House and Garden October 2020

JAMES ALEXANDER-SINCLAIR | Landscape designer An accidental gardener, James tried several different jobs – waiter, actor, plongeur, gadabout – before discovering gardening. He started as a landscape contractor in London before moving to the country in 1992. Since then, he has created award-winning gardens ‘all over the place’. The part of the design process he likes best is walking around a new garden for the first time ‘with all that promise and possibility’. His favourite project is the garden at the Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow he designed for Horatio’s Garden – ‘real life-changing stuff’. An RHS judge since 2006, James writes for a raft of newspapers and magazines and has an award-winning blog. He designed the Cotswold hilltop garden (from page 216): ‘I’ve been working on it for over a…

I have just arrived home from my first full day in the office with a few of my team and it feels very good. While it’s been amazing what we have all achieved from home and how quickly everybody has adapted, nothing beats face-to-face conversations and – in our case – printed-out pages, so we can see the relationship of one page to the next, one story to the next and so on. For this October issue, the Decoration team has been back in the studio to shoot the latest fabrics – conceived to look like a series of rich and colourful still-life tablescapes, over eight pattern-filled pages (from page 151). We have also started photographing houses and gardens, which you will see in subsequent issues of the magazine. It is…

01 Yinka Ilori When Yinka Ilori was a child in north London, he had a toy lizard that he would use to scare his sister. It was the first time that he realised the power of design. Significantly, it was not about the functionality of the object, but how it could make someone feel: ‘Whether a chair or a cup, design is powerful. We need it every day. It evokes an emotional response.’ Yinka has become known for the joyous patterns and colours he uses in his work. ‘I try to evoke a positive and happy emotion,’ he says. Anyone who saw If Chairs Could Talk – his 2015 exhibition of upcycled chairs imbued with the personalities of friends and references to his British-Nigerian heritage – or stepped into the Colour Palace…

04 ‘BELL’ TABLES (2012), BY SEBASTIAN HERKNER FOR CLASSICON ‘When this range came out, it was unique – the mouth-blown glass bases give that beautiful colour translucency that you just don’t get from plate or machine glass. The experimental mix of materials – glass, metal and marble – makes them stand out from other products of their type, too. Perhaps their appeal is also in their nod to art deco style, in which there has been a resurgence of interest.’ Daniel Aram, managing director, Aram Store From £2,344 each, from Aram Store. aram.co.uk 05 ‘MISTRAL SOFA’ (2008) ‘In its 12-year history, the “Mistral” has cemented its place on our list of bestsellers. I think it’s the combination of Fifties glamour with contemporary style that makes this sofa such a timeless piece. This year, we…

13 Patternity ‘Magnificent mould’, ‘Liquid is life’, ‘Flow in feathers’. These are among the captions accompanying the images posted to Instagram by Patternity earlier this year. The London-based ‘conscious creative organisation’ was set up by Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham in 2009. Its stated ambition is ‘to use pattern to inspire people to see and experience the world differently’. Anna and Grace have become the go-to duo for all things pattern-related, with product collaborations with Clarks, John Lewis and the Spanish surfaces brand Cosentino under their belt. They have also created a number of public art installations. One of these, Life Labyrinth, was a monochrome maze that provided a meditative walking experience outside Westminster Abbey during London Design Festival in September 2019. Patternity runs popular workshops and events, talks and trips – all…

14 ‘Another Sofa’, by Daniel Schofield for Another Country; covered in ‘Remix 2’, by Kvadrat; £4,655 as seen, from Another Country. anothercountry.com 15 ‘Grove Sofa’, £3,662, from Julian Chichester. julianchichester.com 16 ‘Charlotte’ armchair, by Dainelli Studio for Porada, £2,768, from Porada. porada.it 17 ‘Kota’ sofa bed, covered in ‘Teal Velvet’, £395 as seen, from Habitat. habitat.co.uk 18 ‘Wardour’ chair, £1,100 (excluding fabric), from David Seyfried; covered in ‘Tibet Small Scale’, by Clarence House. davidseyfried.com turnellandgigon.com 19 ‘Lace’ footstools, by Benjamin Graindorge for Ligne Roset, from £387 each, from Ligne Roset. ligne-roset.com 20 ‘Blogger 3’ sofa, by Roberto Tapinassi and Maurizio Manzoni for Roche Bobois, from £2,770, from Roche Bobois. roche-bobois.com 21 ‘Luna Right Hand Facing Corner Chaise’ sofa, covered in ‘Marylebone Velvet’, £4,299 as seen, from Heal’s. heals.com 22 ‘Adda’ armchair, by Antonio Citterio for Flexform, €7,678, from Flexform. flexform.it 23 ‘Brick’ sofa, by KiBiSi for JotJot; covered in…