AT AGENT2, WE ARE WELL KNOWN FOR OUR INSATIABLE PASSION FOR FASHION BUT NOT AS WELL KNOWN IS OUR EQUALLY COMPULSIVE LOVE FOR INTERIORS AND GOOD DESIGN.

DESIGNER ABIGAIL AHERN IS CURRENTLY TICKING ALL OF OUR ‘GOOD TASTE’ BOXES WITH HER UNIQUE PALETTE OF MOODY GREYS AND BRIGHT FLASHES OF COLOUR COMBINED WITH AN ABILITY TO TRANSFORM DULL, EVERY DAY FINDS INTO SHOW-STOPPINGLY CHIC ITEMS THAT WOULD LIVEN UP ANY ROOM.

Her book, A Girl’s Guide to Decorating is gracing our coffee table and fills the reader with inspired ideas of how to add touches of glamour to their homes while keeping a modern yet whimsical look.

I got the chance to speak with Abigail, one of design’s edgiest gurus to talk design advice, fashion and inspiration.

What are on the top shelves of your inspiration library right now?

Oodles of books!  Arty books including Marilyn Minter, The Bauhaus & Matisse and interior tomes including The Selby, Dark Nostalgia and A Perfectly Kept House Is The Sign Of A Misspent Life. Oh and back issues, tons of them of different interior mag’s from all over the world.

Fill in the gap, “When I am in my studio I feel…”

When in my studio I feel a squishy contentment.  A bit like the feeling you get after that first sip of wine in the evening.

How do you keep yourself organised? Time management is often one of the biggest obstacles for creative minds. Do you have an agenda book and do you make to-do lists?

Rubbish at time management! I flit from one project to the next and there are often times at the end the day that I have the feeling I have dabbled in everything and accomplished nothing.  I keep to-do lists on my computer, on endless scraps of paper, which I neatly stack up on my desk but that is about as far as it goes.

What’s your favourite part of what you do?

Designing is by far my favourite thing; to design a collection that is getting snapped up all over the world is the hugest buzz and I have become addicted.  I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea. I try and run it past my husband who is none to pleased about the unearthly hour my brain seems to work but I love it.

What is the best advice you have ever received, and what is the one piece of advice you would offer to a young designer?

The best advice: follow your heart and believe in yourself. Living in America taught me to have a much more positive outlook on life and as cheesy as it sounds, a belief that I can create my own destiny and follow my dreams.

The best piece of advice for a young designer would be to travel, to absorb and be influenced and inspired by different cultures and countries.  As a designer your work, your vision continually evolves but in order for it to do so you need to travel.

Do you ever have creative blocks?  How do you combat them when you do?

I do get creative blocks but nothing that a potter around the garden or a run in the park won’t sort out. I just need to free my mind by doing something utterly different.

Your style is now very recognisable.  When working with clients do you influence them or do you bend to their will?

I am incredibly fortunate in that clients that hire me to work with them love my style so there is very little argy bargy. It is a fine line though because as a designer you need to be versatile but at the same time you need to stick to your guns.

The fundamentally important thing is to give your client what they are looking for and at times that could mean changing the current way you think but that’s what makes the job so interesting.  Having said that, if a client came to me wanting a Pawson-esque house then no way Jose!! Assess each project as it comes in and if you don’t think it’s the right one for you its way better not to start than to be popping Prozac and drinking whisky in order to get through the project! Believe me I have been there.

What are they key bits of your signature style that could translate into any home?

Colour, colour and more colour! It’s one of the most transformative things you can do to a space and I overdose on it. If you paint your walls dark and then use some high voltage contrasting ‘brights’ for accessories, flowers and so forth you will turn any room from ordinary to extraordinary and its super easy to do.

Your own boutique is hailed as one of the coolest interior stores around.  Where do you shop for inspiration?

I travel all the time so there are quite a few stores where I shop for inspiration: Merci in Paris, Rosanna Orlandi in Milan and ABC in New York. No matter where I am I always search out the flea markets as they are often at times are the most inspiring.

Are there any designers that you admire or look to for inspiration?

Kelly Wearstler, Jonathan Adler and Ilse Crawford as well as the Turkish designers Autoban are all a constant inspiration.

We love your faux flower collection, get very giddy about your brightly sprayed pieces of furniture and have just fallen in love with your new lighting pieces here at AGENT2. I have picked out the perfect spot for a bulldog lamp already!  I get the impression that if there is not the right accessory for Abigail Ahern that you just make one it yourself.  Can the keen design enthusiast adopt the same principals and what advice would you give them to keep things look more chic than shabby?

A lack of desirable merchandise has indeed influenced me in producing my very own range.

I spend vast amounts of time travelling and seeking out new products and when I just can’t find what I am looking for I produce it myself. Also, I am a huge fan of glamorous interiors that have a certain rock ‘n’ roll vibe.

Spray-painting anything from flea market found tables and chairs and mirrors in the glossiest of hues is a fabulous way of adding glamour.

It’s all about thinking out of the box, blending the odd unusual piece with unexpected finishes be that with colour or texture.

As you probably noticed, we love fashion here at AGENT2.  Are there any fashion designers that influence what you do?

I do love fashion although being so timed starved I have so little time these days so I stick to what I love; Missoni, Stella McCartney, Giles Deacon and vintage.   In Islington where my store is located we have a fabulous selection of vintage clothes stores.

Music plays a big part in our creative process, what would be on your ipod playlist that is inspiring you at the moment?

I am a bit of a creature of habit in the mornings. Radio 4 and NPR from the USA, in the afternoons something like Angus & Julia Stone or Stacey Kent and in the evening Jazz.

What’s next for Abigail?

Next, I am in the process of designing more products, which we are hoping to launch in New York in the summer and Paris in the autumn, as well as designing a 1950s travelling wagon for the most fabulous circus on earth.

www.atelierabigailahern.com

Interview Graham Gartside-Bernier

The legendary British designer (and firm favorite here at AGENT2) has teamed up with Cole & Son to create some of the most elaborate and decadent wallpaper designs that have featured in semi-detacheds for a while. Taking inspiration from her eccentric fashion collections, expect to see wallpapers bursting with pattern, colour and texture.

Launched on 27 September at Focus, this collection won’t be seen on the catwalk or mimicked in high street stores. A truly unique collaboration, purchasing some Vivienne paper is almost as exclusive as getting your hands on her latest fashion pieces. It’s no surprise then that someone with so much talent and eye for design would spread their talents unto something new.

The lady herself has said: “It is good when my ideas get carried over into other artistic media. This collection is a perfect opportunity…to see my ideas from fashion translated into the world of interiors and wallpaper.”

And translate her ideas she has. Some of wallpaper designs are replicas of her most famous and iconic fashion collections from the Squiggle print from the Autumn Winter 81/82 Pirate Collection to Cut-Out Lace print from the Spring Summer 07 I am Expensive Collection, hand-drawn by Vivienne herself.

Most notorious for her forward-thinking designs of British symbolisms, Vivienne’s wallpapers are every bit as patriotic as her clothes. The Union Jack wallpaper is inspired by an antique bleached ship flag; the Striped print is her take on traditional pinstripes of businessmen suits, whilst the Tartan designs have been used many a time in her previous pieces as the quintessential English motif.

Known for taking the simplest of patterns and transforming them into iconic images, over the last 30 years this designer has created fashion movements with her unconventional ideas that have swept the nation and the globe.

Now it seems she’s rather a dab hand at interior design too, creating the most distinctive wallpapers to make your home every bit as bold and alive as her fiery personality and famous flame-red hair.

COLE-AND-SON.COM

Words Natasha Al-Atassi Images Cole & Son