Martin Waller

‘We’re very influenced by fashion—we like change and we’re a bit rebellious; we don’t like what our parents did. Other cities are different: Paris is still heavily influenced by Louis XIV’S designer Charles Le Brun—the French chairs, the gilding, the gold damask. It’s a look that we know and love. Italy is dominated by the contemporary, 20th-century pre- and post-modern aesthetic that is so Milan, it couldn’t come from anywhere else. New York is so symmetrical: precise and beautifully done, but very conservative.

‘We like a bit of randomness, a bit of chaos. We’re a bit anti-authoritarian’

In contrast, we like a bit of randomness, a bit of chaos. We’re a bit anti-authoritarian. I think one of the reasons for our long political stability is that we’ve rebelled in all sorts of other ways. A lot of it is to do with our long history. We’re obsessive shoppers and have been running a trade deficit for more than 300 years as we love to import things from all over the planet and assimilate them to make them our own.

Added to which, London has always been a magnet for immigrants who bring with them skills and expertise. This confluence of influences means it’s almost impossible to define a London look: from Kit Kemp to Kelly hoppen via Taylor howse to Tara Bernerd, each designer has a different aesthetic and yet they all work here because that’s another standout element of design: in Britain, people want to stamp their own personalities on their homes.’