London’s Pimlico Road is becoming an ever-more polished hub of high-end design, furniture, art and antiques, with a growing list of marquee names.
Later this year, Jonathan Anderson’s refreshed JW Anderson brand, now focused on craft and luxe objects for the home, is set to open its first flagship on the street, where other shops include bespoke furniture maker Linley, founded by Princess Margaret’s son David Linley, and Soane Britain, whose owner Lulu Lytle redecorated former prime minister Boris Johnson’s flat in Downing Street.
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Then, there is Rose Uniacke, the hottest interior designer in London whose private and commercial clients include Victoria and David Beckham, Jo Malone London, fashion designer-turned-hotelier Jasper Conran, and Jeff Klein, owner of San Vicente Bungalows. Uniacke designed San Vicente’s West Village outpost, which opened earlier this year, and she’s already at work on a second restaurant at the New York private members’ club.
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Uniacke, who has three shops on Pimlico Road, is a rarity in the design world. Her brand of luxury is rooted in history and the classical world, and she believes that certain colors and works of art and craft — whether they are ancient, modern or anywhere in-between — can “speak” to each other if put together in the right way.
She peppers her conversation with references to Cycladic art, the ceramics of Hans Coper, and the groundbreaking creative work of William Morris and his contemporary Edward William Godwin.
“I love looking at the way antiquities — and all of those early classical forms — inform contemporary or 20th century ceramics and glass making,” says Uniacke, who also collects antique fabrics, and even finds inspiration in old cloth linings.
Her approach to her work is multifaceted and she’s not all cerebral. Uniacke began her career restoring furniture and antiques, and is obsessive about the weight, feel and function of objects.
“I come at everything from a maker point of view. But I’m also interested in function and how something feels when you use it. I suppose I’ve got an oddly democratic approach to making things, and I’ll probably spend as much time on a pair of scissors as I might on a cupboard,” says Uniacke, who designs everything from furniture and lighting to textiles, tableware and cutlery.
It took time to create the right knife handle, she says. “I was trying to get a shape that had a softness and felt natural, something you could hold very comfortably. It needed to be smooth, a little bit rounded, and have a classical, traditional shape, but with a very modern flavor.”
She is also concerned about volumes, how light moves around a room, and looks to create “energy” in a space by positioning objects or paintings in a certain way. “I’m very interested in color combinations, and how things relate to other things. Perhaps I’ll put a soft pink and a yellow together and see what it does. I’m looking for something a little bit magical to happen in those unions,” says Uniacke.
Conran, who counted Princess Diana among his many fashion clients, and who now owns L’Hotel Marrakech and Villa Mabrouka in Morocco and is set to open his first hotel in England, describes Uniacke as a “supremely good editor, and very assured of her own eye. I’ve seen her at home, and at work and there is a sure line of taste running through — and some quirkiness, too. She can mix the baroque with very clean lines. And I am a great fan of her marvelous fabrics.”
Last November, Victoria Beckham tapped Uniacke to mark the 10th anniversary of her Dover Street store in London. She ceded all control to the designer, who looks like a supermodel with her long hair and high cheekbones.
Uniacke turned the walls dark green, color-blocked the clothing on rails and draped Beckham’s creations on chairs and sofas as if it were a private home.
“We changed the way the space was lit, brought in a lot of color, texture and fabric to give it a completely different, domestic flavor,” that nods to the grand Georgian-era houses on Dover Street, says Uniacke.
“I wanted to achieve something that was totally enveloping. I also wanted to do something quite playful, so we put a pair of thigh-high boots on the floor next to a Swedish 18th century mirror,” adds Uniacke, with a laugh.
Beckham says she and Uniacke go back a long way. “We worked with her on a few of our houses. She has exquisite taste, and she’s a good, kind person — and a great mom, too,” says Beckham.
Uniacke, a mother of five, is married to the British film producer David Heyman, the man behind the “Harry Potter” films, and the future James Bond movie franchise.
Uniacke says she likes spaces to be livable, and is happy to reconcile polished interiors with the needs of modern life. She’s adept at hiding tech — like TVs and movie projectors — with sweeping curtains or soft covers, so that rooms can become multitasking spaces.
“I’m not interested in overly precious or overly designed spaces, or in museums of furniture that you can’t use. I like a relaxed feeling, a space where you can do things, like set up a table and put out a sewing machine. And I like a certain lightness in mood, too,” she says.
A sewing machine! How many celebrity designers use a sewing machine? But that’s Uniacke, who’ll stop at nothing to make the magic happen.