Martin Kemp: Words of Wisdom

The project I’m working on now is probably one of my most ambitious to datebecause of its level of detail.I’m buildinga spectacular house in the French Alps, and the client’s brief is to make sure that it is the most beautiful house of its type. It’s a huge chalet — 23,000 square feet — and the family haverequestedthe very best, but also the mostrefined – which is often aboutbeing cautious and holding things back. It’s about creating a sublimely elegant, beautiful home. It has to blend with its surroundings and the architectural style of the neighbouring buildings.

I’m doing a project right now that is a Grade One listed mansion onThe Mall,adjacentto Clarence House.The prestige and finish that’s demanded is extremely high of course.The house at the moment is in very poor condition, because it’s been uncared for and somewhat neglected. The owner wishes to restore it to its original magnificence with a contemporary twist, which will probably come with the furnishings. So we are researching Ionic and Corinthian column details, plaster moulding details, and what is correct for the period of the house. There’s also a hierarchy for the rooms: the ground and first floor would have had a lot more grandeur to them than the second, and so forth.

I don’t think you can tell someone’s personality from the way they decorate their home.Mostof our clients have multiple homes. In the south of France, for example,they’ll enjoywhite billowing curtains andfloralupholstery, whereas in New Yorkwe’ll suggesta dramatic black and greyretreat. InLondon they’ll have a classical mansion, and in Argentina they’ll have a super-futuristic mountain retreat. I think it’s more to do with how you live within those environments as opposed to what those environments necessarily look like. We’re talking about families that are frequently moving. If they’re feeling like they want to be somewhere sunny, they’ll go to the sunny home. And it’s that house that’s soft and elegant and fluffy, and they can kick their slippers off and walk around barefoot in theirpyjamasdrinking tequila and orange juice. Whereas in New York,it’s roll-necksweaters and tweed jackets.

Design is not something where you can draw a line and say it starts here and stops there.It’s a very fluid industry and it’s important to be open-minded.Our clients are individuals askingfor something for a reason. I’m not there to question, I’m there to analyse it, and sometimes I will challenge it, but I wouldn’toftendoubt it. If a clientasks for a black room in Monaco or Saint-Tropez, they want a black room in Monaco or Saint-Tropez. I would never question it though I might enquire about the reasoning. They might say that it reminds them of their youth when they were a New Romantic orGothor something.And you think, that’s a fine reason. It’s about whatstimulates, anddesign is there to respond to that.

One of the reasons I was attracted to Los Angeles was its outlook on life— the people and the way they live, it’s so much more relaxed and open-minded and unrestricted. I first started going there 30 years ago, and my mind was just opened. When you walk around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, you see the most extraordinary architecture that you never see anywhere else, other than Japan, maybe. And you realise it’s possible to live like this and build these places in the heart of sophisticated cities. I would come home to London and think we’re so enveloped in this old historical design, which I respect, but I enjoy that contemporary outlook, too. I found Los Angeles to have a wonderful outlook and be a great stimulant. I always come back from there with a lively mind full of passion. You see such fun things.

Los Angeles is definitely my favourite city design-wise.But outside of that, Prague — you can’t not like Prague — and Seville. I just think it’s very beautiful and elegant, and the colouring of the stone is evocative of the past.

I once had a client who wanted his Lamborghini brought to his bedroom,in an elevator, so he could see it from his bed. He wanted to be able to get into it from his bed and go down and drive off. Another client wanted a bath on his plane, which is crazy because of the water pouring out, so we had to work out a way of doing it. It was done. These requestsmayseem ‘wow’but working with projects like this a lot, it soon becomes taken for granted.

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