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There is a wonderful team of people behind the scenes at Lorfords, many of which you don't get to see. What better way to introduce them than with their top picks in our Lorfords Christmas Gift Guide! From thoughtful gifts to extra seating, we're getting you ready for the festivities.
Toby Lorford, Director
Toby's top picks include a striking 19th Century Italian enfilade of a bold architectural design and a beautiful pair of 19th Century Tuscan wall sconces, decorated in traditional cream and gilt.
19th Century Italian Painted Enfilade
Pair of 19th Century Tuscan Wall Sconces
Alice Hagues, General Manager
Alice's top picks include a classic 1930's design Lloyd Loom sofa in original French grey paintwork and a stylish Modernist textile screen in the manner of Edward Bawden.
Carly Watkins, Marketing Manager
Carly's top picks include a large black-and-white image of a Roman emperor in the style of Timney Fowler and a pair of Art Deco armchairs which have recently been reupholstered in an attractive monochrome colour palette.
Large Contemporary Image of a Roman Emperor
Pair of French Art Deco Armchairs
Heidi Hadfield, Sales Manager and Accounts
Heidi's top picks include an iconic wicker Harley Davidson motorcycle designed by Tom Dixon and a charming pair of carved oak cherubs dating to circa 1880.
20th Century Tom Dixon Wicker Motorcycle
Pair of 19th Century Carved Cherubs
Robert Evans, Logistics Manager
Rob's top picks include a luxurious blue velvet armchair paired with the perfect Christmas afternoon set-up; a fabulous brass drinks trolley and a Parisian-style silverplate cocktail shaker.
Late 19th Century Blue Velvet Armchair
20th Century French Brass Drinks Trolley
Large Parisian Style Silverplate Cocktail Shaker
Jane Body, Sales
Jane's top picks include a comfortable English Country House chaise longue with hidden storage and a charming 20th Century feather-filled carpet cushion.
20th Century English Country House Chaise Longue
20th Century Feather Field Carpet Cushion
Tom Valentine, Sales
Tom's top picks include a wonderful untouched George III secretaire estate cupboard and a superb English club fender of large proportions.
George III Oak Secretaire Estate Cabinet
Large 19th Century Club Fender
Hattie Icke, Logistics Coordinator
Hattie's top picks include an original 19th Century French carpet sofa from the Napoleon III period and a charming pair of silverplate Mr and Mrs napkin rings in their original box.
19th Century French Carpet Sofa
Pair of 20th Century Madame and Monsieur Napkin Rings
Kate Williams, Sales and Stylist
Kate's top picks include a wonderfully shaped two-seat sofa featuring a scalloped back, enclosed sides and sloping armrests and a fabulous pair of 20th Century clam shells.
Pair of 20th Century Clam Shells
Eleanor Buonaparte, Dealer Liaison and Stock Coordinator
Eleanor's top picks include a 20th Century lacquer and gilt Chinese screen, depicting cranes and gold-painted bamboo to the reverse, and a stunning 19th Century drop-end red Chesterfield sofa.
20th Century Chinese Lacquer Screen
Stephanie Ashby, Photographer
Steph's top picks include a fine early 19th Century complete circular tree seat from the Regency period, and a late 20th Century print of Liz Hurley by John Stoddart which rests on a stylish lucite and brass display tripod with adjustable blocks.
Regency Circular Wrought Iron Tree Seat
20th Century French Lucite Easel
Late 20th Century Liz Hurley Print by John Stoddart
Sophie Jones, Marketing Assistant
Sophie's top picks include a 19th Century French chaise longue in pink velvet and a beautiful framed black and white French scenic wallpaper depicting an attractive lakeside scene.
19th Century Upholstered Pink Banquette
Piers Ingall, Stock Vetter
Piers' top picks include a fabulous pair of Italian marquetry and ormolu bedside tables and a truly outstanding 19th Century folk art diorama model of Tower Bridge, London.
Pair of Italian Marquetry Bedside Tables
19th Century Model of Tower Bridge
Dave Jeens, Restorer
Dave's top picks include a 20th Century coffee table with a drawer and its original key, a lovely example of an early 20th Century Edwardian elbow chair and a stylish 20th Century opaline glass table lamp.
Small 20th Century Coffee Table
Giant Mid-Century Style Opaline Glass Table Lamp
Jordan Anderson, Logistics
Jordan's top picks include an elegant French Meridienne sofa and in the spirit of the World Cup, a pair of 19th Century medici lions.
19th Century French Meridienne Sofa
19th Century Carved Pair Medici Lions
Chris Butterworth, Logistics
Chris' top picks include a lovely buttoned and tufted sofa of small proportions and a wonderful large-scale French zinc clock face in its original iron frame.
Small 19th Century Swedish Buttoned Sofa
French 20th Century Zinc Turret Clock Face
Cody Roberts, Logistics
Cody's top picks include a lovely English golden oak occasional table with a single drawer and a superb pair of French 18th Century Louis XV bergéres.
19th Century English Golden Oak Occasional Table
Pair of French 18th Century Louis XV Bergeres
'Work from home.’ It’s the phrase that has defined the last ten months or so of our lives. Whether or not home has always been the natural habitat for your work, many have rushed to transform part of their house into a workspace. The Lorfords collection is full of unique pieces that will bring your dream Mid Century Modern home office to life.
The psychology of our interiors
Studies show that the more personal control we have over our office space, the happier we are. The ability to get creative with our workspace and have our favourite furnishings close at hand is a silver lining of the current circumstances.
One of the biggest challenges of staying at home has been drawing a line between work time and our personal lives. This gives you all the more reason to invest in your office space and create an environment you want to spend all day in, before returning to those parts of your home that you associate with relaxing.
Calm, uncluttered surroundings encourage efficiency and productivity. This can be difficult to achieve at home, but by dedicating a space for work you are halfway there, and Mid Century Modern design will do the rest.
It can be easy to feel as though you are ‘playing office’ whilst working from home, so it’s important to get creative with your space and invest in it. Stylish and useful furniture is conducive to your productivity, as well as your happiness.
A la mode
Media and popular culture have made Mid Century design an object of fascination. From the smooth teak and glass of the Mad Men office to the contemporary prints and low chairs of Miranda Priestley’s office in The Devil Wears Prada, the understated glamour of a Mid Century Modern office is well-known.
The post-war period was a new age of prosperity, and many migrated to urban and suburban areas. After the horrors of war, there was a desire for more human, organic and natural design. Inspiration was sought from America and Scandinavia, and designers eagerly embraced new materials like plywood and plastic. Manufacturers had machinery and mass production at their disposal, so luckily many fantastic pieces survive today.
Furnishing newly built homes and smaller living spaces saw design take on new priorities, and functionality was a top priority. Designers didn’t skimp on style, however, and the iconic designs they brought to life have timeless appeal.
Mid Century designers
Designers of the Mid Century Modern period wanted to make furniture accessible to everyone, not just the very wealthy. The contributors to this new democratic style were many, including Arne Jacobsen and Harry Bertoia. Ray and Charles Eames were the design power couple of their day, and it's their executive desk that graces Don Draper's office in Mad Men.
Far from dull, design in this period was full of juxtapositions. Designs were extremely varied, and you might struggle to spot what a marshmallow sofa and a teak sideboard have in common. However, there were certain principles that united these designers in their plight: fine craftsmanship, quality, and chic style.
The straight-lined silhouettes of Mid Century Modern furniture make it the perfect choice for an office. Manufacturers of the period, such as Herman Miller, focussed in on office furniture and produced desks, chairs, and savvy storage solutions. George Nelson was a key mover and shaker in Mid Century Modern design. His iconic Storagewall design captured attention far and wide and he is credited with designing the first L-Shaped desk.
Redefine 'office'
There’s more to working life than a desk and a chair. Nobody wants to work amongst empty cups of tea and a teetering stack of paperwork, but many of us do. It may be a cliché, but it’s difficult to argue with the concept of ‘tidy desk, tidy mind.’
It's often unrealistic to reimagine a whole room of the home in one style, but a few key pieces will transform a space. Credenzas and sideboards were already furniture stalwarts, but they were revolutionised in this period. Fitting unobtrusively against the wall, they provide storage and a surface for display. Most importantly, a sideboard or low cabinet means you can keep stress-inducing clutter out of sight.
When it comes to designing an office space, the mood can tend towards the clinical. Mid Century Modern is the perfect antidote to monotony because designers reinterpreted basic furniture with innovation and creative flair. Designers made chairs that were lower and broader, often supported on splayed UFO-style legs. They made many office-style chairs, with reclining and swivel functions. You've got your pick when it comes to desk chairs and should indulge in a big upholstered armchair for when you need a break.
Lighting was the major triumph of Mid Century design, and designs are famous and sought-after today. From practical floor lamps to Sciolari's spectacular sputnik light, lighting is the ultimate flourish for a 20th Century home office. Maison Charles’ iconic palm standard lamps demonstrate how natural forms were embraced in this period, and they make a great statement in an office setting.
Punchy Mid Century modern accents
20th Century design was far from solely utilitarian. Designs from this period were full of creative flair, and this should be reflected in a Mid Century Modern office. This was the heyday of faux tortoiseshell, glass, contrasting woods, bright colour, and abstract art. Adorn a brass and glass coffee table with a lucite magazine holder, or fabulous colourful glasswork by Val Saint Lambert.
There’s no point in working in a space that won’t inspire creativity and progress. Surround yourself with fabulous contemporary art and sculpture that makes you feel content and calm. Colour and character are key to boosting your mood in a long working day. This was an age of bold and pioneering design, and by surrounding yourself with examples of it you encourage the same in your work endeavours.
Whatever your personal style, there is something to love in this spectacular period of design. Mid Century Modern pieces have the power to transform a space into the perfect home office. For further inspiration, have a browse of our lookbook: Office Envy.
Does the 1970s deserve to be remembered as the decade taste forgot? Absolutely not, says antiques expert Chris Yeo. It was a time of bold experiments and high glamour.
There is, they say, nothing new in fashion. Is there anything new in design? Whatever your thoughts it can’t be denied that the lure of the past has always been a potent source of inspiration. The Romans took their style tips for everything from togas to temples from the Ancient Greeks, the Elizabethans got dewy eyed over the Middle Ages and the Victorians were besotted by anything Medieval (apart from Chaucer, who was far too dirty for them). Not much has changed except that, latterly, we have tended to take a leaf from the more recent pages of style’s back catalogue. Anyone who was around in the 1970s will remember that the 1950s held a powerful draw and now it’s the turn of the ‘70s itself to be the focus of our rose-tinted spectacles. Ah, the Seventies. They called it the decade taste forgot. Of course, “they” were the 1980s, which, if we’re talking taste, is nothing short of the pot calling the kettle black. But now the decade that brought us Abba, the hostess trolley and the three-day week is being mined by a new generation of tastemakers. Fashion has been nostalgic for the 1970s for the last few seasons, with tinted sunglasses, long floral dresses and straw handbags omnipresent on the high street and catwalks alike. However, when it comes to interior design, it’s been a different story. For years, the very mention of the word ‘Seventies’ was enough to strike fear and loathing into otherwise reasonable, aesthetically broad-minded people and it seems old prejudices die hard. Style pundits from Wallpaper magazine recently collated a shortlist of the most egregious design faux pas of the past half-a-century and guess which decade came top? But look beyond the avocado bathroom suites and macramé plant pot holders and a different picture soon emerges.
Decadence and glamour were the twin beats that throbbed throughout a decade that was bookmarked by Bowie at its beginning and Grace Jones at its end – oh, be still my beating heart! They were the torch bearers of the new mood that thrived in a world filled with the harsh realities of economic uncertainties and political strife. In a decade that saw two miners’ strikes, countless I.R.A. bombing campaigns, runaway inflation and powdered orange juice, what to do but loose yourself in a whirlwind of hedonism? A mood of defiant decadence was abroad, whether it was glam rockers “gender bending” – as contemporary parlance had it – on Top of the Pops or Bianca Jagger riding into studio 54 on the back of a white stallion (because, let’s face it, how else do you let people know it’s your birthday?) In London the mood was encapsulated, branded and retailed to perfection at Big Biba, opened on Kensington High Street in 1973. Biba had started life as mail order fashion outfit but over just a few years had come to dominate the UK fashion scene. Big Biba was the firms last great shout before bankruptcy in 1975 brought an end to its reign of fabulousness. Housed in Art Deco splendour at the former Barker’s department store, complete with live flamingos on the roof garden, Big Biba offered an interior vision that took elements of Hollywood’s Golden Age and mixed it louche colours, peacock feathers and peacock chairs, crushed velvets and Art Nouveau prints. It was bold, daring and worked perfectly a world jointly ruled by Marc Bolan and Pan’s People (ask your parents).
At the same time as Biba was refashioning homes in the UK, Willy Rizzo (1928-2013) was introducing a chic – not to say disco – sensibility into furniture design. Rizzo had started his career as a fashion photographer but, at the suggestion of his friends and clients – the great and the good of fashion and film, he took a sideways step into furniture design. He was soon swamped with orders and requests. Rizzo designed and produced more than thirty pieces of furniture: sofas, consoles, hi-fi furniture, coffee tables and lighting, all of which were handmade. Rizzo’s world is one where coffee tables rotate like a vinyl disc on a turntable and then open up to reveal an integrated ice bucket – perfect for those pre or post-club Campari. He opened boutiques across France and Europe and had points of sale in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. However, in 1978, Rizzo gave it all up to return to photography, his first love. Rizzo’s furniture design channelled the sophistication of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, his pieces combining clean, simple lines with bold geometric forms and a delicate handling of materials. The result is classic modernism and very chic.
We’ve included a few iconic items within this blog but please browse our website for many more incredibly cool 1970’s pieces.
Images: Lorfords own & Willy Rizzo