The Drawer of Things

We hope you are enjoying our new Designer’s Toolbox series as much as we are. Every time we speak to a designer, we come away with a new nugget of wisdom. Take Flawk for instance. Ashley Law – the brains behind the design studio – carries a mini Makita tape measure with her wherever she goes. Recently, ahead of an all-staff meeting, we arrived at the office to find our studio manager had purchased one for each staff member. Expect nothing less than mm-precise floorplans from now on …

Most recently, we shared the tools of creative couple James Plumb. Their book recommendation, The Eyes of the Skin by Juhani Pallasmaa, stood out and is currently perched atop our Drawer of Things. Now a classic of architectural theory, it asks why – when there are five senses – is sight so predominant in architectural culture and design? We took this as a challenge and have tasked ourselves with foregrounding alternate senses in our storytelling. Tune in (now there’s a clue) for more soon …

As well as bulk-buying tape measures, our studio manager organises two much-anticipated staff socials each year. For our recent summer gathering, we met at the family home of Sir Ralph Sadleir – Thomas Cromwell’s fixer and Secretary of State to Henry VIII. Sutton House is one of London’s last remaining Tudor houses and a delight to nose around. This summer, the curators are staging a free exhibition called ‘Lost at Play’. The show explores “500 years of fun and games at Sutton House” by exhibiting the detritus found beneath the floorboards, including a domino, playing cards, chess pieces – and a gaming token carved out of animal bone.

If you are planning a sojourn to Suffolk this summer, we urge you to factor in Stump, a group show by a collective of local creatives “drawn together by their affinity for all-weather picnics, their dogs, their cats, their hens, their wood piles and solitary walks, their lanes and tracks, their cottages and ramshackle bungalows – also by nature and utility, and by the differences in the way they see things.”

Kick-starting the bank holiday weekend with a private view, you’ll find Stump in a 19th-century village hall in Boyton from 28th-30th August. There’s no need to book; simply turn up to marvel at the curation of “slightly strange and primitive rural imaginings.” All works are for sale and include textiles, drawings, sculpture and ceramics. Follow @plank_suffolk2022 for more details and a map.

Summer wouldn’t be the same without a sandy collection of your favourite shells to show for it. Sculptor Jess Wheeler has gone one step further by hand-casting her best finds (gathered from the shoreline near her Dorset studio) in plaster and transforming them into sculptural wall lights. Available as of this month, there are two shapes to choose from: the clam light and the cockle light, both of which faithfully replicate the layered, weathered textures of these sturdy, natural formations.

Last month, we shared our MD’s digital DoT over on the Journal. This month, we thought we’d ask our Principal Appraisal Specialist Hadden White to share what’s in his shopping cart. Hadden has exquisite taste and is happiest appraising some of the most flamboyantly decorated Inigo homes. (Scroll down for a gallery of his current favourite finds.)

We need a pair of easy armchairs that can be moved around the flat – I love these ebonised bamboo chairs, as they are light and the cushions can be swapped out throughout the year.

Another armchair. There are tons of these late Victorian chairs for reasonable prices across eBay – with a bit of TLC and reupholstering, I think this is a nice piece.

I typically collect antique prints and paintings for the walls, but we have also been looking for something for the living room for an age. This early 20th-century tapestry is big enough to fill a wall and can be mounted (as you can see in the pictures). We live in a Victorian flat, so it’s good to lean into a bit of maximalism and align with my Inigo sensibilities.

A friend of mine is a bespoke tailor, and she has a set of these Vanity Fair prints in her studio. My partner is not a fan, but I think they are great!

Lastly, we have been looking for a solid pair of antique bedside tables for a while. I like the Georgian simplicity of these, alongside the bun feet and drawer pulls. Matching pairs are typically hard to come by so I’m waiting for these to come down in price.

Picture credits: ©National Trust Images; © Edvinas Bruzas; © Sue Skeen; © Jess Wheeler Studio