Wealden Times | WT200 | October 2018 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Above: With a four-poster bed from Maisons du Monde Lauren’s daughter’s bedroom is fit for a princess.
The light fitting is by Smallable
accents dominate. She bought the dining chairs at Koket,
but the table was bought separately in the King’s Road.
A delicate looking sculpture on the dining room
table forms a centrepiece. “It’s actually made from
concrete, so not as delicate as it looks,” smiles Lauren.
“It is by a friend of mine called Maria Bassett.”
Lauren explains how she chooses furniture, both for
clients’ schemes and for this house with her strong and
individual sense of style. “I never follow fashion and
won’t be pigeon holed, which keeps everything fresh.”
Many of the lamps and objects in the house are
bespoke, made by up and coming, and often completely
unknown artists and designers. Expensive originals mingle
with purchases from art.com and 1stdibs. “My father is
a ‘proper’ modern art collector,” Lauren says. “I have a
few pieces, but if I don’t love them it doesn’t matter how
much they’re worth. I get quite a few things from the
Affordable Art Fair.” She adds firmly; “I like what I like.”
“To me, furniture is a kind of art – and I’m looking
at the piece itself, not the labels,” she says. “It can be a
challenge to find exactly the right piece for the space. The
sofas in the sitting room came from France and the rug
is on loan, while the company make the bigger one to
go there. Rugs are always a difficult one; there’s not the
breadth of choice unless you spend a lot of money.”
Lauren has found an ingenious way around some of her
sourcing issues, however. She has begun to design and make
many of the interior items: “We draw them up with the
CGI. It’s so useful if we can’t find something in the right
colour or size and it’s a great advantage to have the right
maker contacts. I wanted a geometric ottoman – the one
in the lounge is the first one that I made. We may well
have a section on the website for bespoke pieces soon.”
The company is keen to expand the interiors side of
73 wealdentimes.co.uk