Cult of the individual

Sidestepping trends in favour of personal preferences has produced a home that is unique, characterful and timeless

- Judy Diamond

Alchemy is the word Jackie Fisken uses to describe what happens when all the elements of a design come together to produce something magical. She achieves her gold not by transmuting base metals but by combining texture, pattern and colour, layering them and juxtaposing them to generate a balanced, harmonious look that is also exhilarating, audacious and idiosyncratic.

As the design director of Ampersand Interiors, the Edinburgh studio that's currently celebrating thirty years in the business, she makes it sound simple, but it takes an unerring eye, a sure grasp of design principles and a certain panache to pull off the kind of quirky, individual home that she has created for the owners of this apartment in Edinburgh. They'd asked her to make it feel comfortable and timeless, incorporating antiques as well as more contemporary furnishings. Things didn't have to match - in fact, they'd prefer it if it looked as though the interior had come together and evolved slowly.

"They gave us a clear brief," recalls the designer. "They said they didn't like the kind of modernist look you see a lot these days, and that their natural habitat was more traditional. But they were keen to be pushed to incorporate more contemporary elements they might not otherwise have considered, such as the continuity and flow between the rooms is crucial," says Fisken. "The kitchen units were blue so we clearly had to incorporate that colour into the overall scheme. I know the owners love orange, as do I, so while we mixed it up for a bit of interest this was an obvious starting combination.

"It's usually textiles that get the creative juices flowing for me," she continues. "Once I have a key piece, everything else falls into place. In this instance, once I had sourced the hall rugs and the fabulous crewel cushion fabric in the sitting room, everything else evolved from there."