Home Sweet Home…!

Professional interior designers are expertly trained in the use of lighting features to create breathtaking results. In this four-part series which I call “Colour Me Brightly: Understanding Light in Interior Design,” I draw on my experience in London’s interior design community to explain this fascinating subject. This first article is about patterns.

Ask a London schoolgirl to imagine natural patterns, and she may talk at length of curvaceous seashells, the undulating edge of waves on the shore, the grooves in a gnarled tree trunk. Interior designers know that patterns are all around us. Patterns profoundly influence all interior design schemes, transforming our appreciation of color and texture, adding fluctuations and drifts or promoting harmony and stillness. London Interior Designers will focus on soft, fluid outlines in order to create relaxing patterns. By contrast, bold graphic statements in a wallpaper stencil can be invigorating for a London discotheque or salon. Pattern is a foundational ingredient of interior design, fragmenting overwhelming shapes and plain surfaces while simultaneously lending personality and profundity to a room.

London’s professional interior designers know one big secret: pattern is created not only by fabric and wallpaper. Light also forms any number of patterns through a virtual tussle or rough-and-tumble interaction between light and shadow. Light patterns are foundational to interior design schemes – from snippeted, kinetic and frosted patterns to curvy arcs, spearhead-style lines and theatrical projections of abstract forms.

Patterns of light fall into two main interior design categories. The first is all about objects in the path of light, casting shadows. We draw our inspiration from the natural world where, when sunlight strikes rippling water on London’s famous River Thames, flickering patterns are reflected up into the trees along the water’s edge. Similarly, if an artificial light source is directed onto water – perhaps a pool, fountain or babbling artificial brook – active reflections will dapple the surrounding walls and become an interior design feature. Sunlight may shine through the branches of a tree to create moving patterns of light and shade below, and similarly a low-voltage uplight, positioned behind indoor plants, can create beautiful interior design features on the walls and ceilings. This technique can be stunning both inside and outside the building.

In my next article, I turn to patterns that use perforations and glass.

Thomas Chippendale didn’t grow up in London (in fact he was born in Leeds in 1718), but he did move to London at the age of 31, after he had already gained recognition as a premiere furniture maker and cabinetry-focused interior designer. His work and styles influenced the London Interior Design community then, and the Chippendale aesthetic continues to extend its impact well beyond London even today.

Chippendale’s fluent, natural and sophisticated style developed after the promotion of his furniture and interior designs in “The Gentleman and the Cabinetmaker’s Director” in 1754. Chippendale continued to make iconic contributions to the field of interior design until 1790. His furniture came to be manufactured as far afield as Philadelphia in the USA.

Chippendale drew on three key interior design inspirations for this work – namely French, Asian and Goth. In the USA, Chippendale’s work was interpreted as a re-envisionment of the Queen Anne interior design style. His furniture was often heavily ornamentalised on the feet and uppers, with beautiful heritage-inspired scroll tops on taller units. Yellow Birch and Mahogany were often used, undersupport was rarely employed, and the rears of seated furniture were covered with plush fabric or otherwise left as shaped wood, perhaps as tessellated piecework with ornamental sculpting and Asia-inspired cross-strips. To round out his own personal interior design style, Chippendale would also include delightful finials and varnished shellac features.

Enthusiasts and professionals alike were very taken with Chippendale’s work, lauding him as a master London cabinetmaker and a household name of eighteenth-century furniture-focused interior design.

Harewood House is a popular Leeds tourist attraction, located about 4 hours’ drive from Central London. The famous building features a magnificent collection of Chippendale library furniture that was originally ordered during the 1760s. The interior design style reflects Chippendale’s ideals throughout and showcases his focus on both form and function.

Today, London’s interior designers are often called to reconstruct period rooms in traditional mansions or luxury residences. Often Chippendale furniture will play a major role in such interior design concepts. Chippendale-inspired furniture designs such as those of Henrietta Spencer-Churchill may also be ideal for certain settings. However, the fresh lines of many Chippendale pieces also lend themselves to contemporary interior design concepts – many interior designers will use some of the more extravagant Chippendale pieces to offset some of the more frosty and unforgiving modern furniture elements.

In their training, student interior designers often learn about the history of their profession. This can be a really important way to give context to their subsequent careers. In this article, I will draw on my experience as an interior designer and educator to discuss the history of this exciting field.

The earliest professional interior designers were based in London – the British had become intrigued by Egyptian techniques of decorating household objects and wanted the same for themselves. London families became desperate to employ an interior designer to create magical spaces and accessorise their interiors. As interior designers came to be recognised as professionals, they increasingly found a need to draw on history to create fabulous results. This was particularly true when creating designs for historic London mansions or listed buildings – they saw historical reflections as a way of preserving the past while also looking to the future.

THE ANCIENT ROMANS

In Ancient Rome, citizens demanded comfort, luxury and wealth. These elements are still important in the work of interior designers across the world today. The lavish decorations, tapestries and iconic stonework today remain as timeless and popular in London as in Tokyo or Sydney. The Ancient Romans adored bespoke furniture and loved quality textiles and expensive fabrics.

MONASTIC TIMES

After the collapse of Roman rule, the church assumed power and largely discouraged the most creative interior designers. Opulent interiors were taken out and interior designers were instructed to install quiet and simple oak panels with dark lines and sharp edges. This influence was felt throughout Europe – from London all the way to Florence.

RENAISSANCE AND REVIVAL

The Renaissance saw the emergence of professional French or French-inspired interior designers. It was a new age of elegance and sophistication, which saw the rebuilding of the London Interior Designer community and a fresh take on creative and beautiful living spaces. A “palatial” feel was rediscovered, and interior designers began to take advantage of new transport axes going through London to the continent and to the Americas in order to rediscover their profession and herald the next generation of design.

This brings to an end my article on how the work of interior designers has changed over the ages. In my next article, I’ll reflect on how interior designers use interior fashions for great effect.