Inspiration

We know this to be true, don’t we? The smallest details matter.  This is as true of one of our architecture projects: the architrave around a door, or the design of a chimney piece, as it is in our urban design – the shape and materials of a Square, or the width of a street, or the precise relationship of one building to the next. In decoration, it might be the colour that we pick out mouldings in a cornice; or the shape of a turned chair leg, or the backing material for a cushion.

In short, do you ever get the feeling that nothing can be left to chance?

So it was a nice day about a week or two ago when Leslie, the Art Director from my publishers, called to say we needed to choose the headbands and the book cloth. The what? Headbands.

Leslie came over armed with boards of woven silk bands, the little bits that finish off the top and bottom of the spine, which turned out to be headbands. And there you were for a minute with an image of a sweaty Dutch tennis player. We had a lot of fun choosing colours, the samples bound into a beautiful Japanese album.  To tell you the truth at a distance of a couple of weeks, I can’t quite remember what we picked – but I think it was good.

The book comes out in September, and it’s quite exciting for me. Something tells me I’ll be writing a bit more about it from time to time here.  For now, you can sign up to our website English Decoration to stay in touch, and to see sample photographs, text and pages when we get ourselves together. If you are hyper-sorted, you can of course pre-order your copy on Amazon. Or for a bit more fun, get a signed and dedicated copy organised with Robin and Bridie here.

Here’s a sneak preview of the cover and our headbands. It’s all in the detail!