Financial Times Europe - 09.11.2019 - 10.11.2019

2 ★ FTWeekend 9 November/10 November 2019

An 18th-century

architectural

illustration would

look wonderful

Wallpaper should

be anything

but shiny

I’m tempted by shimmery metallic

wallpaper for my dark Edwardian

hallway. Can you recommend an

example or two?

Oh, I am afraid not. Look, I love a shiny

thing. I am mad for a chunk of fool’s

gold or a shimmer curtain (see

previous columns). Wallpaper,

however,has to be matte and almost

chalky — the very opposite of shiny

and shimmery.

It is a different story with paint: I am

a mega-fan of high gloss and lacquered

finishes. In fact, I have been dreaming

of painting a small room silver to look

like aluminium foil. The effect would

be chic in a downstairs bathroom

perhaps, or dressing room. The look

may be easier to achieve with a

wallcovering than with paint, but I am

not sure that wallpaper made to look

like something you wrap your lunch in

is currently widely available.

Back to your conundrum: metallic

wallpapers feel cheap (and not in a

tinfoil kind of way, which is good-

cheap. Do keep up). A lot of

manufacturers produce themto jazz

up their offerings but they do not feel

contemporary to me, only naff.

But I do understand that a dark

hallway can be dispiriting, so how

about a wallpaper mural? I have always

loved the work of Berkshire-based

companySurface View: curating and

remastering fine paintings, drawings

and other imagery in collaboration

with prestigious institutions such as the

National Gallery, the British Library

and Getty Images.

This company turnsfamous

collections ofchinoiseries, landscapes,

florals, vintage maps, textures,

geometrics, art photography and

panoramas into wallpapers, or even

tiles and rollerblinds if you desire. It

custom-prints on high-quality papers

and to your exact measurements,

meaning there is no waste, and you buy

only what you need.

From its Royal Academy of Arts

collection, a John Constable cloudscape

would look wonderful in a hallway,

as would an 18th-century architectural

illustration, such asDesign for a

Nobleman’s Villa: Elevation y John Yennb

(pictured). Or how about something

grand and romantic, such asA View

of Florence from the North Bank of

the Arno y François-Xavier Fabre,b

painted in 1813 and from the

collection of the National Gallery

of Scotland?

If we are thinking of something in

keeping with your hallway, let us

consider its age. After the heaviness

and dark colours of the Victorian era,

Edwardian style was fresh. Decoration

was less formal, lighter and more

feminine. Darker designs were

replaced with pastel colours and airy

florals became popular.

Though not strictly of the Edwardian

period, William Morris’sWillow

Boughs wallpaper (designed in 1887)

was at the vanguard and is one of my

all-time favourites.With its naturalistic

depiction of entwining stems and

leaves in light colours, it could work

nicely. Many of Morris’s wallpaper

designs were based on plants that he

studied. Some of his patterns, such as

Trellis and Garden Tulip, were drawn

from plants in his gardens. Others,

such as Willow Boughs, were inspired

by wild flowers and trees he had

noticed on country walks.

I very much likethe block-printed

version with a duck-egg blue

background: it feels as if it was

designed only yesterday. (This is

one of the design’s original colourways

and can be specially ordered from

Morris & Co on request.)

Another interesting option could

be a design fromAllyson McDermott’s

range of wallpapers. (I keep meaning

to visit the company’s Gloucestershire

studio, which is open to visitors.)

Similar to Surface View, Allyson’s

papers are individually printed

to order using the highest quality

fine art, acid-free Kozo papers

and water-based pigment inks.

Go for a boldchinoiserieto brighten

your hallway, such as Chinese Garden

or Sudeley Castle Chinese. Based on

designs from Allyson’s collection of

authentic 18th and 19th-century

wallpapers, these feel delicate,

contemporary and will fill your

hallway with the magic of an oriental

spring. Who needs metallics when

you can havepeacocks prancing down

your stairs?

Luke answers readers’ questions on design

and stylish living every week. Email him at

[email protected] and follow him

on Instagram @lukeedwardhall

Luke Edward Hall

Readers’ questions

House Home

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House & Home Unlocked

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Go to t.com/newslettersf

Writer’sShed—“ourbaby”saysSurman

— came about when a friend, who had

planned on buying a ready-made shed,

challenged Surman Weston to design a

bespoke structure for the same price.

The practice completed the project for

£35,000, just 20 per cent more than the

ready-made price. Though Surman

says: “We paid ourselves a bare mini-

mum,justsowecouldgetitbuilt.”

The fee was low, but Surman says

the2013project aidoffinmediacover-p

age, winning prizes including the Hack-

ney Design Award nd attracting atten-a

tion beyond the architectural world. It

demonstrated how a bespoke shed anc

be an opportunity to commission inno-

vativeandelegantarchitecture.

Dutch practice Open Kaart recently

converted an existing shed into a

painter’s studio in the Netherlands city

of Woerden for €35,000. Its architect

Pieter Graaff says that for small projects

tailor-madestructuresarecheaperthan

standardones. “Only by using parts of

the existing shed, by a close collabora-

tion with clients and contractor and a

smart solution for installations, a paint-

ing studio way below the price for a new

constructioncouldberealised.”

A 2019 Riba award-winning studio

shed for two artists by CAN Architects

was the result of a sculptor and print-

maker’s similar frustration with “being

pushed around” in the hunt for London

studio space.The artists who commis-

sioned itfirst thought about building

a studio themselves, but their

daughterpersuaded them to “do it

properly”, and the sculptor appreciated

“having another creative person look

at the project with a truly different

perspective”. Architect Mat Barnes,

director of CAN, worked closely with

the artists and incorporated

materials they had salvaged; old

scaffolding poles, for instance, were

transformedintotheroofstructure.

The exuberant design of Lomax Stu-

dio, with itspink window and door, was

born from a desire to “reflect the bold

workoftheartists”,saysBarnes.Council

planners were open to such a striking

design, in part because ou can’t see“y

thebuildingfromapublicstreet”.

Silver’s Pavilion is clad in high-

quality nthracite zinc and accoyaa

wood: “I wanted a sense of wow;

I wanted to feel really proud of it.” He

designed the shed to be a flexible

space: a studio where his wife can paint

andhecansculpt,aswellasaplacetolift

weightsorpractiseyoga.

The seemingly bare interior hides all

sorts of boons: a full-height storage cup-

board conceals a folded table-tennis

table; a sunken bed lies beneath atim-

ber floor; birch plywood wall panels

slide open to reveal a sink and a shower

room. Silver enjoys crossing the garden

to use the Pavilion’s shower: “It’s won-

derful to get out and be in the garden at

thattimeinthemorning.”

The cedar for Writer’s Shed was cho-

sen for the way it “greys down” over

time, helping it tosettle into the garden.

The cork cladding and wildflower roof

of its Cork Study (designed for a seam-

stressandmusiciancouplein2015)help

itnestleintothetiny ardensite.g

Sheds takespace away from a garden

but they oftenimprove use of the

remainingarea. This isapparent with

Continuedfrompage 1

the Enchanted Shed esigned by Aus-d

trian practice Sue Architekten in 2016,

for which a derelict shed was converted

into a summer workspacefor a house in

theViennaWoods.

The appeal of the renovated structure

— painted, insulated and with a large

pane of glassin its front wall — has

spread to the area between the house

and shed, where larch decking and

fruit trees adorned withlights have

madeit“bothcosyandopen”,according

toprojectarchitectChristianAmbos.

JimReed’sappreciationofhisgarden’s

mature weeping cypress and yew trees

inspired the design of a series of sheds

around the trees as part of the archi-

tect’s 2018 Yakisugi House. The four

sheds — clad in charred larch planks (a

Japanese technique known asyakisugi)

— were designed to include a potting

shed, a place to house bikes, tools and,

“most importantly, a small space to get

awayfromthehouse”.

This latter space was meant to be

somewhere Reed could work from

home while escaping the distractions of

his family. “It’s only20 steps through

the garden, but you’re completely on

your own.” Now, however, his teenage

sons make use of its sofa and television

and arepersuading him toturn it into a

gym. Reed does not resent their appro-

priation: far from it. He sees adaptation

and modification as key to the shed’s

success: “As our lifestyle changes over

the years, I have no doubt that there will

beanotheriteration.”

Ceramicist Lubna Chowdhary also

wanted a shedfor working close to

home. “I wanted to be in control of my

own destiny,’ she says, after years of

moving her studio around London

as rents increased. Fifteen years later,

she recalls how moving her studio

to her garden was invaluable while

raising her son; she could “nip down

to the studio between breastfeeds”

when he was a baby. The time saved

by not commuting nd the ability toa

work at any hour of the day meant

she was able to work and be at home

withhimafterschool.

Shehadinitiallyintendedtomakethe

studio-shed in her Streatham garden

herself,but read an interview with the

architect Sir David Adjaye and decided

to see if his practice mighttake it on. “I

thought it might be the sort of project

that would be good for a junior architect

togettheirteethinto.”

Adjayeresponded with interest and —

to keep closer to budget —waived his

design fee. The result was his 2004

Pottery Shed, made for £22,000: a

modernist box with cheap yet elegant

corrugated Onduline roofing and walls

andfloor-to-ceiling windows at either

end: “It looks like it just landed here,”

saysChowdhary.

Chowdhary reflectson how she has

“lived through the studio’s history with

it”, frequently opening it up to admiring

visitors, but she also admits to feeling a

pressure to make the space “look as

good inside as it looks on the outside”.

She even wonders if “perhaps having

such a nice studio inhibits the way you

work,asyou’resoconsciousofnotwant-

ingtomakeamess”.

It is possible to overcome the risk of

having too beautiful a bespoke shed,

however, as the sculptor in CAN’s studio

says: “I damaged the floor in the first

week,sonowIjustdon’tworryaboutit.”

The secret

life of sheds

(Clockwise from

top) Enchanted

Shed y Sueb

Architekten;

Silver & Co’s

Pavilion;

Yakisugi House

by Reed Watts

Architects

Andreas Buchberger; Jason

Taylor; Ben Tynegate and

Reed Watts Architects

Backyard

Painting Studio

by Open Kaart

Rufus de Vries

‘It’s only20 steps

through the garden,

but you’re completely on

your own’

John Yenn’s design from Surface

View— surfaceview.co.uk

NOVEMBER 9 2019 Section:Weekend Time: 11/20196/ - 17:35 User: elizabeth.robinson Page Name:RES2 , Part,Page,Edition:RES , 2, 1