent pool was
enriched by other immigrants and by Australians who travelled and studied abroad.
‘Indeed, from the 1920s all the way through to the mid-1960s, Australians work-
ing overseas remained a conduit through which ideas were exchanged, with employ-
ers like the London County Council having an enduring influence,’ writes Rebecca
Hawcroft. The Case Study House programme, sponsored by Arts & Architecture maga-
zine in southern California, was another source of ideas. In retrospect, the best work
of this period was a perfect match for a society with a healthy mistrust of pretension.
Clean lines and openness, honesty and frugality are among the virtues that the pio-
neers of Modernism embraced. Only towards the end of the survey does the work
veer towards monumentality. Australian architects of today have drawn inspiration
from this tradition of lightness and directness $ MICHAEL WEBB is an architectural
writer who authored the memoir ‘Moving Around: A Lifetime of Wandering’ (Oro/Goff) r

To order Australia Modern for £33.96 (plus £4.50 UK

p&p), ring the World of Interiors Bookshop on 0871 911 1747
 books

NOVEL HOUSES: TWENTY FAMOUS FICTIONAL DWELLINGS (by Chris­

tina Hardyment; Bodleian Library, rrp £25) Like the fanciful
little castles in the background of Medieval paintings, houses
in novels are often archetypes rather than fully realised places.
Square and stout, unwholesomely lavish, creepy: either a charm­
57 Pimlico Road ing picture of warm­hearthed domesticity or a spooktacular
London SW1W 8NE perversion of all that is homely and good. Novels, unlike films,
don’t necessarily rely on locations for their magic: we don’t
need to know about Holden Caulfield’s house to follow his train
Endless of thought. But Christina Hardyment makes a nuanced argu­
by Jason Miller ment for house­as­character in this lively book.
for Roll & Hill The structure is straightforward: 20 chapters, each taking on
a particular literary dwelling, from the Castle of Otranto through
to Hogwarts. Hardyment valiantly attempts a summary of each
scp.co.uk Est.1985 novel’s plot – sometimes drawing attention to how ludicrous a
19th­century story can be – before diving into influences, back­
ground and inspirations behind her novel houses.
Just as novelists select from among friends for characters,
Hardyment shows they pick up places from their lives too. The
various houses of Mansfield Park, for example, show Austen’s
‘preference of parsonage to abbey’, and accrete many details
from real houses of her acquaintance. While some writers sketch
their locations with just a few words, this isn’t always the case.
Take the exquisite Mackintosh­esque mansion Robin Hill from
The Forsyte Saga, which includes purple leather curtains, a marble
fountain surrounded by irises and a huge, white­tiled stove. The
book reproduces Galsworthy’s own meticulous, if naive, illus­
trations of the pile’s interior. We’re clearly sited in the develop­
ment of a new era: of hygiene, aestheticism and modernity.
Can a literary architectural trend influence the real world?
Hardyment thinks so. Sir Walter Scott creates, or at least whets,
the taste for ‘real’ Gothic Revival in Pugin’s mould (rather than
the prettier Gothick of Walpole et al). Life imitates art, perhaps:
or at least one art – architecture – emulates another: literature.
Hardyment gets into her stride when she explores women,
novels and domesticity. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin hoping to
effect change through the pressure of wives on husbands; moth­
ers on sons. The great, global injustice of slavery is made tangible
by situating it firmly in the domestic: a one­roomed shack, cov­
ered in flowers. In fact, it’s Stowe who gives us the clearest sense
of Hardyment’s argument. An escaped slave, arriving at his pro­
tectors’ house, realises: ‘This, indeed, was a home – home – a word
that George had never yet known a meaning for.’
House and home aren’t mere incidental details. They’re inte­
gral to our very identities: in life, just as on the page $ MATTHEW
OLDHAM is a freelance writer r

To order Novel Houses for £21.25 (plus £4.50 UK

p&p), ring the World of Interiors Bookshop on 0871 911 1747
 Green
A new collection of authentic National Trust colours including original shades from the homes
of Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Beatrix Potter. Available now.

littlegreene.com
0161 230 0880

Order your free colourcard, or find your nearest stockist at littlegreene.com

 books

LIVING IRON (by Vanessa Everts and Pauline van Lynden; Visual
Legacy, rrp £36) Our built and natural world is so rich in iron that
it scarcely seems possible humanity’s first encounter with the
metal probably came from meteorites. In the ancient city of Ur
in Mesopotamia, the word for iron was an.bar, which means ‘celes-
tial metal’. In Tibet, it is thokcha, which means ‘thunder iron’, while
the Inuit of northwest Greenland made tools from an ‘iron moun-
tain’ they said had fallen from the sky. This meteorite was found
in 1894 on the northern shore of Melville Bay and transported to
the American Museum of Natural History in New York, a journey
much complicated by the ship’s compasses being scrambled by
the giant lump of metal. By then, mining was long established, and
the Inuit no longer needed their sacred sky rock.
Such nuggets are strewn throughout this book by mother/
daughter combination Van Lynden (mother, writer) and Everts
(daughter, editor), who describe themselves as ‘alloys’ in refer-
ence to iron’s most valuable offspring, steel, in which carbon has
been added. Steel’s strength, flexibility and adaptability has seen
it used in everything from fashion – crinoline hoops – to con-
struction. The modern world was made from steel in the form
Nicholas Herbert Ltd. of skyscrapers, ocean liners, bridges, guns, railways and cars.
Iron is also used for building. Cast-iron churches were made
Fabrics & Wallpapers from prefabricated kits that could be assembled by missionaries
anywhere in the world; the Eiffel Tower is made from a variant
known as puddled iron.
The authors trace these developments alongside the complex
metallurgy and chemistry required to create different types of
steel and iron. They put in field work, visiting vast processing
plants, Dutch scrapyards and factories that turn out cans for food
and drink at the rate of 80,000 an hour. The book is sponsored by
Tata Steel, which means there’s enough money to ensure the oc-
casionally dry text is enlivened by dramatic images of furnaces,
white-hot infernos of molten metal and sparks.
Van Lynden came to the subject through her interest in rust,
and there are wonderful photographs of decaying iron and steel,
pitted and calloused by corrosion. Rust is inevitable but magnifi-
cently unpredictable. It can trace a text of mystical runes across
an iron surface or it can balloon a tiny nail into the shape of a
twisted finger. It can make metal as vulnerable as puff pastry, or
it can cause the metal to expand in volume so it’s strong enough
to crack stones. ‘Weathering steel’ attempts to control the rusting
process by allowing a single layer of rust to form over an object
and no more. It’s used by architects but also artists, giving the
Angel of the North its distinctive hue. Metal from the heavens,
embedded in the earth $ PETER WATTS is the author of ‘Up in Smoke:
The Failed Dreams of Battersea Power Station’ r

To order Living Iron for the approximate price above,

118 Lots Road London SW10 0RJ ❘ 020 7376 5596
contact the Visual Legacy Foundation at visual-legacy.com
[email protected] ❘ www.nicholasherbert.com
 books

THE ARTIST’S GARDEN: THE SECRET SPACES THAT INSPIRED GREAT

ART (by Jackie Bennett; White Lion, rrp £30) All gardeners are
artists, creating ever-changing landscapes of structure, vegeta-
tion and light, yet few of us down tools to capture our fleeting
efforts on canvas. In this amply illustrated book, Jackie Bennett
explores the relationships between artists, their paintings and
the gardens that inspired them. The 17 solo artists and artistic
communities featured share the common thread of being con-
nected to a garden that still flourishes and is open to visitors.
In 1889, Joaquín Sorolla and his wife, Clotilde, moved to a
leafy suburb of Madrid. The painter’s trips to the Alhambra ins-
Design Centre Chelsea Harbour samuel-heath.com
pired the family’s new garden, which in turn led to works filled
Made in England with light and dappled shade. Here the family could relax in the
Andalucían-style inner courtyard surrounded by cypresses and
oleanders or enjoy the splash of water from rills and fountains
beyond. Myrtle cuttings were ordered from Granada and a Cercis
siliquastrum planted for spring blossom. Sorolla had created an
intimate setting for his paintings.
Inhabiting a garden enables an artist to explore not just the
subtle changes of the seasons but light at different times of the
day and night, full and sickle moon. Henri Le Sidaner special-
ised in painting at dusk. In his garden in a sleepy Picardy village,
the Pointillist created monochromatic areas including colour-
themed white, yellow and blue plantings, the latter featuring the
BE A PART OF A MEMBERS’ CLUB IN THE near-blue rose ‘Pacific Dream’. He harnessed the base of an old
HEART OF THE THRIVING DESIGN COMMUNITY round tower to build a pavilion inspired by the Temple of Love
AT DESIGN CENTRE, CHELSEA HARBOUR at Versailles – it appears in The Tower with Lanterns (1926), a work
steeped in crepuscular atmosphere.
By contrast the works of Frida Kahlo are full of colour, draw-
ing on the plants and animals of her garden at the Blue House,
near Mexico City. Passion fruits, paw-paws, heliconias, bird of
paradise, toucans, watermelons and philodendrons leap out of
her canvases, often with Kahlo herself posed at their heart.
One garden can sometimes influence a group of artists and
over some 70 years from 1871 to 1938 the grounds of Kelmscott
Manor in Oxfordshire inspired the work of William Morris, his
friend and wife Jane’s lover the pre-Raphaelite artist Rossetti and
Morris’s daughter May. The wild garden here was a good re-
source for furthering the Arts and Crafts ideal of making prod-
Please quote WOIMARCH and receive a free branded
Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour notebook ucts with integrity; learning to weave, use natural dyes and seek
Whilst stocks last design inspiration from nature.
This book encourages us to slow down, absorb personal his-
Third Floor, South Dome ANNUAL AND DAILY
Design Centre MEMBERSHIP AVAILABLE tories and sense the artists’ emotional response to gardens as it
Chelsea Harbour For more information: unfolds in their works. We, meanwhile, can enjoy glimpses of
London SW10 0XE 020 7351 5842 their green spaces as they are now $ ANNE SWITHINBANK is a
gardening writer and panellist on Radio 4’s ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’
design centre LONDON

www.dcch.co.uk To order The Artist’s Garden for £25.50 (plus £4.50 UK

p&p), ring the World of Interiors Bookshop on 0871 911 1747
 SERIOUS pursuits
Auctions, antique fairs and diverting activities,
chosen by Gareth Wyn Davies

1 Restoration tour,
Blenheim Palace, until
9 Feb. 2 Honiton
guipure cuffs, Ramm
Exeter, 15 Feb. 3 Sèvres
teapot, 1783, Woolley
& Wallis, 4-5 Feb.
4 Sandra Blow, Study
for Cambridge, 1999,
1 Roe & Moore at
Anyone who gets a kick out of watching other people doing house- Connect, until 2 Feb.
work – and who doesn’t? – should head to BLENHEIM, where staff and
specialists are conducting their annual deep clean of the 300-year- 2
old palace in full view of the public. At a time when the house would
ordinarily be closed, this is a rare chance to see what goes into making it
ready for spring, from high dusting to delicate repairs.
‘This process is much more than just cleaning,’ says
Kate Ballenger, the head of house and collections. ‘It
is a careful review of the entire collection followed
by a thorough cleaning programme alongside the
ongoing conservation and restoration work.’ The
effects of that restoration are there to admire in the
north portico, where a 1928 ceiling mural by Colin Gill
immortalising the eyes of Gladys Deacon (see WoI next
month), second wife of the ninth Duke of Marlborough, 3
sparkles once more. The tours, on until 9 FEBRUARY, also take in
the priceless Bouchain Tapestry, recently returned to Blenheim
somewhat fresher after a year-long renovation in Brussels. It is said 4
that staff used to dread the tenth duchess snapping on her Marigolds
and summoning them to help her clean the china collection, so fastidious was
she and so tiresome the task. These days, it is gratifying to be able to participate
– as spectators – in such chores. Details: 01993 810530; blenheimpalace.com.
BRITAIN
UNTIL 2 FEBRUARY THE MALL GALLERIES, THE MALL, LONDON SW1 CONNECT. A Terry
Frost aquatint and a Canaletto etching are among the catch at this inde-
pendent art fair, now in its second year. Details: connectartfair.co.uk.
4 FEBRUARY SOTHEBY’S, NEW BOND ST, LONDON W1 IMPRESSIONIST, MODERN AND
SURREALIST SALE. Two fetching Fernand Légers lead the lots, alongside a
Max Ernst and a Chaïm Soutine. Details: 020 7293 5000; sothebys.com.
4-5 FEBRUARY WOOLLEY & WALLIS, CASTLE ST, SALISBURY THE JUDITH HOWARD
COLLECTION. Me old china: the Woolley & Wallis saleroom serves up a smash-
ing selection of Sèvres. Details: 01722 424507; woolleyandwallis.co.uk.
5 FEBRUARY CHRISTIE’S, KING ST, ST JAMES’S, LONDON SW1 THE ART OF THE SUR-
REAL. This is not a pipe dream: René Magritte’s A la Rencontre du Plaisir goes
under the hammer for the first time since it was painted in 1962 – with an
estimate of £8 million to £12 million. Details: 020 7839 9060; christies.com. 6
8 FEBRUARY CHARLESTON, FIRLE, LEWES, EAST SUSSEX BLOOMSBURY’S HIDDEN 5
NEIGHBOURS. Sapphic details: as part of an international LGBT-history fes-
tival, academic Jane Traies lifts the lid on a lesser-known lesbian love affair
in Sussex in the 1920s and 30s. Details: 01323 811626; charleston.org.uk. 5 Fernand Léger,
8 FEBRUARY-8 MARCH ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, SURREY KEW ORCHID FESTIVAL Nature Morte, 1923,
2020: INDONESIA. Take a trip to TW9 for audacious orchidaceous displays – Sotheby’s, 4 Feb.
and much more besides. Details: 020 8332 5655; kew.org. 6 Rupee from the
13-14 FEBRUARY PHILLIPS, BERKELEY SQUARE, LONDON W1 COOL BRITANNIA: THE reign of Sikandar
Shah, Sultan of Delhi,
ROBERT TIBBLES COLLECTION. Mr Tibbles is clearly a man with a thirst for
16th-century, Dix
Hirst et al, as this sale of seminal YBA works he amassed – which is ex- Noonan Webb, 27 Feb.
pected to realise £4 million – proves. Details: 020 7318 4010; phillips.com. 7 Laura Ellen Bacon,
15 FEBRUARY ROYAL ALBERT MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, QUEEN ST, EXETER Don’t Let Go, 2019,
THE STORY OF LACE. A short course tackling the history of a most delicate Jaggedart at Collect
matter. Details: 01392 265858; rammuseum.org.uk. r 2020, 27 Feb-1 March
7
SERIOUS pursuits

1 Milton Avery, Dancing Trees, 1956, Yares Art at the Art Show,
New York, 27 Feb-1 March. 2 Carved moonstone and diamond
brooch, A la Vielle Russie at the Winter Show, New York, until 2 Feb

15 FEBRUARY HOUSE OF ILLUSTRATION, GRANARY SQUARE, LONDON N1C

MASTERCLASS: GRAPHIC NOVEL YOUR LIFE. A must for solipsists drawn
to the genre. Details: 020 3696 2020; houseofillustration.org.uk.
18 FEBRUARY VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, RIVERSIDE ESPL ANADE,
DUNDEE TALK. Yasmeen Lari, the first woman to qualify as an archi-
tect in Pakistan, discusses ‘anti-architecture’. Part of an RIBA and
Vitra series of talks. Details: 020 7580 5533; architecture.com.
24 FEBRUARY SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS, LONDON
WC2 BY DESIGN. A second series of talks in association with Luke
Irwin gets underway. First up: the landscape designer Dan Pearson,
who will be discussing his career. Details: 020 7405 2107; soane.org.
25 FEBRUARY MERCERS’ HALL, IRONMONGER LANE, LONDON EC2 BECKET AND
LONDON. Prepare for martyrdom mania this year, the 850th anniver-
sary of Thomas Becket’s murder. Here Prof Caroline Barron pon-
ders the archbishop’s influence on city life. Details: gresham.ac.uk.
26 FEBRUARY-3 MARCH SOTHEBY’S, NEW BOND ST, LONDON W1 HUMAN
TOUCH. Stitch-up: a selling exhibition of works created by Ai Weiwei,
Idris Khan, other artists – and prisoners – to raise money for the
charity Fine Cell Work. Details: 020 7931 9998; finecellwork.co.uk.
27 FEBRUARY DIX NOONAN WEBB, BOLTON ST, LONDON W1 INDIAN COINS AND
HISTORICAL MEDALS. Mint condition: star lots in this sale include a
rare double rupee from 1807. Details: 020 7016 1700; dnw.co.uk.
27 FEBRUARY-1 MARCH SOMERSET HOUSE, STRAND, LONDON WC2. COLLECT
2020. An incredible large-scale woven sculpture by Laura Ellen
Bacon competes for attention with other contemporary marvels at
the Crafts Council’s fair. Details: 020 7806 2500; collect2020.org.uk.
UNTIL 1 MARCH CHISWICK HOUSE AND GARDEN, BURLINGTON LANE, LONDON W4
LIGHTOPIA. An ‘interactive city of light’ lands in the grounds of the
Palladian villa, with acrobats, music and – but of course – an 18m
peacock. Details: 07307 058893; lightopiafestival.com.
OUTSIDE BRITAIN
USA UNTIL 2 FEBRUARY PARK AVE ARMORY, PARK AVE, NEW
YORK THE WINTER SHOW 2020. Catch Manhat-
tan’s annual antiques extravaganza before
it packs up for another year. Details: 001
718 292 7392; thewintershow.org.
SWITZE RL AND 6 -9 FE BRUARY CHESA
PLANTA, ST MORITZ NOMAD The roving
mini art, design and architecture
fair takes on a decidedly Alpine fla-
vour. Details: nomad-circle.com.
U SA 27 F E BRUARY-1 MARCH PARK AV E
ARMORY, PARK AVE, NEW YORK THE ART SHOW.
America’s leading dealers assemble. Details:
001 212 488 5550; artdealers.org $ 2
 f
f

B E S P O K E H A N D - C R A F T E D C L A S S I C A N D C O N T E M P O R A R Y F U R N I T U R E

46 Queenstown Road, London SW8 3RY +44 (0) 207 622 9786
[email protected] frenchyfurniture.com
1 ‘Strange Loves T19048-004’, £127.50; 2 ‘Strange Loves T19048-009’, £127.50; both Dedar. 3 ‘Windward M594-
01’, by Mark Alexander, £120, Romo. 4 Crimson ‘Rugby’, £125; 5 Teal ‘Rugby’, £125; both De Le Cuona. 6 ‘Melford
Stripe 237210’, by Sanderson, £39, Style Library. 7 Indigo/putty ‘Axel’, £150, 36 Bourne Street. 8 ‘Bourne M595-03’,
by Mark Alexander, £120, Romo. 9 ‘Melford Stripe 237209’, by Sanderson, £39, Style Library. 10 ‘Spadillo Z610-
05’, by Zinc Textile, £80, Romo. Prices are per m and include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

3 4

10
9
DE S IG N W E E K FA BR IC S
With a bumper load of new fabrics on the horizon, you might welcome a steer. Worry not – like the 1973 Mercedes-Benz
parked up here, we’ve got it covered! From go-fast stripes to busy patterns, Jessica Hayns and Max Egger take the very
best cloth options seen at London Design Week for a leisurely spin. For details see page 73. Photography: Neil Mersh

5
6
1 Ebano ‘Blooming Flowers’, by Etro, £93, Turnell & Gigon. 2 ‘Ming Dragon 8019140-495’, by Brunschwig & Fils, £145, GP&J
Baker. 3 ‘Mansfield F7400-01’, £135, Osborne & Little. 4 ‘Zenaide 3001’, by Décors Barbares, £248, Tissus d’Hélène. 5 ‘La
Folie Persane F3467001’, £415; 6 ‘Bursa F3461001’, £175; both Pierre Frey. 7 ‘Ming Dragon 8019140-500’, by Brunschwig &
Fils, £145, GP&J Baker. 8 ‘Geishas M4049-03’, by Manuel Canovas, £85, Colefax & Fowler. 9 ‘Kashi 7898-04’, £45, Romo.
10 ‘Sivas F3456002’, £184.80, Pierre Frey. 11 ‘Cape Floral 44154-367’, by Travers, £121, Zimmer & Rohde. 12 Peonia
‘Chinese Garden’, by Etro, £93, Turnell & Gigon. Prices are per m and include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

3
4 5

10 11
 DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S

7 8

12
1 ‘Panthère 43760343’, £113.50, Casamance; trimmed with ivory ‘Le Pilat’ bullion fringe, £79, Samuel & Sons. 2 ‘Balsan M4042-
02’, by Manuel Canovas, £95, Colefax & Fowler. 3 Alga ‘Eden’, £156, Rubelli; trimmed with red ‘Le Pilat’ bullion fringe, £79,
Samuel & Sons. 4 ‘Tabriz F3453002’, £286, Pierre Frey. 5 ‘Iéna 43680186’, £131.10, Casamance. 6 ‘Laghetto Outdoor F7444-
02’, £65, Osborne & Little; trimmed with ivory fringe, as before, Samuel & Sons. 7 ‘Sylvana I6613002’, by Fadini Borghi, £420,
Pierre Frey; trimmed with ivory fringe, as before, Samuel & Sons. 8 ‘Bromley Print 2019109-195’, by Lee Jofa, £135, GP&J Baker;
trimmed with red fringe, as before, Samuel & Sons. Prices are per m and include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book

1 2

4
3

5
6

7 8
 DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S
1 ‘Polo M598-07’, by Mark Alexander, £110, Romo. 2 Water nymph ‘Koro’, by Duro Olowu, £260, Soane Britain. 3 ‘Kayar L9285-01’, by Larsen,
£120, Colefax & Fowler. 4 Indigo/putty ‘Axel’, £150, 36 Bourne Street. 5 ‘Fullerton F7405-01’, £135, Osborne & Little. 6 ‘Pigna 44680109’,
£87.10, Casamance. 7 ‘Snake Dance N9012272003’, by Jim Thompson, £86, Fox Linton. 8 ‘Belle de Nuit’, £156, Christopher Farr Cloth. 9 ‘Perry
Pears 226735’, by Sanderson, £59, Style Library. 10 ‘Kenya L9280-04’, by Larsen, £159, Colefax & Fowler. 11 ‘Felicia F7420-03’, £105, Osborne
& Little. 12 ‘Everest 629’, £119.50, Lelièvre. 13 ‘Salengro M4051-02’, by Manuel Canovas, £98, Colefax & Fowler. 14 ‘Hollyhock’, £135, Designers
Guild. Recycled plastic laundry tub, £17.50, Re. Fabric prices are per m; all prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

1
2

3
4

7
6

5 8

9 10
11

12

13 14
30 YEARS OF
RUGS & RUNNERS
W rogeroates.com
T 020 7351 2288
 DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S

4
1 3
2

1 ‘Parterre Geo’, £65, Designers Guild. 2 ‘Kasma 03’, by A Rum Fellow, £142; 3 ‘Kasma 06’, by A Rum Fellow, £142;
both George Spencer Designs. 4 ‘Aalto 001’, by Brochier, £248, Altfield. 5 Earth ‘Gem’, £72.50; 6 Pink panther ‘Gem’,
£72.50; both Linwood. 7 ‘Maud’, by Vanessa Bell, £55, Charleston. Recycled plastic laundry tub, £17.50, Re. Tiffin tin,
from £14, Objects of Use. Fabric prices are per m; all prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r
G R E AT HOM E S M A DE G R E AT E R
Award-winning residential construction and project management

Architects and Project Managers – Hackett Holland Architects Ltd

Main Contractor – Markstone Construction UK Ltd

markstone.co.uk

The World of Interiors magazine would like to thank Markstone Construction

for their collaboration on all exhibition and fair projects in 2019
 DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S
1 Red ‘Palampore’, £126, Christopher Moore. 2 Red/blue ‘Indira’, £243, Bennison. 3 ‘Marco RA351V36’, by Raoul Textiles, £444.60,
Turnell & Gigon. 4 Blue ‘Palampore’, £126, Christopher Moore. 5 ‘Ziba 00014659’, by Old World Weavers, £385.44, Turnell & Gigon.
6 Sandstone/azurite ‘Kalamkari Chevron’, £260, Soane Britain. 7 ‘Boukhara 632’, £152.50, Lelièvre. 8 ‘Jasper Bangalore Outdoor JO2012’,
by Michael S. Smith, £246, Jamb. 9 ‘Argo 2 0633’, by Raf Simons, £414.40, Kvadrat. 10 ‘Akira JP00014660’, by Old World Weavers,
£385.56, Turnell & Gigon. 11 ‘Cashmira BP10836-2’ £79, GP&J Baker. 12 Rose/teal ‘Shalimar’, by Fleurons d’Hélène, £128.40, Tissus
d’Hélène. 13 ‘Pomegranate BP10825-1’, £79, GP&J Baker. Prices are per m and include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

1 2

3 4

5
6

8
9

12
10
11

13
DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S
1 Green ‘Knotted Ribbon’, £126.68, Bernard Thorp. 2 Lapis ‘Lisieux Rose’, £170, Soane
Britain. 3 Blue ‘Chloe’, by Anna Spiro, £190, The Fabric Collective. 4 Blue ‘Knotted
Ribbon’, £126.68; 5 Red ‘Knotted Ribbon’, £126.68; both Bernard Thorp. 6 ‘Modern Toile
178620’, by Schumacher, £327, Turnell & Gigon. Recycled plastic laundry tub, £17.50, Re.
Fabric prices are per m; all prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book r

4 5

6
PASSEMENTERIE
by Kit Kemp

christopherfarrcloth.com
DE S IGN W E E K FA BR IC S
1 ‘Lionel 120884’, by Scion, £29, Style Library. 2 Thorn apple ‘Timbuktu’, by Duro Olowu, £260; 3 Baobab ‘Koro’, by Duro
Olowu, £260; both Soane Britain. 4 ‘Tula’, £62.90, Linwood. 5 Grenat vert ‘Timbuktu’, by Duro Olowu, £260, Soane Britain.
6 ‘Jasper Marina JO1065’, by Michael S. Smith, £218, Jamb. 7 ‘Tigris L9286-01’, by Larsen, £105, Colefax & Fowler.
Recycled plastic laundry tub, £17.50, Re. Storm lantern, by Feuerhand, £20, Objects of Use. Throughout: former shop-display
geese, £125 each, Charlotte Sellers. Fabric prices are per m; all prices include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book $

7
 ADDRESS book
LONDON DESIGN WEEK (8-13 March. Open to the public 11-13 March)
London Design Week takes place at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour and other select Chelsea-based showrooms. Participating companies featured
in this issue are indicated with a $ below. Entrance is free and there is no need to book. For more information, ring 020 7225 9166, or visit dcch.co.uk

1882. Ring 020 3002 8023, or visit 1882ltd.com. 36 Bourne St, 36 Bourne St, Chichester, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7622 2928;
London SW1 (020 7730 7991; 36bournestreet.com). Alessi. Ring 00 39 032 julianchichester.com). $ Kvadrat, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London
386 8611, or visit alessi.com. $ Altfield, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, SW10 (020 7324 5555; kvadrat.dk). $ Lelièvre, Design Centre Chelsea
London SW10 (020 7351 5893; altfield.com). Amara. Ring 0800 587 7645, or Harbour, London SW10 (020 7352 4798; lelievreparis.com). Linwood. Ring
visit amara.com. $ Andrew Martin, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London 01425 461176, or visit linwoodfabric.com. Living Earth. Visit living.earth.
SW10 (020 7225 5100; andrewmartin.co.uk). Anthropologie, 158 Regent St, Mary Gladstone Pottery. Ring 01671 830208, or visit marygladstonepottery.uk.
London W1 (020 7529 9800; anthropologie.com). $ Arte, Design Centre $ McKinnon & Harris, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020
Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (0800 500 3335; arte-international.com). 7349 9085; mckinnonharris.com). $ Nada Designs, Design Centre Chelsea
$ Arteriors, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7929 8015; Harbour, London SW10 (020 7349 8246; nadadesignsltd.com). $ Nanz,
arteriorshome.com). $ Artisans of Devizes, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 3300 0099; nanz.com).
London SW10 (01380 735888; artisansofdevizes.com). Asprey, 167 New Bond Neiman Marcus. Visit neimanmarcus.com. The New Craftsmen, 34 North Row,
St, London W1 (020 7493 6767; asprey.com). $ Baker, Design Centre Chelsea London W1 (020 7148 3190; thenewcraftsmen.com). $ Nina Campbell, Design
Harbour, London SW10 (020 7823 3612; bakerfurniture.com). $ Bella Figura, Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7352 9518; ninacampbell.com).
Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7376 4564; bella- $ Nobilis, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 8767 0774;
figura.com). Bennison, 16 Holbein Place, London SW1 (020 7730 8176; nobilis.fr). Normann Copenhagen. Ring 00 45 35 27 05 35, or visit normann-
bennisonfabrics.com). Bernard Thorp, 53 Chelsea Manor St, London SW3 copenhagen.com. Objects of Use, 6 Lincoln House, Market St, Oxford, Oxon
(020 7352 5745; bernardthorp.co.uk). Berry Bros & Rudd, 3 St James’s St, OX1 3EQ (01865 241705; objectsofuse.com). $ Osborne & Little, 304 King’s Rd,
London SW1 (020 3301 1684; bbr.com). Brixton Pottery. Ring 01544 260577, London SW3 (020 8812 3123; osborneandlittle.com). $ Paolo Moschino for
or visit brixtonpottery.com. Casamance, Design Nicholas Haslam, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 London SW10 (020 7751 4262; nicholashaslam.
7351 1299; casamance.com). $ Ceccotti Collezioni, com). Perennials, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 1 London SW10 (020 3904 6904; perennialsrugs.
(020 8067 2123; ceccotticollezioni.it). Charleston, com). $ Pierre Frey, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
Firle, E. Sussex BN8 6LL (01323 811626; shop. London SW10 (020 7376 5599; pierrefrey.com).
charleston.org.uk). Charlotte Barker. Ring 07980 $ Poliform, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
566851, or visit charlottebarker.co.uk. Charlotte 2 London SW10 (020 7352 0064; poliformuk.com).
Sellers. Ring 07956 991204. Christopher Farr $ Porada, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London
Cloth, 32-33 Chelsea Wharf, 15 Lots Rd, London SW10 (020 3155 3065; porada.it). $ Porta Romana,
SW10 (020 7349 0888; christopherfarrcloth. Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10
com). Christopher Moore. Ring 020 7349 7028, (020 7352 0440; portaromana.com). Ralph Lauren
or visit thetoileman.com. $ Colefax & Fowler, Home, 1 New Bond St, London W1 (020 7535 4600;
110 Fulham Rd, London SW3 (020 7244 7427; ralphlauren.co.uk). Re, Bishops Yard, Main St,
colefax.com). $ Collier Webb, Design Centre Corbridge, Northum NE45 5LA (01434 634567;
Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 8051 6790; re-foundobjects.com). Richard Ginori. Visit
collierwebb.com). $ David Seyfried, Design Centre richardginori1735.com. $ Romo, Design Centre
Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7823 3848; Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (01623 750005;
davidseyfried.com). $ Davidson, Design Centre romo.com). Rose Uniacke, 76-84 Pimlico Rd,
Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7751 5537; London SW1 (020 7730 7050; roseuniacke.com).
davidsonlondon.com). $ De Le Cuona, Design $ Rubelli/Donghia, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7584 London SW10 (020 7349 1590; rubelli.com).
7677; delecuona.com). Debbie Mitchell. Ring 07950 $ Samuel & Sons, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
452225, or visit deborahmitchellpottery.co.uk. $ Dedar, Design Centre Chelsea London SW10 (020 7351 5153; samuelandsons.com). Selfridges, 400 Oxford
Harbour, London SW10 (020 7351 9939; dedar.com). $ Designers Guild, St, London W1 (020 7318 3156; selfridges.com). The Shop Floor Project. Ring
265-277 King’s Rd, London SW3 (020 7351 5775; designersguild.com). Dior, 01229 584537, or visit theshopfloorproject.com. Skandium. Ring 020 3633
160-162 New Bond St, London W1 (020 7355 5930; dior.com). Divertimenti, 7626, or visit skandium.com. Soane Britain, 50-52 Pimlico Rd, London, SW1
227-229 Brompton Rd, London SW3 (020 7581 8065; divertimenti.co.uk). (020 7730 6400; soane.com). $ Style Library. Ring 020 3457 5862, or visit
$ Edelman, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7351 7305; stylelibrary.com. $ Summit, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10
edelmanleather.com). End, 59 Broadwick St, London W1 (0333 323 7728; (020 7795 3311; summitfurniture.com). $ TH2 Studio, Design Centre Chelsea
endclothing.com). The Fabric Collective, 9 Langton St, London SW10 (020 Harbour, London SW10 (020 7349 1289; th2studio.co.uk). Thomas Goode, 19
7384 2975; thefabriccollective.com). $ Flexform, Design Centre Chelsea South Audley St, London W1 (020 7499 2823; thomasgoode.com). Tinsmiths,
Harbour, London SW10 (020 7376 5272; interdesignuk.com). $ Fox 8a High St, Ledbury, Heref HR8 1DS (01531 632083; tinsmiths.co.uk).
Linton, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7368 7700; $ Tissus d’Hélène, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020
foxlinton.com). Frances Palmer Pottery. Ring 001 203 227 7204, or visit 7352 9977; tissusdhelene.co.uk). $ Turnell & Gigon, Design Centre Chelsea
francespalmerpottery.com. $ George Spencer Designs, Design Centre Harbour, London SW10 (020 7259 7280; turnellandgigon.com). $ Turri,
Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7584 3003; georgespencer.com). Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 8067 9111; turri.
$ GP&J Baker, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7351 7760; it). Twentytwentyone, 274-275 Upper St, London N1 (020 7288 1996;
gpjbaker.com). Graham & Green. Ring 01225 418200, or visit grahamandgreen. twentytwentyone.com). $ Vaughan, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
co.uk. Heal’s, 196 Tottenham Court Rd, London W1 (0333 212 1915; heals. London SW10 (020 7349 4600; vaughandesigns.com). $ Via Arkadia, Design
com). Hermès, 155 New Bond St, London W1 (020 7499 8856; hermes.com). Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10 (020 7351 7057; via-arkadia.co.
Jamb, 95-97 Pimlico Rd, London SW1 (020 7730 2122; jamb.co.uk). James uk). $ Zimmer & Rohde, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London SW10
Burnett-Stuart. Ring 07950 581553, or visitjamesburnettstuart.co.uk. $ Julian (020 7351 7115; zimmer-rohde.com) $

1 ‘Mouflon Check F7432-02’, £125, Osborne & Little. 2 ‘Truro 1233-01’, by Classic Cloth, £180, Tissus d’Hélène. Prices are per m and include VAT
network
Sophia Salaman chooses the
best merchandise and events worldwide

Deirdre Dyson’s new ‘Looking Glass’ collection comprises eight de-

signs. Her aim, she said, ‘was to simulate a visual glassy appearance
using wool and silk’, and in the process, she plays with concepts such
as transparency, overlapping and distortion. Deirdre Dyson, 554 King’s
Rd, London SW6 (020 7384 4464; deirdredyson.com).

From 8 to 13 March, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour hosts London

Design Week, which brings together 120 showrooms and more than
600 brands. As well as talks, workshops and panel discussions, expect
new launches, demonstrations, installations and discovery tours. For
information, ring 020 7225 9166, or visit dcch.co.uk.
Philippe Starck has worked alongside champagne house Louis Roederer
to create ‘Brut Nature 2012’. To mark the occasion the company held
a competition for students at the Royal Academy of Arts to create a
piece of work that captures the spirit and terroir of champagne. The
winning entry by Sofia Clausse is seen here. Visit louis-roederer.com.

Thanks to its sleek, curvaceous design, Gaze Burvill’s ‘Lizard’ lounger Founded in 1981 by Sally McQuillan and her husband in California,
was awarded a coveted Design Guild Mark by the Furniture Makers’ Raoul Textiles prides itself on its vibrant use of colour and pattern.
Company. Elegantly contoured, exceptionally comfortable and beau- The company prints on the finest Belgian linen, and everything –
tifully crafted, like all the pieces the firm produces it shows attention to from initial sketch to the building of screens – is done by hand in its
detail and is built to last. Ring 01420 588444, or visit gazeburvill.com. workshop. Seen here is ‘Zelda’ in spring. Visit raoultextiles.com $

74
 *Sale discount applies to orders placed between 23/12/19 and 24/2/20. Minimum order value £3,000 +VAT.
SALE
*

NO W ON

uniquely yours...

for our latest brochure

nevillejohnson.co.uk | 0161 873 8333
STUDIES BEDROOMS LOUNGES LIBRARIES
76
 Originally used for banquets, the green salon is
arguably the most impressive of Damsgård’s rooms.
The chairs are upholstered in richly decorated
leather, while the walls are covered in an 1810 French
‘mourning wallpaper’ featuring lachrymose putti

MOURNING GLORY
With its fabulous funerary wallpaper depicting tearful cherubs, the green salon in Damsgård Manor in Norway is
testament to one man’s love for his late wife. But that’s far from the only touching feature of this 18th-century summer
home. An earlier owner had seen fit to install ‘fainting rooms’ for guests overcome with tiredness – or lust. Good
grief, says a misty-eyed Marie-France Boyer, the care and flair that went into the place! Photography: Ivan Terestchenko
 This page, clockwise from top: the green salon’s floor is a plain, pitch-pine affair in contrast to the rich ornament all around it; like
the 200 mansions and pleasure houses that had sprung up in Bergen by the end of the 18th century, Damsgård’s façade is Rococo,
though it also features Neoclassical elements; two putti break off from bugling to have a sob over a fountain. Opposite: portraits
of Herman Didrich Janson’s descendants line the walls. One of the richest men of his age, he bought the house at auction in 1796
 This page, clockwise from top: a traditional ceramic stove sits like an altar or statue in an alcove in the blue salon. Lined with a
damask wallpaper, this room was installed by Christian Gyldenkrantz, who rebuilt Damsgård in the late 18th century; Queen Juliana
Maria – seen here in an etching – was one of the owner’s many illustrious guests; in the 19th century a coated canvas was
applied to the kitchen’s timber walls to make upkeep that bit easier. Opposite: faux marble and maritime scenes decorate the hall
 IN 18TH-CENTURY Norway, anyone with a Gyldenkrantz rarely spent the night at Damsgård, which
modest sum of money felt duty-bound to own a country re- he reached by boat. Indeed, there were no bedrooms as such,
treat in which to spend the summer months (WoI Feb 2020). In but rather ‘fainting rooms’ behind the four large salons along
September, when the rain came and then the snow, everyone the façade, which overlooked the sea. Here guests would in-
returned to their home in town. Damsgård manor house, dulge in the pleasures of courtship or enjoy a nap after the
then situated three kilometres from Bergen, fitted that bill per- banquets or suppers, at which the host would typically offer
fectly and is perhaps now the best-preserved wooden build- up to 25 dishes. One of these rooms was marked ‘for him’ and
ing in northern Europe. Having had only three owners over one ‘for her’, in the hope that one day the king and queen
the same number of centuries, the residence still retains all its might make use of them.
old aristocratic charm. After Gyldenkrantz died in 1795, the property was ac-
An earlier version of the manor had been built on a farm quired by Herman Didrich Janson, a leading merchant and
estate in the early 1700s by one Dam Tønneson, after whom purveyor to the crown, who had acquired his wealth during
the property was named (gård means estate). At the bottom Norway’s economic boom. Janson was able to slip skilfully
of the hill, he also constructed a series of ancillary buildings into the skin of its lately departed owner, taking pains not
used for storing home-grown fruit and vegetables transport- to alter the décor too much. He merely added a fashionable
ed to Bergen by sea. But it was the second owner, Christian veneer: a few modish wallpapers, new double doors for the
Gyldenkrantz, who, in 1780, gave the manor house its distinc- salons. He covered some walls with panoramic scenes and
tive appearance. At the age of 39, he was at the peak of his ca- painted some ceilings or overdoor panels with landscapes
reer. A handsome man, he was a successful senior civil servant and maritime scenes depicting merchant ships braving storms.
and a general war commissioner and wanted to parade his But he didn’t change the furniture, buy any new pieces or
status. Damsgård, which soon came to be known as Bergen’s remodel the place in any way, using it only to entertain, just
‘little Versailles’, was the means by which he did so. as his predecessor had.
There he played host to all the swells of Norway, including Janson died in 1822, and his family, whether through lack
Queen Juliana Maria herself, whose visit is still commemo- of means or imagination, barely touched the property, only
rated by a portrait in the blue salon. A refined and cultured modernising it slightly in 1865 and then finally taking up
man, he also entertained every foreigner who passed through residence in 1870; they continued to live there until 1983.
Bergen, learning from them lessons in style that he deployed Times had changed. The Janson name was less illustrious,
in embellishing his home. Wallpapers from abroad and Neo- but the then holders clung to a certain status until Helmich
classical features flirt with the local Rococo style. So elabo- Janson’s death in 1921. He left three children, who in turn had
rately and so well did he decorate that the house was never their own. At that point the poor manor house was divided
inhabited with more flair than during his lifetime. up and shared. Loos, corridors, kitchens and other ‘modern

Top: a riot of colours, from mustard to mauve, the kitchen as it now appears dates to 1865, when the house underwent minor
remodelling. A sun-bleached work surface by the window overlooks a courtyard between the two wings of the U-shaped building.
Opposite: even in well-to-do homes of the 19th century, space was a precious commodity, as this servants’ folding table attests
 conveniences’ cropped up haphazardly. The Formica floor- separated by an entrance hall dividing the building in half
ing beneath the main staircase is one such example. and overlooking the coast. Behind the small salons, a bed-
By the time the state acquired Damsgård in 1983 it was room and a small Biedermeier study have replaced the 18th-
faded, mouldy and dilapidated in places, though it still bore century ‘fainting rooms’.
traces of alterations made in 1770, 1797, 1837 and 1920. In spite To reach the green salon, once a pale-blue banqueting
of its wounds, it had the air of a Sleeping Beauty. Charmed room, you have to ascend a staircase that is all the more the-
by what they found, conservation officials decided to exploit atrical for the ad hoc changes made by successive occupants:
rather than erase this symphony of anachronistic and dis- wooden balustrades painted to look like marble are accompa-
cordant notes. Instead of restoring the house in an overly nied by two wallpapers from different centuries, while some
precise early 18th-century style, they decided to retain the inspired hands have installed on the banisters stone putti
family’s curious ‘collages’ and created patches on the walls borrowed from the garden. An even bigger surprise awaits the
where all the different colours used over three centuries can visitor in the salon itself. The crystal chandelier and 18th-cen-
clearly be seen. They limited themselves to making exact cop- tury furniture – including a suite of gilded Cordovan-leather
ies of any wallpapers or textiles that were too damaged and chairs – are remarkable enough, but the entire room is envel-
made every effort to repair rather than replace any broken oped in an emerald-green Empire wallpaper with a touching
wooden structures. This slowed things down; ten years of history. Featuring tearful putti, it was bought by Herman
tentative progress passed by. Janson in 1810 as mourning paper to commemorate the death
Opened to the public in 1993, Damsgård today finds it- of his wife, but he then put it away in a cupboard, where it lay
self in a smart area of Bergen and separated from the sea forgotten for 55 years. In 1865, when slight alterations were
by a busy road. Its ‘wedding cake’ façade is still a surprise. being made to the house, another Janson found it and hung
Topped by a small tower, it is laid out in a rectangle whose it, unaware perhaps of its significance or of the ancestor for
proportions and decorative features – pilasters and gables whom the cherubs wept.
– observe the strict rules that prevailed in Bergen in the 18th Today, with its extraordinary view of the sea, and its gar-
century. The Baroque is tempered here by touches of Neo- den thick with ornamental and edible plants, fruits and
classicism imported from elsewhere in Europe. vegetables, Damsgård tells the story of three families, of
The two-storey house is designed in a U-shape with the the unexpected traces they left behind and of their affec-
old servants’ quarters and kitchens extending back from tion for the building. As such, it is a little time capsule of life
the main building; these are now offices and caretaker’s ac- in Bergen over the past 300 years $
commodation. The six main windows on the ground-floor Damsgård Manor, 29 Alleen, Laksevaag, Bergen 5160, Norway, is
façade correspond to the four grand salons, two large and open in the summer for guided tours. For opening times, ring 00 47
two small on either side. Perfectly symmetrical, they are 55 30 80 33, or visit bymuseet.no

Top: a 19th-century photograph shows members of the Janson family taking the air on the terrace at Damsgård. To the right, two
palimpsests of earlier colour schemes appear on the walls. Opposite: this bedroom at the back of one of the salons was fashioned
from a so-called ‘fainting room’ in 1865. The ostrich feathers on top of the bed canopy signified that the owners were à la mode
FUEL
MARKS
When art dealer Juerg Judin came across a 1950s petrol
station for sale in Berlin he saw it might be sympathetically
converted to make a unique city-centre home/gallery.
Once he’d dispensed with the pumps, turned the mechan-
ics’ pit into a sleek kitchen and planted some fully grown
pine trees, the plaudits flowed. Rightly so, says Jane Neal
– he’s put much forethought into the forecourt and interior.
Photography: Simon Upton. First published: November 2008

Left: the bold architectural form of the petrol station’s canopy is softened
by the arching boughs of a Brandenburg pine tree. Judin sourced nine
50-year-old specimens – which had to be craned into position – to match
the building’s age. Top: the folding doors lead straight into the kitchen
 KNOWN AS ‘lovely Juerg’ to his
friends, charmingly convivial art dealer Juerg Judin is re-
nowned for the fabulous dinners he cooks on his gallery’s
opening nights. Now he’s attracting attention for a very
different reason: his highly unusual, spectacular new home
– a converted petrol station in the heart of Schöneberg in
Berlin. Originally a typical 1950s Shell garage, complete
with forecourt, petrol tanks and mechanics’ workshop, the
building has been out of use since the mid-1980s. The bat-
tered ‘for sale’ sign has invited many possible owners over
the years, with ideas for its transformation ranging from a
bicycle dealership to an oyster bar.
These ideas came to nothing when the interested parties
were scared off by the daunting prospect of decontaminat-
ing the property. But having undertaken an industrial-to-
domestic conversion project for a former home in his native
Zurich, Judin wasn’t fazed. ‘The results,’ he says, ‘were a
positive surprise, revealing there to be almost no contami-
nation.’ This, however, was only the first hurdle, as there was
no planning permission for the property’s change of use.
The petrol station is the only free-standing private resi-
dence in the centre of Berlin, and the only low-rise building
to be found in Bülowstrasse – which is a continuation of the
famous Kufürstendamm, a boulevard filled with substan-
tial 19th-century properties. To make a feature of such a
building would, according to the city planning office, be
like ‘having a row of teeth with one tooth missing’. But Judin
was not prepared to abandon hope: ‘I decided to apply for
permission to build a temporary structure for seven years,
hoping that, in the meantime, the plans I developed would
prove so enticing they might win over the authorities.’ He
laughs mischievously. ‘My patience paid off.’
Judin enlisted two firms of architects for his ambitious
venture: BFS Design and Thomas Brakel Architects. BFS is
as well known for its furniture design as for its architecture,
while Brakel had considerable experience dealing with his-
toric buildings. Both practices have a classical approach:
minimal Modernism combined with practical innovation.
The project has undergone several phases and complete
changes as Judin deliberated about what exactly he wanted
the building to ‘be’ and to incorporate: domestic living,
artist’s studio, public gallery, garden. In short, he wanted
total flexibility. ‘The purpose of the conversion was to pro-
vide a home for a single male art dealer,’ he says, ‘someone
passionate about art, entertaining and gardening. But I
also wanted the property to be a place that would provide a
potential future home for all sorts of people – singles, cou-
ples and families from all walks of life.’ This is particularly
important for Judin, as the petrol station is a landmark in
the midst of a socially and culturally diverse neighbour-
hood in the process of regeneration.
The structure covers 90sq m and features both the orig-
inal round glass windows and the canopy that once cov-
ered the petrol pumps – the latter’s supports now restored
to their original Shell red. Each original detail on the out-
side has been renovated to its former glory – including the

Top: the petrol station’s curved window forms a bay occupied by the dining area. Above: a 1950s chandelier from the Palmengarten ballroom in
Frankfurt hangs above an original Knoll table and chairs. Opposite: once the mechanics’ workshop, the kitchen features another classic of the era,
Saarinen’s ‘Tulip Ensemble’. For the walls and ceiling throughout the house, Judin used colours from Le Corbusier’s Polychromie Architecturale
Top: drawings by George Grosz line the left-hand wall. Above: the entrance
to the wine cellar is tucked under the stairs up to the gallery. Opposite:
Judin’s library leads the eye into the living area, where a painting – The
Wall (2008) – by Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie overlooks a Knoll suite
Top: the water feature is here seen from Judin’s bedroom. Above: a guest
bedroom. Opposite: the fluid drawing above the bed – by MDF Italia – is
by the Swiss/Italian artist Loredana Sperini. The walnut stool, which here
functions as a bedside table, was originally designed by Eames in 1960
 tiles. Inside, the property boasts an impressive kitchen built
by Kuchenmeister, a company that specialises in fitting
cruise ships, with a central island where the car lift in the
old mechanics’ workshop used to be.
Two new buildings have been added, the first and largest
of which contains the striking gallery space. At 120sq m,
this features a 22m-long, four-metre-high wall. The façade
facing it is all glass, formed from five-metre panels. During
the day, the light is completely natural; at night it is spec-
tacularly lit. Its two storeys also contain a basement that
houses Judin’s wine cellar. The bathroom is in the second of
the new buildings: a Shell-red, free-standing cube – literally
a ‘bath box’ – that resembles a giant Christmas present. Its
interior is no less surprising, with a bespoke Bisazza stone
mosaic and a bath big enough for five. Running through the
three spaces is a sophisticated underfloor heating and cool-
ing system, which meets EU energy standards.
While the transformation of the building itself has been
nothing short of miraculous, the garden rivals it for sheer
visual pleasure. Designed by Swiss landscape artist Guido
Hager, it provides a blissful oasis in the heart of one of the
most urban quarters of Berlin, and is entered via a steel
bridge that crosses a lily-filled 18m stretch of water, lit from
below. The garden was inspired by a Chinese principle
known as ‘the three friends in winter’: the pine tree that
carries the snow, the evergreen bamboo that symbolises
eternal life and the Chinese apricot – the year’s first flower
to bloom. Yellow and white predominate, complementing
the Shell-red walls and shiny 1950s tiles; and the elaborate
planting scheme ensures that something is blooming all
year round. The pine tree carries particular importance.
‘As the local tree of the Brandenburg area, it provided the
starting point,’ says Judin, ‘and not a little work in terms of
planning. Guido and I searched far and wide for trees to
match the age of the building. Eventually we managed to
find a nursery in northwest Germany that could supply us
with nine 50-year-old trees.’ Their transportation proved
nothing short of a logistical marvel – involving a police
escort through the streets of Berlin and culminating in
the trees being lowered into position by crane.
But if the garden is a calm oasis, the building itself serves
as a source of inspiration and energy – not least to the con-
temporary artists who are represented by Judin. Painters
Adrian Ghenie, Uwe Wittwer and Alex Ross were inspired
by the architecture to make works that are now hung on the
walls for maximum impact. Aside from capturing their im-
agination, Schöneberg’s stunning new focal point has at-
tracted film, music and fashion stars wanting to use the site
in productions and shoots.
Judin’s petrol-station conversion is a remarkable, ground-
breaking property. With its glass-walled gallery space that
becomes a light box at night, the semi-public building seems
a beacon of hope – testimony to the skill of those who worked
on it and to the vision of its proud new owner $
Nolan Judin’s gallery is now at 83 Potsdamer Strasse, 10785 Berlin
(00 49 30 39 40 48 40; galeriejudin.com)

Top: a kitchen garden of herbs can be seen from the ‘bath box’. Above: the interior is tiled with a custom-made mosaic – what Judin terms a ‘Bisazza
bonanza’ – and has a tub large enough to accommodate five people. Opposite: appearing like a Christmas present from the back, the block has a
window that makes it look like a giant letterbox from the front. The colour matches the Shell-red pillars that support the petrol station’s canopy
 Seen just under the eaves, a carved wooden
frieze in faded colours shows the skill of the
Cantonese craftsmen who in the 1870s
built the guest house in Ping Shan for the
Tang dynasty. The blue discs along the
roofline denoted the family’s social standing
SCIONS AND
SIGNIFIERS
For most of the last century, the male offspring of Hong Kong’s ancient
Tang clan prepared for imperial exams in a splendid study hall built by their
family. Rich in symbolism as well as ornament, this was architecture at its
most edifying and aggrandising, with morally improving motifs everywhere
to remind the young scholars of certain values. Corentine Guillot swots
up on the hidden meaning of it all. Photography: Jean-François Jaussaud
Top: inscriptions around the entrance to the ancestors’ hall together form a blessing. Either side, under the lanterns, are drum platforms – so called
because musicians performed here during festivities. Above left: terracotta balusters resembling bamboo appear everywhere in the guest house. Above
right: the wooden buckets in the great hall would have been used for ablutions. The red lacquer on the roof ridge was thought to deter insect infestation
Top: a circular ‘moon door’ – which symbolises passage into another universe – allowed access from the study hall to the more worldly realm of the
guest house. With the octagonal and other openings it forms a kind of enfilade of different shapes. Above left: the ceramic quatrefoil screen served a
practical as well as decorative function by filtering air and light. Above right: large woks would have been placed in the three round pits in the kitchen
Above: a traditional Chinese bed in cherry wood is glimpsed from an antechamber off the main guest-room on the first floor. Each folding door panel is
engraved with bamboo and orchid motifs, while the frieze above contains auspicious symbols. Opposite: the presence of various utensils suggests
that this space, which had a balcony, once served as a tea room. The predominantly green-and-white palette is a hallmark of Cantonese architecture
Top: stained glass replaces the removable fretwork panels of traditional doors, evidence of a European influence at work – and further proof of the owners’
status. Above left: a recurrent motif here, bamboo is one of the ‘Four Gentlemen’ in Chinese art, along with the orchid, chrysanthemum and plum
blossom. Above right: as in Western culture, the lion symbolises bravery. This one is joined by a bulbul songbird (not visible), which signified longevity
Top: dressed in traditional Cantonese clothes, women and children of the Tang clan sit for a portrait in 1931 – including William Tang’s father on the far
right. The school taught boys from the village as well as from the family itself right up until 1961. Above left: a painted terracotta patchwork contains
many symbols, along with a four-character verse. Above right: European-style arches line this passageway leading to a small room reserved for washing
JUST a few kilometres from the Chinese border, and a
stone’s throw from the tumult gripping Hong Kong, the area
the large salon upstairs, where the ancestors’ altar used to have
pride of place, one can clearly make out a set of dougong con-
known as the New Territories has an undeniably ancient atmos- soles. The main beam running beneath the ridge is coated with
phere. The Tang family, one of five powerful clans here, is one fading lacquer, while the secondary beams still retain some poly-
such bastion of the past, having been wealthy landowners in this chrome sculpted decorations, with scenes from popular folklore
‘land of rice and fish’ since the 14th century. Some 30 years ago, or from the 14th-century novel Water Margin.
they decided to salvage and upgrade one of their distinctive con- The interior also serves as a reception area where the family
tributions to the cultural heritage of the largely rural Ping Shan holds birthday parties, wedding banquets and other festivities
neighbourhood: the dilapidated vestiges of a study hall and ad- such as performances of Cantonese opera. The three immense
joining guest house built in 1870. (The photographs in our fea- holes above the kitchen’s brick oven accommodated giant woks
ture, taken in 1990, capture the buildings’ down-at-heel state.) and hint at the splendour of bygone feasts. William has indelible
To help explore this treasure of vernacular Qing architecture, memories of them: ‘They were served in the big salon on the
our guide is the fashion designer William Tang, an energetic rep- ground floor and on the patio. On the banquet menu we might
resentative of the 26th generation of the dynasty. This building have nine different dishes, a sign of wealth. Otherwise, we just
was the paradise of his childhood. ‘I lived here with my grand- served poon choi [an ancient, purely local style of casserole], in
father at different times. As soon as I went to secondary school, which all the ingredients are piled up in a big wooden bowl.’
I asked to have my own space, so that I could have a taste of inde- The guest house is now called Ching Shu Hin, literally ‘refuge
pendence and not sleep under the same roof as my mother. This from the heat of summer’, as it was built to withstand the subtrop-
was common practice among young adolescents.’ ical climate. On the ground floor, trellised windows that kept cool
In 1870, William’s great-great-grandfather sought to honour air circulating during the hot season feature blue ceramic designs
his father, Tang Kun Ting, who had performed brilliantly in the and mouldings with good-luck symbols. Around the atrium,
imperial exams, by building a study hall. It was in such schools gargoyles in the form of goldfish in faded colours channelled the
that the boys of the lineage would prepare for the civil-service torrential rain into the ‘celestial fountain’ paved with granite. The
examinations in the hope of achieving status and prestige. Stone- design was also intended to repel external attacks, notably from
masons and craftsmen were summoned from Canton. rival clans, hence the arrow slits in the wall facing the street.
In China, a building is to be read as much as it fulfils a func- A gaping hole in the floor recalls a pivotal period in the life of
tion. That’s why here inscriptions and characters are omnipres- this rural region and the Tang family. After the death of William’s
ent, especially on door and window frames. At the entrance porch grandfather in 1976, the house fell into disuse. A fire in 1980 ag-
columns display parallel maxims that invoke scholars’ virtues gravated the disrepair caused by exposure to bad weather. With
and their contributions to future generations. But even after the the pressure of Hong Kong’s urbanisation and the increasing
New Territories passed under British mandate and the imperial scarcity of building land, members of the clan considered de-
exams disappeared in 1905, Kun Ting’s study hall remained im- molishing the two buildings, using the site for lucrative building
portant. ‘My grandfather studied there,’ says William. ‘As he projects. ‘At the same time,’ recalls William, ‘the government was
learned mainly English in the colonial period, he had to learn deciding to create a heritage trail in this part of the New Territories
Chinese in our private study hall after school.’ and was trying to gather the necessary funds. The village of Ping
The Tangs decided to attach a guest house to accommodate Shan was the first to agree to cooperation.’
eminent teachers and temporary guests. At first sight, this is tra- What happened next was extraordinary. A single signature
ditional Cantonese architecture, with non-load-bearing walls of would have been enough to block a decision to demolish; as it hap-
grey sun-dried bricks. In China houses were supported by highly pens, nearly 200 Tang co-owners stood alongside William. It was
decorated frames with carved and painted wooden structures this that saved the magnificent dwelling and study hall. The Royal
such as tuofeng ‘camel-hump’ braces set on cross pieces. However, Jockey Club of Hong Kong, one of the biggest charitable insti-
the house has an unusual L-shaped plan, probably governed by tutions in the archipelago, funded the work, and the antiquities
its street-corner position. It’s also linked to the study hall by a office provided architectural experts to assist the renovation.
passageway on the upper floor, giving the whole building a rather The guest house today remains one of the rare testaments to a
original style. This continues indoors, where stained-glass win- key period in Hong Kong’s rural history. Now it’s part of the Ping
dows, mouldings on tympana and faded gilding rub shoulders Shan Heritage Trail, the first of its kind, inaugurated in 1993.
with moon gates and ceramic walls with peacock designs. ‘The With the Kun Ting Study Hall, it opened to the public, along with
coastal region of China, especially in the south, had been in con- the nearby ancestral salon, which was renovated at the same time
tact with Westerners and their culture for some time already. The and listed as a historic building. For William and his family, it
stained-glass windows were a sign of cosmopolitan appreciation, is all about ‘perpetuating an association with tradition, so that
demonstrating the owner’s wealth and knowledge.’ future descendants can benefit from it’. That tradition has roots
The lintel above the panelled doors to the grandfather’s bed- that go back through 700 years of the presence of the Tang clan in
room offers a glimpse of the craftsmanship of the time. A dis- what was the breadbasket of Hong Kong. As well as being a win-
cerning eye will make out a whole condensed story, told through dow on to an unsuspected past for Western visitors, the desire
snippets of popular legends and lucky signs, such as orchids, the for continuity has all the more meaning in this troubled period
geometric forms of a knot and a butterfly. The panels themselves of transition, in which the former British colony struggles to find
are rather unusual. While in their upper part the carved wood a way forward. Perhaps Confucius can enlighten us: ‘Study the
represents orchids, in the lower part are bamboos, a combina- past if you would divine the future’ $
tion intimating deep bonds shared by men. Right beside this, in To learn about the Ping Shan Heritage Trail, visit amo.gov.hk

East meets West again in the architecture of this gallery on the ground floor of the guest house. The ironwork panel at the top of the door features a
quatrefoil, with a wooden hibiscus motif, symbolising fame and glory, at its centre. The foliage of the carving beyond was meant to augur prosperity
This page, clockwise from bottom left: Knife and Fork, 1943; Pipe, c1912; Mask,
1943; Glass, Bottle of Wine, Packet of Tobacco, Newspaper, March 1914. As
Picasso ripped, poked, burned and otherwise manipulated paper, the results
illustrated his belief that the ubiquity of such ‘ordinary’ and relatively inexpen-
sive materials need not stop them from playing their part in ground-breaking
art. A material employed for drawing could now be regarded as a sculpture
HEADLINE NEWS
Picasso’s revolutionary experiments in paper in the early 20th century made quite a splash. A new exhibition shows
how he blurred the lines between art and reality by having, for example, an actual newspaper represent itself instead of
being painted. And the artist didn’t stop there when putting print in the picture. Read all about it with Charles Darwent
 162. PHOTO: HERVE LEWANDOWSKI; PREVIOUSLY DORA MAAR COLLECTION. MP1998-24. PHOTO: BEATRICE HATALA; PURCHASED IN 1997. MP1997-1. PHOTO: MATHIEU RABEAU. THIS PAGE, TOP: PABLO PICASSO GIFT IN LIEU, 1979. MP176. PHOTO: ADRIEN DIDIERJEAN. OPPOSITE: PABLO PICASSO GIFT IN LIEU, 1979. MP372. PHOTO: HERVE LEWANDOWSKI
ALL WORKS: MUSEE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS. © SUCCESSION PICASSO/DACS 2019. ALL PHOTOS: © RMN-GRAND PALAIS (MUSEE NATIONAL PICASSO-PARIS). PREVIOUS PAGES, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: ACQUISITION, 1998. PREVIOUSLY DORA MAAR COLLECTION. MP1998-19. PHOTO: BEATRICE HATALA; GIFT OF MARINA RUIZ-PICASSO. MP1982-
revolution. It is made in the material (and dimension) of
drawing, and yet it is a sculpture. In the same way, Knife
and Fork, also of 1943, turns sculpture inside out by using
the void to suggest a solid. These works are art at its very
lowest, and highest.
Picasso’s paper rebellion had begun long before. Thirty
years earlier, in Paris, he’d taken a pair of scissors to some
packing cardboard and string and magicked them into
Guitar (1912). As with Mask, this seems like a parlour game,
a jeu d’esprit; and, once again, it is precisely that, and much
more. In 1912, Picasso was still trying to work out the
rules for what would later come to be known as Synthetic
Cubism – a loosening up of the original, Analytical Cubism,
into something more playful, vivid and earthy. Key to this
was the use of everyday objects and materials.

WHEN Dora Maar’s pet bichon dog died in

1943, Pablo Picasso did what any man might to console
In Guitar, we see Picasso’s mind flicking back and forth
between drawing and sculpture. In his paintings, he was
looking for a system to represent three dimensions in two;
his grieving lover: he made her another. Each mealtime for in Guitar, he uses a two-dimensional material in three di-
a week after, he would snatch a paper napkin from the table mensions. These experiments reached a triumphant con-
of whichever café they were eating at and quickly tear it clusion two years later, in works such as Glass, Bottle of
into the shape of a dog’s head. Then he would add a nose Wine, Packet of Tobacco, Newspaper (1914). Now, at last, the
and eyes, burning holes in the paper with a cigarette. In line between art and reality was utterly blurred. The pic-
the Spaniard’s deft hands, recalled a friend, the paper of ture’s titular wine bottle and glass are drawn, whereas its
the napkin would look uncannily like fluffy white fur. It tobacco packet and newspaper are a tobacco packet and
was a double miracle: resurrection and transformation. newspaper. In Picasso’s hands, the things of the world
The point of this story is its smallness: not the grand- were suddenly raised to the status of art, without art being
scale Picasso of Guernica or The Women of Avignon, but the belittled. A piece of newspaper might now stand in for the
domestic Picasso of tenderness, small dogs and table painting of a piece of newspaper. It was one of the defin-
napkins. Above all, it is a story of paper. For it was in the ing moments of modern art, turning the long history of
ordinariness of paper – its ubiquity and cheapness – that representation on its head. Thanks to Picasso, Duchamp
Picasso could really let himself go. In old age, at a show of could label a urinal as an artwork. And thanks to paper.
art by children, he bragged to his friend, English Surrealist The debt was not all one way. If paper allowed Picasso
Roland Penrose: ‘When I was their age I could draw like to spread his wings, the Spaniard returned the favour. By
Raphael.’ Then, after a pause, he added: ‘But it took me a and large, works on paper had historically been small-
lifetime to learn to draw like them.’ With paper, for all of scale things, with rare exceptions of a lesser size and status
his 91 years, Picasso could be a child. than works on canvas. In his happy disregard for rules,
This makes the Royal Academy’s winter exhibition, Picasso changed all this.
Picasso and Paper, a beguiling thing indeed. Maar’s napkin- Perhaps the most eye-catching work in the RA’s show
dogs aren’t in the show, but you can get an idea of what is also the largest: a huge collage called Women at Their
they looked like from Mask, also made in 1943, of cheap Toilette, from 1937-38. Made around the same time as the
paper and with cigarette holes burned in it. What could famous ‘Weeping Woman’ series, it shows Picasso’s fas-
be simpler? To his throwaway material, Picasso has done cination with what he called ‘deep reality, not the super-
a throwaway thing: he has singed it with a fag – big hole, ficial kind’. In this ambitious work, Dora Maar – one of
small hole, big hole – in a way anyone might do. And yet, the ‘suffering machines’, as her lover described women –
for all that, Mask is extraordinary: expressive, skull-like, appears four times, including once as a framed painting
alive; made vulnerable by the slight tilt of the paper, differ- by Picasso, now reproduced in cut paper. What makes
ences in the size and level of the eyes. Women at Their Toilette so moving is the sense, despite its
It is as though, in the middle of the war, Picasso has size, of intimacy. To achieve this, Picasso has used that
set himself a moral challenge: do as little as you can for as most domestic of materials, wallpaper – not one pattern,
little money as you can, and see where paper takes you. or two or three, but 33: floral, plain, geometric, trompe
The extraordinariness of Mask lies not simply in what it l’oeil. More than any of his canvases, Women at Their Toilette
looks like but in what it is. In the history of art-making, allows us into Picasso’s life with Maar: a place of unity
paper had been a material for doing things on, not to. and love, and of fragmentation $
Picasso certainly drew, and like an angel – there are many ‘Picasso and Paper’, organised by the Royal Academy of Arts,
lovely drawings in the RA’s show – but it is when he tears London, and the Cleveland Museum of Art in partnership with the
up the rule book that we see him at his most exciting. Musée National Picasso-Paris, is at the Royal Academy of Arts,
For all its discardability, Mask preaches nothing less than London W1 (020 7300 8090; royalacademy.org.uk) until 13 April

Top: Women at Their Toilette, 1937-38. Contrasting with the relatively small scale of works on the previous pages, Picasso had a more exhaustive
approach in this colossal collage (4.48m wide) of cut-out wallpapers. It’s exhibiting in the UK for the first time in 50 years. Opposite: Guitar, 1913.
From 1912 to 1914, he based a string of drawings, paintings and collages around the instrument. This one featured cut-and-pasted laid papers
 A M A R R I AGE
OF MINDS
After Tory Burch tied the knot with Pierre-Yves Roussel, she found it hard to fall
in love with the nondescript interiors in her new husband’s Normandy manor. Given
carte blanche, the taste-shaping retailer sought guidance from Robert Kime, antique
specialist and decorator extraordinaire, to introduce his signature blend of old and
new, East and West. His unerring eye and ‘beautifully counterintuitive’ approach
made him the ideal match, discovers Ros Byam Shaw. Photography: Tim Beddow
In the hallway, a 17th-century table topped with
flowers from the garden sits on an Oushak carpet.
The curtains are made from strips of Anatolian tent
hangings sewn together. Close to them, an armchair
is upholstered in Robert Kime’s ‘Faded Vendôme’
Left: the drawing room is filled with Robert Kime fabrics and
furniture designs. Covered in an antique Turkish stripe, a
‘Monkton’ stool, inspired by a William IV mahogany original
with reeded legs, comes between two ‘Priory’ sofas. The curtain
fabric is called ‘Ibrahim’. Top: Kime’s ‘subtly spiced’ style offers
effective counterpoint to the heavily timbered interior. Above:
the billiard room features an Italian canapé sofa upholstered in
suzani panels of c1820, while the table stands on a Sharkoy kilim
Top: constructed round an 18th-century farmhouse and adjoining
barn, the new-build features the long, sloping roof and dormer
windows traditional in Normandy. Above: in the stone-flagged
kitchen, Dutch delft tiles form a splashback above the Aga.
Right: an early 19th-century provincial fireplace faces a large oak
dining table surrounded by a set of eight painted French cane
chairs. On the right-hand wall, an ‘Ebury’ sconce from Robert
Kime sits between curtains made from ‘Tashkent’ fabric, ditto
This page: in the small sitting room, both sofas – a ‘Stratfield’ and a (larger) ‘Gonette’ – are from Robert Kime and covered in antique
French linen. Blue-and-white vases on corbels and trophies enliven the walls, which are covered in ‘Field Poppy’ linen. Opposite: a 16th-
century Dutch tapestry looks down to an embroidered ottoman and an Agra rug. The standard lamp has a bespoke antique-silk shade
 WHAT DO YOU do if you marry into a Clarence House (WoI Oct 2003), another plus for Tory, who
house you are not in love with? When American taste-shaper based her spring/summer 2020 fashion collection on the
Tory Burch tied the knot with Pierre-Yves Roussel, then 1980s style of Diana, Princess of Wales.
CEO of the giant LVMH fashion group, she gained, among Of course, Robert Kime was the right person. If anyone
other things, a new chief executive for her own company can ‘warm up’ a house, he can, what with his treasury of old
and a large house in Normandy. This ‘part bachelor pad, textiles and rugs, his nose for an outstanding antique and
part manor’, as Tory describes it, was built for Roussel in his ability to layer patterns and colours, cultures and styles,
traditional half-timbered style round an 18th-century farm- creating – from scratch – a series of rooms that appear to
house and attached barn. Photographs taken a few years have been inhabited and garnished by generations of dis-
ago reveal a bland, if comfortable, interior. Tory Burch is cerning travellers and collectors. His style is rich, and sub-
not a fan of bland. Her own property portfolio includes an tly spiced, the opposite of bland. And like all the finest
exquisite house on Antigua (built for Bunny Mellon) and an artists and craftsmen, he makes what he does look easy.
impeccably elegant mansion in the Hamptons. She told ‘When I first saw the house,’ says Robert, ‘I did wonder
Roussel she’d like to ‘warm it up’. Because he wanted her to if I could make it work for her.’ Hunched under a steep,
love it as he did, he agreed. Fortunately, given the right ther- clay-tiled roof spiked with gabled dormers, the building
apy, a house can undergo radical personality change. forms a squared-off ‘U’ shape and is as heavily timbered
Tory chose Robert Kime as their house therapist. ‘He inside as out. In the original layout, along the bottom of
was the first and only person I thought of,’ she says. ‘I am a the ‘U’ ran the entrance hall, with a garage to the left and a
huge admirer of his, particularly his take on country homes. dining room to the right leading into a billiard room. A
The first time I saw his work was at Parnham House [in drawing room lay in the right-hand leg of the ‘U’, while the
Dorset] – it was absolutely magnificent.’ If she needed fur- left leg contained a kitchen, utility room and boot room.
ther evidence, there was Wiltshire’s South Wraxall Manor, Before any decorating could begin, there were some
the English home of her friend Gela Taylor (WoI March adjustments to be made: a wide opening was knocked
2010), where Robert Kime had worked his decorating al- through between the entrance hall and the separate stair-
chemy. And he was chosen by Prince Charles to redecorate case hall to link them; the garage was transformed to make

Top: in the main bedroom, the posts of the antique bed have red-painted flutes to match the antique Fez fabric of the headboard and
the ‘Queen Anne’ hangings lined with ‘Devon’, both Robert Kime. Opposite: one wall is covered in ‘Lorimer’ from Chelsea Textiles
 a sitting room; and the kitchen was shunted to the end of shades and upholstery. Robert’s own designs, inspired by
this wing to fill the space that had been a boot room and antique originals, mingle happily with the real thing, wheth-
store. At the same time, dining-room floor space was freed er that is the needlework of the George III dining chairs, the
up by the removal of an off-centre wooden post. fez fabric that covers the master bedhead, the Anatolian tent
Famously, Robert Kime starts a room with the carpet, hangings of the striped hall curtains or the early 19th-century
which is usually, though not always, antique and invariably suzani panels used to upholster an Italian sofa in the bil-
Turkish. Twice a year, he and Orlando Atty, who leads the liard room. ‘His eclectic approach is completely authentic,’
antiques side of the business, travel to Istanbul to source says Tory. ‘He mixes things from all over the world – Syria,
pieces for stock and for particular projects. ‘A rug that fits France, Italy, Turkey – in beautifully counterintuitive ways.
the shape of a room grounds it and sets the tone for the rest He has made everything look extraordinary, including a
of the decoration,’ Robert says. ‘It is also likely to be the sin- massive shipment of things I had collected over the years,
gle most expensive item, so it is important to get it right.’ A and things already in the house. Robert was also the perfect
rug can also help to rebalance any uncomfortable asym- ally when it came to telling PY [Pierre-Yves] what needed to
metry or misalignment, as Claire Jackson, Robert’s head of be taken away. We completely agreed on what had to go.’
design and projects, points out. Such was the case in this As so often happens with the best and happiest projects,
dining room. ‘The space doubles as a corridor between Robert Kime has in turn become an admirer of Tory Burch.
the entrance hall and the drawing room, which means the Such is the mutual respect, they have collaborated on a new
table can’t sit exactly in the middle of the room opposite range of fabrics inspired by old Japanese examples they
the chimney piece, or in the middle of a rug. So it was im- found and chose together. ‘We went shopping in Kyoto,’
portant to find something that did not have a prominent says Robert. ‘She is a very clever woman, with a great eye.’
central motif.’ The solution was a large, early 19th-century Tory returns the compliment. ‘Working and travelling with
Oushak in a dusty pink. It gives the room a rosy glow and Robert was a dream,’ she says. ‘He is the most charming
has a design so gently delineated it is barely noticeable. man in the world. He’s what people aspire to be’ $
Here, and everywhere else, fabrics are key to the effect. Tory Burch and Robert Kime’s fabric collection, based on vintage
They are used to line walls, as well as for curtains, lamp- Japanese designs, will be available in May

Top: in this guest-room, embroidered ‘Akond of Swat’ curtains from Chelsea Textiles enclose a ‘Ghost’ blind. These are by Kime, as is the
‘Contadour’ fabric lining the walls. Opposite: in another, his ‘Gilly Wallflower’ paper surrounds a bed covered with a ‘Marcella’ spread
Overlooking the launched this
workshop are space. Manuel, an
ancestral founders employee, is at work
five generations in polishing a piece
the past and the at benches also
grandfathers who used for embossing
G OL DE N OL DI E
Since 1870, the Spanish firm Orfebre Seco has been crafting exquisite ornaments and objects in precious materials
intended (mostly) to glorify God. Adept in working bronze, silver and gold, the atelier in Seville sand-casts, plates and
polishes everything from mirrors to monstrances, cartouches to candelabra. Now, as its two fraternal owners take
on more and more secular commissions, Hugo Beccacece seeks to test their mettle. Photography: Ricardo Labougle
This page,
clockwise from top:
the entry yard to the
workshop; Nino Seco
Velasco sand-casts
various pieces prior
to reproduction;
Jerónimo Seco,
next to an internal
window, welds
components at
one of the three
lamp-making
workbenches. In
the right foreground,
the belt is part of a
manually operated
lathe; held in place by
nails, handsaws,
hammers, monkey
wrenches and other
tools form graphic
patterns against the
wall. Above hang
ornamental models
for the pasos de palio:
Semana Santa floats
 This page,
clockwise from top:
the curtain marks
the entrance to the
museum; resting on
rosin, or tree sap, is a
plumage decoration
of a griffon to be
embossed with
a hammer; in the
museum hang
Baroque door-
knockers and other
samples of ironwork
for period furniture;
the team carefully
pour a crucible of
molten metal. On the
wall to the left they are
overlooked by a small
circular sieve, from
which iron objects
and the remains of a
grille are suspended.
Another sieve beneath
holds clamps for
closing large boxes
FOR A COMPANY with such a proud
and rich history, Orfebre Seco is surprisingly well concealed.
versmithing techniques, he was also an innovator and worked
hard to establish the Orfebre Seco name internationally. ‘When
Tucked down an unassuming street in Miraflores, a district close my grandfather and father died,’ says the current Manuel, ‘we left
to Seville’s old town, this family outfit can claim to be the oldest the old workshops [in the Matahacas and La Macarena areas],
goldsmith in southern Europe, and indeed one of the most impor- as they were rented. The present premises in Miraflores were
tant on the continent. purchased in 1990 and are our own property.’
For a century and a half it has been in the business of exqui- Although he and his brother both trained at Seville’s school
sitely crafting ornaments and objects designed to exalt the glory of applied arts, they have developed different but complemen-
of God – though these days, mindful of shifting mores and the tary areas of expertise – Manuel specialises in design, drawing,
growing need to diversify, the business increasingly concerns embossing and finishing among other things, while Jerónimo
itself with the secular and not just the sacred. Over the years it is in charge of lamp-making.
has not only played an important part in the city’s religious and The workshop itself covers some 800sq m, and includes areas
cultural life, but has also come to enjoy a certain renown inter- devoted to all the processes involved in silversmithing, from
nationally. If it’s a chalice, a candelabra or a processional crown carpentry (of models) to casting, and polishing to plating. There
resembling a snow queen’s you’re after, is a virtually constant thrum of activity
Manuel and Jerónimo Seco-Velasco throughout the year, as Orfebre Seco’s
Alvarez are your men. decorative pieces are now much in de-
The two brothers, who run Orfebre mand with architects and interior de-
Seco, are the great-great-grandsons of signers, but the lead-up to Holy Week
the founder, Manuel Seco Algaba, a just before Easter heralds a particu-
‘pioneer of this craft in Seville’, in the larly hectic round of sand-casting as
words of his namesake great-great- they race to prepare the incredibly or-
grandchild. It was Manuel Snr who, nate metal components that make up
in 1870, took up space in his brother- parts of the richly decorated pasos, or
in-law’s workshop in the city’s silver- floats, and other items that feature in
smithing street, Calle Chicarreros, in Seville’s annual festival. It is then that
order to learn his trade. It was an inaus- the workforce doubles to about 20,
picious start, and the beginning of a according to demand.
somewhat tangled history, geographi- Seco designs draw on Christian,
cally speaking at least, for in the dec- Islamic and Jewish forms found in
ades since, Orfebre Seco has shifted Andalucía; the shells and rocaille of
about from one locale in Seville to an- 17th- and 18th-century Baroque are
other. The ball got rolling at Calle Doña another source of inspiration. In its
María Coronel, where Manuel Snr first time the workshop has created mon-
moved after his brother-in-law died, strances and mirrors, tabernacles and
ultimately ending up at Calle Francis- tables, cartouches and candelabra, and
co Meneses, which is the company’s even a Mudéjar-style gilt-aluminium
current home five generations on. One lighting system for the first floor of a
thing has been constant, however: the restaurant in their city. But perhaps the
quality and beauty of the pieces the most spectacular piece the brothers
company produces, whether a charger have produced is the sunburst-style
plate, a goblet or a suite of Baroque furniture handles. crown sported by an effigy of Our Lady of Sorrows in the mu-
From the outset, the founder showed himself to be commer- nicipality of Alcalá del Río. Cher would surely kill for it as a
cially savvy, as well as a consummate silversmith, and assidu- stage costume. They also made the altar table and all the litur-
ously forged ties with influential figures and religious, cultural gical accoutrements in the Santuario di San Francesco di Paola,
and economic institutions, realising that his future success de- in Calabria, and the reliquary urns of Saint Aurelio and Saint
pended on his doing so. His efforts and workmanship soon paid Getulius in the restored basilica cathedral of Santa Maria la
off: in time he was appointed official silversmith to Seville’s 16th- Antigua in Panama, created for its consecration by Pope Francis.
century cathedral, the third largest church in the world, and Part of the building in Miraflores has been set aside for the
would go on to create hundreds of works in Spain. When he died Orfebre Seco Museum, which contains works and archives ac-
in 1905, the baton – or bishop’s crosier, if you like – passed to his cumulated over 150 years. These rooms are open to the public
son, another Manuel. and to researchers from all over the world. It is like the chaotic
Confusingly enough, it was also a Manuel who succeeded catalogues of Jorge Luis Borges come to life, and you find yourself
him in the 1920s and who arguably did most to cement Orfebre lost in a treasure-trove of charger plates, inkwells, crowns of the
Seco’s reputation for exquisite craftsmanship and refinement. Virgin Mary, reliquaries and trophies. On one wall is a first-aid
He was also an altruistic soul, and oversaw the training of some cabinet with a red cross painted on the door, on top of which lies a
outstanding students, including Juan Borrero and José Zabala. head of Jesus resting on a silver cloud. Croce, croce e delizia (Alfredo,
His heir in the enterprise was Manuel Seco-Velasco Aguilar – first act of La Traviata) should be the motto of this place $
the father of brothers Manuel and Jerónimo – who took over in Orfebre Seco, 5 Calle Francisco Meneses, 41008 Seville. For museum
1968 and died two years ago. While schooled in traditional sil- opening times, ring 00 34 629 207 213, or visit secogoldsmith.com
 Opposite: a 16th- Spain. The original
century cabinet posters mark the
contains Orfebre Ibero-American
Seco’s historic Exposition held in
drawings and Seville in 1929. To the
designs. This page: a left hangs a curtain
cabinet holds small- of accessories for
scale models of antique furniture,
the patron saints of compiled since 1870
This page: the door in the vaulted-ceiling foyer is solid oak
painted white. Carved into the slate floor is a star, a recur-
ring motif from architect Jacques Dupuis, who designed all
the interior furniture, including this bench. Opposite: the
relatively austere garden and entrance give way to surprises
D A Y L I G H T
S A V I O U R
In the outskirts of postwar Brussels, architect Jacques Dupuis designed a family home for his surgeon brother, one whose
plan followed the course of the sun. Structured round a semi-circular passage of large-windowed rooms, Le Parador –
so called for its resemblance to fortified Spanish hostelries – was intended to make the most of northern Europe’s lim-
ited light. With the capital’s bustle behind her, Valérie Lapierre gets drawn into its orbit. Photography: Nicolas Schimp
The walls of the dining room – and of the small living room
into which it extends – are panelled with cedar, contrasting
with the star-decorated large white frame of the aquari-
um. A statue in a niche on the right is one of several lining
the walls as one progresses towards the upstairs landing
This page, clockwise from top left: a mahogany table and chairs with brass feet in the dining room; the upstairs landing is illuminated through
a glazed door of the living room to the left and by light passing through the showpiece aquarium; the small living room with velvet seats and a
recessed cabinet. The star motif continues with stucco mouldings on the ceiling; the staircase features a sycamore handrail and zigzag banister.
Opposite: an Aubusson tapestry depicting the Battle of Troy. The narrow window is adorned with wrought ironwork depicting stars and the sun
133
Top: in the reception room on the ground floor, a fresco by Belgian Georges Boulmant appears either side of an imposing asymmetrical fireplace.
Over the hood is a painting by Jacques Dupuis. Above: as well as light from outside and the warmth of the yellow that dominates the furnishings,
the sun radiates in the design of the small gilded mirror on the far wall. The curtains are in Lyon silk. Opposite: the sculpted figure occupying the
fireplace is the work of French artist Anne Sophie Morelle. The piece was placed there by Christian Dupuis, the current occupant of Le Parador
 children, we would use it to spray water on the guests,’ re-
calls Christian Dupuis, who moved to Le Parador in 1948
when he was 11 and still lives here with his family. While the
water has been removed, the dragon remains. At the far
end of the room you pass through a doorway, the reveals
each side lined with mirror, creating infinite reflections, to
reach the ground floor of the tower. Formerly the chil-
dren’s games room, this has been converted into a small
1940s-style living room with red armchairs, a retractable
bar and walls hung with pink fabric.
A staircase with a zigzag banister leads to the upstairs
landing, where you will find one of the star attractions of

THE BELGIAN architect Jacques Dupuis

had never built a house when he was entrusted to construct
the house: an aquarium, filled with tiny fish, which is in-
serted into the wall, offering an enchanting view of the
dining room behind it. The light from this room, entire-
one for his older brother Paul-Victor, an eminent surgeon, ly glazed on the garden side and opening onto a terrace,
in 1946. The large plot in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, which is filters through the aquarium, illuminating the landing.
today a smart area on the outskirts of Brussels, was still Viewed from the other side, the aquarium resembles a
surrounded by beetroot fields at the time. Coming from tableau vivant, surrounded as it is by a white frame and
a line of doctors, Paul-Victor belonged to the wealthy Cath- the dining room’s cedar-panelled walls. An Aubusson tap-
olic bourgeoisie, and it was his wish that his children grow estry and a narrow window adorned with wrought iron-
up away from the city in fresh air. work give this room a castle-like feel. Further along the
And yet nothing about Le Parador is ordinary, start- landing are several doors that lead to bedrooms like mo-
ing with the orientation of the house, which follows the nastic cells, and a small staircase to the top of the tower,
course of the sun at an oblique angle to the road. Hidden to the study that is no longer used.
as it is by a hedge, all that can be seen of the building is a Paul-Victor Dupuis wanted a house with the reception
garage. A sparsely graphic garden – a lawn featuring a birch rooms and staff quarters on the ground floor, with most
tree and a sculpture – precedes what looks like a small white of the living spaces upstairs and – on this he was most in-
convent pierced by arrow-like apertures revealing noth- sistent – his cherished study/library at the top. But beyond
ing of the interior. A baroque door, framed with dressed that, the architect had a free hand. ‘My father, the eldest
stone and scrolls, is decorated with a large star, with a han- of a big family, was something of chieftain, and he was
dle at its centre. A design carved into the keystone above adamant about having a study that would dominate,’ says
is a play on the owner’s name, like a coat of arms, as though Christian. ‘He also thought that the children should play
the architect wished to lend his tradition-loving family the outside their room, which should be small because it was
veneer of nobility. just a place for sleeping.’
Behind the door, a small foyer links the front lawn to a It is a house that encourages a particular way of life
large rectangular garden from where you can see the back and assigns everyone their place. That didn’t stop Jacques
elevation of the house, a kind of Modernist castle with a Dupuis from turning it into an enchanting space, and in
Spanish accent. A fat two-storey cube comprising expans- the process revealing him as one of Belgium’s most inter-
es of white wall and large glass partitions, it’s punctuated esting architects in the years after the war. Jacques was the
at one end by a square Medieval-style tower in rubble stone, artist of the family: seductive, worldly and creative. An
almost windowless and reminiscent of a parador, one of admirer of Gunnar Asplund and Alvar Aalto, he espoused
those fortified Spanish hostelries from which the house an imaginative form of Modernism, which was tempered
derives its name. At the top of this three-storey bastion, by his taste for local tradition, though he did add Spanish
most peculiar in this residential area of Brussels, is a study/ influences inspired by his travels. Yet the spirit of the fur-
library for the patriarch. A side wing housing the kitchen is niture, all of which he designed, is unmistakably Scandi-
all but invisible from the garden, concealed by a wall lead- navian. There are many decorative motifs celebrating the
ing to a children’s play pavilion. sun and stars, and the interplay of windows, mirrors and
A long, narrow building, the house is but one room transparent insets lends the place an air of wonder. Le
deep. On the ground floor, the reception room is illumi- Parador is now listed, a highly individual house in which
nated by huge picture windows overlooking the garden, each room offers a wealth of surprises.
which are divided by a large mirror, blurring the distinc- As I leave I spy a painting of a man of the church in
tions. The sun seems to enliven this room. Everything is the entrance. ‘It’s my uncle, Jan van Malderen, bishop of
soft golden yellow: silk curtains, velvet seats and a large Antwerp between 1611 and 1633. I am a direct descendant
fresco on either side of an imposing asymmetrical fire- of his brother,’ says Christian. ‘It’s a copy of his portrait by
place. In front of the mirror there was once a small pool Anthony van Dyck, which I picked up in a second-hand
with a spitting dragon, an extravagance by the architect. ‘As shop. The Queen of England has a copy of it too’ $

Top: the pink lounge was repurposed from a children’s playroom to a small smoking room redolent of the 1940s. Opening the door reveals a re-
tractable bar, adding to Le Parador’s themes of surprise and concealment. Opposite: the bar has been folded away into the thickness of the wall
A R T I S T ’S D I G S Seeking a second home far from the heady London art scene, Georgie Hopton
and her husband, Gary Hume, decided to put down roots – literally – on a 40-
acre farm in upstate New York. Here, she makes good use of their bumper crops
of fruit and veg, creating vibrant monoprints for general consumption. Augusta
Pownall gets a slice of the couple’s parallel life abroad. Photography: Simon Upton

Opposite: the long chicken coop is one of a number of original buildings dotted around the farm, many of which have been adapted for use. This page:
Georgie’s work is dictated by the shapes of the fruit and vegetables themselves, including these tromboncino – a climbing squash – apples and plums
Top: samples of Georgie’s wallpapers hang on rolls above the plan chests,
which house the sheets of brightly coloured paper she uses for collaging.
The curtain is made from her hand-blocked ‘Deco Primitivo’ fabric. Above:
the paint splatters on the floor are her husband’s – the studio used to be his.
Right: Gary made the table on the left of the raised platform just before the
shoot. Some of the work on the floor will be shown in New York in March
Top left: horseradish stems lie on a table in the workshop at the back of Georgie’s former studio. Top right: dried alliums like spiky sculptures sit beside
a wasp’s nest. Above left: the seat of this junk-shop chair is made from ladies’ tights. Above right: the vegetable patch by the Big Barn. Opposite: the
workshop has never been insulated against cold weather, apart from one wall. ‘The wood is too beautiful, and to winterise it you’d have to cover it all up’
Top: before she moved to her new space, Georgie would use this room as
a studio in winter, despite the challenges presented by the low ceiling
and fleeting natural light. ‘I managed very well, I think,’ she says. ‘I made
tons of work there.’ Above: the couple picked up the flat-weave rug and the
rocking chair in the neighbourhood. Right: a ‘Jenny Lind’ bed from Crate
and Barrel has pride of place in this guest-room over Georgie’s former studio
 Sometimes, Hume flies out in February to tap maple syrup
from the trees. The pair of them then return in May for a fortnight
to plant the vegetable garden and in mid-July for four months
to make the most of the resulting glut, conditions permitting.
‘Hopefully, the weather doesn’t trash everything,’ Hopton says,
throwing her arms up. When she says ‘everything’, she means it.
Beans, blueberries, butternut and white-bush squashes, toma-
toes, sunflowers, asparagus, beetroot, dill – they grow the lot, as
well as meadows full of flowers. It has been a revelation. ‘I always
liked nature but it was never really part of my life,’ she says. ‘I didn’t
grow up going to the countryside or with rural pursuits. It just
wasn’t what we did. But I was always interested in still life and
then you can’t help but be interested in flower arrangements and
Dutch paintings and whatnot.’
The ‘absolutely ginormous’ radishes appear first. Rather than
arranging them as Jan van Huysum might, Hopton cuts her crop
and applies paint directly to its surface to produce vibrant mono-
prints. ‘The shape of the vegetables dictates what happens. I don’t
plan it. I get what I’m given,’ she says. These abstract patterns also
inform her range of hand-blocked wallpapers and linens, which
have names such as ‘Circles and Sticks’ and ‘Bird Feet’. As with her
monoprints, the designs evoke the feeling of the plant, rather than
being an exact replica, yet are somehow instantly recognisable.
She cites the inf luence of the Bloomsbury set and Wiener
WHEN THE artist Georgie Hopton and her hus- Werkstätte on her fascination with decoration and craft. ‘I used
band – the painter Gary Hume – were looking for an escape from to be a little bit out on a limb. I was always very interested in mak-
the hectic social whirl that revolves around their Bloomsbury ing,’ she says. That set her apart from a scene that favoured ‘a man
town house (WoI Oct 2017) and the exhibition openings of their with a brush and a canvas and some paint’. Challenging the notion
YBA friends and contemporaries, their number-one priority that craft had no place in contemporary art, she now feels that the
was space. ‘We decided we had enough money for a country house, community has caught up with her. Collages she saves for rainy
but we realised we didn’t have enough to do it [in the UK], because London, working from ‘memories of walking through the woods
we both needed a studio,’ she explains. Almost 17 years ago, they and the brambles’, and using painted paper, wool, dried beans,
opted instead for the vast open spaces of America, when the pound seeds and the colour-saturated floral vinyls she was first drawn
was strong compared with now. to at college. ‘I was using this artificial, kitsch version of nature,
The spot they chose, and to which they have been making an- which I still totally love. I love all that crap, can’t get enough of it.
nual pilgrimages ever since, is a bucolic early 20th-century farm- Just give me nature in whatever form. I don’t care if it’s real. I want
stead in upstate New York, half an hour’s drive from Woodstock. all of it!’ She has drawers of patterned papers at the ready. ‘I have
It consists of a scattering of barns, chicken coops and outbuild- to have colour,’ she says. ‘How anyone can spend their life making
ings that house their respective studios, clustered around the black-and-white pictures, I’ve got no idea.’
main farmhouse, which they have doubled in size. The 40-acre Her studio in the States is a huge, white space, with a pitched
property encompasses woodland, meadow, bog, three orchards, roof and a polished cement floor laid on a slab of concrete that
ponds and even a potting shed-cum-sauna (‘I know, so luxuri- might have been the remnants of a slaughterhouse. The room was
ous!’). It’s a fair amount of land to take on, and not for the faint- originally Hume’s, and the paint splatters underfoot are his.
hearted. ‘If you turn your back – I’m not joking – after a few weeks Hopton pins her latest experiments to the wall and the work-
it’s a wilderness.’ Sprightly, bright-eyed and with the warm but no- table overflows with whatever has sprung from the ground that
nonsense candour of someone brought up in Harrogate, Hopton morning. Dried sunflowers are thrust into pots or hung in bunch-
has risen to the challenge. es between stems of goldenrod. Days are split between the stu-
For an artist so interested in colour, as her collages, prints, dio and the garden. Apart from a Buddhist friend down the road
wallpapers and textiles attest, the particular quality of the sky at whom they visit to witness the tea ceremony, and the siren call of
the farm is a bodily experience. ‘It becomes a material thing. The a new gourmet pizza joint that caters to out-of-town New Yorkers,
sky touches the ground. And so it’s very, very beautiful because I there’s little to tempt the two of them away from their work.
feel like I move through the sky as I go through the landscape,’ she Hopton is currently planning an exhibition for the New York
explains. ‘And the sky, of course, has a colour. So it feels like I’m Armory fair that will see her set her work in conversation with
moving through colour.’ Hume’s. Then it will be time to retreat back into the vegetable
They found the place while visiting a friend of Hopton’s from patch. ‘My ambition was always to be able to make my work and
her time at Central Saint Martins. The house had belonged to to live,’ she says, delighted to have been able to marry the growth
a sheriff and before that a Swedish woman who kept chickens in the garden with that in the studio $
and sold the eggs to Kodak for coating photographic paper with Georgie Hopton and Gary Hume will show with Lyndsey Ingram at the Armory
albumen. On a three-day trip scouring the area, they returned Show, Pier 90, 711 12th Avenue, New York, NY 10019 (thearmoryshow.com),
every day. ‘We had sun, we had snow and we had pouring rain, 5-8 March. They will also have a joint exhibition at Lyndsey Ingram, 20
so we could see it in all this different weather and we still loved it.’ Bourdon St, London W1 (020 7629 8849; lyndseyingram.com), 26 Feb-3 April
Opposite: Georgie jokes that every year she and Gary forget what every-
thing in the garden is and have to consult their guidebooks. ‘He’s like,
“What was that called again?”’ This page: experimental block prints are
pinned up on the wall behind her. Her days at the farm are split between
the studio and the vegetable patch. ‘Here, every moment I want to relish’
 inspiration
Some of the design effects in this issue, recreated by Grace McCloud

1
1 The plaintive putti of Damsgård’s ‘mourning
wallpaper’ are a poignant touch, but we’re more
taken with the flowers and foliage above (page
76). Happily for us and you Zuber makes a paper
(‘Tilleul 1594’, £450 per 10m roll) and border
(‘Tilleul 1593’, £55 per m) in the same spirit.
Ring 020 7824 8265, or visit zuber.fr.

2 Gilded-leather upholstery need not be the

preserve of bygone Bergen’s aristos (page 76):
Tat iana Tafur stocks Lutson Goud leder’s re-
splendent hides, which are embossed and paint-
2
ed by hand. Shown: ‘Marot’, £1,242 per panel.
Ring 020 7731 3777, or visit tatianatafur.com.

3 Candlelight might look pretty bouncing

3 off Damsgård’s crystal chandelier
(page 76), but it’s hardly practical.
Luckily, Italian Luxury Lighting
can provide glimmering glamour
that’s also fully wired-up: this
‘D6232.006’ costs from £945 ap-
prox. Ring 00 39 0422 821941, or
visit italianluxurylighting.com.

4 If you envy whoever curled up

in Damsgård’s canopied bed under
pink patterned drapes (page 85),
why not do it yourself: we’ve found
4 the frame (the Original Bed Company’s king-
size ‘Waterloo’, £899), you just need to source the
swags. Ring 0800 464 0875, or visit obc-uk.net.

5 Juerg Judin’s ablution solution to his bath-

room-less Berlin petrol station? A scarlet ‘bath

PHOTOGRAPHY: LIAM STEVENS (6 LEFT, 10 RIGHT, 3 OVERLEAF)

box’ extension (page 95). If that seems extreme,
consider a small-scale revamp with Victoria &
Albert Baths’ ‘Edge’ tub, £2,885, which is availa-
5 ble in 194 colours, including traffic red. Ring 020
7351 4378, or visit vandabaths.com.

6 A Knoll suite makes a sweet spot to

sit in Juerg Judin’s living room (page
91). He’s covered the ‘Relax’ three-
seater sofa (from £6,710) and
chairs (from £2,920 each) with
pink wool, and we’ve come up
roses with a fine substitute:
Kirkby Design’s ‘Cross K5126-
10’, £60 per m. Visit knoll.com.
Visit kirkbydesign.com.

6
 7

7 Coveting the clover-motif vent tiles at

the Tang-clan complex (page 99)? It’s your
lucky day: these wall tiles, in dark green or
jade, cost £65 each. Ring Cheeky Tiki on 8
020 8533 3310, or visit cheekytiki.com.

8 Tubular tiles have been used on roofs in

China since the second century bc, so it’s no
sur prise they crop up at the Qing-
dynasty landmark (page 96). What
might amaze you is that you can get
historic reproductions, all thanks to
the Luoyang Dannuo Gardens and
Building Company. Prices start at
$20 per sq m. Ring 00 86 379 6529
1038, or visit sfrooftile.com.

9 Tables and towel rails, lamps and

leonine door knockers – there’s little
the historic smiths in Seville can’t 10

craft (page 122). And it is all availa-

ble to buy. This decorative clothes 9
hanger costs £215 approx. Ring 00
34 629 207 213, or visit secogoldsmith.com.

10 Eyeing the ottoman in the Normandy sit-

ting room (page 116)? Put your feet up, as we
have the perfect solution: cover the Footstool
Workshop’s one-metre plain-top storage model,
from £599, with Guy Goodfellow Collection’s
‘Fez Weave’, £210 per m, which comes in 25 col-
ourways. Visit thefootstoolworkshop.co.uk.
Visit guygoodfellowcollection.com.

11 Good reproductions of unusual antiques

are hard to find, but rejoice: Paolo Moschino
for Nicholas Haslam’s limed-oak cen-
tre table, £3,750, is a dead ringer for the
17th-century colonial table in the hall of
Tory Burch’s house (page 110). Ring 020
7730 8623, or visit nicholashaslam.com.

12 Even the hall that Robert Kime de-

signed for Tory Burch looks like a lovely
place to linger, especially ensconced in
the upholstered armchair (page 111).
Envy the easy elegance? With the same
turned legs and deep seat, George Sher-
lock’s ‘Louis’, from £1,532, should be your
chair of choice. Ring 01843 864190, or
visit georgesherlock.com. r
11 12
1

inspiration

1 Achilles, Odysseus et al battle it out on the

walls of Le Parador in tapestry form, bringing
some epic drama to the dining room of the late
2 1940s house (page 130). Equally heroic (if not
Homeric), Zardi & Zardi’s classic ‘Warriors’,
£990, would make a grand stand-in. Ring 01452
814777, or visit zardiandzardi.co.uk.

2 We were beaming with satisfaction when we

found Restoration Hardware’s ‘17th-century
Sunburst’ mirror, which is the spit of that hang-
ing beside the fire in the reception room of the
Brussels house (page 134). Yours for $1,496, it’s
sure to make you happy when skies are grey.
Ring 001 209 834 1044, or visit rh.com.

3 Fiery red fabric and long black bullion

make for a ritzy pairing, especially when cov-
ering a strikingly shaped cocktail chair –
3 take a look in Le Parador’s bar (page 136).
Bring a bit of 1940s glamour to your own up-
holstery by trimming Dedar’s ‘Lipstick 00-
T19002017’, £144.50 per m, with Brunschwig &
Fils’ ‘Coeur Bullion T8012105-8’, £96.50 per m.
Visit dedar.com. Visit gpjbaker.com.

4 Georgie Hopton’s porcelain sink with built-

in splashback must come in handy for washing
brushes and other painterly chores (page 141),
but you don’t need to be an artist to admire its
utilitarian chicness. Historic Houseparts sells
the ‘Clarion’ for $2,805. Ring 001 585 325 2329,
or visit historichouseparts.com.

5 A bobbin bed takes pride of place in one of

the upstate New York guest-rooms, its lathe-
turned frame offering a folk-art feel (page
4 145). Love its cool spool-like posts? Ser-
ena & Lily’s ‘Webster’, which is inspired
by 17th-century originals, is yours from
$1,798. Visit serenaandlily.com.

6 A traditional braided rug in Georgie

Hopton’s guest-room underscores the
genteel American air of her family’s early
20th-century farmhouse (page 145). If,
like us, you lust after its laid-back charm,
head straight over to the Braided Rug
Company for one of its trademark de-
signs. ‘Pashmina’ costs £110. Ring 01654
767248, or visit braided-rug.co.uk $

6
5
CONGRATULATIONS TO
THOMAS A. KLIGERMAN, ARCHITECT
RECIPIENT OF THE 2019
DESIGN LEADERSHIP AWARD

Generously supported by:

PL ATINUM PARTNERS
BENJAMIN MOORE
DESIGN WITHIN REACH
GOOGLE NEST
LORO PIANA
LUXURY DIVISION OF PELL A
TACONIC BUILDERS
WATERWORKS

PREMIER PARTNERS
1STDIBS
CHUBB
KR AVET
MERIDA
PERENNIALS AND SUTHERL AND

AWARD GENEROUSLY
PROVIDED BY
DLN PARTNER CAMBRIA

DESIGNLEADERSHIPNETWORK.ORG
 Above: Samuel van Hoogstraten, A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House (detail), c1655-60, oil paint and egg on wood. Opposite,
top left: Grinling Gibbons, font cover, 1682, limewood. Top right: Godfrey Kneller, Margaret Cecil, later Countess of Ranelagh, 1690-91, oil on canvas
 Optic verve, hymn to Him, easel vs pixel, plus Charlotte Edwards’s listings

EXHIBITION diary
OPPOSITE: THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. THIS PAGE, TOP LEFT: ALL HALLOWS BY THE TOWER, LONDON. TOP RIGHT: THE ROYAL COLLECTION/HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II

British Baroque: Power and Illusion TATE BRITAIN Millbank, London SW1
When Samuel Pepys visited the studio of Simon Verelst, he could Trompe-l’oeil effects, sources of much wonder and delight,
scarcely believe that he was seeing mere oil paint on canvas. soon slipped out of the picture frame and invaded the home.
Verelst, he wrote, ‘did shew us a little flower-pot of his doing, the The affable-looking fellow standing over there in the full-bot-
finest thing that ever, I think, I saw in my life; the drops of dew tomed wig? Nothing but a painted dummy board. But surely
hanging on the leaves, so as I was forced, again and again, to put that violin hanging by a ribbon from the back of the door…?
my finger to it, to feel whether my eyes were deceived or no.’ Got you again. Illusionism reached its apogee in painted interi-
In the late 17th century, art and science stood side by side to ors, the most magnificent of which were the 24 ceilings at Win-
push at the boundaries of visual perception. Robert Hooke’s dsor Castle commissioned by Charles II from the Neapolitan
Micrographia (1665) contained the author’s drawings of plants painter Antonio Verrio. Surviving oil sketches and 19th-century
and insects, including a flea, as seen through his microscope – watercolour views hint at the awe-inspiring and immersive ex-
‘the most ingenious book that ever I read in my life’, marvelled perience it must have been.
Pepys. Samuel van Hoogstraten, meanwhile, wrote about the If the extravagance that had flooded into art and architecture
science of painting, while members of the Royal Society proved since the Restoration transformed houses into palaces, and pal-
keen patrons of the illusionistic perspectives in which he spe- aces into outposts of heaven, in portraiture it turned duchesses
cialised. The Dordrecht-born artist’s paintings of courtyards into silk-clad saints and dukes into Roman generals. But such
and colonnades, executed with precise attention to fine gra- outrageous splendour could not last; in the reign of Queen Anne,
dations of architectural recession, produced an astonishing the dominance of the court was challenged by a new political
impression of real space. One fully expects the young man sit- elite, by coffee houses and the Kit-Cat Club. Art and architecture
ting on the steps of a courtyard to turn a page of his book. became, in a word, more sensible. By 1732, when Sarah, Duchess
Ingenious as these pictures were, however, Van Hoogstraten of Marlborough, remarked approvingly that the newly decorated
went a step further with his ‘perspective box’. Put your eye to one private chapel at Blenheim Palace contained no ‘Wonderful Fig-
of the peepholes and his command of optics magics up an appar- ures and Whirligigs… that are of no manner of use but to laugh
ently three-dimensional Dutch interior. His conjuring, how- at’, the Baroque age had come to a definitive end. BRITISH BAROQUE:
ever, conceals a trick: as we peer through the quiet rooms at a POWER AND ILLUSION runs 5 Feb-19 April, Mon-Sun 10-6 $ SUSAN
woman reading in a chair, we receive a slightly unpleasant sur- OWENS, former curator of paintings at the V&A, is the author of ‘The
prise as we spot a man looking in like us, but from a far window. Ghost: A Cultural History’ (Tate)
 K I TCH EN AN D
BATH RO OM G UI D E
MAY 2020
S P

Find all the inspiration you’ll ever need for

your kitchen and bathroom projects in The
World of Interiors’ definitive Guide to Kitchens
and Bathrooms, a beautifully edited 100-page
sourcebook and lookbook of those specialist
designers and suppliers you need to know

Find it in the May issue

on sale from 2 April 2020

Be part of the story

#theworldofinteriorsmayissue
 EXHIBITION diary

George Him HOUSE OF ILLUSTRATION Granary Square, London N1

In postwar Great Britain, the pioneering Polish Jewish émigré artist George Him
saw the lie of the land clearly. Modernist to his fingertips, he believed that the new
practice of graphic design must be judged on performance as well as aesthetics.
Him would transform British design and illustration in the decades that followed,
while never losing his cosmopolitanism or his global reach. Born in Lodz in 1900
and christened Jerzy Himmelfarb, he studied in Moscow until the Russian Revolution
and then in Bonn, before enrolling at the Leipzig Academy for Graphic Art and Book
Industry. In 1937, he arrived in London with fellow designer Jan Le Witt, with whom
he had formed the thoroughly modern partnership Lewitt-Him. The outbreak of war
heralded opportunities for which they were precisely suited, designing propaganda
for the Post Office and the Ministries of Information and Food, as well as the Polish
and Dutch governments in exile. Meat-starved British citizens were propitiated with
their cheerful poster image of the ‘Vegetabull’, promoting the root vegetables and
powdered eggs/milk available under rationing. ‘Go by Shanks’ Pony’ urged another,
with a winsome little trotting horse whose body is formed from a boot. This brand of
wry humour and unassuming, characterful, almost childlike drawing resurfaces in
the softer commissions that Him undertook throughout the rest of his career.
ALL WORKS © THE ESTATE OF GEORGE HIM, EXCEPT BE MAP CONSCIOUS: © THE ESTATES OF GEORGE HIM AND JAN LE WITT

George Him was naturalised, becoming a British citizen in 1948. Peacetime re-
quired more of these insouciant, humorous creations – a giant umbrella tree for the
Wet Weather section of the 1946 Britain Can Make It exhibition and murals for the
Education Pavilion of the Festival of Britain in 1951. When the Lewitt-Him partner-
ship came to an end in 1955, Him’s outlook remained keenly international. With
Barnett Freedman, he was a founder member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale
in 1952, and he would work for the American companies Pan Am and Formica and
produce branding for the Australian Trade Commission. In designing for El Al Israel
Airlines, the Warsaw Ghetto exhibition in the early 1960s and the Observer Masada
exhibition in 1966, he reaffirmed his sense of Jewish identity.
By the time he was appointed senior lecturer in design at Leicester Polytechnic in
1969, Him had seen his practice become a ‘proper profession’. Ever the polemicist,
he averred: ‘All that is left for me… is to preach the old gospel of design based on art,
and not on market research, to the growing generations of students.’ But despite his
election as a Royal Designer for Industry in 1977 and a career transforming brands
such as Penguin Books and London Transport, he has never been as celebrated as his
contemporaries: Freedman, Bawden, Ravilious, Kenneth Rowntree. At the House of
Illustration, the propaganda posters, advertisements and book illustrations drawn
with humour and individuality – shown with personal objects from his austerely Mod-
ernist St John’s Wood studio – will correct that record for posterity. GEORGE HIM: A POLISH
DESIGNER FOR MID-CENTURY BRITAIN runs until 10 May, Tues-Sat 10-5.30, Sun 11-5.30 $
RUTH GUILDING is a writer and curator and blogs at bibleofbritishtaste.com

From top: Untitled, c1938; point-of-sale display for Schweppes, 1957; Lewitt-Him, Be Map Conscious,
poster for London Transport, 1945; cover design for The New Middle East magazine, March 1969
THE INTERIORS

INDEX
The Interiors Index, The World of Interiors’
new online directory of shops, galleries
and services is now live.

Visit worldofinteriors.co.uk/interiors-index
to search those specialists whose ethos
of quality and style mirrors that of the
magazine itself.
ARTIST, THOMAS DANE GALLERY, AND PAULA COOPER GALLERY, NEW YORK. BOTTOM: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND PILAR CORRIAS GALLERY, LONDON. PHOTO: MATTHEW SEPTIMUS

EXHIBITION diary
TOP LEFT: © DANIEL RICHTER/DACS, LONDON 2019. COURTESY OF GALERIE THADDAEUS ROPAC, LONDON, PARIS, SALZBURG. TOP RIGHT: © CECILY BROWN. COURTESY OF THE

Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium WHITECHAPEL GALLERY Whitechapel High St, London E1
It’s no longer news that painting never died. What is new is that now seems vulnerable to the charge of appropriating the pain of
it now functions as an antidote to the low-stakes legibility of the others. Kenyan-born Michael Armitage makes paintings based
Instagram feed. This exhibition of around 40 paintings made on news stories from east Africa that connect to Western art his-
during the past two decades celebrates the ‘return’ of figuration tory – Gauguin in particular – in a complex way, while rising star
after the demise of so-called Zombie Formalism, in which dirty, Tschabalala Self, the youngest artist here, takes on the representa-
bare canvases with a few slapdash markings sold for big money. tion of the African-American body using paint, fabric and prints.
But plenty of artists have been doing more interesting things The proliferation of digital images supplies the context, rather
with paint all along – whether telling stories, hybridising with than the aesthetics, of much of this work; an exception is the
other media or adopting a hands-on practice that puts the body CMYK gradients and CGI effects in Christina Quarles’s paint-
front and centre. The ten featured here all use figuration to get ings thematising queer identity and the limits of legibility. Her
under the skin of the world as we know it, using different means colourful palette couldn’t be more different from that in Sanya
to get inside our screen-addled brains. Kantarovsky’s dark scenographies, while her theatricality is
The canvases of Cecily Brown, for ex- trumped by Tala Madani’s psychodramas
ample, confront you with the materiality featuring shit and balding men. All three
of paint when viewed up close; stand fur- are drawn to the bizarre, as is Ryan Mosley
ther away, and human presences and dra- with carnivalesque phantasms such as Wear­
matic scenarios emerge from their intricate ing Another’s Head on Your Jacket (2014).
surfaces. Like Brown, Nicole Eisenman is In an image-saturated world, painting
established in the canon; her dazzlingly as- offers a slower mode of looking that jpegs
sured work addresses art, society and the cannot reach, and this show deserves to be
human condition with humour and com- a crowd-pleaser. One gripe is that it plays
passion, as in the intermittently Bosch-like it too safe, both in its selection of widely
diptych Progress: Real and Imagined (2006). fêted artists and in its curatorial concept: in
Look out for a squadron of flying burgers. our chaotic times, does it really come down
Dana Schutz is on excellent form with to whether a painting is figurative or not?
Imagine You and Me (2018), in which two dis- RADICAL FIGURES: PAINTING IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
torted figures cavort in a boat in shark-in- runs 6 Feb-10 May, Tues, Wed, Fri-Sun 11-6,
fested waters. Daniel Richter’s 2001 painting Thurs 11-9 $ ALEXANDER SCRIMGEOUR is
of refugees in a dinghy, on the other hand, editor­at­large of ‘Spike Art Magazine’

Top left: Daniel Richter, Tarifa, 2001, oil on canvas, 3.5 × 2.8m. Top right: Cecily Brown, Lucky Beach, 2017, oil on linen,
2.11 × 1.70m. Above: Tschabalala Self, NYPD, 2019, painted canvas, fabric, Flashe and gouache on canvas, 2.13 × 1.83m

157
 EXHIBITION diary
1

1 Top marks – BRITAIN LONDON NATIONAL GALLERY TRAFALGAR SQUARE, WC2 Until 1
Notgeld from Oelde, 1 HOE STREET GALLERY HOE ST, E17 8 Feb-26 April. March. Mon-Thurs, Sat, Sun 10-6, Fri 10-9. Old mas-
Westphalia, 1921, at Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 11-5. Late 1950s and early 60s ters that wowed the young Bomberg. 22 Feb-
the British Museum. laminate furniture – recently unearthed from 31 May, domestic scenes and genre paintings
2 Stitch fix – Nicolaes a Hertfordshire basement – by Barry Daniels, – often with a cheeky onlooker or eavesdrop-
Maes, Young Woman Peter Blake and other members of Pop-art per – give way to portraits with a Van Dyckian
Sewing, 1655, at design collective Danad (WoI Dec 2016). swagger in the first British survey of work by
the National Gallery. BOW ARTS BOW RD, E3 Until 29 March. Tues-Fri 10-4, Rembrandt’s pupil Nicolaes Maes.
3 Mum’s the word Sat, Sun 10-5. Press gang: archive photos, eph- NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY ST MARTIN’S PLACE,
– David Hockney, emera and workers’ memories supply a por- WC2 27 Feb-28 June. Mon-Thurs, Sat, Sun 10-6, Fri
Mother, Bradford, trait of the east London printing industry. 10-9. Sketch mate: 150 intimate drawings of
19 Feb 1979, at the BRITISH MUSEUM GREAT RUSSELL ST, WC1 Until 5 friends, family and the artist himself by David
NPG. 4 It’s a wrap – March. Mon-Thurs, Sat, Sun 10-5.30, Fri 10-8.30. Hockney, made over five decades using ink,
kimono, prob. Kyoto, The prints and drawings – by Matisse, Freud, coloured pencils, Polaroid prints or iPad.
1800-30, at the V&A. Bridget Riley, Vija Celmins and others – that PARASOL UNIT WHARF RD, N1 Until 26 March. Tues-Sat
2 papered the walls of film critic Alexander 10-6, Sun 12-5. Christine Rebet’s hand-drawn
Walker’s flat (not excepting the kitchen and animations form the last exhibition in this
bathroom). Until 8 March, Troy story. See Jan former umbrella factory, which will embrace
issue. Until 29 March, colourful, intricate de- a new model of off-site programming.
signs for Notgeld: German emergency money, PIPPY HOULDSWORTH HEDDON ST, W1 Until 7 March.
issued – on paper, as metal supplies were Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5. Cassi Namoda spent her
short – during and after World War I. childhood between Mozambique, Haiti and
BRUNEI GALLERY AT SOAS THORNHAUGH ST, WC1 the USA; the fluid lines of her richly coloured
Until 21 March. Tues, Wed, Fri-Sat 10.30-5, Thurs yet strangely hazy paintings suggest that iden-
10.30-8. All-consuming show of Chinese eat- tity, time and place are all in flux.
ing and drinking vessels, dating from the late RICHARD NAGY OLD BOND ST, W1 6 Feb-27 March. Tues-
Neolithic period to the 19th century, in part- Sat 11-5. Connecticut dealer Michael Shapiro
nership with the Museum of East Asian Art holds court with a museum-worthy showcase
in Bath. Plus, going underground: Sakubei of Modernist photography: Imogen Cunning-
Yamamoto’s minutely observed and anno- ham, Man Ray, Edward Weston and almost
tated watercolours of Japanese mining life. every other great you can think of.
CAMDEN ARTS CENTRE ARKWRIGHT RD, NW3 Until SHIRLEY SHERWOOD GALLERY KEW GARDENS, TW9
3 4 5 April. Tues, Thurs-Sun 10-6, Wed 10-9. Hang out Until 15 March. Mon-Sun 10-3.45. All grown up: a
under Vivian Suter’s canopy of brightly col- crop of exquisitely drawn plants marks this
oured canvases – streaked or soaked by rain botanical-art collection’s 30th anniversary.
and mudslides, spattered with paw-prints and SOMERSET HOUSE STRAND, WC2 Until 26 April. Mon,
falling leaves – created in, and shaped by, the Tues, Sat, Sun 10-6, Wed-Fri 11-8. Fungus keepers:
Guatemalan rainforest. See Liverpool. Plus, mushrooms pop up in art and design, from
Athanasios Argianas explores acoustic tech- Beatrix Potter to Takashi Murakami.
nology in ceramic, film and music works. TORNABUONI ART ALBEMARLE ST, W1 11 Feb-18 April.
DRAWING ROOM RODNEY PLACE, SE17 Until 1 March. Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10.30-5.30. Thirty Italian figu-
Tues-Fri 11-6, Sat, Sun 12-6. Donna Huddleston’s rative paintings of the interwar period, re-
intensely worked, super-fine autobiograph- visiting the themes of the Novecento move-
ical colour-pencil drawings. ment’s famous 1926 exhibition, and includ-
FLOW NEEDHAM RD, W11 Until 21 March. Tues-Sat ing work by Balla, De Chirico and Morandi.
11-6. Woven-willow wall sculptures by Lizzie TURNER’S HOUSE SANDYCOOMBE RD, TW1 Until 29
Farey and Anna Gordon’s silver brooches March. Wed-Sun 12-3. Five rare little riverscapes
made up of repeated geometric forms. in oils on mahogany veneer – possibly old bits
GREEN & STONE GALLERY FULHAM RD, SW3 25 Feb-8 of furniture – that Turner made in a rented
5 March. Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5. Nonagenarian boat on the Thames in the early 1800s.
George Ciancimino, a Paris-trained sculp- V&A CROMWELL RD, SW7 Until 22 March. Mon-Thurs,
5 Nuts landing – tor who detoured into furniture design and Sat, Sun 10-5.45, Fri 10-10. Walker this way: pho-
Filippo de Pisis, Still antique dealing in the 1950s and 60s, pre- tographer Tim’s retrospective. Until 19 April,
Life with Almonds, sents new puzzle-box sculptures and abstract rev on: the short history – and serious impact
1933, at Tornabuoni. coloured-paper compositions. – of the car. Until 3 May, Darren Waterston’s
6 Spine-tingler – MAZZOLENI ALBEMARLE ST, W1 7 Feb-11 reimagining of Whistler’s Peacock
Leslie Carol Berge, April. Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5. Gian- Room (WoI June 2015). 29 Feb-
Cycad, female cones franco Zappettini, in his new 21 June, forms of a dress: the
of ‘Encephalartos sequence of meticulously kimono in Japan and beyond.
ferox’, 1998, at the striated paintings, is pre- Look out for the scroll paint-
Shirley Sherwood occupied by gold as a po- ing of a 1930s Tokyo fashion-
Gallery. 7 Spice of life tent symbol of perfection ista who teams hers with a fox
– enamel condiment and preciousness. fur and clutch bag.
jar, 1820-40, at the
Brunei Gallery at SOAS 7
6
 EXHIBITION diary
1

OUTSIDE LONDON OXFORD ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM Until 8 March. Mon- 1 Props to him – Brice
ABERYSTWYTH ABERYSTWYTH ARTS CENTRE Until 9 Sun 10-5. This display of Philip Guston draw­ Marden, Post and
March. Mon-Wed 10-5, Thurs-Sat 10-8, Sun 1-5. Hats ings includes books owned by the US artist, Lintel 7, 1984/2019,
off to Scarfe: cartoonist Gerald’s work in ani­ revealing a penchant for Kafka, TS Eliot and in Houston. 2 Sink or
mation, theatre and costume design. Until 15 Song­dynasty paintings. Until 19 April, bang swim – Linder, Untitled,
March, Welsh makers respond to historic cer­ to rights: small­scale gunpowder works by 2015, in Cambridge.
amics in the university collection: Swansea Cai Guo­Qiang. 27 Feb-7 June, compared to his 3 Cloth fair – Anne-
and Nantgarw porcelain, and studio pottery childhood friend and rival Jan Lievens, who Louis Girodet, Study
by Frances Richards and Reginald Wells. had caught the eye of collectors by the age of of drapery for ‘The
CAMBRIDGE KETTLE’S YARD 15 Feb-26 April. Tues- 12, Rembrandt was a late developer, only be­ Flood’, 1806, in Lyon.
Sun 11-5 (gallery), Tues-Sun 12-5 (house). A multi­ ginning to paint at 18. But his artistic develop­ 4 Pattern recognition
disciplinary, site­specific show by Linder, best ment over the following decade, 1624­34, left – Faith Ringgold,
known for her photomontages, extends even his competitors in the shade. A scholarly show Windows of the
to the shop, which will stock artist­designed of 34 paintings charts his meteoric rise. Wedding #4: Man,
‘House of Helen’ products in honour of foun­ ST IVES TATE ST IVES Until 3 May. Tues-Sun 10-4.20. 1974, in Los Angeles.
der Jim Ede’s often unsung wife. Ethereal experimental sculptures and other 2
CORBY THE ARCHES Until 30 March. Mon-Sun 10-4. work by Constructivist artist Naum Gabo, a
Abigail Lane and Lala Meredith­Vula have century on from his ‘Realistic Manifesto’.
collected and catalogued 90 items lost in SHEFFIELD KELHAM ISLAND MUSEUM Until 1 April.
Fineshade Wood in this project space run by Mon-Thurs 10-4, Sun 11-4.45. The Hawley Tool
Fermynwoods Contemporary Art. Collection (always worth a visit for its A­Z of
DUNDEE DCA Until 22 March. Mon-Wed, Fri-Sun 10-6, planes and oversized­trowel display) cele­
Thurs 10-8. Novel approach: a group show in­ brates Barnsley­born carpenter­turned­en­
spired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s feminist sci­fi gineer Joseph Bramah (1748­1814), inventor
masterpiece The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), of the hydraulic press, the first truly efficient
which is set on an ice­bound planet complete flushing toilets and fire engines, and a near­
with gender­shifting inhabitants. unpickable lock still in production today.
EAST WINTERSLOW NEW ART CENTRE, ROCHE COURT FRANCE LYON MUSEE DES BEAUX-ARTS Until 8 March.
Until 22 March. Mon-Sun 11-4. Natural selection: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun 10-6, Fri 10.30-6. In the
Whitechapel Gallery director, Iwona Blazwick, fold: the draped figure in art.
curates a show of new art inspired by organ­ GERMANY LUCKENWALDE E-WERK Until 28 March.
3
ic forms and landscape. Andreas Eriksson, Sat, Sun 11-6 or by appointment. Switched on: the
for instance, makes paintings with patient, inaugural programme at this converted power
repeated brushstrokes that recall the action station near Berlin includes Nicolas Deshayes’s
of water dripping on stone over centuries. cast­iron radiator sculptures and an installa­
FIRLE CHARLESTON 1 Feb-19 April. Wed-Sun 10-5 tion of painted flags and mirrored arrows by
(galleries), 11.30-3.30 (house). Female figures are Lucy Joyce (WoI Oct 2013).
almost overwhelmed by furiously painted ITALY MILAN GALLERIA D’ITALIA Until 15 March. Tues,
flowers and elaborate furnishings in the work Wed, Fri-Sun 9.30-7.30, Thurs 9.30-10.30. A com­
of Shani Rhys James. Plus, art gifted to the parative survey of the great sculptors Antonio
house of late, with Duncan Grant’s 1915 por­ Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen, rivals in early
trait of Vanessa Bell the highlight. 19th­century Rome.
LIVERPOOL TATE LIVERPOOL Until 15 March. Mon-Sun USA HOUSTON MENIL DRAWING INSTITUTE 21 Feb-
10-5. A maze­like painted installation by Vivian 14 June. Wed-Sun 11-7. ‘Think of them as spaces,’
Suter. See Camden, London. Until 3 May, Brice Marden said of his drawings in 1979 –
Theaster Gates’s ‘forest’ of sculp­ emphasising that medium’s ability to tran­
tures mines the history of Malaga, scend the dimensional and to capture
an island off Maine whose ethni­ the spirit of place. Calligraphic swirls
cally diverse population was for­ and dense wax­coated surfaces figure
cibly evacuated in 1912. in this elegantly staged exploration
4 5
WALKER ART GALLERY Until 1 March. Mon- of his draughtsmanship.
Sun 10-5. Clothes show: the wardrobe of LOS ANGELES MOCA Until 11 May. Mon,
well­to­do Liverpudlian Emily Tinne Wed, Fri 11-6, Thurs 11-8, Sat, Sun 11-5. 5 Spun out –
(1886­1966), from beaded gowns and Borrowing from Islamic architec­ Naum Gabo, Linear
motoring bonnets to cotton combina­ ture, American quilts, Persian car­ Construction No.2,
tions. Until 27 April, multi­layered draped pets, wallpapers and myriad other 1970-71, in St Ives.
paintings by 2018 John Moores prize­ sources dismissed as ‘ornamental’, 6 Babes in the hood
winner Jacqui Hallum. ‘craft­based’ and, often, ‘feminine’, – Rembrandt and
WORLD MUSEUM Until 13 April. Mon-Sun 10-5. Pattern & Decoration artists flew in others, Let the Little
Preparatory ink drawings and delicate the face of cool Minimalism, Con­ Children Come to
watercolours of craggy mountains, bam­ ceptualism as well as other male­ Me, c1627-28 and
boo groves, peonies, geese and cranes dominated art movements of the later, in Oxford.
by Meiji­period painter Taki Katei. 1970s and 80s $ 7 Server icon – Antonio
Canova, Hebe,
7 1800-05, in Milan
6
 12 PRINT ISSUES +
12 FREE DIGITAL EDITIONS
No cover lines for subscribers - ALL FOR £36*

FREE
INSTANT
ACCESS ON
ANDROID,
iPAD &
iPHONE

Call 0844 848 5202 (ref: CWI18786) or register at www.magazineboutique.co.uk/woi/CWI18786

*Offer is limited to new subscribers at UK addresses only. Overseas airmail: Europe £80; USA $99 (periodicals postage); rest of the world £99. For overseas
enquiries please e-mail [email protected] or call +44 (0)1858 438815. Offer closes 6 March 2020. For privacy notice and permission
details, please visit www.condenast.co.uk/privacy
JOURNAL OF AN ISLAMIC DESIGN EXPERT

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONS
FROM DEWSBURY TO DOHA, ERIC BROUG TRAVELS THE GLOBE PROMOTING THE TESSELLATED PATTERNS AND PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC GEOMET-
RIC DESIGN. ANCIENT IT MAY BE, BUT THIS MYSTERIOUS ‘VISUAL LANGUAGE’ STILL SPEAKS TO THE MODERN WORLD – IF USED CORRECTLY, HE SAYS

In any language, if you want to communicate, you can’t make

up words. The same principle applies to Islamic geometric de-
sign. There is a lexicon of shapes. If you want to convey a com-
plex idea, you use words/shapes that are familiar. Within this
visual language, you have different regional dialects: different
embellishments, materials, patterns. But the shapes are more
or less the same. It’s extraordinary to consider that an Ottoman
trader from Turkey in the 16th century could travel to Iran and
the geometric compositions he saw there would not be alien or
illegible to him. Truly a universal language!
I committed my life to Islamic geometric design 25 years ago.
I was walking along the Spiegelgracht in Amsterdam. In a book-
shop window, I saw Arabic Geometrical Pattern and Design by Jules
Bourgoin. Published in 1879, the book has almost 200 different
patterns but only shows you the result, not the process. I want-
ed to know how to draw them. For the next ten years, I spent
thousands of hours of deconstruction and reconstruction. I
made a deal with myself: if I was going to pursue this obscure
subject, then I must do it 100 per cent.
I teach people how to read and write Islamic geometric de-
sign. If you can draw circles and lines, you can make these pat-
terns. I show which lines to draw and in which order. Patterns
can be tessellated to create one big group composition. The
craftsmen who have made them over the centuries were not
mathematicians. They knew how to make things with their
hands. Their tools were a ruler and a pair of compasses. No
need to measure, no need to calculate. If they can do it, we can!
I have two kinds of working weeks: at home or abroad. This
week, I am at home. I have spent two days creating a YouTube
tutorial. We made a 4 × 9m geometric ceramic composition on
the façade of a community centre in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire,
using more than 5,500 ceramic shapes. Because of its size and
complexity, there was a lot of curiosity. The original, much
smaller, composition is from the 14th-century Bou Inania ma-
drasa in Meknes, Morocco. My challenge was to make something
equally traditional and contemporary, appreciated by everyone.
My passion takes me everywhere: Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Doha,
Edmonton, Istanbul, Cupertino, Hamburg. There is a project
getting under way in Lombok, Indonesia. This island is becom-
ing a major halal tourism destination. I’ve been asked to work
on an Islamic geometric design-themed resort. It will be an op-
portunity to apply design principles in a tropical setting. Quite
an unconventional environment for Islamic geometric design.
There’s a lot we don’t know about this subject. Art histori-
ans see a pattern and move on. Mathematicians pretend it’s black
lines on a white background. Inevitably, during Q&A sessions,
meaning and symbolism come up. There is no historical docu-
ment that says, for example: ‘I, Abdullah, craftsman in 14th-
century Timurid Samarkand, am choosing this pattern for this
ILLUSTRATION: AMANDA-SUE ROPE

reason.’ On Instagram, I’m sent photos from around the world

of Islamic geometric designs. In contemporary architecture,
this visual heritage suffers from cut and paste. Architects and
designers typically have the desire but not the skill to acknowl-
edge 1,200 years of design excellence. Because I see the design
mistakes, I feel a responsibility to remedy them $
For more information, visit broug.com
176
LOS ANGELES CHICAGO BOSTON NEW YORK MIAMI SAN FRANCISCO LONDON