GARY RHODES Star Gazing - Mayfair Times

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Long live art deco
It’s been around for a while, but the art deco style, with its
elegant proportions, pretty detailing and liveable practicality
looks set to stay.
“It’s a 1920s and 1930s feel – glamorous and Hollywoodinspired,”
explains Kamini Ezralow, director of Lifestyles
Interiors. Kamini advises getting the glamorous look with a
chaise longue luxuriously upholstered and scattered with
sumptuous cushions. But there are other, smaller ways to bring
this look into your home – a bevelled mirror brings light to a
room, or you could update an existing sofa or bed by adding
some cushions in art deco inspired fabrics.
This is a style you can afford to have fun with too – for quirky
detail, invest in a classic piece that harks straight back to the
inter-war years. Designer Katharine Pooley says that nowadays
it’s all about cocktails and rather than people hiding their drinks
away in cupboards, they’re getting them out on show. Keep an
eye out for a curved cocktail cabinet – or invest in Pooley’s
beautiful black cocktail tray on legs which comes with an inlaid
silver tray on top, divided into sections for different bottles.
Indulgence in luxury
Forget minimalism, austerity and pared-down living; this coming
season it’s all about indulgence. Fabrics are fabulous – silks, velvets,
chenilles – anything with texture and a whiff of glamour about it and
they cover everything from the walls to the floor.
“Very luxe materials are coming in – marvellous silks and textured
fabrics,” says Jacqueline Duncan, head of the Inchbald School of
Design. “You can back an awful lot of fabric with paper and it looks
very good – do a whole room.”
“There is much more fabric on walls now – from suede to silk,”
agrees Katharine Pooley. “You don’t go into a room now and just see
a white wall.”
If covering walls is too much, look at reupholstering furniture with
an extravagant material. Exotic skins look fabulous on classicallyshaped
furniture. Don’t just think fabric either: add a touch of luxury
with finishes such as highly-polished wenge or walnut wood – not
just in furniture but as panelling on a wall, too.
If you really want to splash out, have something specially created
for your home. “There is a massive trend towards bespoke,” says
Brigitta Spinocchia, senior interior designer at top-end designers
Candy & Candy.
DRESSING YOUR HOME THESE
DAYS IS AS SEASONAL AS
CHANGING YOUR WARDROBE.
WE ROUND UP THE KEY
INTERIORS LOOKS FOR THE
COMING SEASON
Spotting trends
Natural materials
Bamboo – ultra-sustainable, cheap and good-looking – is in, sisal
flooring is staging a comeback and you should prepare yourself
to rip up the rubber flooring and replace it with real stone.
“Using natural materials is key,” says Superna Sethi, interior
designer for Manhattan Properties, a Mayfair-based development
company, who says she has recently been using a lot of antique
marble and limestone in the properties she has been decorating.
It doesn’t have to mean ripping up every surface in the house,
however – get the look for less by replacing plastic furniture with
natural wood, adding a bamboo bowl for trinkets to your coffee
table – even filling glass jars with beautifully-shaped stones.
Especially in the heart of London, where urban living often takes
over, sometimes it’s good to bring the outside in.
Jewel colours
While in recent years, interiors have been tastefully muted in
earthy tones and natural hues, now it’s all about warming
up your home with the richness and intensity that comes
from colour.
“It’s an opposite to the eternal blandness of office
beige,” says Jacqueline Duncan.
Katharine Pooley agrees, attributing the emergence of
hot pinks, juxtaposed with dramatic black to a Russian
influence. One of Habitat’s themes this autumn is “The Dark
Room” – inspired by the opulence of a gentleman’s club. It’s
all about intense colours, such as a rich berry red
and vivid satsuma orange.
Colours are, however, tempered with
deeper shades – Katharine predicts the
resurgence of warm chocolate brown,while
Habitat is also using a deep brown to
offset its brighter shades – making them
sing out even more.
If the thought of colour terrifies
you, accessorise to start with:
cushions in jewel-like shades on a
neutral sofa, a richly coloured vase
in a corner – even a bowl of
bright green apples in the
kitchen. Don’t be afraid of
using colour … a splash of
brightness brings life to the
grey winter months.
Eclectic
Not a look one can create, as such. This is rather a movement
away from the tastefully constructed “matching-ness” of a room
to a looser, more informal style.
“It’s no longer about being a square box of cream and brown
and matching,” says Brigitta Spinocchia. “It’s nice to have
something a little off key – the eye will enjoy it more.”
In practice, this means mixing things up a little – juxtaposing
the old with the new, expensive with bargain, traditional with
modern.
“Having a vintage, battered sofa mixed with something really
beautiful and brand new makes things eclectic – it’s fun, but
liveable,” says Brigitta. Stella McCartney has it bang on in her
shop, she adds – she has mixed cheap plywood on the walls
with beautiful limestone on the floor, creating a look that is
unique without being super-expensive to achieve. And even the
cheapest materials can look fantastic if you treat them right –
Candy & Candy recently did a house in Geneva with polished
concrete floors – “the price per square metre of the concrete as
opposed to slab marble is non-comparable. But the overall
effect was seamless and fantastic,” says Brigitta. The rule is, if
you like it, go for it.
interiors