PATTERN IS MY THING
Lucy Tiffney, 53, artist and textile designer (pictured with husband Tiff, 56, sons Leo, 21 and Frank, 18)
“I am full of contradictions,” Tiffney says, “and it’s the same with my home. I love clashing combinations, and although it might look like a riot, it’s actually a very considered approach. For me, colour is fundamental. It makes people smile.”
Her family home in Essex is a pick ’n’ mix of everything. And then some. With her own flamboyant wallpaper designs as a backdrop, each room is accessorised to the max with riches collected over the years. “My mum suggested I start a collection. At first it was hat pins – goodness knows what happened to them – then I moved on to Cornish pottery, then tin toys, and so it went on.
“There’s something so enjoyable about the search and then putting the booty all together in some kind of display. During these past hard months, fiddling around with interiors has been a wonderful distraction too. Pattern is my thing. I adore the way it adds depth to a room, and you can introduce new layers with rugs and wallpaper.”
Nature acts as a crucial inspiration in Tiffney’s designs. Oversized florals adorn her work, and her country garden, with its emerald euphorbias and scarlet geraniums, stimulates the creative process. “While I love the natural world and botanicals are my thing,” she admits, “I can get my inspiration from literally a trillion sources.
“I look to artists like Matisse and Paul Klee, but I’ll also rummage through a pile of vintage textiles searching for ideas. Even something as mundane as the design on a sweet wrapper is enough to get me painting.”