Dig deep into the history of interior design and you’ll find that the roots of countless stellar careers can be traced to the fertile partnership between the ‘mother’ and ‘father’ of classic British interior design, Nancy Lancaster and John Fowler. In unearthing the web of who worked for whom, Arabella Youens discovers the essence of the creative DNA at the heart of classic English decoration
THERE is no Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler look, just a common approach to decoration that distils the elements in a room so that they are as beautiful and comfortable as they possibly can be. It’s an approach that relies heavily on intimate knowledge of everything from the way that spaces work and colours combine, to the manner in which fabrics fall and furniture lends a mood. The fact that it has survived and thrived for more than 70 years is thanks to decorators who have studiously ignored trends, instead focusing unerringly on the changing needs, tastes and lifestyles of its clients.
The firm was established by Lady Colefax in the 1930s, but didn’t show the full extent of its promise until the American tastemaker Nancy Lancaster came on board, introducing a raft of big-spending clients and allowing the decorator John Fowler to convince a generation of country-house owners that the firm could inject joy into their stuffy houses.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin June 13, 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin June 13, 2018 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds