House Guest by Country & Town House | Interior Designer Interviews

Born and raised in Vicenza, Italy and then moved to New York City to start her career in design, Manuela Hamilford first cut her teeth at Bergdorf Goodman, working within luxury Italian home furnishings. She gained a flair for interior design and after heading back to London in 2000 she launched her own interior design studio, Hamilford Design. Manuela has created many beautiful projects over the last twelve years, noting a change in how children’s bedrooms are designed - the kids are now in control requesting theatre-style dressing rooms and gaming chairs. Tune in for more.

The two creative dynamos, Annie Selke (chief vision officer and founder of Annie Selke the Massachusetts-based go-to for colourful rugs and bedding) and Kit Kemp, founder of Firmdale Hotels and Kit Kemp design studio who together have launched a new collection of lifestyle designs based on three favourite destinations, London, New York and Barbados.  Having never met, the two were introduced when Annie was asked who she would most like to collaborate with ‘I immediately said Kit Kemp as I am a big fan of her hotels although we’d never met. It happened over Zoom and ‘we spoke the same language,’ she laughs. The collection includes rugs, pillows and bedding in natural jute and wool and also PET (made from plastics), ‘I was a bit sniffy at first about recycled material but it’s fantastic,’ says Kit. Designs include Jellyroll, Lily Pad, Eternal Spring and Horseshoe. Tune in for more.  The Kit Kemp Collection for Annie Selke, a collaboration and friendship available at andrewmartin.co.uk and kitkemp.com

My House Guest this week is Guy Oliver, managing director and principal designer at Oliver Laws. We natter about designing luxury hotels as two of Guy’s long-term projects are Dublin’s The Shelbourne and London’s Connaught hotels. Guy joined Oliver Laws after finishing his commission as a Royal Naval Officer and credits the training with being able to work with demanding clients including first boss, David Laws. ‘I was used to dealing with eccentric characters,’ he says, ‘they were no more challenging than the average Admiral, captain, or even my parents’. His work often involves historic or listed buildings and interiors - ‘Finding the subtle interplay between authenticity and taste is the very essence of what we do and are known for’. Tune in for more.

Charlotte Lawson Johnston of Cloth Collective is on a mission to educate consumers on non-toxic fabrics and using sustainable fibres such as linen, silk and hemp. Trained at the New York School of Interior Design, Charlotte now lives between Oxford and Uruguay. She has two daughters and a cow called Leche, which her husband gave as a birthday gift. She is passionate about natural fabrics having been alarmed at the amount of water used and the chemical smell of textile manufacturing when creating her first collection. It kick-started a desire to create fabrics in a more natural, sustainable way. Tune in for more.

Today we are looking back at one of my favourite House Guest podcasts - the dreamy Martyn Lawrence Bullard. One of the most talented and entertaining people i have met, I met up with Martyn in Paris in 2019 to chat about how he conquered the celebrity world to become their go-to interior designer. He relates delicious stories about Cher’s bathroom and working with the Kardashian clan. I’m also delighted to say this is one of the podcasts that you can tune into on British Airways inflight entertainment (click on the Audio section and you’ll find us on board). Enjoy.

Today's House Guest is the guru of interiors - Nina Campbell. Nina was my very first podcast victim and has graciously agreed to chat again to celebrate 50 years in the business. Having started with John Fowler at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, 'I considered myself lucky to be carrying his bags', she says, Nina went on to work for Mark Birley on the interiors of Annabel’s members’ club. They teamed up to open a shop on the Pimlico Road, SW1. Nina explains: 'Eventually Mark got bored, but I continued and moved to Walton Street, SW3. I was a bit tired of interior design at that point but, one day, Anne Heseltine walked into the shop and asked if I could decorate her and Michael’s new house on Chapel Street, SW1. It turned out to be a house in which I had lived as a child. I’ve always been guided by these sorts of things – interference from the Almighty, so to speak. Interior design is a bossy business and if you’re that way inclined and someone asks you to help, you say, ‘Yes.’ Tune in to hear about what Nina has been up to recently and her top tips on decorating a beautiful home.

My House Guest this week is garden designer Richard Miers who will be showcasing a garden next week at Chelsea. 'I've always wanted to do the RHS flower show, it's a bit like Everest for a garden designer,' he explains, 'always there as the ultimate challenge'. The garden is sponsored by Perennials, the gardeners' charity, which inspired Richard's theme of love and nurture. 'I knew i wanted it to be enclosed and sheltered so you get the feeling of being looked after, that's what the charity does, it cares about the horticultural community'. Richard gives an insight into the process of design, and how he is bringing in elements never been seen before at Chelsea. 'It's been an incredibly tense few weeks', he says, 'i've had to up my game'. Tune in for more.

Welcome to the first episode of this new 'How To' series of House Guest where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. 'Rattan makes a statement in an understated way, which is why i think it's so glamorous,' says Louise Roe of Sharland England. In this week's House Guest episode, Louise gives tips on how to decorate with rattan and explains why she fell in love with this most sustainable of materials. A journalist by trade - she has worked with Vogue.com and In-style and is the weekly fashion presenter on This Morning, Louise's love of rattan was inspired by her Argentine grandmother (Sharland was her maiden name) who, 'had great style, was a bit rebellious and occasionally naughty'. Louise loves the nostalgia of rattan, its warmth and colour and explains how to use it in a modern home. 'Going too old-fashioned makes an interior look like a tv set and that's not ideal,' she says. Tune in for more.

Welcome to episode 156 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week's guest is former editor-in-chief of Elle Decoration and dubbed ‘interiors guru’ by The Sunday Times, Michelle Ogundehin, writer, author, brand consultant and tv presenter. Her book, Happy Inside, of which designer Jonathan Adler says:  ‘Prozac, shmozac, Michelle’s book is the only anti-depressant you need – it’s my bible’ has recently launched. She is on our screens next week when the new series of Interior Design Masters starts Weds 9th at 9pm, where guests include Matthew Williamson, Mary Portas and Guy Oliver. Michelle and I chat about filming the new series, how the future of interior design is shaping up and how she believes, along with good food and exercise, environment is the third pillar of wellbeing. Tune in for more.

Welcome to episode 155 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. It’s an exciting year ahead for this week's House Guest, the acclaimed interior and furniture designer Francis Sultana. His first hotel project opens in Capri in July (Hotel La Palma, part of the Oetker Collection) and his had taken on the custodianship of The Hunting Lodge, John Fowler’s gothic mansion in Hampshire – which Nicky Haslam recently vacated. He has no formal training, ‘Growing up in Gozo, I read House & Garden and World of Interiors magazines, and watched a lot of episodes of 80's TV drama Dynasty; I was a sponge for information. I knew I loved houses from a very early age’. He's on the international council for the design museum, is CEO of the David Gill Gallery, the Ambassador of Culture for Malta, and is working on Malta's first contemporary art museum which will open in 2023. Tune in for more...

Welcome to episode 154 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week’s House Guest is Nicky Dobree, a leading interior designer who specialises in luxury ski chalets. She began by transforming her own chalet from its pine cookie cutter style, to one with a big Italian kitchen, big picture frame windows and contemporary furniture, and she is now on her 50th chalet. We chat about how she got into the industry, the difference between a typical house project and a ski chalet, and attention to sustainability when embarking on projects. Tune in for more...

Welcome to episode 153 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week’s House Guest is Jen Bernard, an interior designer and managing director of Bernard Interiors, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. she is reimagining the growing are of high-end residential care and she's a leader in the field, and it's fascinating to hear about the huge potential in the market. We chat about her aim in moving away from the stigma surrounding care homes and its typical institutionalised design; she instead creates an environment which is not only beautiful but appealing. Jen recently completed the Nightingale Development - a block of luxury apartments overlooking Clapham Common - in 2020. Tune in for more...

Welcome to episode 152 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week’s House Guest is the furniture designer and interior decorator, Tim Gosling. Both a highly prominent and eminent figure in the world of interior design, he is known for creatively combining historical and modern techniques to create bespoke designs. Tim has an incredible eye, and is intent on creating pieces that are both timeless and sentimental. A great raconteur, he chats about the significance of colour, his renovation project of his own 57 room French Chateau and even his stint on stage in a pantomime. He fascinatingly reveals that the spectrum of colour has changed and developed in history, and continues to do so, and he recants working with Graphenstone, a carbon neutral paint company, when renovating the Chateau. Tune in for more stories.

Welcome to episode 149 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week's guest: Toby Lorford, who is blowing the cobwebs off antique-buying. ‘Antiques bring history into an interior, softening it’, says Toby Lorford of Lorford’s Antiques and Lorfords Contemporary, who started his first antiques shop in Tetbury, Gloucs in 2003, with a view to creating a new breed of antiques shop and modernising the way antiques are sold. He now has two hangars full of traders and a company that offers a concierge service. Along the way he started his own furniture company, Lorfords Contemporary, thanks to chef Marco Pierre White (it’s a lovely story) and thinks that antique dealers should get together more to sing from the treetops about how it’s the ultimate in recycling. He has big plans for changing the way we shop…. tune in for more.

Welcome to episode 145 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week's guest: interior designer Shalini Misra

Welcome to episode 144 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week's guest: Annoushka Ducas of Annoushka 

Welcome to episode 143 of the House Guest podcast, where Country & Town House Magazine's Interiors Editor Carole Annett chats with experts from the world of interior design and decoration. This week's guest: Ceramist Martha Freud www.marthafreud.com

Our final house guest for 2024 is Shalini Misra, a globally-renowned interior architect, designer and property developer. She chats to Carole Annett about her incredible work, which prioritises sustainability and wellbeing, and discusses how her Indian heritage has shaped her work in interior design.

With Christmas and Thanksgiving coming up, our thoughts turn to entertaining - and who better than Joseph Marini, whose new book, Mastering The Art Of Entertaining, tells you all you need to know to be a thoughtful and authentic host. We catch up with Joseph ahead of the festive season.

This week we're talking house renovation with content creator and Instagram star Millie Mackintosh, who recently renovated a new home for her and her family - during which she collaborated with COAT Paints on colours that symbolised Millie's focus on mindful living.