AT HOME WITHMATTHEW WILLIAMSON

/
/
Sarah Bailey,-Writer

Damian Russell - Photographer   Alyce Taylor - Stylist

As the fashion-turned-interior designer launches his new homeware collection for John Lewis, he opens the doors of his colour-drenched London home

Matthew Williamson’s flair for bold, decorative interiors was honed during his career as a fashion designer. ‘In some ways, I see my career in fashion as training to be an interior designer,’ says Williamson, who, in the early 2000s, was at the beating heart of the British creative scene, along with his friends and muses Sienna Miller and Jade Jagger.

Inside his elegantly vibrant north London home, the ornate and the contemporary are combined in perfectly mismatched harmony throughout the ground-floor Victorian apartment. This signature aesthetic – one that the designer tags ‘rustic decadence’ – is also threaded through his eye-catching new homeware collection for John Lewis. ‘I like you to walk into a room and your eyes to dart around like a firefly,’ he says. ‘I always want my work to have an element of joy. It’s meant to make you feel better in some small shape or form. These are very optimistic pieces that are meant to elevate the everyday.’

At Home with Matthew Williamson
At Home with Matthew Williamson
The joy of colourMatthew is renowned for his vibrant palette. The fondant-pink hallway walls of his apartment, set off by zinging minty-green skirtings, are as uncompromisingly bold as you might expect. ‘I love to use warm and cool colours together,’ he explains.

Walk into the expansive, light-filled living room and there is an instant mood change. Here, the walls are drenched in a softer tone of dusky pinkish brick. ‘I think of this pink as a neutral. It’s sort of my beige or grey,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to live in grey or beige, but at the same time I want a backdrop for accessories and furniture that can be a little more jewel-toned.’

This love affair with colour and pattern is rooted in Matthew’s Mancunian childhood, when helping his receptionist mother choose her outfits for work was a cherished ritual: ‘She introduced me to the idea that fashion could be mood-boosting and lift the spirits of those around you.’ Incidentally, his mother was also a fiercely house-proud John Lewis customer (Matthew specifically recalls ‘a pine dining table that was saved up for, for months on end’) and this deep-rooted emotional connection with the store brings resonance to his new collection: ‘Totally a passion project.’ 

At Home with Matthew Williamson

I always want my work to have an element of joy. It’s meant to make you feel better in some small shape or form

Matthew Williamson
At Home with Matthew Williamson
A natural celebrationFor his John Lewis collection, Williamson has consciously chosen to skew the mood towards the rustic, celebrating the British countryside and the splendour of nature on our doorstep. A majestic ‘star-lit sky at night’ print looks tranquil deployed across bedlinen, while a glorious botanical textile pattern (another bedding design) is inspired by seeds and leaves on a woodland floor.

His aim was to create uncompromising pieces (‘the lamp I would want, the cushion I would want’) that work in different environments. The signature peacock velvet cushion distils his aesthetic in one show-stopping wow: it’s designed both as a standalone statement piece to inject a minimalist space with a visual pop and, for the maximalists out there, can be piled high in mismatching stacks.

At Home with Matthew Williamson
At Home with Matthew Williamson
Mirror, mirror… These days, Williamson shuttles back and forth between London and the family home in Mallorca, where he spends most of his time with his partner Joseph and their daughter Skye, six. She is the muse behind one of his favourite pieces in the collection, the Twiggy Mirror, inspired by the sticks she likes to collect and store in her treasure box. Well, that and a Moroccan red lacquer furniture set that Matthew installed in his garden in Mallorca, ‘which, in the washing machine of my brain, came out as that mirror,’ he laughs.

The unexpected mix of sweet, fairytale woodsiness and lacquered high glam sounds like an impossible visual cocktail, but it works. In fact, the Twiggy Mirror is rather like a brooch to put on your wall. And really, who could resist that?

At Home with Matthew Williamson
At Home with Matthew Williamson
Matthew’s home decor masterclassGET RID OF THE GREY‘Grey is a cold colour in my opinion – it’s not the most uplifting shade, generally. Another neutral could be a plaster tone, where there is some essence of red in it.’GROUP OBJECTS WELL‘Think about varying heights and start with the background, then the foreground and finally add in the detail. Pick colours that work in harmony.’GO FULL-ON FOLIAGE'Fill a vase with foliage three – or even six – times the height and volume you think should go in that vase. It will create a massive impact.’LAYER ‘FULL-FAT’ COLOUR AGAINST A NEUTRAL BASE‘If you’re cautious about colour, don’t go all guns blazing – it’s about layers. Start with a neutral base and introduce colour much as you would in fashion, when you add in a bright bag or shoe. A lamp with a print shade can be decorative, or simply add small pieces such as cushions.’ EMBRACE THE MIX‘I love to mix old and new. It’s about finding pieces that are special to you and not being too concerned about them matching perfectly.’

 

Photography: Damian Russell
Styling: Alyce Taylor

As featured in At Home magazine, out in John Lewis and Waitrose stores from 11 April.

Related Articles

pancake ideas
How to enjoy Pancake Day… all day long
Read more
Warm up to winter
Warm up to winter
Read more
Japandi decorating tips
Why we love Japandi design
Read more
More stories