Blog | The House Mag

The Reclaimed Tile Company

These vintage encaustic concrete tiles in wonderfully striking designs come from The Reclaimed Tile Company. This family-owned business is sourcing some of the few remaining gems of reclaimed tiles and antique terracotta from across Europe. They carry stock from Spain, Italy and France.

They also sell the tiles in ‘Tapas’ groupings of individual patterned tiles (see image below). No one tile is repeated within one square metre. This random arrangement produces an unusual floor which looks great in conservatories, bars, restaurants and cafes.

Posted 30 January 2013

John Cullen Lighting’s latest project

This recently completed multi-million pound house was built on a vacant plot in Kensington. From the surface it looks like a traditional four storey mews, but it includes a three storey basement concealing a swimming pool and TV cinema. The design brief given to John Cullen for the lighting design was balancing the needs of the traditional architecture of the exterior and above ground floors with its secret subterranean levels which demanded a stronger, more contemporary scheme.

Posted 29 January 2013

Sofa.com’s new Design Lab range

Sofa.com recently launched a collaboration with British print-makers, Thornback and Peel, who have created five exclusive colourways of some of their much-loved designs for the company.

Their designs are inspired by an eclectic mixture of Victoriana, Mrs Beeton’s household management, Mr McGregor’s garden, 17th century microscope imagery of the natural world, Norfolk and Devon.

The partnership marks the second year of sofa.com’s Design Lab initiative, which supports home-grown design talent. Last year, they introduced an eclectic collection of limited edition pieces with Norfolk-based print and textiles experts, St Jude’s.

Armchair from sofa.com

Sunday armchair in Raspberry Jelly and Cake, £1010

Posted 24 January 2013

George Jackson’s early 19th century showroom

George Jackson began creating interior decorative elements around 1780 and is recognised for introducing fibrous plaster into the UK. His company grew into one of the leading manufacturers of composition mouldings and fibrous plasterwork in the world.

These wonderful photographs from their archives show their first showroom, at Rathbone Place, near Oxford Circus in London which they moved into in 1834. At that time the Adam Brothers style of architecture and interior design had been central to ‘the age of elegance’. It is believed that Robert Adam was associated with the introduction of composition as a reproductive material.

Jacksons were soon producing reverse cut hardwood moulds and pressing out the new material in many decorative settings to order. “Compo” as it is colloquially known is a putty-like substance originally introduced as a means of producing enrichments without recourse to the long-established method of wood carving in the late 18th Century.

Later, John Jackson, the founder’s son introduced Fibrous Plaster into the country, setting the scene for a completely new and time saving approach to the production of interior embellishments.

Employees at George Jackson, early 19th century

Posted 21 January 2013

Manuel Canovas’ new 2013 collection

Manuel Canovas’ new 2013 collection takes us on an exotic and joyful journey …

Tropical fruits and figurative floral prints with influences from the Far East, Northern India and the French Caribbean come through in these bold ikats, embroideries, stripes and plains. Fuchsia pink, saffron yellow, turquoise blue and absinthe green are among the rich pigments of this new fabric range, which marks 50 years of exquisite design from the house of Manuel Canovas.

Manuel Canovas

A selection of colourways of Nura 04784 with, in the background: Samira, rose indien 04780/02

Posted 16 January 2013

Soane’s rattan workshop

British furniture company Soane has saved the traditional skill of rattan furniture weaving from extinction by stepping in when one of Britain’s last rattan furniture-making companies, Shire Workshops, went into administration a couple of years ago. The three exceptional craftsmen now weaving rattan for Soane can craft rattan into lamps, tables, screens, chairs, planters with zinc interiors, desks, bookshelves and anything you may dream of – life-size rattan animals are a favourite challenge!

Rattan craftsmen at Soane

To create the frame of each piece they make, rattan is steam-bent around a pattern or “jig” to make it pliable enough to mould into the desired shape. Rattan strips in many different sizes are then wrapped around the framework. This is known as “randing” and is what creates the distinct atmosphere of each piece. The wooden tool in this picture is known as a ‘commander’, and is used to bend canes to construct furniture frames.

Posted 8 January 2013

Index wallpaper

Space Innovation are launching this eye-catching trompe l’oeil ‘Vintage Index’ wallpaper this month. It will be used on their stand at SURFACE DESIGN 2013 in February.

Space Innovation filing box wallpaper

The wallpaper is supplied on 52cm wide x 10 metre rolls at £60 per roll and will be available in three colourways: ‘linen, ‘newsprint’ and ‘vintage’ or can even be custom-coloured.

Posted 6 January 2013

Francois Gilles’ Moroccan textiles

Interior designer Francois Gilles, already well known for his vintage Moroccan rugs, has launched a new range of woven- to-order contemporary Moroccan fabrics. We visited him at home to have a look at the collection…

Textiles from Francois Gilles

His ‘Black Trellis with pom poms’ is used here as a bedspread and the same design with blue pom poms is used on the cushion at the back on the right. The cushion back left is in the ‘Pale Blue Bumble Bee’ design. All these fabrics are woven to order. There are different widths and colourways available. Minimum order is 3 metres. Price and delivery on application.

Posted 17 December 2012