Elizabeth Power - elizabeth-power.com | babesinarms.co.uk This artistis known for painting her immediate surrounds – from jars offlowers in her St Leonards-on-Sea studio to the local beaches and streets of the East Sussex town to which she moved four months before the pandemic began. With an eye-catching affinity for colour reminiscent of Henri Matisse, Milton Avery and David Hockney, Elizabeth Power’s vibrant palette also affords such subjects an element of abstraction, bestowing on them a sense of wonder that enhances their quotidian origins. There have been recent collaborations with Heal’s and fashion brand Munthe, as well as a solo exhibition at the 99 Projects gallery, NW10, earlier this year. As the mother oftwo young boys,Elizabeth has also co-founded theEast Sussex artists’ collectiveBabes in Arms for those who share her circumstances. It stages exhibitions in local galleries, including the DeLaWarr Pavilion inBexhill-on-Sea. ‘The aim is to raise awareness of mothers in the industry – to encourage and to provide a platform for creativity. We’re stronger together.’ Elizabeth’s studio is on the first floor of her house: ‘So no time is wasted – I can paint whenever the children sleep,’ she says. It is such opportunities that are the essence of her work. ‘What I’m trying to capture is a moment of escapism – and beauty.’ Elizabeth’s work will be shown as part of the Art for Charity Collective group show at The Swan at Thyme, Gloucestershire, from November 22 until December 11, when the works will be auctioned: artforcharitycollective.com | thyme.co.uk e HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 99
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Tyga Helme - tygahelme.com ‘The temptation to move back to London – where so many of my friends are – is huge,’ says Tyga Helme of her lockdown-driven move to rural Wiltshire. ‘But there are fewer distractions here and that is better for my work.’ The Wiltshire countryside has inspired her latest paintings and drawings.Whatever the weather, she spends part of the day outside in the same patch of bramble next to her cottage, armed with two or three notebook-sized linen panels and either chalk pastels or oils. ‘I love the forgotten, unloved bits of nature,’ she observes, adding that she is drawn in by ‘colour or shape’, and remarking upon the changes that are wrought on the same plant even over the course of a day. ‘I am trying to make work that is about being in nature, rather than being a snapshot of nature.’ Tyga finishes the sketches she has begun outside from memory in the studio – which is the loft of what she describes as a ‘corn bin’ on a yard of working farm buildings – and then fits together the panels, maybe 16 at a time. She works on the floor: ‘It helps me feel really immersed in what I’m doing,’ she explains. It is a state reinforced by her relationship with Messums, with its galleries in London and Wiltshire, which, in representing her, has freed her up from the administration of managing her sales. ‘All I have to do is paint,’ she says. messumslondon.com m HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 101
Where to buy The arrival of the Frieze fairs in Regent’s Park, NW1 (October 11-15; frieze.com) tends to concentrate the mind on the art market, particularly as both Sotheby’s andChristie’s time high-value modern and contemporary auctions to coincide. The surrounding buzz can feel overwhelming and yet acquiring art can be not only highly rewarding, but also affordable. London fairs – including Frieze, Frieze Masters, PAD (October 10-15; padesign art.com) and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (October 12-15; 1-54.com) – are good places to start. ‘It helps to get your eye in, to work out your taste,’ says the art consultant Rebecca Gordon (rebecca gordonart.co.uk), who works with both interior designers and private clients. There are other key factors to consider. First, galleries differ in whom they cater to. Some focus on placing work into notable collections, but themajority showpieces intendedto behung inourhomes. Second, there is a general hierarchy of costs, with paint on canvas being the most expensive, descending through works on paper to original prints. ‘But scale has to be taken into account,’ says Rebecca. This is especially true for sculpture. ‘You also need to understand where an artist is in their career,’ she adds. ‘Ifthey’re established, prices are higher, butthere is less risk with resale.With an emerging artist, the element of the unknown can be exciting.’ Galleries can be a good source of guidance. ‘We welcome anyone asking to seemore,’ says galleristLyndsey Ingram. ‘There are all sorts of things in the storeroom – works on paper and prints by other artists in the gallery stable.’ Her eponymous Mayfair institution (lyndseyingram.com) is one of Rebecca’s go-tos, along with Tristan Hoare (tristanhoaregallery.co.uk), Cristea Roberts Gallery (cristearoberts.com), Cob (cobgallery.com) and Jenna Burlingham (jennaburlingham.com).For smaller budgets, GrandyArt (grandyart.com), Davina Barber (davina barber.com) and Laura Lopes (lauralopes.co.uk) operate online as well as by appointment and hold pop-up shows. Instagram is also a valid shop front. Itis worth knowing that some artists – at all levels – manage elements oftheir sales themselves. For example, Eileen Cooper RA sells her prints via her website (eileencooper.co.uk) while paintings and works on paper go through Huxley-Parlour (huxley parlour.com) and Rabley Gallery (rableygallery.com). Rebecca’s final piece of advice is that a good collection is built up over time.While Lyndsey says, ‘Always buy with your eyes,not your ears’, stressing thattheprimarypurpose of art is not financial value, but to enrich our lives m In this busy season for art fairs and auctions, FIONA McKENZIE JOHNSTON shares expert advice on acquiring contemporary work CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT Earl, 2022, Lakwena Maciver, £24,500. vigogallery.com at 1-54.com/london | Iris in a Green Bottle, 2023, Ben Brotherton, £980. grandyart.com | Wanderlust, 2022, Eileen Cooper, £1,200. eileencooper.co.uk FROM LEFT Não Ser Eu, Para Se Aceita, 2022, Larissa de Souza, £9,000. albertzbenda.com at 1-54.com/london|Waste of a Manicure, 2023, Katy Stubbs, £13,800. lyndseyingram.com COURTESY LARISSA DE SOUZA AND ALBERTZ BENDA, NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES; COURTESY KATY STUBBS, LYNDSEY INGRAM AND PATERSON ZEVI; COURTESY VIGO GALLERY AND LAKWENA MACIVER; JUSTIN PIPERGER HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 103
What to see T h r e e m o r e t o v i s i t … NICOLE EISENMAN: WHAT HAPPENED Whitechapel Gallery, E1, is holding the first UK retrospective devoted to the New York-based artist, whose monumental paintings, drawings and sculptures provide often humorous commentary on contemporary sociopolitical issues. October 11-January 14; whitechapelgallery.org Pictured The Triumph of Poverty, 2009 SARAH LUCAS: HAPPY GAS This show at Tate Britain, SW1, explores the spectrum of Sarah Lucas’s boundary-breaking practice, celebrating the artist who has consistently confronted our understanding of sex, class and gender since rising to fame in the 1990s with the Young British Artists. Until January 14; tate.org.uk Pictured Sandwich, 2004-20 RB KITAJ: LONDON TO LOS ANGELES The American-born artist RB Kitaj was a mainstay of the School of London – a term he coined. This exhibition at Piano Nobile, W11, covers all the important points of his career, from his student days in London at the Royal College of Art to his final years spent in Los Angeles. October 26-January 26; piano-nobile.com Pictured Dominie (Ninth Street), 1978-79 m EDITED BY FIONA McKENZIE JOHNSTON Double Dutch Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Hals were contemporaries – the former considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque, the latter a master oftheDutchGolden Age – and it is thought they met, in 1624, when Rubens visited Hals’ home city of Haarlem. This autumn, they are once again in the same city thanks to two exhibitions. Rubens & Women at Dulwich Picture Gallery, SE21 (until January 28; dulwichpicture gallery.org.uk) focuses on the influence of his female patrons and family members. Bringing together paintings and drawings, it challenges the assumption that Rubens painted only a single type of woman while showcasing his talentfor evoking movement and sensuality. Frans Hals at The National Gallery, WC2 (September 30-January 21; nationalgallery.org.uk) is the largest exhibition devoted to his work for over 30 years. Portraits, which under Hals’ brush became expressive art forms, and genre paintings are shown in chronological order, offering a full survey of his career. Pictured (from top) The Virgin in Adoration of the Child, c1616, Rubens. Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard, 1627, Hals PETER PAUL RUBENS,THE VIRGIN IN ADORATION OFTHE CHILD, C. 1616, OIL ON PANEL, 65 X 50CM. KBC BANK, ANTWERP, SNIJDERS&ROCKOX HOUSE; © FRANS HALS MUSEUM, HAARLEM; FROM THE COLLECTION OF BOBBI AND STEPHEN ROSENTHAL, NEW YORK CITY. IMAGE COURTESY LEO KOENIG INC., NEW YORK; COURTESY SARAH LUCAS AND SADIE COLES HQ, LONDON; © R.B. KITAJ ESTATE, COURTESY OF PIANO NOBILE, LONDON 104 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
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THIS MONTH: Houses in town and country filled with distinctive colour PA and character, plus the ever-evolving gardens of two esteemed designers UL MASSEY FROM PAGE 108 The sitting room of a classical newbuild in the Home Counties, decorated by Henriette von Stockhausen HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 107
Building this house in the Home Counties was relatively a painless affair, but when it came to decorating and furnishing, it took some finesse from interior designer Henriette von Stockhausen to combine disparate elements to harmonious effect TEXT ROS BYAM SHAW | PHOTOGRAPHS PAUL MASSEY | LOCATIONS EDITOR ELIZABETH METCALFE 108 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
EXTERIOR Quinlan Terry and subsequently the architectural firm of his son Francis were responsible for the design of the house, built in the classical style with an elegant stone façade. HALL Watts 1874’s ‘Wolterton Verdure’ Tableaux Scéniques wallcovering is the backdrop for a collection of paintings and a Holloways of Ludlow lantern, hanging above ‘Muston’ armchairs from Jamb, covered in Watts 1874’s ‘Zardozi Bargello’ in danube daub
DRAWING ROOM Walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Lamp Room Gray’ and curtains in a Claremont silk damask provide the perfect foil for gilt-framed mirrors by Nicholas Walton Design and antique glass lamps with Nushka shades. ‘Oakley’ armchairs by David Seyfried in Soane’s ‘Old Flax’ in russet and a Jamb ‘Augusta’ sofa in Robert Kime’s ‘Tashkent’ are teamed with an ottoman covered in ‘Mali Stripe’ in sage, by Jasper Fabrics, with sides in George Spencer Designs’ teal velvet and vintage borders. The Jamb chimneypiece is flanked by David Seyfried’s ‘Elystan’ chairs in ‘Perpignan’ velvet in emerald by Watts 1874. A painting bought at auction hangs from the Robert Kime picture rail above 110 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
DINING ROOM Soane’s ‘Simplified Klismos’ chairs in bottle-green cow-hide leather partner an antique table. Walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Stiffkey Blue’ complement a painting by Claudia’s mother above the chimneypiece. KITCHEN A jute rug in a custom colourway from Stark demarcates a dining area, where the rustic wooden table and bench are softened by a bespoke Max Rollitt sofa in Flora Soames’ ‘Oulton Stripe’ in rhubarb. SITTING ROOM Howe London’s ‘Den’ armchairs in a striped velvet and a sofa in ‘Alizarine’ by Le Manach from Pierre Frey pick up on a 19th-century Harshang rug from a Woolley & Wallis auction. Their rich tones are balanced by an ottoman in Claremont’s ‘Straub Twill’ in celery, a club fender in ‘Hampstead Verdure’ by Watts 1874 and walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Ball Green’ ‘We found creative ways to give traditional elements a contemporary edge and to mix modern pieces with the antiques Philip loves ’ 112 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
SPARE ROOM (both pages) Bed curtains in James Hare’s ‘Orissa’ opal silk with Samuel & Sons’ ‘Lancaster’ ribbed border in sea mist frame a sculptural headboard covered in Flora Soames’ emerald ‘Honeycomb’ fabric. The blue tones of Vaughan’s ‘Imari Vase’ lamp, with a Susan Deliss shade, provide a colourful contrast with an antique textile layered over a bedcover in Lewis & Wood’s cream/red ‘Stockholm Stitch’. Watts 1874’s ‘Walzin Chinoiserie’ wallcovering in viridian rose, featuring flowering bamboo and exotic birds, establishes the room’s verdant feel, enhanced by a set of floral drawings from Etalage above an antique chest of drawers. The mid-century armchair was an auction find
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Can there be any house project more daunting than starting from scratch on a large plot of land, with no constraints, aside fromtheusualplanning andbuilding regulations,where everything is up for grabs, from the shape of the roof to the size of the door handles? It is an undertaking that requires courage and vision. The German couple who builtthis house in the Home Counties, with its refined classical façade, its stables, polo field, lake and formal gardens, have both. Six years after they moved in, the house has the feel of a well-loved family home that has been beautifully tailored for a perfect fit. ‘We all love it here,’ says Claudia Hanser. ‘Waking up in rooms with so much light, swimming in the lake early in the morning and hearing the horses galloping in the field. It’s a very happy place.’ They bought the property in 2007, moved from London into the gatehouse in 2009 with their two small children, and had a third child, all in quick succession.They had always intended to rebuild the main house, which was 20th-century red brick with uPVC windows and low ceilings. But it was only after they bought it that they discovered the previous owners had commissioned plans for a replacement from renowned classical architect Quinlan Terry. Emboldened to approach him, they asked if he would work for them on a new design. Quinlan and, later, his son Francis Terry, took on the job. ‘I was happy to let my husband Philip oversee the build,’ says Claudia. ‘My only stipulation was I didn’t want pillars – too pretentious for a modern house. MartynWinney, senior associate architect at Francis Terry and Associates, was superb. We trusted him completely.’ Claudia’s pillar veto was respected, and she and Philip agreed on a layout: an impressive entrance hall with a handsome staircase and galleried landing; an enfilade of kitchen, sitting room and drawing room along the back of the house; a dining room, study and meeting room for Philip, who is an entrepreneur, at the front of the house. Upstairs, there is a mainbedroomsuitewithClaudia’s studynextdoor and, across the landing, there are four spare rooms. The children’s bedrooms are on the second floor, and the basement houses a gym and a party room. But when it came to furnishing and decorating, Philip and Claudia required a helping hand. ‘At first, I wanted to do it all myself,’ says Claudia. ‘My mother was an artist and I have always been interested in art and design – I like a strong, modern look. Philip wanted something a little more traditional – more English country house. When I realised I was being too ambitious, we started to interviewdecorators.We saweveryone.Somanybignames.’ It turned out the answer was closer to home – Henriette von Stockhausen, of VSP Interiors, arguably also a big name. ‘Heni is a friend and had given us informal advice in the past,’ says Claudia. ‘This time, we needed the full service. We took her on and it was the best decision. There were lots of different things to consider, but she has done the most wonderful job of pleasing us both.’ Henriette agrees that a project on this grand scale was ‘challenging at times, but then I always love a challenge’. She explains, ‘We found creative ways to give the traditional elements ofthe house a distinctly modern edge. For example, by placing an antique oil painting in a contemporary frame, or by upholstering club armchairs in vibrant, jewel-bright colours.Equally, we had to work out how bestto mix modern pieces – such as Claudia’s mother’s paintings and collages – with the antiques that Philip loves.’ The choice of wallcoverings and curtains throughout the house cleverly uses scale and texture to make classic designs and fabrics acceptable to both sides of the aesthetic divide. The Watts 1874 wallcovering that lines the double-height entrance hall features the motifs and colour palette of the 17th-century tapestry from which the design is taken (with a few bespoke additions, including horses), butthe pumpedup scale gives it a bold, almost abstract feel. And the silk damask of the drawing room curtains has a knocked-back subtlety that, combined with the timeless simplicity of plain box pelmets, makes it acceptable to Claudia. ‘Heni is incredibly clever at coming up with touches that lift a room from straightforward trad to something more interesting,’ says Claudia. ‘In Philip’s study, she added a border of studded leather to the panelling and, in the dining room, she highlighted the dark blue paint with silver, which catches the light beautifully in the evening.’ The designer explains that her most effective tactic for bringing diverse elements together was colour, ‘I always start with a rug. Lifting some of the strongest colours from it to use for cushions and upholstery has given a room like the sitting room a much more graphic, punchy look – even though the chairs, sofa and padded stool are classic designs.’ In the kitchen, Claudia favoured sleek and simple white cupboards. So Henriette suggested that the scheme could be warmed up with a new whipped-edge jute rug, on which a rustic wooden table and bench are teamed with a square sofa at the fireplace end of the room. The antique four-poster in the main bedroom has crisp hangings in a plain fabric with an appliqué border and a headboard in a distinctive geometric design. No flowers or frills – though both have been allowed in two spare rooms. It represents the perfect marriage between tradition and modernity that now epitomises this country house m VSP Interiors: vspinteriors.com Francis Terry and Associates: ftanda.co.uk MAIN BEDROOM An early-20th-century kilim-covered bench from Howe London and an oblong cushion from Francesca Gentilli set off the bed curtains in James Hare’s ‘Regal’ silk in sea spray, the headboard in Guy Goodfellow Collection’s ‘Fez Weave’ in peacock and ceramic bedside lamps from Vaughan with Nushka shades HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 117
STUDIO The walls are lined with various artworks – some by members of the family, including a collage by the couple’s son Ben Jones. The large ‘Cubist’ still life (centre) is by Kate Nicholson and the abstract nude (right) by Roger Hilton. On the oak plan chest, designed by Chester, is a potted geranium from the garden and a few ever-changing objects, often tribal or Japanese. A broken-stripe wool rug, woven in Turkey to Ben’s design, enlivens floorboards painted in ‘Clay’ by Little Greene, which have been given an aged-looking finish and then waxed TEXT LIZ ELLIOT | PHOTOGRAPHS PETER DIXON Interior designer Chester Jones’s philosophy of decoration is that a home should reflect the lives and personalities of its owners. This is demonstrated by his London flat, in which the treasures he and his wife Sandy have amassed over time are artfully arranged and regularly rearranged, to create interesting juxtapositions and tell the story of their shared history 118 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
STUDIO Chester works at an Edwardian walnut desk positioned in an alcove between bookshelves, where 15th-century Hispano-Moresque tiles are displayed in a frame. The adjacent sawtooth chest of drawers bears an array of eye-catching objects that display his preference for the bizarre, in this instance a French 19th-century Wimshurst machine for generating static electricity and a spiked Italian 17th-century hardwood sporting glove. The Queen Anne chair, with a seat in a Claremont purple silk damask, reflects the impact of Ming furniture on that period HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 119
n the pantheon of gods and decorators, Chester Jones has occupied a seat at the high table for many decades, thanks to his impressive, encyclopaedic knowledge of contemporary art and antiques, and his architecturally informed interiors – many of which he has created in close collaboration with his wife, the carpet designer Sandy Jones. Their latest combined project is their home, a garden flatin central London. It is a jewel of a place, with rooms that are a triumphant example ofChester’s philosophy of decoration – where balance, erudition and taking enjoyment in the objects one lives around are paramount. As Chester explains, ‘In spite of a love of 20th-century art and design, we do not subscribe to that most resolute of design fixations – a modernism that disapproves of any display of personal possessions.’ He continues, ‘We consider such items essential, as they reflect the course of people’s lives and the attachment to all that they have experienced, while inadvertently shaping their characters.’ In the couple’s home, books, pictures and an eclectic array of objects – which he refers to as bits and bobs – are everywhere: ‘They representthose items for which we have maintained the most enduring attachment.’There is an ad-hoc aspectto these pieces, which he describes as ‘forming a collage of intriguing relationships’ and adds, ‘This is the telling of our history, a type of visual biography thatfriends can share in, while giving us pleasure as the collection continues to develop.’ The apartment had modest beginnings. It was once two adjoining buildings: the first was the studio that Chester designed, built and occupied in the 1990s and this was later coupled to its neighbour, the shop of a former ‘totter’ (a sniffer-out of house clearances for resale). The interiors of this emporium were dour and had barely changed since the original fitout in the late 19th century, with ‘pine flooring and painted ceilings of bead-and-butt boarding’, Chester recalls. It seemed to both him and Sandy thatthe most appropriate way of bringing the two halves together was to adopt the same design and architectural grammar wherever they could, so they introduced new doors, windows and architraves in traditional Georgian styles. The two large principal rooms – the studio and the librarycum-dining room – flow easily into each other, which suits the couple’s informal way of life. Chester describes the contents of these rooms as ‘fairly haphazard, with furniture often out STUDIO A number of Sandy’s design cartoons for carpets, her paper collages and an antique antelope mask from Burkina Faso hang above her work table, which overlooks the garden. Late-18th-century French side chairs with leather seats partner a George III sleeping chair in a grey-green George Spencer Designs velvet, with a cushion in a remnant of a favourite discontinued fabric from Chester’s studio. The asymmetrical louvred lacquered-steel shade of an original Artek A805 ‘Angel Wing’ floor light, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1954, adds a sculptural element 120 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
COURTYARD GARDEN Designed by Christopher Masson, the lush planting offers the delightful prospect of flowers, shrubs and climbers that provide colour and scent through the seasons. STUDIO A French Empire armchair by P Bellangé – one of a pair reupholstered ‘way out of period to coax them into our time’ – and a 19th-century Chesterfield from Christopher Gibbs, in Claremont’s rust ‘Cunard’ velvet, are arranged by the entrance to the library/dining room, where a framed tapa cloth from Central Africa hangs above a prototype Modernist-style lamp by Ben Jones of place when meeting an immediate need. Pieces are put down and then left, as is part of everyday life.’ Throughoutthe flat, walls are fitted with horizontal battens on which are hung the couple’s revolving displays of paintings, framed textiles and the design cartoons for Sandy’s rugs. Itis a method of hanging art that was introduced to Chester by his friendthepainterPatrickHeronwho,onbeingbequeathed the St Ives studio of Ben Nicholson, had discovered this to be a wonderfully flexible way of displaying a collection. The battens are painted in the same colour as the walls: ‘They encourage us to enliven the space by adding, editing and periodically rearranging as the mood takes us. The softwood is furrowed at the back. Screws on the backs of picture frames enable quick and easy changes to be made by hooking the screws into the furrows.’The walls are painted inmatt emulsion from Little Greene in various shades of off-white and pale grey, as, in Chester’s judgement, most contemporary art is enhanced when seen against slightly shaded backgrounds. The couple work companionably together in the light-filled studio – Sandy uses a 19th-century French refectory table overlooking the garden, while Chester sits opposite at an Edwardian walnut desk designed bySir Ambrose Heal.Chester has produced some of the furniture himself, including plan chests, tables and dining chairs of various designs, to add their personal stamp to the rooms. Everywhere, there are books, pictures and intriguing ephemera that are rearranged periodically. ‘It can awaken one’s pleasure, to see afresh the familiar,’ explains Chester. A Victorian tole birdcage converted into a lantern hangs above the dining table. In another corner, a tableau made up of an eel trap, an Aboriginal artwork of a barramundi fish and a number of eroded beach finds are, he explains, ‘given an aqueous setting through the distorted reflections of the distressed mirror glass in their midst’. Chester observes, ‘I have often referred to the American writer Stewart Brand’s dictum, “You don’t finish a building, you start it.” This insight into the life of a building in relation to the human condition is profound. Buildings, and particularly their interiors, are essentially evolutionary.They change as society,the family and we as individuals change. It’s unwise to regard interior design as an opportunity to create some finite perfection. This pursuit might elevate the designer’s prestige, but such hubris can ultimately unsettle the occupant’s equilibrium and diminish empathy.The home becomes less their own, more a product of the designer’s conceit. It is the psychological wellbeing of the household that counts’ m Chester Jones: chesterjones.com | Sandy Jones: sandyjones.co.uk HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 121
LIBRARY/DINING ROOM (from top) A mixed media artwork by Stephen Buckley hangs above a 1950s American ash-framed armchair in C&C Milano’s ‘Volterra’ linen in ink; the roman blind is in an ecru striped linen from Peter Jones. A wirework eel trap, an Aboriginal artwork of a barramundi fish and beach finds are reflected in a distressed mirror between a pair of Victorian barley-twist candlesticks on a Queen Anne burr ash lowboy. A Victorian tole birdcage, converted to a lantern, hangs above an extendable table with oak ‘Sled’ dining chairs by Chester 122 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
MAIN BEDROOM Chester designed the furniture for this room, including a chest of drawers in sugi-ban mountain pine with a sang de boeuf lacquered top, above which is an artwork by Roger Hilton. The capacious, floor-to-ceiling panelled cupboards are in waxed American walnut. A boldly patterned bedcover by woven textile specialist Wallace Sewell and a colourful striped Persian kilim, sourced from Robert Stephenson, pick up on the rich tones of the original leather upholstery on a chair dating from c1930, by the Danish master cabinetmaker Frits Henningsen HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 123
MAIN BEDROOM Eye-catching collages by Ben Jones (left) and Eduardo Paolozzi, the latter from the late 1940s in the Art Brut style, are displayed on battens – a method of hanging art that was introduced to Chester by his friend the painter Patrick Heron – bringing interest to walls in ‘Salix’ by Little Greene. The plain wooden bedframe from Peter Jones – ‘its modesty suits the room’ – was chosen to complement the simple bead-and-butt boarding. A walnut bedside cabinet by Chester holds a lamp that is a reproduction of an antique French candlestand 124 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
SPARE ROOM A white glazed Italian cockerel from the early 20th century takes centre stage in an array of artefacts in front of a striking framed tapa cloth from Papua New Guinea, the earthy brown of which is echoed by a linen throw from The Conran Shop. At one end of the sugi-ban and black patinated-steel console table by Chester is an antique Chinese scholar’s rock and, at the other, is a distinctive lacquered branch – these pieces would originally have been displayed by scholars in their studios to provide inspiration drawn from the natural world HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 125
TEXT EMILY SENIOR | PHOTOGRAPHS LUCAS ALLEN When a series of events got in the way of her initial plans, interior designer Bunny Turner decided to move from London to this former rectory in Oxfordshire, which turned out to be the perfect place for recovery and renewal HALL An antique set of drawers, its original paintwork echoed by a Visual Comfort & Co lantern in a bespoke verdigris finish, runs the length of one wall. On its surface are an Austrian marriage chest, marble obelisks from a Sworders auction and lamps made from pineapple vases. A cast of the Elgin Marbles from Lassco hangs over the door, while a panel of Andrew Martin’s ‘Constantinople’ wallpaper serves as a clever alternative to a tapestry above a Turner Pocock x Lorfords Contemporary bench 126 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
SITTING ROOM Large Chinese ancestor portrait scrolls from Guinevere flank an 18th-century gilt-framed mirror above a bespoke Jamb chimneypiece. Sofas upholstered in Sheila Coombes linen – Lorford Contemporary’s ‘Elmstead’ and an oversized ‘Uppark’ by Max Rollitt with cushions in a mix of vintage fabrics and Tinsmiths’ ‘Zhivago’ zigzag – are arranged round a Turner Pocock x Lorfords ottoman, with stools from Ardingly Antiques Fair, on a Turner Pocock x Peter Page rug 128 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
SITTING ROOM Paintings, including a large 19th-century depiction of the port of Nantes from Brownrigg and smaller works from Panter & Hall and Etalage, are suspended from a Collier Webb picture rail with Visual Comfort & Co picture lights. A bespoke dresser showcases a collection of confit pots sourced from antique fairs and a Chinese horse sculpture found in France. The blue and yellow tones are picked up by Penny Morrison cushions on a pair of Georgian Gainsborough chairs HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 131
SNUG Walls in painted linen by Mathew Bray & Matthew Collins set off a Huw Griffith collage above armchairs in a Walter G fabric. Striped Penny Morrison cushions tone with a Vaughan lampshade. KITCHEN The antique fish print, enlarged by Adam Ellis Studio, provides an eye-catching focal point between cabinets by Suffolk-based carpenter Dean Harris, in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Slate IV’. Linford, a parti brindle whippet, sits on a David Seyfried sofa in Jennifer Shorto’s ‘NZO River’ in anthracite 132 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
DINING ROOM The earthy tones of the oak table, Julian Chichester ‘Bobbin’ chairs and Bernard Thorp wallpaper – which is the background for a 19th-century etching of the rectory – are enhanced by the red of an armchair in Barbara Osorio linen and an antique bench painted by Tess Newall
MAIN BEDROOM Designed by Bunny, the bespoke four-poster bed has curtains in a slubby linen by Sheila Coombes, lined with a simple ticking fabric. An antique suzani from Pentreath & Hall used as a bedcover, a cushion in Kate Loudoun Shand’s ‘Pow!’ linen and a Turner Pocock x Peter Page rug introduce subtle colour, pattern and texture to the space. In the window, a desk by Turner Pocock for Julian Chichester is partnered by a Paolo Moschino chair 134 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
here are parts of the UK that still have the power to surprise with their beauty.Take theChilterns, a rolling chalk escarpment between London and Oxfordshire, where gentle hills and fields give way to pockets of dense sylvan green. Go deeper into the countryside and you enter an England held in amber, where gnarled trees and ancient hedgerows – tall as your car – enclose narrow roads that feel as if they have been worn into the earth through hundreds of years of use.The sound of the motorway fades – and god forbid you come across another car coming in the opposite direction. ‘It’s quite weird, isn’tit?’ observesBunnyTurner, who co-founded interior design studio Turner Pocock with Emma Pocock. ‘You come off the M40 into a slightly unremarkable town, drive down this little lane and you’re suddenly in Gandalf world. It’s so bucolic, but it’s only an hour from my London studio door to door.’ The story of Bunny’s house is, in many ways, tied to the extraordinary events that have shaped the UK over the last few years. She and her husband bought the house in 2017 after their plan to undertake a more substantial project –renovating a larger property with outbuildings – fell through. ‘We were about to exchange when Brexit happened and we stopped in our tracks and thought,this is a monster of a thing to embark on when everything feels so insecure,’ she recalls. They went back to the drawing board, searching for another year until they eventually came across this Georgian rectory set in acres of fields just outside the village it had once served. Connected to the churchyard, the house had graceful proportions and glorious windows looking over the church spire and surrounding farmland. It, too, had been on the market for some time but it was not in an area that they had originally been considering. ‘I just kept coming back to it,’ says Bunny. ‘There is something in the spirit of this house that gets under your skin the moment you walk through the door.’ They moved in, knowing they had some superficial work to do, but with no plans to do anything architecturally. ‘The thing I feltmost strongly was that I wanted to use a light touch,’ Bunny explains. ‘I didn’t wish to make any drastic interventions, or leave my mark too obviously on it. If I were to build itfrom scratch again, there’s nothing I’d change in its shape and form.’ The previous owners’ style had been quite different, with swagged curtains, silk-damask walls and ornate pediments. Bunny and her family moved in with just beds, using cardboard boxes with Ikea office lamps as bedside tables. ‘There was something freeing aboutthe factthat none of us cared ifit got messed up,’ she says. ‘The children could draw on the walls and cartwheel round the empty rooms. It felt gloriously liberating.’ For the first three years, the renovation was carried out piecemeal, with the family retaining their London home while gradually chipping away at the work. A richly coloured Austrian marriage chest, which now sits on the hall table, was the linchpin of the scheme: ‘I had a really instinctive reaction to it when I bought it. It encapsulated how I wanted the house to feel, and was a guiding force I could return to as the interior evolved.’ Piling down at weekends, with friends, kids and dogs, Bunny gradually collected art to fill the walls and bits of furniture – a high-low mix of serious pieces, such as the mirror in the sitting room from Max Rollitt, and things she has picked up for virtually nothing from antique fairs and high-street shops. Then, in 2020, the unthinkable happened. Just as the world was heading into lockdown, Bunny received a cancer diagnosis: ‘It took Covid and the realisation that I would be having treatment during that period to give us the push to move here full time. But we settled into life so quickly thatitfeltincrediblyhard to imagine how we could go back to London. It was only then that I started bedding in to the idea of furnishing it.’ ‘This is my chemo bed,’ Bunny says with a laugh, referring to the enormous four-poster in the main bedroom with its decorative box pelmet – which was inspired by a Veere Grenney design – and crisp linencurtainshanging like soldiers. ‘When it turned up, my husband said, “Are you sure this is what you asked for? It’s a bit theatrical.”’ But it is these notes of theatre – the cast ofthe Elgin marbles in the hall, the Chinese family paintings in the sitting room, the bench in the dining room hand-painted by Tess Newallto look centuries older than itis – working in counterpoint to Bunny’s considered approach to colour,textiles and finishes,that make the rooms sing. Where she could not find pieces that worked, she designed them. The bench in the hall, the desk in the bedroom and the ottoman in the sitting room were initially made for this house and then added toTurner Pocock’s collection in collaboration with Lorfords Contemporary. The bedroom and sitting room rugs are from the studio’s range with Peter Page. Although this is a grand house in many ways,Bunny has pulled off the magic trick of creating a space that also feels comfortable and welcoming. The kitchen is modelled on her grandparents’ farmhouse. There is a cosy snug where the ottoman is used as a stage for the kids’ karaoke shows. Itis an old house thatfeels young and fresh. ‘I was always adamant that I didn’t want this to be a precious place where people didn’t feel like they could relax,’ she explains. ‘Our approach at TurnerPocock is to show people how to live well in their homes.’ Now Bunny is fully recovered, itis evidentthat living well is what she intends to do here m Turner Pocock: turnerpocock.co.uk ‘I was adamant that I didn’t want this to be a precious place where people didn’t feel they could relax’ HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 135
Narrative is everything for stylist and colour consultant Fiona de Lys, whose atmospheric 18th-century cottage in north London has been intuitively decorated with evocative hues, art and antiques that transport her to places from her past TEXT KATE JACOBS | PHOTOGRAPHS RACHAEL SMITH SITTING ROOM (both pages) The intensity of the contrasting colours brings a sense of drama, with walls in ‘Invisible Green’ and ‘London Brown’ by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint providing a backdrop for a collection of antique Mediterranean pots and vessels around Fiona’s 1940s oak desk and a French Louis XV-style bergère sofa and armchairs in claret velvet from Southgate Auction Rooms. African wooden masks, an antique goatskin drum coffee table and a brass Persian lantern create layers of interest 136 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
SITTING ROOM Woodland landscapes, c1890-1970, sourced from antique markets, and a gilt wall light are showcased by Edward Bulmer’s ‘Invisible Green’ paint. DINING ROOM Walls in ‘Rose’ and woodwork in ‘Etruscan Brown’, also by Edward Bulmer, frame a view of Fiona’s grandfather’s walnut credenza in the kitchen DINING ROOM A pair of Italian 1950s ceramic pomegranate lamps with shades from Samarkand Design are displayed on an inherited French early-19th-century chest of drawers. EXTERIOR Clad in white weatherboard, with its bargeboarding picked out in black, the charming cottage in north London was built in the 18th century 138 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
DINING ROOM An Italian 1850s cut crystal and bronze chandelier that belonged to Fiona’s grandfather hangs above an auction-find oak table with chairs from Battlesbridge Antiques Centre and an antique ship’s cargo trunk. Beside the fireplace, with a woodburner from Direct Stoves, a Kuba-cloth-draped door conceals the staircase
DRESSING ROOM The stairs open onto a landing on which two French 1800s painted armoires, filled with Fiona’s silk kimono dresses, tone with walls in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Brunswick Green Deep’. BEDROOM Panelling painted in ‘Mummy’, by the same company, sets off a lilac wool headboard made by Fiona and an American 1920s quilt olour consultant Fiona de Lys’s home is something of a balancing act. Built around 1750, this weatherboard cottage, perched on the outer fringes of High Barnet, sits at a tipping pointbetweentownandcountry. It alsobalances her English and Italian heritage, the rugged and the refined, drama and simplicity. Having missed out when it was previously for sale, she pounced when it came back on the marketin 2016.Last renovated in the 1970s, it had lain empty for years before she bought it. ‘I could hardly get through the front door because of the brambles,’ she recalls. ‘Everything needed doing, but the bare bones were there.’ Fiona grew up in an Arts and Crafts house in Hampstead Garden Suburb, a model community created in northLondon at the turn of the 20th century by social reformer Henrietta Barnett. ‘I was surrounded by the influence of WilliamMorris, Gertrude Jekyll andLiberty,’ she explains. ‘We also had a huge kitchen garden, which started a love of all things botanical.’ The various strands of her career – which include styling and working as a freelance interiors colour specialist, as well as collaborating with Edward Bulmer as a consultant and content creator – can be pulled together under a term that she describes as ‘aesthetic narratives’. ‘If someone has a story at play and it involves colour, I can guide them,’ she says. Just as when she works with clients, Fiona’s starting point here was the feeling she wanted to experience in each room, often evoking childhood memories: ‘Once I have that, I observe the light and identify the colour that is the link between the intended emotion and the function of the space. Art plays a big part, too, because it’s the second layer of colour.’ Each space has its own narrative. In the sitting room, for instance,Fiona soughtto reflecther love of English woodlands, withvivid greenwalls capturing the distinctive tones of sunlight filtered through leaves. ‘It had to be a very rich, solid green,’ she says. In the dining room, she tapped into memories of childhoodsummerswithhermother’s Italianfamily inSardinia and Liguria: ‘I wanted to embrace the heat of the landscape – those beautiful villa façades, all terracotta and pinky orange.’ In her bedroom, the walls are the colour of a Ligurian sky. ‘The starting point was a specific lilac you find above the sea, but because this is a south-facing room, it can take quite a strong colour. So I pushed it a bit more into this shade of deep amethyst,’ she says, explaining her choice of Edward Bulmer’s ‘Tyrian’. She chose bathroom tiles for their particular shade of aquatic green. ‘There’s a beach in Sardinia where you can swim out to a shipwreck through beautiful vibrant seaweed. When I’m in the bathroom, I’m submerged in that experience.’ An Italian influence is also at play in the kitchen, which evokes the ‘unfitted, simple and rustic’ feel of her grandmother’s home. A richly veined marble countertop in rust and russet, with a linen curtain below, runs along one wall; almost the entirety of the opposite wall is taken up by a vast wooden credenza, once her grandfather’s. ‘It’s just natural wood, stone andclothinthis room,withno strong colour,’ she says. ‘Iwanted the impact to come from the flavour and aroma of food.’ Big-belliedMediterranean vessels feature in every room. ‘I go for those that have the most imperfections – the ones with a story,’ says Fiona. ‘For me it’s about balancing patina,function and the experience we can have by engaging with a piece in a reimaginedway.WhenI’minmykitchen,withmy oldcredenza, I’m not in Barnet: I’m transported to another place’ m Fiona de Lys: fionadelys.co.uk 140 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
BATHROOM Curtains in a 1960s fabric conceal a bath alcove with ‘Catania’ tiles from Topps Tiles in a shade of chartreuse that reminds Fiona of swimming through seaweed off a beach in Sardinia, echoed by walls in a green she mixed herself and a shell-petal lampshade. A basin from Victorian Plumbing sits on an antique pine cabinet
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TEXT JODIE JONES | PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE MAJERUS Beyond a high hedge in a Flemish village, passionate plantsman and garden designer Chris Ghyselen has created a haven with a lush lawn, marshy stream, pond and vegetable garden, and abundant beds of his own colourful cultivars Long-flowering perennials and ornamental grasses fill the double border. On the left of the path, blood-red spires of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’, bred by Chris, are set off by lilac Kalimeris incisa ‘Madiva’. Dark scarlet spikes of P. ‘Fat Domino’ and bright red P. ‘Anne’s Choice’, also raised by him, are showcased against pale Aster lateriflorus ‘Lady in Black’ and lime-green Carex muskingumensis ‘Oehme’ on the right HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 143
ABOVE Within the mixed border, contained by a hornbeam hedge, lofty yellow silphium and solidago by the path pick up on the centres of mauve Aster thomsonii, complemented by a lilac-purple haze of Thalictrum delavayi ‘Hewitt’s Double’ above. BELOW On the other side of the hedge is a quiet area, where tall plumes of Deschampsia cespitosa ‘Goldschleier’ create an autumnal display in the dappled shade of an old apple tree 144 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
ABOVE The natural swimming pond is fringed by Darmera peltata. On the far bank where the ground is swampy, tall Eupatorium maculatum with large dark pinkish flowers and fluffy seed heads appears to float above a stand of Cyperus longus subsp. badius. BELOW In the small nursery area, a selection of Chris’s own persicarias, brunnera and phlox are for sale on the few days a year he opens the garden for charity HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 145
iewed from the street, the garden belonging toChris Ghyselen is not very different from those of his neighbours in the quiet Flemish village where he has lived for the past 35 years. Belgians like their hedges and almost every house is screened by a wall of foliage. The Ghyselen family residence is no exception, but walk through the front gate, then down a green tunnel of immaculately clipped hornbeam and you are in for a surprise. No sooner do you round the end of the low brick house than the space opens up into a horticultural fantasia, which, in late summer and early autumn, is filled with colour and life. There is a formal pool garden in a strictly rectilinear enclosure, and also a naturalistic stream garden in which Chris grows marsh marigolds, lysichiton and other plants that like to have their feet constantly damp. Next to this, enclosed by a low and semi-circular hedge, is the vegetable garden with a greenhouse – where every year he experiments with different kinds oftomato – plus trial beds and a nursery area, from which he sells plants on the few days in the year when he opens the garden for charity. A traditional lawn, fringed by Magnolia kobus and a walnut tree, is sprinkled with naturalised bulbs in the spring. This provides a peaceful transition between the garden rooms nearer the house and a magnificent double border, which leads in turn to a grass garden and wildflower meadow. At the boundary, three willows and thousands ofFritillariameleagrisblend the end ofthe garden into the countryside beyond. Clearly, this is the home of a passionate plantsman, but Chris is also one ofthe top garden designers in Belgium and this space is pretty much his life’s work. ‘I came here with my wife Anne just after we married in 1989. I was so happy to have land of my own that I worked on itfor every spare minute, day and night, of our first year here,’ he says. Back then,the garden was a relatively modest 1,500 square metres, which he divided into a series of garden rooms, each with a different character suited to the particular groups of plants he wanted to grow. As time went by, he was able to expand the garden, adding new areas and a large greenhouse in which he could indulge his passion for plant breeding. Chris has been passionate about plants since childhood, and today he is responsible for some ofthe finest persicarias, among several other species, available through the nursery trade. ‘I was always a bit obsessed with plants in general, but, when I was 15 years old, I saw a bistortfor the firsttime. In my mid-twenties I had a red persicaria I particularly loved and saw, by chance, ithad crossed withPersicaria bistorta. I realised that I had a whole new form – it was an amazing moment.’ Since then, Chris has bred more than a dozen registered Persicaria amplexicaulis cultivars (also known as Bistorta amplexicaulis), which are favoured by the naturalistic New Perennial movement butlook equally at home in more traditional garden settings. He can be credited with helping to popularise persicarias among British gardeners through his participation in specialist plant fairs, such as those held at Great Dixter and Sussex Prairie Garden, where his covetable cultivars – ranging in size from bright red ‘Anne’s Choice’, a compact variety named after his wife, to 180cm-tall ‘Fat Domino’, with claret-coloured blooms and dark foliage – are eagerly snapped up by the cognoscenti. All form dense, weed-suppressing clumps, with flowers held high on slender stems, and prefer a rich and moist soil, but are surprisingly tolerant ofthinner conditions as well. They require almost no maintenance, beyond an annual cutback around February. In return,they bloom pretty much non-stop from the end of June untilthe firstfrost,mainly instrong shades of crimson, purple, white and pink, though there are lovely pastel varieties, too. ItisChris’s passion for this type of hard-working perennial that helps set his landscape designs colourfully apart in a country thattends to prioritise green architecture over everything else. In his own garden,thatimpulse is given gloriously free rein, most notably in the impressive pair of 35-metre-long flower-filled borders, which he added to his existing garden when he had the chance to buy some extra land 25 years ago. Backed by high hedges cutinto a playful wave pattern,these double borders showcase an impressive collection of longflowering perennials. In late summer and early autumn, they are in fullflight. The colour palette, which earlier in the summer was softer and more gentle, atthis time of year heats up to a crescendo of rich yellow helianthus, silphiums and solidago, with vibrant Persicaria amplexicaulis cultivars, including his own ‘Blackfield’, which grows to 70cm with an abundance of dark red flowers, and ‘Orangofield’, a zingy salmon pink flushed with orange, reaching around 80cm. These are creatively combined with a mix of bedfellows including magenta Geranium ‘Anne Thompson’, sanguisorbas, sedums, phloxes and pale, prolific Kalimerisincisa ‘Madiva’. Despite the visual complexity of these borders, annual maintenance is relatively straightforward.Chris leaves most plants standing through winter, unless they are badly hit by frost,then simply cuts everything back hard in early spring, just before it starts into growth again. ‘The whole garden is designed to be quick and easy to take care of,’ he says. ‘I do all the work myself, so it has to be. I don’t use anything that self-seeds or spreads aggressively. Most of the plants require very little attention, but in late autumn I focus on one species within the border. Everything in that plant family is carefully assessed before cutting back, and may be replaced with something new and more interesting. Then, I note anything that needs dividing and I’ll split these plants in the spring.’ The rest ofthe garden is also reassessed from time to time. The grass garden was, until recently,filled with deschampsia, but Chris tired of its wantonly self-seeding habit and replaced it with the better behaved Molinia caerulea ‘Edith Dudszus’. Rising through this purple moor grass, with its clumps of nearblack stems and dense flower spikes, is a matrix of silphium species (he grows eight different types), Succisella inflexa ‘Frosted Pearls’, Knautia macedonica and geraniums – added as much for the bees and butterflies as for human visitors. This is a garden that has gradually shifted and evolved over the decades, but it remains distinctively and very personally the creation of one man and his lifelong passion for plants m Chris Ghyselen: chrisghyselen.be It is a horticultural fantasia, which in late summer and early autumn is filled with colour and life 146 NOVEMBER 2023 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK
ABOVE FROM LEFTElegant Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Alba’ with lavender Strobilanthes rankanensis. Towards the end of the garden, large beds filled with Molinia caerulea ‘Edith Dudszus’ are cut into the lawn. BELOW FROM LEFT A line of willows marks the boundary with the countryside beyond. Colourful combinations include slim spires of pink Persicaria orientalis and tall magenta P. ‘Amethyst Summer’ with yellow Helianthus ‘Anne’ HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK NOVEMBER 2023 147
THIS PAGE Late-flowering Salvia ‘Amistad’ provides a rich backdrop for the lush foliage of Arthropodium cirratum. Throughout the garden, pots are displayed on tables or pillars to raise them up to eye level. OPPOSITE A view from above of the long and narrow garden shows the off-centre path and carefully managed jungle of exotic plants For over 40 years, garden designer Christopher Masson has used his south London garden as an ever-evolving testing ground for his ideas, in which every inch is crammed with layered planting to create a lush and immersive space with appealing vistas TEXT CLARE FOSTER | PHOTOGRAPHS ALISTER THORPE