Smoke and Mirrors

For me, smoky mirrored glass conjures up images of champagne fueled debauchery, stolen kisses and rock oysters, undoubtedly that is why it features on the walls of many a Michelin starred eatery. This sort of panelling reeks of opulence without the gaudiness, especially if the edges are bevelled and hued with the subtlest amber or rose. I have incorporated this glass into some furniture I have designed, it whimsically offsets the wood.

I have a a few samples of rose tinted glass from a company in Bath called Roman Glass, they achieve the most vintage mercurial, marbling effect better than most other specialist glaziers. The tiles are delightful objects in themselves, currently moonlighting as display units for my jewellery, I have more dotted about the room than a Hatton Garden diamond seller.

Horses for Courses

The Folly's 'Equine Salon' is almost complete. It was tough striking the balance between Polo Chic and Jilly Cooper sauce. I would have loved to have taken it further with riding crops and hats festooned on walls but alas, measure is essential in a grown up space.

Sacred Beryl

Featured on the cover of this month's World of Interiors is the North London home of the late and great Beryl Bainbridge. Her home is ghoulish to say the least: a dusty shrine to Catholicism and Englishness. Half filled ashtrays lay strewn throughout the house, a clear indication of her affliction and struggle to break the habit. The house itself is a beautiful Edwardian shell, she bought it with her first husband Austin Davies in the late 1960s, gutting it and then turning it into a whitewashed Modernist space. When they separated, Beryl gradually and wholeheartedly stamped her insignia into each and every room, the house soon morphed into a mad, late Victorian den, a macabre curation of curiosities and objects. The house has shiny brown lacquer on every surface, dark furniture cramping up the tiny rooms, moth eaten taxidermy, sacred hearts and black linoleum upon the floors. Within every fibre and particle of this bizarrely beautiful interior is the essence of a woman who not only wrote, but lived, laughed and loved abundantly.

I Am Love

Luca Guadagnino's: 'Io Sono L'Amore' (I Am Love) starring ethereal beauty Tilda Swinton, is truly mesmerizing and provides a cornucopia of visual inspiration. The story revolves around the haute bourgeoisie Recchi family. The inaugural sequence draws us into the inner sanctum of their household, revealing tender snapshots of the family and staff dynamic as well as intimate preparations for a birthday banquet. Emma Recchi's ( Swinton) runs an impeccable residence: an austere yet magnificent warren of amber lit corridors, clad in Carrera marble. Neutral shades of cream, oyster and mink are accented with emeralds and medici blues. The walls are adorned with exquisite family portraits and art. Emma is the paradigm of an upstanding, refined yet vulnerable Milanese Matriarch, nuances of which are beautifully illustrated by the painterly use of palette and subdued lighting throughout the film.