MY LIFE IN TEN Textile designer Susan Deliss on what is important to her
THE TEXTILE DESIGNER AND DECORATOR ON WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO HER
1. American decorator Bill Willis is a design hero of mine for the way he revived Moroccan craftsmanship from the 1960s onwards, creating sumptuous interiors for clients including the Rothschilds and Yves St Laurent.
2. A simple fabric I love and use a lot is Donatello from Nicholas Herbert. It’s very adaptable to different interior styles.
3. My design advice is to avoid the trend for decorating rooms in harsh conflicting colours. It’s fine for Instagram but not for living with.
4. One small luxury I can’t do without is soap from Santa Maria Novella.
5. Cutter Brooks in Stow-on-the-wold is the shop I visit for a treat. The interior is exquisite, as is its beautifully curated stock.
6. Isabella Worsley is a young interior designer whose work I’ve noted. Her designs combine classic formality with a contemporary spin.
7. My house is full of things I treasure for their stories, such as the porcelain mugs Kit Kemp gave me, decorated with mythical creatures.
8. I’ve just enjoyed reading The Last Swan by Marella Agnelli (Rizzoli) about the extraordinary interiors Marella created with money no object.
9. Jervaulx, the ruined Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire, fulfils the role of much-loved garden for my family. Privately owned but open to the public, we love the peace of walking among the ruins in this magical place.
10. One building I’d love to own is Bussy-rabutin, a small chateau in Burgundy. No one lives there but it’s open to the public. We often take friends there and they all want to own it as well.