The Times Magazine 73nstinctive” is how Matthew Williamson
describes his approach to decorating and
it’s an attitude that’s served him well in a
career that’s spanned several decades in
the world of fashion and interiors. “I’m
not the kind of person to deliberate over
the nuances of 20 shades of blue,” he
says. “If it feels right, I’ll go with it and
if it doesn’t work, I’ll switch it up.” As a
result, his late Victorian flat in northwest
London has a chameleon-like appeal. You
get the sense that its contents have freshly
landed, the product of a creative eye that is
forever tweaking and rearranging.
Since Williamson bought this two-bed,
ground-floor apartment a decade ago, it has,
unsurprisingly, been through its fair share of
iterations. Anchored by a grand sitting room
with an impressive bay window overlooking
the garden and studded with original detail
from cornicing to herringbone flooring, the
space already had great bones. “Its air of
decadence appealed, but it needed decorating,”
says Williamson, who inherited a series ofplain white walls thanks to its previous owner,
an architect. “At first I went for pink and red
in the hallway; then after a while, the walls
transitioned to mint green. I change the look
and feel more than the average person. I see
my home as a kind of laboratory.”
After two decades in fashion, known for
his daring approach to colour and print and
his flair for playful design, Williamson pivoted
into the interiors world. The two disciplines
had, however, always overlapped – early on
in his fashion career, he launched a collection
for the Rug Company, and his eclectic eye
is known for ranging high and low, from
designing capsule ranges for H&M to taking
on the role of creative director at Emilio Pucci.
“‘Fashion can be fast-paced and exciting,
but interior design allows you to engage in a
different way,” he reflects. “You develop an
even more personal relationship with projects.
But both industries boil down to the same
thing: mood boards, designing, colour-
swatching, sampling and experimenting.”
With its Palm Beach-inspired colour pops,‘
I
Home!
From top: the main
bedroom, with Kantha
bedspread, £195, John
Lewis & Partners +
Matthew Williamson;
bay window in the
sitting room