The World of Interiors May 2019

1 Arik Levy’s inner artist has a habit of surfacing in his design work. And it can surely be seen in his minimalist ‘Structural’ collection (from £310 approx) for Vibia, in which LED light is filtered through cubic and rectangular shades. Ring 00 34 93 479 6971, or visit vibia.com. 2 On stepping into Warris Vianni’s Golborne Road shop, fans of characterful, artisan-made fabrics will think they’ve died and landed in heaven. Shown: ‘Savannah’ (£30 per m), a soft cotton woven on hand-operated looms. Ring 020 8964 0069, or visit warrisvianni.com. 3 As pop-ups go, few events could hold a Karen Downing candlestick (starting at £30) to Housey-Housey, which will take place in Saxmundham, Suffolk, 20-27 April. Except perhaps the Hand Sale, held in London, to which the sellers will decamp the…

JOHN RICHARDSON: AT HOME (Rizzoli, rrp £45) The cluttered rooms of Sir John Richardson’s Fifth Avenue loft, a 465sq m enfilade suite, bear witness to almost a century of proximity to the art world’s greatest names. Most of the works on the walls are gifts from the artists themselves, invariably friends. There are two large portraits of Richardson by Andy Warhol (the critic delivered the eulogy at his funeral) and a tiny likeness by Lucian Freud from 2001, a tryout in eight days for his portrait of the Queen, for which Freud would be allowed a mere eight sessions. And what friends and painters they were. Richardson first met Freud during World War II when both were art students; Francis Bacon just after the war, ‘a youngish man with a…

Jane. Throughout: mahogany museum cabinet, £3,540; vintage buckram, from £150 per roll; both Retrouvius. Prices are per single piece, unless ot erwise stated, and include VAT. For suppliers’ details see Address Book. Shot on location at Retrouvius…

‘The blast furnaces and coke ovens, with their hundreds of chimneys, planted obliquely, made lines of red flame… like giant torches.’ In the flatlands of northern France lie the remnants of the coal-mining industry, made infamous by Emile Zola’s Germinal. France’s oldest-preserved mining estate, LA CITE DES ELECTRICIENS in Bruay-la-Buissière, will open to the public on 17 MAY. Rows of terraced houses constructed in 1856 for workers’ families have been renovated by Philippe Prost, and the architects have also created a new purpose-built visitor’s centre, clad in brilliant red glazed clay tiles, with the intention of educating the public about mining history. A changing roster of artists-in-residence will work on projects relating to the realm of raw coal in France, and an orchard and vegetable garden will provide quiet space…