Page 22 - home and garden

N O VEMBER 2015

ED ITO R ’ S LET TER

Included in this month’s issue is our second ‘Living with Art’
special (from page 107), which coincides with a busy time for the
art world, as people flock to London for Frieze, PAD and all sorts
of other exhibitions and auctions. Emily Tobin, the editor, has
packed its pages with insightful interviews with artists and
curators, as well as brilliantly useful tips from those in the know
about framing and displaying art. The Duke of Devonshire gives
us a very personal view on what living with art means to him. We
are transported to Italy with Emily’s evocative description of
sculptor Emily Young’s way of working and Davide Lovatti’s
wonderful photographs of the Tuscan monastery that is now both
her home and studio. There is also a useful guide to what we
should be seeing this month; I’m intrigued to visit Damien Hirst’s
new gallery in south London.
Elsewhere in the issue, we are drawn into the alluring world of
art dealer Robin Katz (from page 91), who is one of the exhibitors
at PAD. And the houses we have chosen all belong to owners with
an interest in art; between pages 178 and 183, the home of an Italian art dealer living and working in
Los Angeles gives further insight into the contemporary art world, of which LA is an important centre.
For those after advice of a different nature, Sally Storey of John Cullen Lighting talks us through
her tricks for making the most of lighting in a small house – using her own home in Chelsea as a case
study (from page 75). In my last house, I meanly left the grids of spotlights that the previous owners
had installed, but in our current house, I heeded the advice of a friend, Zoe Duff Gordon, who had
trained under Sally, and redid the lighting in the main rooms. Every night I am thankful for her
changes; the rooms and their contents come alive in just the right way. I now realise that lighting is
as important, if not more so, than choosing wall colours – especially as the nights draw in.
For escapism, turn to page 192 to see a garden with views of Cap Ferrat. If you went to the RHS
Chelsea Flower Show this year, you will have seen the wonderful garden that the same designer,
James Basson, created for L’Occitane, for which he won a gold medal. This atmospheric French Riviera
garden, with its snaking terraces, hummocky planting and ‘fudgy areas’ of trees and shrubs, has the
same feeling of enhanced nature for which James is fast gaining recognition

Are you an interior designer or architect? Join our online
directory, The List, now at houseandgarden.co.uk/thelist

NICHOLAS SEATON
Fabric background: ‘Jax’ (olive), by Tilton Fenwick for Duralee, cotton, from Simon Playle

20 NOVEMBER 2015 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK