Deco mag Spring '17 issue

Spring 2017 

Put eco at the heart of your interior design 

www.decomag.co.uk 

The flower 

issue 

bluebellgray 

Allan Forsyth 

peony power 

R is for 

Rugs 

Community 

Repaint 

Putting waste 

paint to work 

Flower to 

the people 

Eco-friendly 

homewares: 

shopping guide 

Potty about pots:) 

Ceramic Art London 

Big development 

and the environment

Contents 

3. News 

Editor’s Letter 

We hope 2017 has started off well for you 

and that despite the travails of the world and 

the increasing scepticism about climate change 

led by the new US administration’s views... that 

you’re still being as zealous as you can be when it 

comes to living the eco-friendly life. 

Spring being round the corner, we’ve got a 

flower-filled issue for you. We talk to Fi Douglas, 

founder of homewares brand bluebellgray, about 

her love of painting flowers in watercolour; to 

photographic artist Allan Forsyth about flowers 

through the lens, while expert peony grower Alec 

White urges more of us to grow peonies, which 

he thinks are simply the most gorgeous flower on 

earth. We’re also delighted to carry an interview 

with Fiona Naylor, of leading interior architect 

firm Johnson Naylor, who thinks big development 

has become much more interested in the 

environment than it was. 

If you would like a printed issue of this magazine 

- and it’s always nice to have a hard copy - we’re 

delighted to be able to provide you with this 

service, so email us at info@decomag.co.uk. 

With best wishes 

Abby and the Deco team 

COVER: Glass chandelier, 

table and chairs by Ochre 

Publisher 

ABD Associates, London N4, UK 

t +44 (0)20 7561 0675 

E: info@decomag.co.uk 

Twitter@deco_mag 

Content team 

Editor: Abby Trow 

Deputy editor: Kay Hill 

Advertising manager: Ajay Duggal 

Photographer: Mike Trow 

See deco online: 

www.decomag.co.uk 

4. Community RePaint. 

How waste paint is being 

put back to work 

6. Retail therapy - some 

ideas to brighten up and 

refresh your home. 

8. Walk on art 

Bar the kitchen, no room 

is complete without a 

gorgeous wool rug 

10. Greener development. 

We talk to interior architect 

Fiona Naylor about big 

scale development and 

the environment 

14. Floral music. 

A look at the beautiful 

work of photographic 

artist Allan Forsyth. 

17. The Hungry Butterfly 

A new butterfly feeder hits 

the market to help conserve 

our fluttering friends 

18. Ceramic Art London. 

Preview of this popular 

ceramics show 

20. Flowers to the people 

Profile of Fi Douglas, 

founder of Glasgow 

homewares brand 

bluebellgray 

24. Paeans of praise 

for peonies 

Expert grower Alec White 

tells us why the peony is 

the flower for spring 

26. Pour me a floor! 

Bio resin flooring is a good 

eco option 

28. Better Shelter 

Award for refugee shelter 

Deco mag 02

Deco mag 03 

News 

Kebony in Global CleanTech top 100 

Ikea collaborates with Piet Hein Eek 

Kebony, the Norwegian 

company that ‘turns’ softwood 

into hardwood using an 

agricultural biowaste 

product, has been named in 

the 2017 Global Cleantech 

100, produced by US 

Cleantech Group. GCG 

monitors emerging clean tech 

trends, top innovation 

companies and key players 

in sustainable innovation. 

How Leeds Castle influenced the 

interior design of The White House 

Ikea has launched a limited edition collection inspired by 

Indonesian and South East Asian design in collaboration 

with Dutch eco designer Piet Hein Eek. 

The vibrant, colourful Jassa range, available from March, 

brings traditional techniques to the mass market, blending 

sustainability with inspiring design and functionality. All 

products in the collection are made from sustainable, 

renewable materials include bamboo, seagrass, rattan, 

water hyacinth and Better Cotton Initiative cotton. And they’re 

not machine-made; rather the natural material parts of each 

piece are hand-made using traditional techniques, hence 

each item is unique. 

Aboriginal art inspires wallpaper collection 

Glos-based Bay Gallery 

Home specialises in original 

Aboriginal art and it’s 

produced My Country, a range 

of homewares inspired by 

the art, with profits from sales 

going back to local artists in 

Australia’s Northern Territory. 

My Country products are 

made in collaboration with UK 

manufacturers and include 

wallpapers, rugs and tiles 

which feature ancient 

designs and motifs. Pictured 

right is uncoated Pink 

Wallpaper (£76.80 per 10.5m 

roll) which depicts the land 

during the dryer seasons 

when only the hardiest bushes 

and trees are still visible. 

If you’ve seen the film 

Jackie, you may be interested 

to know that the interiors at 

Leeds Castle in Kent 

influenced the design of 

rooms at the White House; 

and that John F Kennedy 

was a house party guest at 

the castle in 1938 when he 

was 21. 

Leeds Castle was owned 

from the early 1930s to her 

death in 1974 by Olive, Lady 

Baillie, an Anglo-American 

heiress. She refurbished the 

castle over several decades, 

working closely with French 

interior designer Stephane 

Boudin of decorators Jansen. 

Fast forward to the 

early ‘60s and it was 

Boudin who worked with 

Jackie Kennedy on restyling 

the White House from 1961- 

63. The state and ground 

floor rooms borrowed 

details from previous Boudin 

commissions including the 

library and dining room of 

Leeds Castle, serving as 

inspiration for their White 

House counterparts. 

In Jackie, Natalie Portman’s 

Mrs Kennedy speaks of the 

‘historical significance of 

objects and artefacts, 

perhaps more so than 

humans, for standing the 

test of time, for their beauty 

and style. It is through redecoration 

[of the White 

House interiors] that we 

are able to meet the figures 

that shaped our history.’ 


community repaint 

Waste paint? 

Not any more! 

Akzo Nobel and Community RePaint 

have opened a second paint 

remanufacturing hub in The Wirral as 

part of their drive to re-use waste paint 

Spring 2017 

*Community RePaint 

This network of local 

schemes collects 

unwanted leftover paint 

and re-distributes it to 

people, families and 

communities who need 

it to improve their homes 

or community. 

*Brits throw away around 55 

million litres of paint a year, 

more than half of which is 

perfectly useable. 

*Try to be more 

accurate about the 

quantity of paint 

you need for a job to 

prevent over-buying. 

If you’ve not been shopping 

for paint recently, you could 

well be in for a shock next 

time you need to redecorate. 

Because paint is definitely not 

cheap stuff these days; and a 

‘designer’ brand such as 

Farrow & Ball, Little Greene 

and Paint Library will set you 

back well over £40 per 2.5L 

tin. Ouch. 

So great news that 

AkzoNobel UK, working 

with Community RePaint, 

has launched a second 

innovative not-for-profit paint 

re-manufacturing facility, the 

new one being near Liverpool, 

while the first one opened just 

over a year ago in Cambridge. 

Based on The Wirral, the 

new facility is providing paint 

to people in the north west 

whose budgets don’t stretch 

to new paint and who may 

otherwise not be able to 

maintain their homes and 

local/community buildings. 

So far more than 10,000 

litres of waste paint have been 

collected and treated to make 

a quality product again, while 

some 1,300 people have 

benefited from super low-cost 

or free paint. 

The reprocessing centre 

uses technology developed 

by AkzoNobel and its partners 

- including Keith Harrison of 

Newlife Paints - which aims 

to slash the amount of paint 

ending up in the waste 

stream. Waste paint is a big 

environmental hazard bcause 

paint is not biodegradable so 

has either to be burned or put 

in landfill. 

And with around 55 million 

litres of paint going to landfill 

each year, AkzoNobel’s 

ambition is to increase the 

amount of waste paint 

collected for reuse in the UK 

10-fold to three million litres 

by 2020, while the target for 

this year is to collect and 

reprocess 100,000 litres 

between The Wirral and the 

Cambridge centres. 

Help for the Lake District 

Those who’ve so far 

benefited from being able to 

buy recycled paint for nominal 

sums include the Cumbrian 

Flood Volunteers who help 

flood victims in the North 

West. Last winter saw 

hundreds of homes severely 

damaged by floods in the 

region, with many people left 

devastated because their 

properies weren’t insured. So 

to receive paint to help them 

redecorate has been a huge 

help, says CFV. 

Emmaus help the homeless 

Emmaus is a charity which 

provides a home and 

meaningful work to more 

than 700 formerly homeless 

people. Part of a network of 

28 communities across the 

UK, Emmaus North East has 

launched a community in 

South Shields, having 

renovated a derelict building, 

turning it into home for 15 

formerly homeless people. 

The building was painted 

inside with paint from 

Community RePaint and the 

new residents now have work 

repairing and upcycling 

donated household goods 

and clothing, which can then 

be sold. 

Matt Pullen, UK MD of 

Akzo Nobel UK & Ireland, 

says the paint reprocessing 

revolution is well underway. 

‘This scheme is leading our 

industry in reducing the 

amount of paint entering the 

waste stream, as well as 

having a transformative 

impact alongside Community 

RePaint by colouring the lives 

of those who can least afford 

to buy new paint.’ 

www.communityrepaint.org.uk 



Advertisement 

Advertisement 

The Northern House: 

Swedish vintage rag rugs 

www.thenorthernhouse.co.uk 

www.nudoadopt.com 

Advertisement 

Advertisement 

Paul Warren Design 

Beautiful interiors 

with eco chic 

www.paulwarrendesign.com 

Blissful sleep without 

any chemicals 

www.cottonsafenaturalmattress.co.uk 

Handmade in Devon, our sumptous mattresses 

contain no foam and no fire retardant or other 

chemicals so you sleep in peace. 

Cottonsafe Natural Mattress. 


spring 2017 


Instant 

revamp 

*A pretty teapot 

*New cushions 

*Carry and keep 

coffee cup 

Retail therapy 

Turn the page if you’re all spent 

out..but if you’re galvanised to 

perk up your home for 2017, 

we have a few ideas. 

Soft translucent 

goose feather lights 

Left: stunning Eos soft goose feather 

lamp shade (in white, grey and light 

brown), from £59, with LED A bulb, 

£19.95, by Vita Copenhagen Top 

right: pastel small glass vases, 

£8.95 at Live Laugh Love (livelaughlove.uk.co) 

Right: wake up to this 

pretty china teaport for one printed 

with Flowerdrop design by renowned 

textile designers Collier Campbell, 

£24 (colliercampbell.com) Below: 

braided hemp storage basket, fair 

trade, £69.95,from Nkuku (nkuku. 

com) Below, far left: Pomme by 

William Morris, a new design for 

Ecoffee’s re-useable and biodegradable 

bamboo fibre cups. 

£11.95 (ecoff.ee) Below, centre: 

Water Iris pure linen fabric by 

Zoffany, around £70 pm. 

Pure British wool 

herringbone throw 

for a beautiful bed 

Cardboard FM radio 

and MP3 speaker, 

perfect for lazy 

days in the sun 

Above: now here’s a good idea... 

turn your empty wine bottles into 

table lamps with these rechargeable 

LED corks from 

gadget people Red5 (red5.co.uk). 

Corks fit most bottles and they 

come with a USB cable. Charge 

time 1 hour and you get 2.5 hours 

of light, enough time to light the 

dinner party table. £9.99 

Far left: dress your bed to 

impress with this pure British wool 

herringbone throw in Driftwood, 

a versatile taupey-beige, £91 

at The Great British Ottoman 

Company, 170x145cm 

(greatbritishottoman.co.uk) 

Left: cardboard FM radio and 

MP3 speaker for your iPod, by 

Suck UK. Perfect to take to the 

beach, the park or indeed your 

own garden...listen to the radio 

or amplify music from your mobile 

or iPod... a very gentle sort of 

ghetto blaster... £25, needs 

4xAA batteries (suck.uk.com) 



Top left: colourful 50s’-style 

geometric prints adorn these 100 per 

cent linen cushions by London-based 

surface print designer Zoe Attwell. 

45x45cm, £50 (zoeattwell.com) 

Above: reclaimed timber and ceramic 

tiles are used to make lovely pot 

stands to protect your table or 

countertop from heat damage. 

Available from Maitland & Poate 

Top right: for a soft blue, Denim Drift 

emulsion from Dulux is a good choice 

Right, centre: Harlequin Remix 

vintage style birch wood tray by Ferm 

Living at Pib Home, £65 (pib-home. 

co.uk.com) Right: Dutch homewares 

brand Brabantia is very ecoconscious, 

making products that are 

easy to recycle at the end of what 

should be a long life. The Newicon 

metal bins, available in a range of 

colours, are made from 40 per cent 

recycled materials and are 98 per 

cent recyclable. And Brabantia makes 

a donation to The Ocean Cleanup for 

every Newicon bin sold. 

A few coats of paint 

can do wonders, 

so if your walls are 

looking a grubby... 

well, there’s no time 

like the present. 

A tip from Dulux - 

paint a horizontal 

stripe around your 

room to act as a 2d 

dado rail and use a 

contrasting colour 

underneath and 

a paler/neutral 

hue above. 

Buy a bin and help 

clean up the oceans! 

ECO TIP: 

choose organic 

cotton or linen 

for the kitchen 

Above: organic cotton for the kitchen - jaunty Rooster 

collection and Isabella chair cushion by Ochre & Ocre at 

Cottage In The Hills (cottageinthehills.com) 


ugs 


Walk on art 

Rugs can be works of art for the floor 

and offer an instant transformation 

Rooms and hallways 

without rugs feel rather bare 

and lacking in personality. 

And they never feel quite 

comfortable enough - even if 

the room has a good quality 

wall-to-wall carpet. 

So rugs really are a key 

piece when it comes to 

decorating and the good 

news is, of course, that there 

are lovely rugs made from 

sustainable fibres (it’s not just 

wool, think about jute, linen, 

silk, banana fibre, hemp, 

recycled yarn from clothing..) 

with prices to suit all budgets. 

If you’re a rug aficionado 

you’ll know who’s who and 

who it’s worth saving up for... 

Christine Van Der Hurd, 

Front Rugs, Deirdre Dyson, 

Tania Johnson, Jennifer 

Manners and Sonya 

Winner to name but a few. 

Luxury but more affordable 

are rugs from bluebellgray, 

Ella Doran, Designers 

Guild and Scandinavian 

brands Hay, Linie; and don’t 

forget that Spain is home to 

many wonderful rug brands 

such as Gan, nanimarquina, 

Dac Rugs, and Now 

Carpets, all of which sell 

in the UK. 

The carpet industry has 

been bedevilled by its use 

of child labour in the world’s 

main rug weaving countries 

of India and Nepal, and this 

practice unfortunately 

continues. So beware 

ominously cheap rugs 

and always look for the 

Goodweave mark, as 

Goodweave certification 

guarantees child labour 

has not been used in the 

manufacturing of a rug. 

Wool rugs are the most 

popular and if you give them 

anti-moth treatments from 

time to time they should last 

for a lifetime. Silk rugs are 

the most expensive and 

luxurious while hand-knotted 

rugs are far more costly than 

hand-tufted. 

But also look out for jute 

rugs which these days feel 

pretty soft to the touch and 

they’re very hardwearing. 

Habitat has a gorgeous 

new one - Leo in a subtle 

red and neutral pattern. The 

300x200cm version is very 

good value at just £600. 

You’ll also find stylish modern 

jute rugs at nanimarquina 

and Gan. 

Above: Roger Oates’ Westport 

Lichen wool rug Above left: 

colour block wool rug by 

Massimo, £599 at Furnish.co.uk 

Below: Colour Wheel circular 

wool rug by Sonya Winner 

Below: new from Habitat, Leo jute rug, £600. 

Below left: Oe rug made in Nepal from 

felted wool balls, £249 at nubie.co.uk


Look for Goodweave 

certification on rugs 

made in India and Nepal 

Left: Chrysanthemum Tibetan wool 

and bamboo silk rug by Jennifer 

Manners, £3,089 for rug 1.8 x 2.4m 

Below: Blooming Out Loud, Tibetan 

wool, silk and linen hand-knotted 

rug by Zoë Luyendijk for Front Rugs 

Left: Chequered wool 

and silk rug by Deirdre 

Dyson, POA Right: Optic 

Star wool rug by Christine 

Van Der Hurd, POA 

Below: Forest, from the 

Elements Collection by Tania 

Johnson, hand-knotted wool 

and silk rug, POA 


usiness profile: fiona naylor 

Greener development 

Southbank Place interior architect Fiona Naylor 

of Johnson Naylor argues big developments do 

focus on sustainability Interview: Abby Trow 

If you’ve walked along 

the South Bank from the 

London Eye down towards 

Tate Modern, you will have 

walked past the long overdue 

re-development of the whole 

Waterloo area, work on which 

got underway last year. 

When the tower blocks 

are completed at the end of 

2019 there’ll be a very swish 

and vibrant new live/work 

community, called...what 

else..Southbank Place. And 

certainly lucky you if you’ve 

put down a deposit on one of 

the apartments in 30 Casson 

Square, one of the residential 

towers, because you’ll have 

glorious central London on 

your doorstep, and you’ll be 

living in an apartment 

designed by Fiona Naylor 

and her team at interior 

architect firm Johnson Naylor. 

If you’re someone who 

shudders at the sight of all 

the development going on in 

big cities around the world, 

lamenting the use of all that 

energy, all that concrete, and 

all the ensuing emissions, 

well yes.. but unless we stop 

having children and move 

back to living on the land then 

the fact is people need somewhere 

to live and they want 

to be in cities because that’s 

where the jobs are. 

Southbank Place isn’t a 

development that will address 

the acute affordable housing 

shortage in London because 

it’s yet another luxury 

development - a two-bed 

apartment costs around 

£1.2 million and a three-bed 

penthouse from £3.6 million. 

Nor is it a pioneering green 

development built with straw 

bales coated with photovoltaic 

cells with a small farm on 

the roof so residents can 

be kept supplied with fresh 

eggs and milk. 

But it is, says Fiona 

Naylor, who led the 

interior architecture and 

design of apartments in the 

One York Square block as 

well as 30 Casson Square - 

evidence that building 

standards are high, that 

the built environment is, 

largely, becoming something 

to be praised from an 

environmental perspective. 

‘Firstly, government 

legisation has forced 

developments to be energy 

efficient,’ says Naylor - and 

this is crucial because nearly 

30 per cent of CO2 

emissions have come from 

the built environment. 

‘And when I look at 

Southbank Place, and it’s a 

£1bn plus development, it’s 

been hugely well thought 

out and it could well be 

here for hundreds of years.’ 

New developments have 

to meet Lifetime Homes 

standards - a set of 16 criteria 

based on sustainability, 

inclusivity accessibility, 

adaptability and good value. 

And vouching for Johnson 

Naylor’s work on Southbank 

Place, she says eco/sustainability 

considerations are part 

and parcel of what they do. 

Interior architecture 

A lot of us don’t really know 

how an interior architect differs 

from an interior designer or 

an architect. Naylor explains 

that it’s her job to take the raw 

architect plans for a space 



Left: Southbank Place 

bathrooms are built off-site 

in the UK and the entire pod 

is popped into place. These 

elegant bathrooms feature 

water-saving showers, EU 

marble and porcelain tiles 

Below: a studio flat. Storage 

is vital for small-space living, 

as are great finishes and 

attention to detail 

Above: Fiona Naylor says her work is all about making 

homes to such a high standard that they’ll last for decades 

without anyone wanting to put in a new kitchen or bathroom 

‘We work 

hard to source 

products in 

the UK/EU and 

to use British 

craftspeople. 

We don’t want 

to deplete any 

rainforests.’ 

Apartments have been designed to use minimal 

energy, with LED lighting throughout. European 

hardwood flooring gives a light Scandinavian feel, 

while judicious use of marble adds a touch of luxury 

and basically to re-plan it, to 

optimize the layout to achieve 

the best use of space. ‘The 

plans have to be really 

sweated and we will work with 

the architect to improve them. 

We look at fenestration and 

solar gain (where to place 

windows so people don’t 

boil alive in summer), at the 

positioning of balconies. We 

develop the scheme, improve 

it, we move things and we 

add layers by bringing in our 

design skills.’ 

‘It’s very involved and it’s a 

3D exercise because we have 

the plans drawn in 3D so we 

can really get the feel for how 

it will be to live in the 

aparment and make it feel 

great. For example, we try to 

max out the ceiling height, as 

people want high ceilings.’ 

Energy efficiency is one of 

the first things to think about 

and Naylor says thank 

heavens for LEDs, which 

mean lighting schemes no 

longer have to drain the 

National Grid and cost a 

fortune to run. 

‘The lighting scheme is one 

of the first things we do and 

it’s one of the most important 

because poor lighting ruins 

everything and it does affect 

us psychologically. 

‘We’ve moved away from 

ceilings full of spotlights and 

have horizontal and vertical 

lighting, lighting that’s 

layered, dimmable, that’s 

appropriate for the task and 

to highlight features. We use 

a DALI lighting control system 

because we want to limit the 

number of switches on the 

walls, but it’s pretty straightforward, 

we like to keep 

things simple.’ 

When it comes to flooring, 

Naylor says hardwood is the 

material of choice for her and 


fiona naylor 

This image: a computer 

generated image of how 

the Southbank Place 

development will look at dusk. 

Below right: warm wood 

dominates in this studio 

apartment in One York Square 

www.johnsonnaylor.co.uk 

for many people. ‘People do 

ask about wood, they are 

starting to ask about FSC 

certification, so you can see 

the public are wanting to 

know more about materials 

and their provenance. 

‘For us at Johnson 

Naylor, we source European 

hardwoods from sustainable 

forests for flooring. We do use 

MDF for cupboard carcasses 

but it’s the formaldehyde-free 

MDF, we’ve switched to 

having doors sprayed with 

water-based paints and we 

generally choose materials 

that don’t off-gas.’ 

Talking generally about 

sourcing materials for their 

interior design work, Naylor 

says at the outset of a project 

the team considers materials 

from different angles, so to 

speak: so durability, is habitat 

being destroyed in the 

process of getting the 

material? what are the 

transport costs in emissions 

terms of getting it to the UK 

etc? etc. ‘It’s certainly not the 

case that if it’s a natural 

material it’s ok. Take stone. 

It’s good in that it’s hardwearing 

and will stand the 

test of time. But we won’t go 

to quarries in India because 

they aren’t subjected to the 

environmental management 

standards as quarries in the 

EU. We adhere to Breeam’s 

Mat 03 Responsible sourcing 

of materials (BREEAM is 

the leading sustainability 

assessment method for 

building projects), and 

we have to do our own 

due diligence to be sure 

materials meet our 

environmental standards.’ 

On the subject of marble 

specifically, Naylor says her 

practice tries to limit its use 

and uses it in a way that it’s 

set against other materials - 

porcelain in the case of the 

Southbank Place bathrooms. 

Naylor takes heart that 

people are demanding high 

environmental standards 

from developers. ‘When I was 

banging on about this stuff 

a good 10 years ago I’d get 

black stares in meetings. But 

gradually there’s been that 

shift and it’s the market that 

drives change. Things get 

into our consciousness and 

become the norm, so now 

many more us want to know 

about sustainability, energy 

use, water useage.’ 

Ask Naylor to sum up her 

approach to the Southbank 

Place apartments and the 

words she comes back to are 

durability and longevity. ‘We’re 

designing and using materials 

in a way that means our 

interiors will stay intact for 

decades, that people who live 

here will recognise the quality 

and won’t want to rip anything 

out. I would add the more 

attention designers pay to the 

details, the more they actually 

test that something won’t fall 

to pieces with repeated use, 

the better. And I am confident 

that the days when people felt 

they needed a new kitchen 

every five years are gone.’ 

Southbank Place is being 

developed by Braeburn Estates, 

a joint venture between Canary 

Wharf Group PLC and Qatari 

Diar Real Estate Investment Co. 

It will offer 877 flats, 770 to be 

privately owned. Completion ‘19. 


Lüks Linen: ethical, natural affordable luxury 

Deco Promotion 

Thick fluffy towels are 

delicious but there are 

disadvantages to them, 

the obvious ones being 

their weight and the time 

they take to dry. 

Which is part of the reason 

why Rachel Ward, founder of 

Lüks Linen, fell in love with 

Turkish peshtemal towels. 

She loved their long history 

and their practicality: they 

were woven for use in the 

hammams and so don’t weigh 

much and dry very quickly. 

For frequent travellers, they 

take up very little space in a 

suitcase and they can have 

many identities - they can 

be towels, throws, blankets, 

scarves, baby wraps and 

picnic blankets, while Ward is 

also offering cushion covers 

made from peshtemals. 

Peshtemals have been 

woven on hand-looms in 

communities throughout 

Turkey for generations, 

explains Ward, using 

locally-grown cotton. While 

this cotton hasn’t been 

certified organic, it is 

mountain-grown in parts 

of the country. 

Lüks Linen works with small 

family weavers to high ethical 

Above: Lüks Linen cotton peshtemals 

come in a wide range of colours, sizes 

and weaves 

and fair trade standards. 

Prices for peshtemal 

products start at £22 for a 

towel. Look out for the 

distinctive traditional 

diamond weave and 

choose from a variety of 

colours from subtle neutrals 

to stunning jewel brights. 

www.lukslinen.com 


artist: allan forsyth 

Right: Winter Sleep, 

flowers from the freezer 

Below, from left: 

Hypos, 3D motion 

lenticular; Wild Heart; 

Aqua Flora I 

Floral music 

Photographic artist Allan Forsyth says he likes to 

offer a new perspective on familiar subjects. That’s 

something of an understatement - his images of 

flowers are truly fantastic. Text: Hari Alexander 

The camera, not the 

paintbrush, is artist Allan 

Forsyth’s tool of choice. 

It allows him to capture 

reality and place it in a new 

dimension - and this is 

particularly true of his 

floral works. 

An Allan Forsyth flower is 

definitely not something you 

look at and think ‘oh that’s 

pretty‘ and move on. His 

flowers draw you back to 

stand and stare. They’re 

lusciously rich in colour and 

intensity, often presented on a 

black background and you 

feel almost as if you’re taking 

a tour of the subject’s interior 

as well as marvelling at the 

exquisite beauty of its exterior. 

London-based Forsyth, 

who hails from the Scottish 

Highlands, has a background 

in the technical side of 

photography, working in 

retouching and the computer 

elements of modern image 

production. ‘I didn’t go to art 

school and have been a 

photographic artist, which is 

how I describe myself, for the 

past 12 years. I suppose I got 

inspired by the early days of 

Photoshop - but these days 

everyone’s making digital 

imagery and I think it’s 

become too gimmicky, too 

clever possibly.’ 

Forsyth’s work 

encompasses abstract 

designs and what you 

could term contemporary 

still life and it’s marrying 

his subjects with different 

techniques that makes it 

so arresting: analogue and 

digital exposures sit with 

computer generated 

imagery, photograms and 

photographic collages from 

historic magazines and 

vintage postcards. 

Forsyth’s work conveys 

his love of the drama of 

nature and returning to 

those flowers, well, it’s 

mpossible not to be 

fascinated by them. 

Flowers are a universal 

subject for artists, and have 

been for centuries for the 

obvious reason that they’re 

beautiful. ‘And for me, the 

image of a flower is so 

classical that it could be 

boring,’ says Forsyth. ‘So 

what I try to do is to make it 

different by adding a touch of 

the surreal to the still life. 

‘I do love parrot tulips and 

I’ll dissect them with a scalpel 

so you can see insdie the 

flower and have a deeper 

perspective. I am true ot the 

colours of the flowers but I 

make them more saturated.’ 

Forsyth’s latest works with 

them in water and freezing 

them. ‘I don’t think of myself 

as an experimental artist, but I 

look for different ideas. Putting 

flowers in water or freezing 

them can produce more 

abstract images, though you 

can still see that they’re 

flowers, I’m not masking what 

they are.’ 

Forsyth’s work 

captures the 

drama of nature 




allan forsyth 


Above and below: Allan Forsyth’s abstract works celebrate colour. These works are large - 2x3m - and have understandably been snapped up for 

corporate interiors as well as by private collectors - including Sir Elton John. Forsyth’s works are all limited editions. www.allanforsyth.com 

‘I like to take a familiar subject and 

make it into something different’ Allan Forsyth 


Deco promotion 

The hungry butterfly 

Butterfly populations are in decline in many parts of Britain and 

around the world. A design duo from Finland have devised a 

simple butterfly feeder that can help our fluttering friends to thrive 

Above and right: Belightful is a new butterfly oasis designed by Miia Liesegang and Tania Tallal who 

make up Belightful Design. The feeder is made in Finland from eco-friendly recycled plastic. 

Conservationists say 

butterflies are important 

indicators of the health of the 

environment, and therefore 

the decline in their numbers 

in the UK and in many other 

countries should be a concern 

to us all. 

But the good news is that 

anyone with a garden, be it 

large or a pocket hanky, can 

help butterflies to survive and 

indeed thrive. How? by 

planting butterfly and 

pollinator-friendly plants 

such as lavender, 

gardeners can help create 

a better home for insects 

which play a vital role in 

pollinating wildflowers and 

many crops. 

The UK’s estimated 22m 

gardens represent an area 

roughly the size of Somerset 

and, at a time when butterflies 

are in severe decline, offer a 

potentially huge and vitally 

important habitat. 

Finnish duo Mila Liesegang 

and Tania Tallal of ecological 

design studio Belightful have 

developed a product just for 

butterflies, the Butterfly Oasis. 

Made from eco plastic that 

contains recycled plastic and 

is 100 per cent recyclable, the 

feeder can be hung from a 

branch, fence or railing and it 

comes in several eye-catching 

colours chosen because they 

match the colours of many 

summer flowers - lilac, pink, 

and yellow. 

Made in two parts, the base 

unscrews and you fill it with 

the nectar solution. Then put 

in a super-absorbent sponge 

and it will draw up the liquid 

into the top half of the feeder. 

You’ll see this part has lots of 

little holes across its surface. 

The butterfly will be attracted 

to the scent of the nectar and 

will drink its fill by putting 

its long proboscis through 

the holes. 

Liesegang says she loves 

butterflies and was moved to 

design the feeder because 

of the decline in their 

populations. ‘Our biodiversity 

is being badly affected by 

the built environment. We all 

know to feed the birds, but 

butterflies also need our 

help too.’ 

And she says by offering 

another source of food in 

our gardens or outside 

space, we can get a moment 

or two with these elusive, 

entrancing creatures: ‘It’s 

so nice to experience happy 

little moments watching 

butterflies feed.’ 

www.belightfuldesign.com 

Belightful butterfly 

oasis cost £49.90 

and the pack includes 

a month’s supply 

of nectar powder. 

Thereafter monthly 

nectar refills cost £8.90 


spa promotion 

Taking the waters 

If you have a few days spare and want 

to unwind in the midst of nature, head 

to the splendid Vidago Palace Hotel 

in northern Portugal, with its beautiful 

modern spa 

*Commissioned by King 

Carlos I, the candy pink Vidago 

Palace Hotel opened in 1910. 

*An hour’s drive north of Porto it 

sits in a 25-acre nature park that 

is home to four thermal springs 

discovered in the 17th century. 

*The new white spa building was 

designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira. 

The spa at the splendid fivestar 

Vidago Palace in northern 

Portugal is in stark design 

contrast to the belle époque 

opulence of the main hotel. 

If you love minimalism, 

you’ll take delight not only 

in the fabulous treatments 

available at the spa, but in 

the architecture of the 

building and its interior 

design. Designed by 

architect Alvero Siza-Vieira, 

it shows minimalist design 

at its very best. 

While the main hotel dates 

back to the end of the 19th 

century and was extensively 

refurbished in period style 

between 2006-10, the new 

spa complex could be 

described as the polar 

opposite. Here there’s no 

orate plasterwork or wood 

pannelling, no elaborate ironwork 

or carvings, rather it’s 

a zen-like space of clean 

precise lines, dressed simply 

in locally sourced white 

marble. The spa building was 

located to allow natural light 

to flood the rooms and large 

windows afford views onto 

beautiful parkland – which is 

all the artwork that’s needed. 

The spa has water at its 

heart. You can enjoy the 

outdoor vitality pool, which 

is in a courtyard space with 

Left and above: Bathrooms at the Vidago Palace 

Spa have been designed to be warm and homely 

with patterned ceramic tiled floors Below: thermal 

waters fill the outdoor relaxation pools. The natural 

springs have been put to use for hundreds of years 

sliding glass doors so indoor 

and out become one. And the 

zone has a warm vibrant feel, 

created by painting half of the 

exterior walls in a deep red. 

The equally elegant indoor 

pool has marble walls on one 

side and grey ceramic tiles 

on the other. Much thought 

has gone into sourcing 

furniture that works with the 

architecture, and the poolside 

loungers have precise lines, 

softened by a wooden frame, 

and taupe upholstery. 

The treatment rooms are 

blissful, with large whirlpool 

chromotherapy baths, 

wooden floors and big 

squishy chairs and footstools 

upholstered in natural linen. 

Walls inside the spa 

building are white and 

unadorned and flooring is 

predominantly sustainably 

sourced pale timber. Low 

energy LED lighting has been 

installed throughout and the 

latest technologies ensure 

the spa is not a wasteful gas 

guzzling enterprise. 

By being so purist and not 

giving too much in the way of 

visual distractions, the 

intention is to allow guests to 

clear their minds. And from 

the feedback it seems to work. 

www.vidagopalace.com

ikea kungsbacka kitchen 


Recycled plastic fantastic 

Welcome to the new eco friendly Kungsbacka 

kitchen by Form Us With Love and Ikea 

Above: Kungsbacka kitchen cupboard fronts and doors are on sale in Ikea from Feb ‘17. Made from recycled plastic bottles and waste wood, 

the material offers a chance to bring the kitchen industry into the eco age. Prices from £5 for a door front. More colours will come on stream. 

With the aim of showing how 

a circular economy can work 

at scale, Stockholm-based 

design studio Form Us 

With Love in collaboration 

with Ikea has developed 

Kungsbacka, the first 

material for kitchen fronts 

and worktops made entirely 

from recycled plastic 

bottles and reclaimed 

industrial wood (25 plastic 

bottles are used for every 

40x80cm unit). 

The anthracite grey 

Kungsbacka kitchen is 

pioneering being made from 

discarded materials. ‘A plastic 

bottle is not waste, it is a 

resource,’ says Jonas 

Pettersson, CEO at Form 

Us With Love. ‘And most 

importantly, this kitchen 

proves these materials can 

be used for household goods 

in large scale production.’ 

Mass produced kitchens 

haven’t to date been 

particuarly eco friendly, being 

made from unrecyclable 

chipboard with plastic lacquer 

coatings. There’s also been a 

tendency for people to throw 

out a kitchen when they move 

house and put a new one in, 

often just for the sake of it. 

That behaviour is starting to 

change and the better made 

the kitchen, the more likely 

people are to keep living with 

it, even if it was someone 

else’s choice originally. 

So the development of 

Kungsbacka and its 

complementary Hackas 

handles is tremendous news 

on several counts: firstly, it’s 

the embodiment of the circular 

economy as it puts discarded 

materials back to work in a 

new form; secondly, the 

material has been designed to 

last for decades, and thirdly, 

the modular units have been 

designed to be timeless - 

Form Us With Love and Ikea 

maintain the line ‘is resilient 

to fashion’. 

Keeping costs down 

Working with Ikea and an 

Italian supplier, Form Us With 

Love wanted at the outset to 

develop a new eco-friendly 

kitchen material without losing 

track of production costs. 

Pettersson explains that ‘when 

using recycled and reclaimed 

materials, more research 

and development goes 

into the project’ and that’s 

why products made from 

recycled/reclaimed materials 

are often more expensive 

than those made from brand 

new materials. 

So developing Kungsbacka 

has been a labour of love too 

- all those involved wanted to 

ensure the finished material 

could withstand daily use for 

a good quarter of a century. 

Anna Granath, product 

developer at Ikea Sweden, 

isn’t giving away trade 

secrets, suffice to say that 

‘overcoming the price was 

a milestone in the 

development... But we believe 

sustainability should be for 

everyone, not just those who 

can afford it.’ 

www.ikea.com 


ceramic art london 2017 

31 March 

to 2 April 

Ceramic Art London 

It’s the wheel of fortune because ceramics have 

become every bit as collectible as paintings 


Sophie Cook’s 

vessels are 

pure elegance. 

Prices from £150 

This image: Dark blue cylinder vessel by 

Peter Beard, H10cm, £250 Left, above: 

Uneathed Interiors Collection with Flowers 

by Zevak Zargarian, from £45 each Left, 

below: Large Ivory Concave Sculpture 

by James Oughtibridge, £5,000 

Ceramic Art London, now 

in its 13th year, is unmissable 

for anyone interested in 

contemporary ceramic art. 

And that’s a lot of us 

because the collector instinct 

is innate in human beings, 

it would seem; and as 

paintings have become 

unfeasibly expensive for 

most of us, so we’ve turned 

our attention to the many 

brilliant craft potters working 

across the world whose 

designs work is still, 

mercifully, affordable - albeit 

that’s a word that means 

something different to 

each of us. 

So if you’re in the London 

at the end of March, head to 

Central St Martin’s where 

you’ll see a huge variety of 

work from some 90 top 

ceramicists working in the 

UK, on the Continent, South 

Korea and Japan. You’ll meet 

them and can buy direct 

from them - why go 

home empty-handed? 

The fair sees the return of 

renowned makers such as 

Akiko Hirai, Sophie Cook 

and James Hake, as well 

as first-time exhibitors and 

rising stars including Ben 

Arnup, Rachel Wood, Silke 

Decker, Mathew Horne and 

Lauren Nauman. 

Items on sale range from 

contemporary twists on 

functional tableware to 

exquisite sculptural pieces 

and experimental work that 

pushes the boundaries of 

this ancient craft. 

With prices ranging from 

£25 for a pretty tea cup by 

Sue Pryke to £8,000 for an 

original sculpture by Fenella 

Elms, CAL does cater for 

collectors of all budgets. 

Key themes 

While ceramics have 

echoed the natural realm for 

millennia, urban and industrial 

textures make their mark too 

this year, with Isobel Egan 

and Fausto Salvi’s ceramic 

cityscapes. Robert Cooper 

takes inspiration from urban 

decay, creating recycled 

pieces with left-over glazes 

and ancient pottery shards 

found on the foreshore of 

the river Thames. 

Traditional craft mimics 

virtual reality with Matt Davis’ 

‘pixelated’ porcelain tableware 

and Ben Arnup’s 3-D 

optical illusions. Ceramics’ 

potential for the playful and 

even surreal is demonstrated 

by Yun Wook Mun’s melting 

Dali-esque forms. 

The storytelling capacity 

of ceramics is powerfully 

demonstrated by Midori 

Takaki’s eccentric folkloric 

faces and Jenny Southam’s 

animal and human figures 

in landscapes. Raewyn 

Harrison’s ‘Mudlarking’ and 

‘Thames Estuary’ series of 

slip cast, thrown and hand 

built vessels use Elizabethan 

illustrations and maps to tell 

stories of London. 

• CERAMIC ART 

LONDON 

• When: 31 

March to 

2 April. 

Where: 

Central St 

Martin’s behind 

London’s 

King’s Cross 

Station. 

• Hours: 10-6 pm 

and 10-5 pm on 

the last day. 

• Visit: ceramics. 

org.uk 


ceramic art london 2017 

Yuta Segawa’s 

enchanting world 

of tiny pots 

Above: The Land of Archaeopteryx, £360, by Midori Takaki Below: OPject- 

Mountain Ridge Form, wheel thrown, by Jin Eui Kim, D 34.5cm, £850 Right: 

Group of Tiles by Chris Taylor, terracotta with slip, underglaze-print, £15 each 

Above: slip cast porcelain vessel with 

Indian pangolin by Charlotte Mary 

Pack, £220 Left: Beyond Him No 6, 

gorilla of coil-built construction of black 

stoneware and terracotta paperclay, 

£4,000, by Nichola Theakston 

Above: Anna Barlow’s Softening 

Solace, a delicious confection Below: 

Elizabeth London in four vessels by 

Raewyn Harrison, £120 each 

Visit CAL and see 

work by more than 

90 international 

ceramic artists. 


luebellgray 

Flowers to the people! 

bluebellgray has gone from the kitchen table to big time homewares brand in a very 

short space of time. Abby Trow caught up with Fi Douglas, artist, designer, company 

founder and lover of flowers to find out how she’s coping with success and why her 

designs have struck such a chord 

Fi Douglas 

trained as 

an artist 

and textile 

designer 

at the 

illustrious 

Glasgow 

School 

of Art. She 

paints floral 

and abstract 

designs and 

describes 

her style 

as modern 

bluebellgray is something 

of a phenomenon if speed 

of success is a measure. 

Because this 13-strong 

Glasgow-based textiles and 

homewares company started 

its journey just eight years 

ago as a one-woman show; 

on Fi Douglas’s kitchen table 

to be precise, as she painted 

some floral designs. 

‘I had the idea of 

transferring my watercolours 

to fabric which I could have 

it made up into cushions to 

sell,’ she explains. ‘I wanted 

to make cushions where 

the fabric looked like a 

painting.’ And it’s been that 

way ever since because all 

bluebellgray’s collections 

start life as a Fi Douglas 

watercolour painting. 

Anyway, low and behold 

local people loved her large 

painterly florals and the 

cushions - initially produced 

as limited editions - would 

sell out quickly. ‘At the start I 

couldn’t believe anyone would 

want to give me money for my 

work....’ says Fi. 

It’s not hyperbole to say 

bluebellgray has become an 

international brand, selling 

in the US, Canada, Australia 

and New Zealand, as well as 

in the UK through John Lewis, 

other retailers, its own website 

and showroom, opened last 

year in Glasgow. 

‘Yes, it’s all very exciting,’ 

says Fi, who thinks she 

owes a lot of the company’s 

success to being taken on 

by Brits’ favourite department 

store in 2011. 

But just being in John Lewis 

isn’t, of course, a guarantee 

of retail stardom. You need 

skill, authenticity and an 

understanding of what 

your customers want. 

Skill and authenticity are 

very much at the heart of 

bluebellgray. Fi loves to paint 

flowers and is very skilled at 

painting them - she studies 

them closely so she can 

capture their essence 

and likeness in her own 

unique style. 

‘Well I do think we make 

things that people like to look 

at - that said our customers 

are mostly women. But everyone 

loves flowers because 

they’re very beautiful and 

uplifting,’ says Fi. ‘Flowers 

have always been present 

in art and have that 

universal appeal.’ 


luebellgray 


‘I’m not one for 

small tight 

designs, I like 

my flowers to 

be large and 

painterly and 

I love the 

softness you 

get with 

watercolour.’ 

Left: Lola is an abstract design and 

it’s available as a hand-tufted or 

digitally-printed wool rug. Rugs from 

£415. Below left: Catrin cushion 

Below: curtains in Wisteria linen - 

£85 per m 

A lot a floral designs in the 

19th and 20th century were 

quite small and tight with a 

strict repeat - think about 

those ‘30s flowery wallpapers 

- so among the 

reasons why Fi’s designs 

have struck such a chord with 

us is their scale and a carefree 

looseness to them that means 

they avoid that potentially 

boring tight repeat. And 

of course developments in 

digital printing have 

allowed Fi’s paintings to 

move from paper to fabric 

without losing the brush 

strokes or the sense of the 

watercolours ebbing and 

flowing into each other 

with the ensuing slightly 

blurry edges. 

bluebellgray’s colour 

palette is also very pretty and 

gentle and easy to incorporate 

into modern or more 

traditional homes. ‘I like pastel 

shades and I do love pink - I 

don’t know why it gets such 

as bad press - and I like 

colours to have that slight.. 

how can I put it... edge of 

dirtiness to them to knock 

Fi’s favourite fabric 

is linen, one of the 

most eco-friendly. 

And making to 

last is her guiding 

principle when 

it comes to 

sustainability 


luebellgray 


Above, centre: 

bluebellgray’s high impact 

wallpaper collection launched 

last year and is doing its bit to 

get us back into feature walls. 

Above left: 

new Kippen 

oversized 

design. 

Wallpapers are 

uncoated and 

printed in the 

UK. Top right: 

the Glasgow 

showroom 

Above: tassles (£9) in those 

delicious bbg colours are among 

the accessories on offer. Look 

out for candles, bags and curtain 

ties too. 

them back a bit. I do have 

occasional pops of neon but 

really primary colours are not 

really my thing,’ says Fi. 

Fi says environmental 

considerations are important 

to her and the company. She 

grew up in Fort William in the 

Scottish Highlands and has 

that inherent love of 

nature that comes from 

growing up in it. So it’s 

perhaps not surprising to find 

that her favourite fabric is 

linen, it being one of the most 

sustainable fibres. ‘I love the 

way linen takes dye, the 

way it drapes and it wears 

so well. It’s eco-friendly 

and breathable and is 

generally fantastic. 

‘And what’s important to 

me is to make products that 

last. When you buy one of our 

wool rugs, for example, with 

a bit of care it should last 

you a lifetime.’ 

Manufacturing locally is 

important, so cushions and 

fabrics are made in the UK, 

while rugs are digitally-printed 

in the Netherlands. 

The bluebellgray collection 

is growing all the time. From 

cushions and fabrics it now 

offers rugs, wallpapers, 

lampshades, curtain tiebacks 

ceramics, trays and giclee 

prints and when looked at as 

a brand, it’s one that is, well, 

joyful and full of personality. 

It’s colourful, full of flowers, 

it’s pretty and feminine but 

without being too girly-girl. 

‘Because I paint and those 

paintings are the start of our 

collections, I think people 

sense there’s heart and soul 

and integrity to what we do. I 

am a bit of a hippy I suppose 

and I do paint from my heart,’ 

says Fi. 

And while she has of course 

learned a lot about business 

and marketing and no doubt 

knows her way around a 

balance sheet, you feel this 

is a company that is in no way 

rapacious. ‘I just want people 

to have things that give them 

a bit of joy in their lives,’ 

says Fi.


If you think statement walls have had their day, well 

Fi Douglas begs to differ. She’s a fan and points out 

that a stunning wallpaper can work like a piece of art 

- and it’ll be much cheaper than an oil painting! 

‘I do paint 

from my 

heart’Fi Douglas 

Above: flowers on a grand 

scale - Florrie wallpaper 

Far left: soft lilacs, greys, 

blues and yellows in the 

abstract Morar design, seen 

here in linen curtains 

Left: Fumikko cherry 

blossom wallpaper and 

Wisteria lampshade. 

Lampshades from £70, 

wallpapers, printed to order, 

from £155 per 10m roll. 


io-resin flooring 


Pour me a floor! 

Sphere8 poured resin floors are bio-based 

and have none of the toxicity of epoxy resin 

A Sphere8 poured resin floor 

is seamless, which gives a 

lovely smooth surface that 

flows from room to room. 

The castor oil-based resin 

can be colour matched to 

pretty much any shade. 

Deciding on flooring for 

your home can be surprisingly 

difficult. There’s carpet, wood, 

stone, ceramic tile, vinyl and 

resilient flooring...but for those 

who want an easy maintence 

smooth floor that doesn’t have 

joins, and which has good 

eco credentials, enter the 

bio resin poured floor. 

This material - which can 

also be used on walls - is 

poured to a depth of just 

4mm and offers a seamless 

floor that can flow from room 

to room. Sweep it and wash 

it regularly with soapy water 

and it’ll reward you with many 

years’ service. 

Sphere8 is a London-based 

company offer bio-based 

poured resin flooring and it 

explains the environmental 

and health benefits: 

*firstly, the material has castor 

oil as its core ingredient, so 

it’s bio-based rather than 

derived from petro-chemicals; 

*it doesn’t off-gas so is a 

good choice if good indoor 

air quality is a priority. 

Castor oil bean-based 

resins 

Industry is looking to use 

biodegradable materials, 

non-polluting and biomass 

products, and castor oilbased 

polyurethane resin 

is a good alternative to 

formaldehyde-based resins. 

Castor is a sustainable 

plant (and one that must be 

handled very carefully as 

castor beans are the source 

of the deadly poison ricin) that 

thrives in Asia and tropical 

regions and as such castor 

oil is increasingly seen as a 

bio-product that can help the 

vinyl flooring industry move 

away from petrochemicals 

as the core ingredient. The 

use of renewable raw 

materials reduces fossil-fuel 

dependency and can help 

mitigate climate change. 

Q&A with Isobel Stewart at 

Sphere8 

What are the advantages of a 

poured resin floor over, say, a 

vinyl floor? 

Obviously there are the eco 

benefits of using a 

sustainably-derived product. 

But when it comes to vinyl or 

rubber flooring, these floors 

tend to come in sheets or tile 

form, so you don’t have the 

wastage associated with them 

Our floors are poured and are 

built-up in layers so they are 

completely seamless in any 

interior. We can work within 

any space and over several 

floors. We have expert 

installers who carry out our 

projects – so you don’t need 

to source or pay for 

a third-party installer. 

We also offer complete 

flexibility in colour and 

design – unlike vinyl flooring 

that comes in set ranges. 

A poured floor - it sounds 

like it could be very messy 

to install! 

It’s definitely an expert 

process, but it’s not that 

messy! Essentially our floors 

are made up of several layers 

that are each poured and 

then allowed to cure – they


This image: poured bio-resin flooring 

is perfect for clean contemporary 

design Below: the flooring is built-up 

in layers to a depth of just 4mm 

You can clad 

stairs in 

poured resin 

to - be as 

dramatic as 

you like! 

This image: interior 

designer Paul Warren 

chose a Sphere8 floor 

for the large basement 

kitchen of this south 

London house 

are poured from a bucket, 

and spread carefully using 

a trowel. So in a standard 

residential project we would 

first check the subfloor (and 

recommend any repairs if 

necessary) and then pour the 

first primer layer. A second 

primer layer is added (these 

are about 1mm together), 

before the base coat. The 

body coat (the thickest layer 

at about 2mm) contains the 

pigment – determining what 

colour your floor is. Then we 

lay 1 – 2 seal coats which 

are UV stable and create 

the final matt silk finish. 

How does a poured floor 

score on longevity - if you 

have it in your home and you 

have kids running around, is it 

easy to look after? 

These floors are very 

durable. We advise that if you 

have young children or a lot 

of foot traffic to perhaps steer 

clear of a solid white floor. In 

general, the more ‘noise’ a 

floor has (i.e. movement of 

colour/terrazzo aggregate) 

the better it is at disguising 

the odd scratch, dirt or dust. 

A solid gloss floor in a light 

colour probably does require 

a more pristine lifestyle. But 

as long as you use common 

sense, poured resin floors are 

as easy to maintain as carpet, 

wood or vinyl. 

In terms of price how does 

resin compare to say stone/ 

porcelain tiles or Amtico vinyl? 

Our floors work out from 

£150 m2 so thay may be 

more expensive than ceramic 

tiles – but remember our price 

does include all materials and 

installation. Over a large area, 

we are a similar price to 

Amtico. I would stress there’s 

no wastage with resin, we 

charge only for what we pour. 

Are more Brits becoming 

receptive to the idea of a 

poured resin floor? 

The market here is 

definitely growing. People 

are coming to us for floors 

hat look like polished concrete 

or because they want a soft 

warm easycare floor. 

www.sphere8.com 


gardens 


Paeans of praise for peonies 

Nurseryman Alec White of Befordshire’s Primrose Hall Nursery urges us 

to fill our gardens with peonies, that most lushly petalled beauty 

Above: peonies are very easy to grow, just follow a few simple rules 

when planting and they will bloom spring after spring Right: if pink’s 

your colour, then Peony Sarah Bernhardt is an excellent choice 

Peonies are possibly the 

most indulgent of all flowers. 

Impervious to the harshest of 

winters they emerge spring 

after spring and light up the 

garden with masses of 

beautifully decadent blooms. 

Then, before we’ve really 

had time to appreciate 

them, they’re gone...petals 

scattered on the spring 

breeze leaving nothing but 

their perfume in the air. 

Many of us are put off 

growing peonies because of 

the relatively short flowering 

season. And there’s an 

assumption they’re a difficult 

flower to grow, one best left 

for the professional gardener, 

the truly green-fingered. 

But that’s not the case at 

all, because peonies are an 

excellent low-maintenance 

plant, perfect for beginners 

and experienced gardeners 

alike. Don’t be afraid of them, 

they’re very obliging! 

The sheer size of the flower 

is impressive, with many of 

the intersectional peonies 

producing flowers the size of 

dinner plates and with colours 

ranging from white to yellow, 

pink to purple and everything 

in between. There are single, 

semi-double and double 

flowers, all of which are 

exceptionally beautiful and 

that’s before you get to the 

deliciously fragrant varieties. 

In fact most peonies are 

fragrant, but some more so 

than others. For example, 

Peony lactiflora ‘Duchesse 

de Nemours’ AGM is an 

exquisite double white flower 

with a cream centre and the 

most delightful perfume. 

And a personal favourite 

are the delicate blush flowers 

of Peony lactiflora ‘Catharina 

Fontijn’ which produce quite 

an intense perfume. Few 

other plants can boast such 

attributes as the peony. 

How to grow peonies 

* Don’t plant too deeply. 

The tuberous roots shouldn’t 

be more than about 2.5cm 

below the surface. Any 

deeper and they may give 

wonderful foliage but they 

simply won’t flower. So if 

you have a peony that isn’t 

flowering, it’s probably 

because it was been planted 

too deeply or perhaps 

inadvertently got buried. 

In whch case just wait until 

autumn and taking care not 

to damage the buds on the 

roots, lift the peony and 

re-plant it at the right depth. 

* Plant in a sunny 

position. 

Though many varieties 

will tolerate some shade (for 

eg Peony lactiflora ‘White 

Wings’) if your peony is in 

heavy shade it will be 

reluctant to flower well. 

* Plant in fertile, free 

draining soil. 

Peonies are not 

generally too fussy about 

the soil and are quite 

happy in chalky or clay 

soil provided it’s free 

draining. One thing they 

don’t like is sittting in water 

in winter. 

As you can see, the rules 



Above: Peony ‘Lollipop’ Below: 

Peony Duchesse de Nemours 

Right: Peony Coral Charm 

Below Right: Peony Red Charm 

really only apply to planting 

your peony. Once in the 

ground it will be quite 

content to be left alone. 

In fact if you have rich, 

fertile soil you probably don’t 

need to feed it; but if your soil 

is not so good a balanced 

general fertiliser such as 

Growmore applied in 

spring should do the trick. 

It’s also a good idea 

to cut back and remove 

dead leaves in autumn 

to avoid the plant wilting. 

I hope I can encourage 

you to develop a love of 

peonies because they’re truly 

a highlight of the year. The 

show they put on may be 

relatively short - but my 

goodness what a show it 

is. Peonies’ hardiness, low 

maintenance and longevity 

are reasons enough to be 

charmed by them - but it’s 

their abundance, colour and 

fragrance that make them 

so heartstopping. 

www.primrosehall.co.uk 

‘Peonies are 

an excellent 

low-maintenance 

plant, perfect 

for beginner 

gardeners.’ 

Alec White, expert grower 


architecture award 


Better Shelter 

Flat-packed refugee shelter 

wins award for best design 

Better Shelter has won 

the architecture prize in the 

Beazley Design Of The Year 

awards, now in their ninth year. 

Designed by Johan 

Karlsson, Dennis 

Kanter, Nicolò Barlera 

Christian Gustafsson, 

John van Leer, Tim de 

Haas, the IKEA Foundation 

and UNHCR, these shelters 

provide more dignified homes 

for people who’ve been 

displaced by war or natural 

disasters; presently more 

than 30,000 Better Shelters 

are in use around the world, 

including in refugee camps in 

the Middle East. 

Better Shelter is a social 

enterprise bringing design 

industry innovation to 

emergency and temporary 

shelter in a time of ever 

growing need. 

Featuring a lockable front 

door and a solar-powered 

wall, this award-winning 

shelter took the flat-pack 

technology found in furniture 

design and used it to create 

a home that can be easily 

assembled and transported. 

It’s delivered in a two-box kit 

along with all the required 

tools, and would take two-four 

people around four hours to 

assemble it. 

The photovoltaic panel 

provides enough energy to 

power the supplied light or to 

charge a mobile phone. 

The judges chose 

Better Shelter as the winner 

www.bettershelter.org 

because it offers ‘a clear 

demonstration of scalable 

design that has the ability to 

make a worldwide impact.’ 



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