Welcome to the new series of the House Guest podcast where C&TH Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration, the people behind the houses and hotels you see in glossy magazines like ours. Enjoy!
How American Entrepreneur Julie Montagu, The Countess Of Sandwich, Is Reshaping History At Mapperton House In Dorset
This week, Carole’s House Guest is Julie Montagu, Countess of Sandwich – the American-born author, entrepreneur and yoga teacher who runs Mapperton, her husband Luke’s family seat in west Dorset. ‘Lunching in London is not even in my vocabulary,’ says Julie. ‘I am a doer.’ Speaking from the Tudor manor house, she talks about rewilding 1,000 acres of the estate, the silk scarf that is funding the restoration of Mapperton’s West Bedroom, her new book, and Stately, her new online members’ club for lovers of Britain’s historic houses, launching on 16 November.
This week, Carole’s House Guests are husband-and-wife architects Max de Rosée and Claire Sá, founders of architecture and interior design studio De Rosée Sá. ‘There is a value in trying to create a little bit of mystery and not revealing everything at once,’ says Max. ‘As you go through and move from space to space, things reveal themselves.’ Speaking from their newest project – a four bedroom apartment at 60 Curzon in Mayfair which they designed for developer Valouran – the pair discuss character-driven interiors, why a little mystery matters, and how to create homes that just feel good.
This week, Carole’s House Guest is Toronto-born, Bath-based designer Sean Symington. ‘I’m definitely a traditionalist with interior design,’ he says. ‘I love antiques, I love traditional interiors, but I’m definitely – maybe it’s my North American roots – a little bit fresher with fabrics, a little bit punchier with the colour.’ Tune in to hear more about his career, his new studio and which design choice he thinks is ‘quite naff’.
This week, Carole’s House Guest is South African-born designer Christian Bense. ‘There is an objectivity to the way we design’, he says. ‘Establishing first what’s best for the home, weaving in what’s best for the client, and then finishing off with a style that’s best for both’. Tune in to hear more about his career, his various projects and what special element of his homeland he would transpose to the UK.
‘You take each area of your home, or your restaurant or your hotel, and you really simply ask yourself: how do I want to feel in this space?,’ says Franky Rousell. ‘And it’s such a powerful thing to do, to really sort of sit with it. You only need two or three words that really embody: what is it that I’m trying to achieve here?’
This weeks, Carole sits down with Franky to discuss her multi-sensory interior design studio, Jolie. Born from her entrepreneurial instincts in her 20s, Jolie was inspired by a drive to make sense of the world through creativity and science. Fascinated by the intersection of human behaviour, design and performance, Franky saw a business that needed more than beautiful spaces. It needed environments that embody brand, spark emotion and deliver results.
This week, we meet Penelope Sonder of art discovery platform NALA. This digital matchmaking service – something that our interiors editor Carole Annett says she’s never seen before – helps to introduce contemporary artists to new audiences, and is aimed at interior designers, collectors and casual buyers. Carole sits down with Penelope to find out more.
We meet Églantine Sicat and Pauline Dellemotte of creative and design practice Uncanny Studio, which challenges conventional thinking and takes clients on a journey of emotions, sensations, and memories. A Franco-British interior design studio, it’s built on a shared belief that spaces should tell stories. The studio’s hospitality and residential projects skilfully blend mid-century elegance with contemporary flair, designed to leave a memory and foster special experiences. Carole sits down with the design duo to find out more.
After a career in the fashion industry working with, amongst others, Ralph Lauren, Laylah Holmes realised her future wasn’t in handbags but somewhere her imagination and creativity could fly.
Her rug business, Holmes Bespoke launched eight years ago and this summer Laylah opened her Chiswick showhouse – a beautiful studio with rugs on the walls, on headboards, seating, in the bathroom and even on a mirror. Carole went along to find out more.
Welcome to a new series of House Guest! This week, Carole sits down with Boura & White co-founders Abi Boura and Katie White in their Hampshire showroom to discuss sofa-buying and British craft.
As a female-led, British business Boura & White pride themselves in considerate craftsmanship, a sustainable approach, and in embracing the ethos of slow interiors and quiet luxury.
