The World of Interiors

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The World of Interiors

Editor’s Letter • September 2023

ANTENNAE

What’s in the air this month

Bedside Manna • Sickened by the sight of your current nightstand? David Lipton has just the thing to instantly make you and your boudoir a bit better

Long Johns Solver • These Breton underclothes are a mystery in mauve. Were they mended by a lover to shield her seafaring beau from the Atlantic chill? Did an artist stitch those vivid seams? Marie-France Boyer examines the ins and outs.

Cutting Shapes • Are your wallpapers failing to raise the roof? Perhaps a geometric pattern will get your scheme moving – and be it circle or square, line or step, the perfect form is sure to be dancing somewhere amid this sharp selection. But how to navigate such polygonal polyphony? Let Rose Eaglesfield and Ginny Davies break it down.

No Face Like Home • Over time, culture shifts and tastes change – and so too will your interior’s distinguishing features. If objects that once made you smile now induce a scowl, maybe it’s time to countenance a new image. In roomscapes rich in good looks, David Lipton applies the make-up.

Tart with a Heart • We’ll grant you they’re wincingly sharp and as tough as they come. However, show cooking apples a bit of love and they’ll metamorphose into something else entirely. So how best to pimp up this blousy old fruit and bring out its softer side? Simple, says Daisy Garnett.

Dough Zen • Which pastry dish warrants a puff? Any, really, that matches a baker’s aesthetic (and spiritual) kneads. After all, says Rose Eaglesfield, if the choux fits…

And Did Those Feet?

Guerre-ish in a Good Way • At the end of World War II, Paris’s decorators seemed particularly intent on proclaiming the return to peace loudly – very loudly. And nowhere shows this new verve better than Olivier Quéant’s Maisons de France, an enchantingly escapist tome with page after page of kaleidoscopic colours and clashing patterns. They almost merit a medal for bravery, says Mitchell Owens

Bawdy Politic

A Loom of One’s Own

Network • Clare Holley chooses the best merchandise and events worldwide

VISITOR’S BOOK

HIGH FASHION • In a stripped-back 1960s penthouse perched on top of a Modernist tower block in Antwerp, Pieter Mulier lives his domestic life and designs stylish, sculpted clothes for Alaïa. Earlier this year, the creative director, following label tradition, even hosted a show in his home, with models catwalking the concrete ramps and a select audience watching on benches and beds. In this Brutalist belvedere, with its panoramic views of the port city, Ellie Pithers bagsies front-row seats.

EARLY BIRDS • From the shiny haws that court the dawn chorus to the colour of each cheery cosmos and dahlia, every choice in the East Sussex garden of Perch Hill has been made with daybreak in mind. It’s a good thing the plantswoman who lives here, Sarah Raven, is chipper at all hours: not least since, when she and her husband moved here nearly 30 years ago, the plot’s dismal state required round-the-clock care. Now its broken wings have been mended, though, it’s well worth skipping a lie-in for. Adam Nicolson, the fresh-faced co-owner, rises at cock’s crow to sing its praises.

MOVING PICTURES • For writer-and-photographer duo Barbara and René Stoeltie, life...