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NOTEBOOK

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SPOTLIGHT ON…

Savoir x Dame Zandra Rhodes

Fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes has collaborated with luxury bedmaker Savoir. For her new Lilies design, which comes in six colourways, she created an exclusive artwork based on her Field of Lilies motif, worn by Twiggy on the cover of Vogue and by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex And The City.

“I love how colour and print have the potency to change your mood and how you feel,” says Dame Zandra. “I think a bespoke bed is one of the most special things one can have in life. The amazing thing about the Savoir bed is that for the first time in my life, the peace it exudes makes me want to experience breakfast in bed! I think it may change my life.”

Pictured above on the No2 bed, which takes over 80 hours to make by hand and was first created for The Savoy in 1905, Dame Zandra’s artwork can be upholstered onto any Savoir bed. savoirbeds.com 

Underwater Inspiration

Sian Zeng’s new wallpaper range

Wallpaper designer Sian Zeng was snorkelling off the coast of Croatia in the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea when inspiration struck.

Using traditional Chinese inks and digitally drawn colours, she designed The Fish Collection, a playful new wallpaper featuring sea creatures and divers. Available in Pink and Blue Green, this captivating seascape is also available as a magnetic wallpaper, perfect for a child’s bedroom, placing characters on the wall to stage an underwater adventure.

As featured in Notebook last year, Central Saint Martins graduate Sian considers wallpaper “hanging wall art” and a large order from a Hollywood actress helped kickstart her business. sianzeng.com

Going with the Grain

Wood sculptor Philip Walker

When tree surgeon Philip Walker saw wood sculptor Alison Crowther delivering a piece of her work, he had no idea it would change his life. “A chance encounter,” he remembers. “The piece was a wonderful hand-carved bench in English oak, and I was amazed it had been produced from a tree cut down in the same garden.”

A few years later, he started assisting Alison one or two days a week with rough shaping duties. Picking up some skills, he gradually and tentatively started making his own work out of the timber he felled.

Today, Hampshire-based Philip hand-crafts elegant seating and feature sculptures in wood, focusing on highlighting its natural beauty. He has been awarded a scholarship from The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to train with Alison to create largescale works. philipjameswalker.com

The Mother of Invention

Multi-generational duo behind basins

Her fruitless search for the decorative basin she had in her mind’s eye prompted interior designer Anna Callis to create her own. This led to Anna and her daughter, Nathalie, founding The London Basin Company in 2015, creating strikingly patterned countertop basins.

Each porcelain basin is a hand-finished one-off, the travel-inspired designs modern interpretations of traditional Oriental and Middle Eastern patterns.

India was the inspiration for the new Marnie basin, which features an intricate floral pattern against a bold dandelion yellow. With a flat base, Marnie adds a new shape to the collection.

The company also offers vanity units designed to complement its basins, as well as taps and mirrors. londonbasincompany.com 

California Dreaming

Farrow & Ball’s first paint collaboration

American interior designer Kelly Wearstler wants to bring the California sunshine to English homes with her Farrow & Ball paint collaboration.

This is the first time in its 75-year history that Farrow & Ball has joined forces with an outside designer.

Each of the eight hues in The California Collection possesses an endearing warmth and invigorating freshness, is eco-friendly, low-VOC, water-based and comes in a recyclable tin.

Citrona is a soft citrus shade inspired by the lemon trees that thrive in California’s temperate climate and Palm echoes the iconic palm trees that dot the Los Angeles skyline. Meanwhile, Sand evokes the beautiful beaches of Malibu, and Salt is a crisp bright white, reminiscent of the air ushered in by the Pacific Ocean. Faded Terracotta reflects the warmth of pots and tiles in the California sun, Hazy is a muted blue-grey, capturing the fresh feeling of coastal early mornings, Tar represents sun-baked desert highways, and the grey of Stoke evokes cloudy days.

Kelly has been using Farrow & Ball in her projects for over two decades. “I always say living without colour is like living without love,” she says, “so it’s been a dream to partner with Farrow & Ball on a collection of paint that celebrates the emotions colour can evoke. Colour is the spirit of a room, and provides expressive power to transform a space with your personal voice, whether you’re painting all of your walls, or just one. This paint collection is about what I truly believe California represents: bringing the outside in. From desert hues to the colours of sand at the beach to the sky, there are so many beautiful colours that have inspired this collection.”

As part of the process, Kelly visited Farrow & Ball’s headquarters in Dorset. “Spending time in the lab was just magic,” she says, “and seeing the colours that I had in my mind’s eye was amazing. I was so blown away at the attention to detail. What it does to the colours is so sensual, they have so much depth and evoke an incredible emotion.What I love about Farrow & Ball is all the paint is water-based. When I went to the factory there were no toxic smells, which is going to translate in your home. The colour palette I’ve created with Farrow & Ball is chic and sophisticated, but it’s also casual and California and relaxed.” farrow-ball.com (Turn to page 70 for our paint special.)

BALHAM - HARRODS - HAMPSTEAD 0208 675 4808 www.indian-ocean.co.uk

Optical Illusions

David Harber indoor sculpture

Known worldwide for his outdoor sculptures, sundials and water features, David Harber has unveiled a striking new standalone indoor piece, Turbine.

Inspired by the blades found in gas turbine engines, the sculpture has marine-grade, mirror-polished, stainless-steel blades arranged to bring it energetically to life as the viewer passes by and light, shadow and reflection shift back and forth. Originally designed for an exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, Turbine is David’s second ever indoor sculpture.

“I always enjoy playing with optical illusions, creating sculptures and pieces of art that appear and disappear depending on how you look at them, or stop you in your tracks entirely,” he says. “Turbine encapsulates this perfectly; it may be a still piece, but it brings such energy and movement to it. I have no doubt of its ability to transform a room and beguile the observer, wherever it is placed.”

David has been making works of art from his Oxfordshire studio for over two decades. His work can be found in private gardens and public spaces across the globe. davidharber.co.uk

Learn from a Royal Florist

Expert advice for chic home arrangements

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding florist Philippa Craddock is launching online masterclass tutorials to share her expert advice on creating beautiful and sustainable floral arrangements at home, combining flowers and foliage to extraordinary effect in her signature wild and natural style. Students can learn at their own pace through online step-by-step practical and theory tutorials and live question-and-answer sessions with Philippa.

Launching her flower business from home in 2009 with a young family and no formal floristry training, Philippa’s clients now include Vogue, BAFTA, Christian Dior and the V&A. The cascading floral archways decorating St George’s Chapel in Windsor for the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018 put her firmly on the world stage. philippacraddock.com

BOOKS

A Year Full of Flowers by Sarah Raven (Bloomsbury, £25) Beautiful, practical and easy to follow, this month-bymonth guide is essential reading.

The National Trust School Of Gardening by Rebecca Bevan (Pavilion, £20) Packed with helpful step-by-step wisdom from some of the National Trust’s head gardeners.

Gardens in my Life by Arabella LennoxBoyd (Head Of Zeus, £40) Marvel at dreamy gardens and the stories behind them told by an esteemed garden designer. n