TEXTILE DESIGNER NEISHA CROSLAND ... - The Chic Shopper
TEXTILE DESIGNER NEISHA CROSLAND ... - The Chic Shopper
TEXTILE DESIGNER NEISHA CROSLAND ... - The Chic Shopper
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
the distressed glass doors in neisha crosland’s<br />
master bedroom were inspired by those in a<br />
modernist palazzo in Venice. the door handles are<br />
from guineVere antiques. the armchairs, bought<br />
from dna design through core one antiques, are<br />
coVered in crosland’s ‘diamonds’ fabric. the cushion<br />
is coVered in her ‘sea thistle’ in silk jacquard. the<br />
curtains are in indian silk. details, last pages.<br />
150 Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11<br />
LABOUR<br />
of<br />
LOVE<br />
TexTile designer neisha Crosland Crams inspiraTion from every<br />
Corner of <strong>The</strong> world inTo her deliriously enTiCing london home.<br />
photographer: joakim blockström writer: fiona mccarthy
stephan hamel’s workroom,<br />
with one of his many floral<br />
moldaVian rugs and a pair of<br />
campana brothers ‘faVela’<br />
chairs. doors lead to the sunny<br />
winter garden and a balcony<br />
looking far out to sea. OPPOSITE<br />
PAGE: the guest room with<br />
prototype ‘snake’ cupboards by<br />
massimo morozzi for edra,<br />
topped with some of the many<br />
an ian harper mural surrounds an oVal window in the liVing<br />
room, OPPOSITE. the mercurised Vessels on a red marble-topped<br />
table lend another layer of interest. ThIS PAGE: the ceiling<br />
light in the ensuite is from hector finch. the rose aurora<br />
marble basin, mirrored cupboard and nickel basin stand were<br />
designed by charlotte crosland interiors and made by nick<br />
hilliard at redhouse. the bagues wall lights are from hilary<br />
batstone and the linen belonged to crosland’s grandmother.<br />
Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11 153
crosland hand-embroidered the bedhead in the master bedroom with<br />
help from leonie brown. at the base of the bed, the long george smith<br />
stool is coVered in crosland’s ‘tudor rose flock’ fabric. the bedside<br />
tables are from guineVere antiques. bElOw rIGhT: the walls of one<br />
of seVeral stairwells in the home feature framed egyptian raffia<br />
embroidery. the bamboo trellis pattern, originally a crosland scarf<br />
design hand-embroidered in gold thread (deemed too expensiVe to put<br />
into production), was painted onto the walls by designer rosie mennem.<br />
the ceiling light is from hector finch and the carpet from sinclair till.<br />
the location of British textile designer Neisha Crosland’s home is,<br />
quite frankly, unexpected. Tucked down an anonymous side road, off an<br />
unspectacular high street in the London area of Battersea, the last thing<br />
one dreams of discovering is this most intoxicating, beguiling of oases,<br />
with its lush secret garden and enticing labyrinth of connecting rooms.<br />
“I’ve always loved the magic of stepping through those dark passages<br />
behind the big wooden doors, with their huge bolts, in cities like Seville or<br />
Marrakech, and suddenly emerging into the most glorious oasis. Creating<br />
that excitement here was key,” Crosland says of the home she transformed<br />
for herself, her French husband Stephane and sons Oscar and Samuel.<br />
Crosland discovered the site two decades ago. A couple of cottages<br />
had once stood there but were bombed during the war, and now<br />
it consisted of only a redundant builder’s yard, dilapidated 1940s twostorey<br />
office building and garage block. It has taken many years, with<br />
the help of architect Alex Greenway of Greenway and Lee, to make the<br />
transformation, which involved the purchase of a neighbouring cottage<br />
and, more recently, the creation of an expansive L-shaped two-storey<br />
family home, complete with underground cellar and home cinema.<br />
All rooms of the house open out through classic metal-framed doors<br />
onto the garden, where the family spends much time in the summer.<br />
Despite its urban location, the home is quiet and, inside, there is an inviting<br />
flow from one room to the next, as if designed to take both the family and<br />
visitors on a never-ending journey. “<strong>The</strong>re was a real domino effect when<br />
it came to decorating this house – I would never simply isolate a room<br />
with a colour without considering its effect on the other rooms around it.”<br />
Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11 155
a christopher howe ‘salon’ chair and screen in one corner of the dining room. the concrete<br />
and canVas light is by hannah woodhouse. on the wall is farrow & ball’s ‘london clay’.<br />
OPPOSITE: crosland keeps family and friends close with a myriad of framed pictures<br />
coVering the walls on a landing. on the floor, rosie mennem has painted a design<br />
inspired by a turkish antique cushion crosland found in a shop on wandsworth road.<br />
156 Vogue LiVing JuLy/aug Jan/Feb 11<br />
10
Much of this flow is underpinned by what Crosland calls getting the ‘bones’ right – the proportions, the floors<br />
and the walls. With few original features to accommodate, she had the freedom to create spaces afresh,<br />
concentrating particularly on generous-width skirting boards, oak flooring that felt appropriately aged, and<br />
extra thick walls, particularly those housing French doors out onto the garden, to give rooms added depth.<br />
Crosland has obsessed over the details: finials sourced from America at the end of staircases, exquisite<br />
door handles, heavy-weighted fabric door curtains with luxurious tiebacks, metal feet on radiators, bronzeplated<br />
light switches, and beading work on cupboard doors. “It has been a time of total obsession, but then,<br />
I suppose I am like that with everything,” she confesses with a laugh.<br />
Throughout the house, far-flung places provide inspiration: from the grandeur of the Sintra palaces in<br />
Portugal and riads of Morocco (referenced in the living room’s fireplace) to Crosland’s love of rustic French<br />
(the wicker bath surround in the spare room); from the hand-embroidery of antique Indian saris (used<br />
as bathroom curtains) to suggestion of ’40s ocean liner and railway travel in the portholes up stairwells.<br />
<strong>The</strong> eclectic style of 20th-century French decorator Madeleine Castaing is paid a tribute in the balustrades<br />
of the outside balconies – a direct replica of the spiral staircase in Castaing’s Rue Jacob shop in Paris.<br />
158 Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11<br />
OPPOSITE, lEfT: <strong>The</strong> eleganT dining room<br />
boasTs oak-leaf chandeliers and a series<br />
of 12 Poem drawings by Teddy millingTon-<br />
drake, all from charles saunders<br />
anTiques. <strong>The</strong> Table was cusTom-made<br />
by cimiTree. lEfT: <strong>The</strong> enTrance hall’s<br />
cool flagsTone floors, hand-painTed<br />
mural walls and whiTe cane furniTure<br />
bring To mind an old colonial mansion<br />
in india. says crosland: ”as iT was<br />
originally an ouTdoor space and,<br />
wiTh ivy now growing inside, iT felT<br />
appropriaTe To play wiTh creaTing<br />
a garden scene.” AbOvE: crosland<br />
drew on her Travels Through france<br />
and morocco for <strong>The</strong> design of<br />
<strong>The</strong> living room’s fireplace and<br />
bookshelves. <strong>The</strong> coffee Table is by<br />
John makepeace. To <strong>The</strong> lefT, <strong>The</strong> unusual<br />
iTalian 1940s lamp bases, from charles<br />
saunders, have ‘swan lake’ shades found<br />
aT Jenny lyn. aT <strong>The</strong> fronT is a small chair<br />
covered in crosland’s ‘fez’ fabric. all<br />
<strong>The</strong> cushions are by crosland. on <strong>The</strong><br />
walls are framed pieces of crosland’s<br />
limiTed-ediTion hand-embroidered ‘rockeT’<br />
fabric. AbOvE rIGhT: neisha crosland.<br />
rIGhT: for son samuel’s bedroom, he<br />
and crosland designed <strong>The</strong> rug paTTern<br />
Toge<strong>The</strong>r. <strong>The</strong> carved panel on Top of<br />
<strong>The</strong> cupboard inspired crosland’s ‘sea<br />
ThisTle’ design. gianT glass chrisTmas<br />
decoraTions hang from <strong>The</strong> ceiling.<br />
Vogue LiVing noV/Dec 10 159
160 Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11<br />
lEfT: <strong>The</strong> walls are in farrow & ball’s ‘gervase yellow’. <strong>The</strong><br />
lighTs are by michael anasTassiades. on <strong>The</strong> walls are framed<br />
african TexTiles alongside moody Treescape painTings by<br />
russell gilder. bElOw lEfT: painTed lavasTone wall Tiles from<br />
made a mano lend a moorish feel To an o<strong>The</strong>rwise modern<br />
kiTchen. sTephane’s sTudy, OPPOSITE, includes arTworks by<br />
sophie smallhorn and JonaThan delafield cook. a swedish<br />
daybed wiTh cushion from roberT kime siTs on an oak floor<br />
painTed wiTh a fainT chequerboard paTTern by roberT<br />
young. <strong>The</strong> curTains are in a george spencer fabric and <strong>The</strong><br />
chandelier is from i & Jl brown inTeriors. deTails, lasT pages.<br />
Further inspiration comes from British country homes and modernist<br />
Venetian villas, Russian constructivists and artist Georgia O’Keefe,<br />
Japanese kimonos and scraps of fabric from a grandmother’s dress – even<br />
from Crosland’s mother, Felicity Dahl.<br />
Much-loved pieces of antique textiles, collected over many years,<br />
have been framed and hung throughout the house; intricate murals by<br />
good friends Ian Harper and Rosie Mennem embellish walls with<br />
a trompe l’oeil effect, and mirror is placed experimentally behind the<br />
distressed mercury glass panels of the master bedroom’s wardrobe doors.<br />
“I always want a home to feel cosy, but I think this comes as much from<br />
the textures and colours you use as it does from displaying the things that<br />
you love. It all works to lend the house depth and personality.”<br />
Indeed, it’s this attention to detail and passion for craftsmanship that<br />
has brought harmony to the layer upon layer of colour, texture and<br />
pattern in Crosland’s home. Pattern only works, says Crosland, if it<br />
brings a sense of calm. “Designing something with a repeat pattern is<br />
a bit like composing music,” she explains. “A series of motifs are like<br />
musical notes on a page, and their energy has to sweep you along<br />
like waves rolling into and out of shore. It has to be calming, not<br />
jarring – pattern works if it makes you feel peaceful.”<br />
Crosland can take much credit for the zealous return to pattern in<br />
interior design today. Her striking prints, whether the Aboriginalinspired<br />
‘Watermark’ or the deep-sea otherworldliness of ‘Anemone’,<br />
are as popular today as when she first designed them. Yet her style has<br />
since evolved, she says, due largely to her project at home. “Doing<br />
this house has made me reconsider how I use colour. It’s no longer<br />
simply a question of what’s a nice colour, but instead, what colours do<br />
I want to wrap myself up in at home. It has made me rethink my colour<br />
palette,” she admits. Her next wallpaper collection will still feature the<br />
slightly offbeat combination of colours that Crosland likes to play with<br />
but this time, she says, it will be softer than before.<br />
Although Crosland began a degree in graphic design at Camberwell<br />
university in London, it was while en route to a lecture on William<br />
Morris’s Kelmscott Press at the V&A that she found herself lost in the<br />
textiles department and did “a complete U-turn in career direction”.<br />
Antony Little, of Osborne & Little, later discovered her work during a<br />
Royal College of Art degree show and commissioned her to create a<br />
series of wallpapers, which included the best-selling ‘Romagna Star’<br />
collection, before she launched on her own in 1994. Her collections now<br />
also include fabric, tiles with De Ferranti, stationery, rugs for <strong>The</strong> Rug<br />
Company and, from this year, a new range of ceramics and bed linen.<br />
As for her home, it’s clear it will provide Crosland with endless<br />
inspiration for years to come. “I wanted this house to do everything<br />
we needed – we wanted to be in London but feel as if we could also<br />
be in the countryside or abroad. Here we have the best of all worlds,”<br />
she says. “We love it so much that once we’re all inside and the<br />
doors are closed behind us, we find it very hard to leave.” VL<br />
photographer: xxxxxxx stylist: xxxxxxx<br />
161<br />
Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 09