THE JOURNAL
A CLOSER LOOK
Take a magnifying glass to WOW!house 2024 and discover some of the
fascinating details – and future design directions – revealed within its rooms. By Emily Brooks
E
veryone loves a good story, and interior designers are often master storytellers, threading a common narrative through a space to make it feel coherent and stay interesting.
However, at WOW!house 2024, those narratives often wove through several rooms – and given that each designer did not know what the others were creating, it is fascinating to wonder how these design directions came about. Read on for some of those common threads, and find
out why WOW!house offered a unique opportunity to see up close how A-list designers work. There was a myriad of clever ideas in every room, and visitors came away brimming with inspiration for their own projects, from big ideas to small details and interesting suppliers.
DRAPE THE WALLS Upholstered walls often make a more luxurious alternative to wallcoverings, elevating a room while dampening sound to provide a cocooning feel. At WOW!house 2024, this concept was taken to a new level with curtained fabric (as well as textiles pulled taut to the wall), creating an even softer look and adding to the cosiness. In the Zoffany Entrance Hall, Benedict Foley
made a dramatic first look inside the house. Inspired by a ballroom scene in Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film The Leopard, set in mid-19th-century Sicily, Foley draped the walls in Zoffany’s ‘Long Gallery Brocade’ an abundant wool and cotton textile inspired by an 18th-century design from Yorkshire’s Temple Newsam house. It was suspended all around by paw-like hooks, a witty reference back to the title of Visconti’s film. Architecture practice Fosbury Studio worked with
fellow Italians Dedar to create a Studio that was designed to showcase both the beauty of the fabrics and the innovation that goes into them. A curtain of ‘Déjà Vu Jamais’ covered one wall, affording visitors the
privilege of seeing it in glorious abundance. This soft flocked velvet features a labyrinthine pattern, and its meandering line was cleverly mirrored in the adjacent upholstered seating. In the Chase Erwin Library, Andrea Benedettini
created a hushed atmosphere with curtained Ultrasuede, a suede-alternative microfibre available from the Chase Erwin showroom. Artwork was suspended from the ceiling using an elegant brass chain system, skimming over the tactile drape of the fabric.
GATHER ROUND Fireplaces make great principal focal points for a layout, as well as offering interesting display opportunities for the mantel shelf, and the chance to use a contrasting palette of materials to soft furnishings. Many of WOW!house 2024’s designers introduced very special fireplaces to their rooms, from decorative antiques to cleverly upcycled examples. Lucy Hammond Giles made a floor-to-ceiling design
statement in one corner of the Colefax and Fowler Morning Room. The antique polished brass register plate, adorned with relief pomegranates and foliage, had a double mantel shelf above, animated by rows of beautiful Delft porcelain. Jamb London’s antique and reproduction
chimneypieces are beloved by interior designers, so it was a natural choice to include a richly grained marble version in the Primary Bedroom. Guy Goodfellow introduced a rustic French antique limestone example in the Tissus d’Hélène Drawing Room, whose curving jambs inspired the shape of an adjacent bespoke sofa. In Suzy Hoodless’ Dining Space,
the chimney
breast was clad in handmade Moroccan tiles that used natural pigment glazes, creating a subtle array of tones. The room was inspired by the natural surroundings of Hoodless’ Cornish home, and the rich green easily
LEFT: The Tissus d'Hélène Drawing Room by Guy Goodfellow included a bespoke Rupert Bevan bookcase filled with art and design titles from Potterton Books. Books and bookshelves at WOW!house all helped to suggest the rich inner lives of the rooms’ imagined occupants – and added an introspective touch
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