With Their Own Fair Hands

Interior designers can dream up the best furniture, says Arabella Youens

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Interior designers spend their days working out how to make spaces beautiful, efficient and comfortable, so it’s perhaps inevitable that they should create their own fittings. It’s nothing new, of course; Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler has been making bespoke pieces of furniture ever since the company was founded in the 1930s.

In an interior-design manifestation of Plato’s proverb that necessity is the mother of invention, decorator Rosanna Bossom was inspired to start her own collection when trying to resolve a particular design conundrum. ‘Five years ago, I was helping clients re-decorate a large drawing room,’ says Rosanna, whose projects have ranged from Nicholas Coleridge’s new Quinlan Terry-designed folly to the private members’ club 5, Hertford Street, W1. ‘It was dominated by a heavy, chintz ottoman that sat as a distancing obstacle between the two sofas, making any conversation across it almost impossible.’ To address this problem, she came up with her Nicholas Ottoman, which has its central core cut out and replaced with a hard, flat surface on which to place drinks or books. ‘It has transformed the space; people can now comfortably sit on the edge of the ottoman and chat.’

Since designing that piece, Rosanna’s collection has expanded to include a daybed with high upholstered head and sideboards —perfect for fitting into studies that double as spare bedrooms in space-starved London apartments—and skirted tables with smart kick-pleats or deep fringes (020–3691 4552; www.rosannabossom.co.uk). ‘Skirted tables are definitely on their way back. I love them as a way of introducing fabric and softness to a room. And they provide useful extra storage, with a place to hide things underneath.’

'You want to know that the piece will not only look great, but will be built to last'