Contemporary Interior Design

• Posted on 24th June 2010 by Nicola Holden

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited, as part of the London Festival of Architecture, to have a look around the Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden, Ms Nicola Clase. The Residence, at 27 Portland Place, London, W1, was designed by Robert and James Adams, and built between 1776 and 1780.

The Adams brothers developed the ‘Adam style’ – an 18th century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture; with walls, ceilings, fireplaces, furniture, fixtures, fittings and carpets all being designed by the Adams as an integrated uniform scheme. Typical of the Adams’ treatment, the ground and first floors of the Residence are taken up with grand reception rooms, designed for fashionable entertaining.

27 Portland Place was acquired on behalf of Sweden in 1921, and has been used as the Ambassador’s Residence since then. During this time it has been extensively refurbished to renovate the historic Adam spaces, but also to achieve a Swedish atmosphere within a UK building. The floors have been over-boarded in pale timber imported from Sweden, and one of the ground floor reception rooms has been fitted out as a library with timber panelling, providing an alternative interior scheme to the painted Adam rooms.

Here are a few pictures I took of the house.

In between talks on Robert Adam and Sir William Chambers (another architect with Swedish connections) we were treated to royal wedding cake to celebrate the wedding between Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling that day!

• Posted in Architecture, Culture, History, Interior Design | 1 Comment

• Posted on 14th June 2010 by Nicola Holden

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have lunch at Raymond Blanc’s fabulous Le Manior aux Quat’Saisons restaurant for my partner’s 40th birthday. The 15th century manor house is set within beautiful gardens – herbaceous beds filled with flowers in blue, white and purple lining the path to the house.

Our lunch started with a glass of champagne in the calmly decorated drawing room. (It’s always good to see what other designers have done, and to get ideas!)

Then it was through to the conservatory for our fabulous five course ‘Menu Classique’ lunch:

Filet de Saumon
(Warm farmed Loch Duart beech smoked salmon, elderflower, radish, yuzu cream, Oscletra caviar)

Risotto aux Legumes
(Risotto of spring vegetables, tomato essence, mascarpone, garden herbs)

Filet de Loup de Mer et Langoustines Grille
(Pan-fried wild Cornish line-caught sea bass fillet, seared wild creel-caught Scottish langoustines, smoked mashed potatoes, star anis jus)

Assiette d’Agneau
(Assiette of Rhug Estate lamb, aubergine caviar, plancha potatoes, roasting juices)

Un Theme sur la Fraise Gariguette
(A theme on Gariguette strawberry)

After lunch we had a walk through the beautiful estate gardens where the herbs and vegetables used in the food are grown organically, and then sat in the sunshine with our books until the rain started and it was time to head back into London again. A very special treat!

• Posted in Food, Interior Design, Travel | Comments Off

• Posted on 04th June 2010 by Nicola Holden

On bank holiday Monday I headed down to Brighton and the coast for the day – an urge to be beside the sea! I love Brighton for many reasons, but my favourite has to be the Royal Pavilion!

The Royal Pavilion was the play house of the Prince Regent (later King George IV). The exterior of the building is lovely enough – designed by the architect John Nash between 1815 and 1822. Its style is inspired by Indian architecture. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t lighting this building to its most spectacular, but here are a few pictures I snapped.

Inside, however, this building is magnificent. The interiors are decorated in the Chinese style. Unfortunately photography is prohibited inside the Pavilion, and so I was one frustrated person looking around. There is so much detail to photograph there, and so much inspiration for me to apply to my interiors!

The first room you enter is the Long Gallery – a reception room for King George’s famous dinner parties. It is richly furnished with a mixture of real and imitation bamboo, and the walls are painted with Chinoiserie compositions.

You are then led into the Banqueting Room, which is one of the most magnificent interiors in the Royal Pavilion. The interior of the Banqueting Room was designed with a shallow dome and canopies to the north and south. The walls were hung with large canvases painted with Chinese domestic scenes. In the centre of the room is a long table which seats around 30 guests. Above this hangs a magnificent chandelier, held in the claws of a silvered dragon and suspended from the apex of the ceiling. This chandelier in nine metres in height and weighs one ton!

Banqueting Room

Other than food, one of George IV’s great passions was music, and this is reflected in the lavishly decorated Music Room. In this extraordinary interior, lit by nine lotus-shaped chandeliers, the King’s own band entertained guests with selections from Handel or Italian opera. The walls are covered in rich red and gold wall paintings, and the domed ceiling is decorated with 26,000 gilded cockleshells.

Music Room

These images of the interior of the Pavilion do not come anywhere close to representing the ‘wow’ factor as you enter these rooms. And there is more – the opulent Saloon, the refined and dignified Galleries, the Great Kitchen (where menus of up to 60 dishes were prepared), and the King’s Apartments. I would definitely recommend a visit to the Royal Pavilion if you can!

• Posted in Architecture, Culture, History, Interior Design, Museums | 1 Comment