Above: Hearst
and Foster
with the store’s
reclaimed flooring
and vegetable-
dyed leathersSPOTLIGHT
Her green thinking further aligns
her with Foster, who has made his
environmental agenda a key tenet of his
practice. Indeed, Foster & Partners is
responsible for the office building dubbed
the most sustainable in the world: the
Bloomberg headquarters in London.
Sustainability has dictated almost
every detail of the boutique. The custom-
built Benchmark furniture has been made
in Hungerford from a London plane tree
that fell in a recent storm in Lincoln. The
floor is reclaimed oak herringbone, from
a military barracks close to the Welsh
border. The lights are on automatic
dimmers. The leather has been dyed
using non-toxic vegetable dyes, and the
curtains are linen rather than cotton.
“Serenity”, rather than “sales”, is the
other S-word that comes up repeatedlyin Hearst and Foster’s hour-long
discourse. “I like this idea of anti-retail,”
says Hearst. “Things that don’t scream
at you are important. Everybody gets
so bombarded in their daily life, it
was essential for me to convey the idea
of coming in, taking a seat, just chilling
out for a second.” “You need calm,”
Foster agrees, describing the shop,
which resembles an exceptionally
elegant powder room, as “neutral but
not bland”. They agree that “visual over-
hyping” is to be avoided.
Serendipity has played its part. Foster
was tickled by the discovery that the
building was designed in the 1800s by
the architect Sir Robert William Edis,
a proponent of aesthetic design with a
passion for organic materials. “Reading
his manifesto, it’s like your manifestoin terms of your mission, sustainability,
natural materials,” Foster remarks to
Hearst. “It’s extraordinary – almost like
fate.” Equally lucky was the acquisition
of a painting by Big Spring, which hangs
on the back wall of the ground floor,
near where Hearst’s handbags are
hidden. It depicts the Native American
chief, a successful horse owner in the
Peigan tribe, making raids, circa 1915.
“I have a connection with horses,” says
Hearst, who could ride almost before
she could walk. “Every period of my life
there have been horses really close by
me.” Underneath the painting is the
bench Foster has sketched, where copies
of the Paris Review will be elegantly
stacked. “If I walked into the shop,
I would like to sit there,” he says. Hearst
nods happily. “It’s perfect.” n14810-19-FOB-HearstandFoster.indd 148 14/08/2019 11:30