SALLY CHAPMAN
Who are you?
mother/ wife. Pattern designer/dog lover/
Were you creative as a child?
Very. As I have ADHD, I was impossible as a child, but drawing gave me a creative outlet. With a pencil in my hand the world around me disappeared (much to everyone’s relief).
When did you realise you had a passion for prints and fabrics?
Early on. Once I started working, I would buy offcuts of fabrics and use them at home. The best was the annual sales and to pick up exquisite offcuts – ideal for cushions.
What or who inspires you at the moment and why?
Piero Fornasetti. He was a brilliant artist/sculptor /interior designer. His simple line work and his humour in his designs appeal to my quirky side. Luckily his family have carried through his work in the 21st century.
What is the last décor object you bought?
A little terracotta horse from Pezula Interiors — looks beautiful on a table and adds to the equestrian theme in the revamped TV room.
What is on your coffee table at the moment?
A glass bowl of camellias picked on my Sunday walk, a few décor and fashion coffee-table books, the little terra cotta horse and two white beaded bowls.
Polo ponies. I was commissioned by Val de Vie to create a print for their new offices and boardrooms and designed two new equestrian wallpaper and fabrics incorporating their logos into them and these are now part of my equine range.
What inspired your last collection?
Describe yourself in five words.
Crazy, creative, compulsive, compassionate and connected.
What is the one thing you can’t live without?
My three whippets — also my welcoming committee on returning home, my walking companions and winter lap warmers.
What do you collect and why?
Books, especially decor, architectural and art, I get so much inspiration and ideas from paging through them — Andrew Martin’s Design Review book is a must every year. I was a compulsive reader from a young age, and still am.
What do you love most about your work?
The ability to lose myself onto paper. As all my designs are hand drawn, I like to play with images adding to or overlaying them until a pattern or design emerges. A collection where horse heads become flowers or Acapulco chairs become sea shells and so on.