THE JOURNAL
HOOKED ON CLASSICS
A new generation of interior designers is finding inspiration in the tried and tested classical principles of the past, finds Giles Kime
Churchill, the statesman, soldier and amateur painter who was up there with Oscar Wilde as the master of the arresting one-liner. It’s the tension between old and new that makes interior design so exciting; at one extreme there’s the historically correct (but sometimes dreary) reconstruction of the past – at the other, there’s sometimes bleak appearance of the conceptual. The reason that the best, most long- lived traditions survive is because at their heart are principles that work, whether they are moral, culinary or aesthetic. Perhaps most important of all, they prove themselves adaptable to changing needs and tastes. A respect for classic principles is evident in the
“W
work of a small band of British architects and designers for whom ‘living tradition’ means taking a time-honoured idea and making it relevant to the 21st century. It’s an approach that’s at the heart of
ithout tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation it’s a corpse.”
So said Winston
“IT’S AMAZING HOW A WIDE RANGE OF PATTERNS ALL COME TOGETHER OVER TIME”
the interiors created by Ben Pentreath, the designer who has had significant influence on classic English taste since Nancy Lancaster and John Fowler brought comfort and joy to the English country house in the post-war era. For evidence, look no further than his new book An English Vision: Traditional Architecture and Decoration for Today, published by Rizzoli this autumn, which demonstrates how a traditional sense of scale, proportion, craft and appropriateness are the foundations of his work, whether in the pared-back interior of a restored country house or a London apartment. The book also offers an insight into how he uses colour as a tool to make
a space his own, an approach that also permeates his Queen Square collection for Morris & Co. that he has brought into the 21st century with a fresh palette of colours. A new generation of less established designers
are also demonstrating the benefits of traditional principles: in Sussex, Tom Turner and his team are restoring houses in a way that, in his words, “embrace
OPPOSITE: A modern apartment that has had an injection of colour and personality by Sarah Vanrenen; grasscloth on the walls adds textural interest and Edward Bulmer’s endlessly cheerful ‘Vert de Mer’ paint runs like a thread through the joinery. Vanrenen’s client had moved from a country house and the designer has seamlessly incorporated his existing furniture and artwork, helping to banish any sense that this is a featureless new-build
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