THE JOURNAL
P
ick a handful of names from the galaxy of interior design stars and you’ll find that there’s no pre-ordained path up to the stratosphere. Many found their way via other
fields, some more relevant than others: Nicky Haslam was a horse breeder in Arizona, Anouska Hempel was an actress, Nina Campbell worked in the wedding list department of The General Trading Company, David Hicks designed cereal packets for J. Walter Thompson and John Fowler painted furniture at Peter Jones. For an earlier generation of designers, studying
interior design wasn’t an option, but many newer arrivals worked in other fields, most enrolling either in the Inchbald School of Design (launched in 1960) or the KLC School of Design (launched in 1982, and now based at the Design Centre). A good example is Brandon Schubert who designed the Morris & Co. bedroom at this year’s WOW!house. A lawyer, first in his native Texas and latterly in London, he trained at the Inchbald and worked in Ben Pentreath’s interior design team before establishing his own practice. “When isn’t a legal background useful?” he asks. Nevertheless, compared to law and other clearly
defined careers such as medicine and accountancy, the route to interior design remains circuitous. Natalia Miyar, Douglas Mackie and Philip Hooper all studied
architecture, a transition that requires only a short hop and which brings with it huge benefits of drawing and spatial understanding. Others are drawn from theatre design, such as Tiffany Duggan of Studio Duggan, who found working with colour, texture and as part of a design team invaluable training for her new life as an interior designer – as was the all-important ability she developed to “create an experience”.
“COMING UP WITH THE IDEAS IS A SMALL PART OF THE JOB. IT’S EXECUTING THOSE IDEAS DOWN TO THE LAST DETAIL THAT TAKES UP FAR MORE TIME”
Over the years, some have migrated from the world
of fashion, notably the former Ralph Lauren creative director, Ann Boyd. More recently, the creative brains behind 5 Hertford Street, Robin Birley’s private members’ club in Mayfair – arguably one of the most influential British interiors of the last decade – was the Turkish-born fashion designer Rifat Ozbek. Another designer who made the switch was Matthew Williamson, who turned his back on fashion to design
everything from a burgeoning range of interiors accessories to projects for Blakes Hotel, Aynhoe Park and Belmond’s La Residencia hotel in Mallorca. “Whilst I’m no longer dressing people, I’m designing and dressing rooms, which feels similar in lots of respects,” he says. A significant number of the current generation of
designers are drawn from magazines, notably Suzy Hoodless (Wallpaper*), Gavin Houghton (The World of Interiors) and Lucy Elworthy, who says describes her work on Vogue and House & Garden as experiences that “didn’t just teach me to respond to a brief, evolve ideas and distil them on to the page, it also forced me to think on my feet.” Yet creativity is just one of the attributes required for
a successful project. As Thomas Edison said, “genius is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration.” That perspiration can be expended in all
sorts of
different activities; from contracts to managing budgets and teams. It’s a sentiment echoed by Brandon Schubert whose legal training was invaluable: “Coming up with the ideas is a small part of the job. It’s executing those ideas down to the last detail that takes up far more time.” When she moved from being a qualified accountant who spent 20 years in finance, Pippa Paton wanted
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Veere Grenney’s London residence with an armchair in China Sea’s ‘Arbre de Matisse’ from Tissus d’Hélène. In the same house, ‘Aspen’ fabric by Créations Métaphores has been used on the walls, curtains and pelmets. Two schemes by Tiffany Duggan, who has a background in set design. ABOVE: A sitting room by Lucy Elworthy with fabrics by Pierre Frey, C & C Milano and Zimmer + Rohde, alongside a Tim Page rug and a Julian Chichester coffee table.
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