| Interior design and in-style vogue have been | | | | making their presence felt. Thick embroidered textile |
| intertwined for decades. In this article series called | | | | fabrics are a critical element of the Jacobean - today's |
| "Secrets of Polish and Flair," I examine the meaning of | | | | interior design teams often use these for upholstered |
| flair for interior design professionals today. I reflect on | | | | furniture or curtains, echoing the "tapestry" design style |
| my professional know-how from collaborating with | | | | of ages past. |
| many of London's top interior design mavens. This is | | | | I tell my interior design students to take care with |
| article number two in my series, in which I expose | | | | Jacobean designs because the style does demand |
| historical/timeless design, with special insight into the | | | | heaps of natural light, or otherwise the overall look can |
| Jacobean and Victorian styles. | | | | be slightly drab. This is mostly an issue with more |
| Traditional interior design relies on fabrics, woods and | | | | cramped London flats, and is not a concern for the |
| glassware that echo the fabulousness and | | | | massive castles or manor homes outside London with |
| sumptuousness of days gone by. London interior | | | | their enchanting wall-to-ceiling windows and expansive |
| design professionals will recapitulate the most | | | | acreage. |
| attractive elements from decades long gone, and | | | | By way of comparison, the Victorian interior design |
| masterfully match them up with today's best practices | | | | style is rather more sedate, respectable and |
| and modern materials. Historical interior design projects | | | | unadventurous than the Jacobean. Imagine tiny circular |
| often focus on sophistication, aiming to recreate | | | | tables, often fabric-covered, together with plump |
| spaces in which to luxuriate in splendour and grandeur | | | | buttoned-down chesterfield sofas. It was in Victorian |
| - though sometimes echoing a touch of vulnerability as | | | | times that London first really started to feel like a city - |
| well. | | | | and the result was that the Victorian "designer look" |
| Jacobean styles are a huge hit in massive London | | | | began to incorporate wildlife as a textile scheme, |
| mansions and similar residences that carry major | | | | balancing out the capital's encroaching feel of rapid |
| historical context. When I hear the word "Jacobean" I | | | | industrial growth and mechanisation. If you walk into a |
| immediately think of weighty woods - inkily dyed | | | | London bathroom and see flowers, plants or birdnests |
| mahogany with plenty of varnish is characteristic for | | | | stencilled on the tiles you can be sure that Victorian |
| panels that are often used on walls and for floors. Oak | | | | inspiration was at work somewhere! |
| is commonly seen in the furniture, with a resulting | | | | In my next and final article in "Pulse of the Interior |
| interior design look that calls to mind both vigour and | | | | Design Profession: Secrets of Polish and Flair"; I will |
| resilience. The furniture items are | | | | shift over to another historical style that plays a major |
| comfortably-dimensioned, taking up the space and | | | | role in London's interior design scene - the Georgian. |