The real thing

Barbados boasts a rich artistic and design heritage, masked in recent years by big, faceless hotels, but now being brought triumphantly to the fore, says Rosie Paterson

- Rosie Paterson

IN 1966, Oliver Messel (1904-78), one of Britain's foremost stage designers, retreated to the Caribbean island of Barbados following a punishing theatre season. He was three decades into a stellar career that had seen him, among other things, disguise countryside pillboxes as haystacks, castles and cafés in the Second World War. Aged 62 and suffering from recurring arthritis, he would have been forgiven for taking early retirement or, at least, slowing down-but Barbados proved exactly the tonic he needed. He largely remained on the island-and on neighbouring Mustique-until his death 12 years later, designing and creating nine houses on the former and 18 on the latter, in spite of the fact that he had no formal architectural training. One such project, Fustic House, in the Barbadian parish of St Lucy, was described by former COUNTRY LIFE Architectural Editor Jeremy Musson (author of Fustic House & Estate-A Messel Masterpiece) as 'something out of a dream... one of those rare places, which once seen, is never forgotten' (COUNTRY LIFE, January 26, 2011).

Unsurprisingly, Messel's houses often took on theatrical qualities-proscenium arches replaced with open walls, gently curved, giant windows, and bi-fold shuttered doors. They were stage sets in their own right-beautiful to look at and look out from. Neither did the multi-hyphenate artist shy away from colour, inspired as he was by the saturated, tropical hues of the landscapes around him. 'Messel Green'-as it's now known-was its user's trademark, the 'Barbie Pink' of its day, daubed on shutters, ornamental bridges, awnings and woodwork.