Style now – Homes & Antiques

Our monthly guide to decorative accessories, unique antiques and beautiful textiles that will add character and colour to your home

EDITED BY ROSANNA MORRIS & CAROLINE WHEATER

Seasonal papers

collection of wallpapers by artist Flora Roberts has been released by Hamilton Weston Wallpapers. There are four new designs in several colourways. Peony Garden is an enchanting chinoiserie centred around the peony tree with hollyhocks, pears, apple blossom and magnolia. Autumn celebrates plants going to seed, such as honesty and the skeletal silhouettes of senescing winter ferns and cow parsley. Spring captures Dorset woodlands full of purple violets, primroses and delicate wood anemone, while Cottage Garden is inspired by an allotment where sunflowers, dahlias, foxgloves and nasturtiums grow.

hamiltonweston.com

Decadent designs

This year, Romo celebrates its 120th anniversary and to mark the milestone the brand has launched the Pluma collection of decorative prints, embroideries and wallcoverings. Founder Robert Mould started Romo in 1902, then a small-scale furniture manufacturing business in Nottingham. Now known as The Romo Group, it is run by the founder’s great-grandson, Jonathan Mould, alongside his three children, Emily, Felicity and Jordan. Pluma is a nod to the eclecticism of stately homes swathed in decadent designs from across the world.

romo.com; @romo_fabrics

The right shades

Ginghams, swirls, squiggles and stripes – Hum London handpainted lampshades by sisters Ellie and Hermione Gee tick all the boxes. Team with rattan and ruffled tablecloths.

humlondon.com

Antiques Housekeeping

Rust spots

Clean superficial rust spots on antique steel knives with very fine wire wool or a nylon pot scourer moistened with oil. Protect with a layer of microcrystalline wax

Perfect Pairings

In a delightful partnership, some of Wedgwood’s most daring contemporary designs reimagined from its archives have been translated into fabrics and wallpapers by Clarke & Clarke. The Botanical Wonders collection includes pa erns inspired by Wonderlust, Waterlily, Emerald Forest and Wild Strawberry, gracing mugs, bowls and dinner plates.

clarke-clarke.sandersondesigngroup.com

Rich ticking

Dreamy summer afternoon teas in the garden surrounded by roses and hollyhocks are all the more enchanting with a pink stripe awning, tablecloth and cushions. Susie Watson’s collection of rose stripe cotton designs are £48 per metre. Rose Ivory Stripe tablecloth from £52, ceramics from £22.50.

susiewatsondesigns.co.uk; @susiewatsondesigns

Find a Maker

The people behind the fabulous Bovey Tracey and Cheltenham craft festivals know a thing or two about beautiful handmade objects. Happily, they launched Find A Maker to connect craft lovers with a curated collection of the finest creatives. The website lists a directory of makers, galleries and craft organisations, as well as podcasts and more, while the Instagram account has updates on chats with makers that reveal more about their work.

findamaker.co.uk; @find.amaker

Sunny delights

Comubia, a collection of 18 fabrics and wallpapers, is the second collaboration between Morris & Co and Ben Pentreath. ‘I was keen to develop a range that had a different mood and atmosphere – perhaps sunnier and brighter,’ says Ben. ‘I began, therefore, with a whole new palette – colours that are on my mind at the moment: tangerine, lemon yellow, primrose, soft pinks, blues and bright apple greens.’ As with the first collection, Ben has taken timeless and much-loved classics and cast them in a new light, while also reviving designs from the archives. ‘Of particular interest is the re-release of two large-scale patterns that haven’t been in production for decades – Merton (formerly ‘Eden’), and Woodland Weeds.’

morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com; @wmorrisandco

Inspired textiles

The new fabric collection from interior designer Octavia Dickinson is inspired by vintage textiles, ceramics and things she likes. Felix, for instance, was in uenced by an 18th-century English tile design, while Oscar and Wilf take their cues from Turkish kilims.

octaviadickinson.com; @octaviadickinson

Faded Glamour by the Sea

In her latest book, designer and vintage fashion and interiors a ficionado Pearl Lowe brings her signature romantic decorating style to coastal living. Faded Glamour by the Sea takes the reader inside her 1940s seaside home in East Sussex, which she’s recently renovated, as well as touring other beautiful homes on the coast. She shares how she sources her vintage pieces and antiques, alongside styling ideas and her chosen paints and wallpapers. Other enchanting homes pro led belong to antiques dealers and artists.

CICO Books, £25

Block Party

What could be more charming than beautiful block-printed designs on vintage and antique sheets? Hare’s Tail Printing, run by Speronella Marsh from her home in Shropshire, prints on old sheets that can be used for curtains, blinds or upholstery. Speronella grew up in Rome, and when she moved to the English countryside she realised her passion for gardens and nature. She turned her hand to printing when she acquired her house in Shropshire in 2015 and used her large collection of vintage sheets and fabrics to furnish her home.

harestail.co.uk; @hares_tail_printing

Capture the Castle

In homage to Kate’s Irish heritage, Kate Guinness Design has dreamed up the Denyer bedside table. Neatly proportioned, with crenellations found on many pieces of Irish Georgian furniture, the table is made in Wiltshire and is available in a selection of colours. £1,750.

kateguinness.co.uk; @kateguinnessdesign

WHAT TO SELL NOW

PERSIAN PAINTINGS

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam, Christie’s

Persian miniature painting was a courtly and aristocratic art depicting detailed historical and mythical scenes from Persian Princes to the playful depictions of Qajar girls. It is an art form that was influenced by Chinese art and later, during the 18th and 19th centuries, by European paintings, and is full of joy and vibrant colour that marries well with most interior styles. Persian art was first introduced to Victorian Britain during the Great Exhibition of 1851, where it was highly admired, and agents from the Victoria and Albert Museum were sent out to Iran to buy art for the collection. As their owners will know, such artworks (which are usually extracted from an illustrated manuscript, an art that flourished in the Middle East centuries ago), are great conversation pieces as every painting tells many stories through the minute details and careful placement of figures. Examples can range from a few hundred pounds up to several million.

Two 16th-century illustrations, one, Rustam at Court, taken from a Shahnama of Firdawsi, went for £20,000

while Zulaykha Bids for Yusuf in the Slave Market of Egypt made £11,875.

WHAT TO BUY NOW

EAST ANGLIAN ART

Brett Tryner, Cheffins

Since the time of John Constable, the region of East Anglia has nurtured some prodigious artistic talent. In the early 20th century two well-known artists’ colonies set up house in Great Bard field in Essex and Benton End in Suffolk and the roll call of artists involved includes Eric Ravilious, Tirzah Garwood (the wife of Eric Ravilious), Edward Bawden, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Cedric Morris, John Nash, Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling. In our regular Art & Design sales we often sell the work of lesser-known comparatively affordable and which may pay dividends in future. Look out for prints, paintings and drawings by Gwen Raverat, Joan Warburton, Lucy Harwood, John Aldridge and Allan Walton. Another name to watch for is John Bellany, an abstract artist who lived in Saffron Walden from 1990 until his death in 2013 – we recently sold a limited-edition print of The Fright for £414.

a John Bellany limited-edition print of The Fright sold for £414

Tessa Newcomb’s Garden Dream made £465 at auction – **both at Cheffins**

Red, white and blue

This classic combination never fails to please. Here are a few of our favourite designs in fabric and wallpaper

Fabric

1 Great Morocco Blue Red on Oyster fabric, £265 per m, Bennison Fabrics 2 Felix fabric in Red, £170 per m, Octavia Dickinson 3 Trees (Wedgwood Red) Oyster linen, £115 per m, Parker & Jules 4 Crinkle Oyster linen in Raspberry by Jessica Osborne, £130 per m, The Fabric Collective

Wallpaper

5 Marigold wallpaper in Navy, £99 per roll, Morris & Co 6 Chintamani – White, Red & Blue wallpaper, £162 per roll, Ottoline 7 Sharanshar wallpaper in Red, £110 per roll, Charlotte Gaisford 8 Wild Daisy wallpaper in Blue, £120 per roll, Susie Atkinson

9 Jaipur Flower wallpaper in Ruby, £165 per roll, Dado Atelier

Pattern Repeat

10 Diamond Flower wallpaper in Red, £95 per roll, Charlotte Gaisford 11 Cushions and cube in Indus Stripe in Cobalt Blue, by Jane Churchill, £75 per m, Colefax and Fowler 12 Velours Moorea in Ecarlate and Velours Tosca in Corail by Manuel Canovas, both £120 per m, Colefax and Fowler 13 Floral Ogee wallpaper in Madder, £138 per roll, Dado Atelier 14 Headboards in Wild Fern in Soft Cornflower, Speedwell, £59 per m, and quilts in Lapland Stripe in Soft Cornflower, Cornflower, Damson, Lily Pink, £74 per m, both Vanessa Arbuthnott