PROFILE: LOUISA MAYBURY
Janet Gleeson meets the textiles and art dealer
Louisa Maybury’s long-lived fascination for exotic artefacts began when she took a casual job at Oasis in the 1970s. She had completed an art foundation course, then trained as a teacher in Oxford, and saw the job as a temporary way to make ends meet while she searched for a permanent teaching post. ‘In those days you didn’t see things from India or Bali or Peru or China. I loved the things Oasis sold and I !"ed in, so I forgot about teaching and stayed.’
As the shop expanded, Louisa’s role grew. In 1977, she was dispatched to India to oversee the production of block-printed clothing. ‘ Being half Pakistani and having been brought up with no access to my cultural background, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.’ Even so, India had yet to adapt to the demands of the Western export market. ‘Jaipur was a wild frontier. We’d go out in the desert to ful ! l an order for 8,000 dippy hemmed skirts and ! nd three ladies in huts with primitive machinery.’
The following year, Louisa moved to Delhi, sourcing homewares and jewellery, supervising garment production, and travelling to Kashmir, Haryana and elsewhere. She stayed with Oasis on her return to the UK, helping to open a further
30 stores. Ten years later she started her own business. ‘I designed and wholesaled jewellery, mainly made in the Philippines, selling to Next, M& S, Phase Eight and Liberty, as well as international clients. The appeal for me was working with natural materials such as stone, leather, bone, wood, shell, and seeing the incredible cra !smanship of the artisans.’
Always interested in interiors, Louisa developed a range of wall tiles made from mother of pearl. ‘ They were exquisite and were used in Abramovich’s yacht, private jets and residential projects, small and large.’ She also sourced antique agricultural implements, which she sold to interior designers. ‘I remember "nding two enormous balls made in solid mahogany. It took ages to work out that they were originally meant for grinding. I also bought columns from sugar cane grinders and made huge disc shapes from them. I loved the pure simplicity of them.’
Louisa’s shop in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, opened 10 years ago, following her divorce. It’s a small shop brimming with vibrancy, colour and texture. ‘I want to create a sense of warmth, where people feel comfortable and see things they can take and add to their own interior,’ she explains. Kilims and woodblock textiles are her stock in trade. She is also developing her own lines of velvet cushions painted with Persianinspired "sh. Alongside these she sells a range of decorative Indian paintings on glass. ‘ There are birds, animals, insects and Mughal portraits. I love them and they look good whether you hang them next to an antique watercolour or an abstract painting.’
Louisa’s home, an old mill in the grounds of the Blenheim estate, is "lled with an eclectic assortment of unexpected treasures: a large mortar "lled with giant shells, a Communist painting bought in Singapore, Ethiopian crosses, Sta #ordshire dogs, votives from South India, and Santos "gures from the Philippines. Sofas are draped with antique suzanis, and furniture is a mélange of date and style. ‘I’m happy to mix – so long as each thing is well- designed and has integrity, it will work.’
Re$ecting on her long career, Louisa is philosophical and optimistic for the future. ‘ I feel I’ve come full circle. In a good, satisfying way, I’m back where I started. I love everything I sell in the shop – you have to have a strong feeling, otherwise you could be selling knickers or potatoes. Since the pandemic, the home has become more important for people. They want their homes to make a statement and, hopefully, I will help them to achieve that.’ louisamaybury.co.uk