Surrey Homes | SH37 | November 2017 | Gift supplement inside

This page: Decorative apothecary bottles line the shelves
surrounding the bathroom mirror
van just for the plants,” he says, smiling. “I need greenery
and we don’t really have a garden, so I have brought
it inside. A lot of the plants are from Mao Bramall at
Shimizu, the florist’s further along the high street.
David is an artist by training and began his career
making paper and metal sculptures. “That was how I
first started at The Conran Shop,” he explains. “I got a
commission to make 150 paper and wire sculptures for
their window.” He has also worked in a French home
fragrance company based in Provence, and at Cox &
Power the jeweller’s. “I’m obsessed with fragrance – I
had to do spot tests all the time when I was there,
guessing the elements of a scent.” David now sells a
brand of candles that appear to satisfy the obsession.
“They are soya based, with such amazing fragrance.”
His experience at the jewellers taught him more about
the detail. Shop House Hastings had to have a homely
feel – “as if you are going through someone’s house,”
David explains. “The detail gives you that too. I wanted
all the shelves to have scalloped edges to them – so we
had to make them. First we cut each one in half and
then we painted them all by hand – it took ages.” Part
of the same ethos is to keep moving the stock and
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