Urban chic

When an interior designer decided to move from chic Highbury to inner-city Shoreditch, his style took a radical turn, as Jane Edwards discovered FOUR years ago, Paul Brewster, who runs a fashion textile business, and interior designer Shaun Clarkson, decided they wanted a complete change from their Highbury mews house. "It just felt too residential in the end, we wanted to be urban, not suburban," says Clarkson.

They found what they wanted in Shore-ditch, at the time an area of undesirable office blocks and rundown real estate. "We liked it because it had an anonymous feel, it's gritty and - urban," says Brewster. "We were looking for a space where we could live and work." And Brewster's business is located just a few minutes away.

As they own a redbrick cottage in Norfolk, where Brewster has been able to design with suitable amounts of chintz and roses, Clark-son, with an equal distribution of interests, has had virtually a free rein of their London home - the first floor of which was once a Victorian printing workshop.

"We wanted somewhere where we could live, and I could work, efficiently," says Clark-son, who originally trained in sculpture, and is more than able when it comes to transforming big spaces. His portfolio includes restaurants, bars and clubs such as Denim, Pop, Jerusalem, Tokyo Joe's, 10 Rooms and a new restaurant opening on 16 October in Endell Street, Covent Garden, called Bibo Cibo.

While his tastes veer towards the flamboyant and decorative, Brewster is more restrained. They agreed that keeping the loft simple and uncluttered was the key to living, with a clear physical and psychological divide between Shaun's compact alcove office and the open-plan domestic area. However, touches of frivolity, vibrant colour and decorative detail have been allowed to creep in; noticeably the enormous crystal chandelier in the kitchen, the lush velvet and animal-print upholstery and opulent Indian touches.

In the main vast white space the furniture changes constantly. "We are endlessly getting rid of stuff in auctions and car-boot sales, or lending it out," says Clarkson. Currently the room is dominated by a huge purple velvet sofa, one of Clarkson's designs for a Luton nightclub. It is flanked by two white retro-looking side tables, also designed by Clarkson. The lamps are genuine Seventies, as is the brushed stainless steel, glass and lacquer coffee table bought from Century in Marylebone. A collection of green glasses includes two that "belonged to Granny", says Clarkson; the others were found at car boot sales. The plan is to insert a sunken seating area in the middle of the room to continue the Seventies theme.

Two gold leaf canvases and a decorative vacuum cleaner are reminders of Clarkson's other life as an artist.

In another corner of the space the elegant curves of a chrome and glass Sixties floor lamp define an informal dining area which is also used for business meetings. The brown leather pouffes are Clarkson's design, while on the metal-framed windowsill stand two prototype concrete lamps by Babylon Design, which has offices in the same building.

The kitchen creates a transitional space between the open-plan living room and the private bedroom and bathroom areas successfully merging decorative and functional elements. Indian painted wood panels are two of seven picked up for 10 each in a junk shop. Originally they decorated an Indian restaurant. The lilac Formica work-surfaces are an exact match of the Dulux wall colour.

Fuchsia-pink doors open out onto the first-floor delivery platform. A silver-leafed screen wall shields a direct view into the bedroom beyond and reflects light back into the kitchen.

Access to the bedroom is from either side of the screen, which functions as a velvet padded headboard for the built-in bed. Two brass vases were converted into lamps, and gilt-embroidered cushions continue the Indian theme through from the kitchen.

Opposite, a floor-to-ceiling wall of velvet curtain is a clever way to hide metres of hanging space and storage shelves, demonstrating again that flamboyance and efficiency are not mutually exclusive.

Extracted from London Interiors by Jane Edwards (24.99, Taschen).

Copyright 2000
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