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We talk to Hampshire-based interior designer, Lucy Cunningham, about what makes her tick and her latest interior design projects. Layers of the unexpected set Lucy’s refined English aesthetic apart... but where does she find this unexpected inspiration...
Behind the brand
The last thing I bought and loved was an antique kilim rug which I’ve put in my kitchen, its perfect shade of blue meets your eye as you walk in through the front door and always makes me smile!
The place that means a lot to me is Le Deux Tours in Morocco, I often visit with my mum. It’s heaven on earth and where I feel the most relaxed. It's out of the city centre and is set in the most beautiful gardens with peacocks roaming around… the architecture and interiors are breathtaking - from the Moroccan tiles on the floors to the fabulous ceilings and even the little bar... it's all so chic and charming… I could go on and on!
My favourite souvenir is the sweetest little Morrish table from my last trip to Morocco - circa 1890 it has the most exquisite inlay work …what a find - it has made me very happy!
The best books I’ve read in the past year are 'Where the Crawdads Sing' by Delia Owens - it's beautifully written and the imagery in the book is breathtaking… I heard this quote and it's so true of this book… “you know you have read a good book when you turn the last page and its as if you have lost a friend” - that's how I felt. Another is, 'If in Doubt Wash Your Hair' by Anya Hindmarch – it's such a brilliant book…having worked for Anya I was desperate to get my hands on it… it was so typically her - brilliantly funny but also the BEST advice - what more could we all want?
The podcast I’m listening to is The Modern House with Matt Gibberd – and also Kit Kemp - An award-winning interiors designer on her design secrets, dealing with setbacks and finding your own style
In my fridge, you’ll always find Diet Coke, it's my guilty pleasure!
Some of my best ideas have come while in the garden. We were lucky enough to have inherited the most beautiful garden from the previous owner, artist Lucy Dickens. It’s bursting with glorious colours and smells and always gives me such inspiration.
The thing I couldn’t do without out is my tape measure!!! You cannot measure things enough times!!
The event that changed everything for me was moving to Gloucestershire in 2014 which is when I worked on my first big project, a beautiful ex- national trust home just outside Burford. The clients were a dream and we’re still friends today.
An indulgence I would never forgo is getting my colour done at Josh Wood. David Iman is a total genius.
The last piece of clothing I added to my wardrobe was a pair of Malone Souliers heels and an amazing dress from ByTimo.
My favourite building is Farm Street - the church in Mayfair that we got married in. It looks so inconspicuous from the outside but inside it’s incredibly opulent and decorative, with painted ceilings, artwork and stained glass windows. Plus there is a great pub next door that used to be owned by Guy Richie.
My favourite room in my house is the sitting room, I’ve filled it with favourite finds from my travels and it’s where we spend time as a family.
The best advice I’ve ever received was from Anya Hindmarch, who told me to make sure I surrounded myself with a good team.
One artist whose work I would collect is Kate Corbett Winder. I have three pieces at the moment and just love the colours and movement in them.
About Lucy's interior design...
Trillgate Farmhouse is a beautiful example of a Cotswold house, full of charm and character. Where do you begin to work on a project of this size?
With most projects, we begin by thinking about what the property needs in order to turn it into a beautiful yet functional home. The process can often begin with some building work or tweaks to layout etc followed by developing layered schemes that add character and warmth. We love to blend the contemporary and classic, drawing from a variety of cultures and finding special pieces that bring the room to life and create interest.
Where did you draw your inspiration from?
I’ve always been incredibly curious about different cultures and draw a lot of influence from my travels. I’m passionate about mixing colour and patterns from different cultures with art, antiques and textiles from a variety of periods. Often it can be a single piece found at a flea market that sparks the inspiration for an entire scheme.
Talk us through the living rooms, you kept them light with soft shades like Farrow & Ball's Setting Plaster and Parma Gray. What was the process you used to piece together the other elements to the room?
The magnificent original fireplace and flagstone flooring provided an anchor for this room. We wanted to create a space that enhanced rather than overwhelmed these traditional country features, so worked on a soft, soothing palette, using muted colour on the walls and introducing lots of pattern and bolder colour through textiles accessories, wall coverings behind the shelving and lots of statement pieces.
You have mixed contemporary and traditional here, What Lorfords pieces did you use in this characterful renovation?
We found the most wonderful Lorfords pieces for this room. I always get excited about what amazing things I’ll find when I visit to source for a new project. This is a Swedish antique rug that we found and instantly fell in love with… the colours were calming but added some depth to the room scheme - it’s the perfect finishing touch.
What are your basic rules for mixing contemporary and traditional?
Honestly, I know it sounds like a cliché but I really don’t have any rules, actually, I try to avoid them as I think they get in the way of natural curiosity and the ability to push yourself out of your comfort zone. One thing I do often say is: ‘If it’s beautiful and it makes you happy then try it!’
Your client was an American family – did they have specific wants/needs within the property that you factored into your designs?
They wanted the interiors to feel typically Cotswold-y and retain as much authenticity as possible so we went for a traditional country house palette, dressing it with a mixture of traditional and also slightly more contemporary patterns and colours inspired by a number of cultures. Having worked on the clients previous home we had a great relationship already in place and they completely trusted our ideas so we had a lot of free reign.
Rugs and fabrics feature heavily in your designs, resting against stone flooring or whitewashed exposed brick. How do you choose the textiles involved? And what are your tips for pairing textiles and patterns?
Rugs can really make a room; it’s an element that brings everything together as well as providing an added layer of warmth and homeliness, especially if you are working with harder flooring such as stone or wood. I choose rugs in the same way that I choose fabrics and wall coverings – beautiful colours and patterns that speak to the furniture and fabrics chosen for the rest of the space. Saying this, sometimes, if we have found an incredible rug it might be that we work backwards from there and build the scheme around the rug. My tip would be to treat a rug like you would fabrics and wallpapers – don’t be afraid to experiment and mix a variety of colours, patterns and textures.
Click here to read more L-Shaped interviews or click here to visit Lucy's website.
The history of easels and that of art itself are intertwined. Easels have an incredibly long and varied past, and today antique and vintage examples have a wonderful decorative presence.
The easel's ancient beginnings
Easels go back a remarkably long way. Ancient Egyptians would display tablets, conveying important religious messages, on bookstands of sorts which represent the first primitive easels.
Ironically, most evidence for the early use of easels comes from their appearance in art itself. However, in his seminal work, Natural History, Pliny the Elder explicitly describes their use: ‘Protogenes was not at home, but there happened to be a large panel upon the easel ready for painting, with an old woman who was left in charge.’
So, in the 1st Century AD, our forebears already understood the easel's usefulness.
French 19th Century easel
Developments in artistry
Up until the Middle Ages, easels were a mere supplement to the dominant art form - wall painting. Since the pre-historic period, when nomadic cave paintings began, humans have conveyed messages through imagery.
It wasn't until the 13th Century that easel painting finally overtook mural paintings in terms of popularity. Painting onto canvas became more and more popular, and so easels were increasingly necessary for providing a gentle vertical slope at a comfortable height.
The 15th Century was pivotal for the evolution of easels. The invention of a portable easel and storable oil-based paint at around the same time caused a boom in landscape painting. Artists could suddenly pack up their art equipment and transport themselves to coast or country to paint. Indeed, plein aire painting, whereby the beholder can sense the open-air setting of a painting, was one of the most seismic developments in art history.
Variations and styles
Easels have been indispensable to countless generations of writers and artists. But their form, whilst maintaining the very basic elements, has taken on many different guises.
From the Middle Ages up until the 17th Century, artists tended to prefer simple wooden easels for their work. This type was revived in the 20th Century and is actually very similar to ones made today, aside from mechanical advancements.
But in the 17th and 18th Centuries, wave after wave of design styles influenced the easel. From baroque to rococo, easels reflected whatever lavish décor was in style at the time. These can make for some magnificently decorative examples. By the 19th Century, they evolved again to take on a simpler neoclassical form, often with gilding.
Winsor & Newton easel
Collecting easels
So, what should you bear in mind when looking for an antique or vintage easel?
H-frame easels are particularly sturdy examples, whilst the 'lyre' easel with its A-frame is very elegant. Some easels might incorporate extra storage space or even have an added desk or seat. They naturally became more technical over the centuries, with winding and counterweight mechanisms. If you want to use an easel for its intended purpose, make sure it has a quality functional mechanism.
Whilst plenty of lovely antique and vintage easels don't have any sort of label, make sure to look closely for a maker's mark. The British manufacturer of art supplies, Winsor & Newton, produced many easels- particularly in the tripod style. Other notable manufacturers include two Italian companies operating in the 20th Century, Bottega Ghianda and Mabef.
When it comes to choosing an antique or vintage easel, consider what sort of condition you need. Some examples are worn and covered in splashes of old paint, whilst others might even come with an old paint palette or brushes. To feel the presence of the original artist is fascinating and gives an easel authentic charm. If regular use is more important to you than decorative quality, choose a sturdy vintage example in good condition.
As display pieces and functional objects, easels are a wonderful thing to own and have in your home. Our collection includes French and English examples of various shapes and sizes. We also stock fascinating antique sculpture stands and artist's relics.
Industrial chic is here to stay. Unique antique pieces, original architecture, and modern twists create a style that is both liberating and high impact.
A stalwart of design
Industrial antiques have enduring appeal and bring character to an interior. They capture livelihoods and craftsmanship through the ages, often with true one-of-a-kind status.
Increasingly, people want to decorate their homes without being limited to any one style. The industrial lends itself to this fluidity, by celebrating and exposing raw materials with striking simplicity. Old industrial pieces provide the perfect opportunity to marry vintage with modern, to give your home that 'lived in' feel.
Embracing the natural structure of a building sets the tone for the rest of an interior. Exposed brick, beams, and pipework are decorative features in themselves. Industrial style is a natural complement to this trend and suggests an interior that is evolving, as opposed to stagnant.
Wood, enamel, chrome, iron… all of these materials reflect their industrial history and need little adornment to stand out.
Repurposing industrial antiques
Antique and vintage industrial pieces are a refreshing antidote to the fast furniture age.
Industrial interiors value the bare bones of an object; the quality and the craftsmanship. It harks back to an era when, if something was broken, you would arrange a repair rather than replace it.
The beauty of this style is that it allows the journey of a piece to continue, by repurposing it for modern living. There is something quite special about a piece of furniture that was once a crucial part of someone’s livelihood, whether that was carpentry or sewing.
Perhaps your home and working life don’t require a set of seed merchant’s drawers, but they are a stunning decorative feature that offers lots of storage.
Create the industrial look
Whether you are looking to wholly embrace this raw aesthetic or just introduce a few pieces into your home, Lorfords is a great place to start.
Our aircraft hangars at Babdown Airfield are the perfect showrooms for industrial antiques. Our collection includes antique wooden furniture, trade signs, ladders, easels, and a host of other industrial pieces.
Antique and vintage trade signs are relics of mercantile history. Signs that once hung in a carpenter’s shop, horologers, or other stores are striking decorative items. With their cursive declarations of services, a trade sign is a stylish way to inject character into your home.
Industrial pieces bring a variety of textures and materials into the home, which creates a layered feel. This raw aesthetic can be warmed up by fusing it with other styles. Consider surrounding industrial features with eclectic Mid-Century designs or the fresh hues of Swedish chic.
Iconic designs, such as the Tolix chair, look stylish in an industrial interior. With their galvanised metal finish and bright colours, these chairs were firm fixtures in cafes, offices, and factories during the 20th Century. Soften the edges of the industrial with rich textiles such as velvet upholstery, a leather Chesterfield or an antique rug.
Industrial antiques are where tradition meets vogue, and there are no rules on how you style it within your home.
Lighting with purpose
Industrial lighting never goes out of style and is a simple way to bring a unique edge to your interiors. This trend is so appealing because these are antiques with clear provenance, and this is especially true when it comes to light fittings.
From Victorian street lanterns to Mid-Century enamel lights, there is a range of striking antique and vintage options available. Pendant lights exude atmosphere in modern interiors and help to achieve that 'warehouse loft' look.
Our collection includes several Holophane lights. Holophane Glass studied the distribution of light in the 1890s and came up with a solution: prismatic lighting. These lights provided ‘scientific illumination,’ on factory floors and other workplaces. In the 20th Century, they went on to light up famous spots such as The House of Lords and Westminster Abbey.
In a house full of beautiful antiques, your lighting can tell a story too. Repurpose old restaurant lights, school lights, and streetlights into amazing features in your home. Here at Lorfords, we have a pair of early 20th Century industrial lamps which originally hung in Camden underground station.
Get inspired
If your interiors need a refresh, adding a few unique industrial pieces can work wonders. Experiment with one or two statement antiques, or create a workshop inspired space for a bold look.
Visit our lookbook 'Into the Workshop' to view a selection of antiques with an industrial history behind them.