EMO TIONAL TIES

Interior designer Tara Bernerd on retro bargains, magic creams and a tinted glass obsession

with interior designer Tara Bernerd

YO U.C O. U K When my grandfather Geoffrey passed away, he left me his books. I have many happy childhood memories of visiting him and my grandmother Paula at their house near Sussex. When I was little, my mother Susan would tell me magical stories about butterflies, which have always stayed with me. I designed this for The Rug Company about ten years ago. It still thrills me to see it in people’s homes. This is me aged one with my mother. We’re both honest and direct. Much of my life is spent on planes, so I value the times we share – even when we’re just catching up over a bite

to eat. Before my father [property developer Elliott Bernerd] had an operation for mouth cancer several years ago, he gave me his Rolex. He pulled through, but I haven’t wound it since because I’m superstitious. It permanently says four minutes to six. 12 MARCH 2017 This picture sums up my life philosophy: you can’t have regrets. The artist Harland Miller is a friend – he is seductive and witty. He came for dinner one night and was amused, because he sees this piece quite differently to me. I still prefer my interpretation. ■ I use Charlotte Tilbury’s Magic Cream every morning. I’ve known Charlotte since she first started out as a make-up artist and I am so proud of her success. I adore midcentury furniture sold by the auctioneer Phillips, but it is often beyond my budget. When I found this Italian piece for under £200 in Retrouvius, a salvage shop in London’s Kensal Green, I had to have it. My love of tinted glass began as a child when my mother would give me small perfume bottles. By the time I was a teenager, my dressing table was full of them. I now collect Murano glass instead. I like angular pieces in blues and greys. My father gave these Boucheron bracelets to my mother when they got married. She passed them down to me as a present many years later. They are now divorced, but the bracelets still conjure up an era of elegance and romance for me. Tara’s book Tara Bernerd: Place is published by Rizzoli International Publications, price £42.50*