This July, refresh your home with new colour, celebrate the mood-boosting power of pattern and invest in a few select British-made pieces; buy once, buy well
Alfresco living
With longer days and lighter evenings, it’s the perfect time to gather friends and family for entertaining outdoors. A combination of natural textures, glistening glassware, and sunshine bring table settings to life. If you don’t have suitable garden chairs, then simply bring your dining chairs outdoors. The key is in utilising flexible furniture with a slimmer silhouette – offering space to host a feast of drinks and nibbles but without it looking bulky. Glass ice bucket, £60; Belgravia red wine glass, £38 for a set of 4; picnic wine glass, £10 each; rustic linen napkins, £45 for a set of 4; Portobello scalloped serving bowls, £28 for a set of 2, all The White Company.
CELEBRATING COUNTRY LIFE
To complement the Plough fabric collection launched last summer, textile designer and screen printer, Beki Bright, is launching the Plough wallpaper. The design is based on memories of her grandfather’s thatched Suffolk farmhouse and its surrounding bucolic scenes of rolling hills and furrowed fields. The wide-width wallpaper (137cm) is available in the same three colourways: Field Blue and Dawn Grey; Corn Grey and Harvest Gold; and Ethel Pink and Harvest Gold. Hand screen-printed to order, priced £120 per m.
A FRILLING IDEA
Print designer, Caroline Inchyra, has collaborated with lampshade maker, Imogen Pope, to create an exclusive range of mini shades using Inchyra’s pure natural linens. Ideal for bedrooms and small spaces, each shade is handmade, gathered and features a pretty, frilled edge, synonymous with Imogen Pope’s designs. ‘As soon as I spotted Imogen’s lampshades, I knew that they would be perfectly suited to my linens,’ says Caroline. Priced £148 each.
Different strokes
Tess Newall is a decorative artist who brings her designs into the home through exquisite wallpapers, lampshades and mirrors. With a background in film set design – prop making and scenic painting – her business grew when she received commissions through her husband’s furniture-making business. ‘I instantly preferred it to film; I was painting furniture pieces to be used and loved in a real home,’ says Tess. Working from her garden studio in the Sussex countryside, Tess draws inspiration from many different sources: Swedish cabins, William Morris, and antique Ukrainian fabrics. Rich in colour, her designs have a textural, painterly quality, where the brushstrokes add to the character of each piece. She also works on bespoke decorative furniture (below) and mural painting commissions, and sells customised, handpainted children’s chairs through her separate online shop, Pierrot.
