House style: Flora Soames

Interior designer Flora Soames set up her consultancy in 2009 and regularly appears in House & Garden’s top 100. She has developed her eye through a lifetime love of collecting furniture and textiles. Her philosophy is all about retaining the essence of a building, adapting the design in a way that is comfortable, stylish and practical, and her schemes stress the value of craftsmanship. Soames has worked on residential and commercial projects in the UK and internationally, and is a consultant for a number of design brands. 

Where do you live?
I live on the Dorset-Wiltshire border, just outside Shaftesbury. I moved here about eight years ago, after my partner died suddenly – I just felt the need to create a new home somewhere different. It’s very rural, but there’s a real sense of community. I met my now-husband here, our children are here, and I run my office from here. It’s an international business, but we don’t have to be in the city. 

What’s the style of your home?
It’s a modern house, which I rent – I know that sounds surprising, given what I do. I’ve learnt a lot in the process: you go about decorating your house in a very different way. It’s as much about the objects you put in there as it is the paint colours on the walls. I call this our “holding pen” – but it’s much bigger and grander than we need. Now there’s a burning desire to move on. I want to plant a tree and see it grow in my own garden.

Do you have a signature design style?
I’m known for a pretty British aesthetic that has its roots in traditional design that’s not too stuffy. But my style can be streamlined, it can be modern. Comfort is at the heart of what I do. I’m heavily influenced by the homes I lived in as a child. My mother was an instinctive homemaker: it came easily to her. And the notion of making a home is central to my work.

Is that the root of your design philosophy?
I think subconsciously it is. That changes as our lives change, though: what you need in your twenties, maybe a bolthole in the city, is very different to what you want later on. Some of my most gratifying jobs have been those where I’m working with a client through various stages of their life: marrying, having their first child, having their fifth child… I see it as a real privilege to be with people at those seminal moments. 

What’s on your personal hit list?
I am an obsessive collector – verging on a hoarder. I’ve been collecting all my life, from fragments of fabrics to chipped china to books. I can’t resist. For me, a collection is anything you choose to take along with you. I love modern British art. If you were to ask what I wanted to collect? Sydney Albertini, Candida Höfer… there’s a long list and I might achieve one of them one day. 

Are there any suppliers or designers you can recommend?
For a long time I was deeply entrenched in the Pimlico Road in London – I’m a huge champion of what a lot of them do. I love Lulu Lytle at Soane. We are both passionate about British craftsmanship. The Decorative Fair, held in Battersea Park in London three times a year, is a great one-stop shop if you’re furnishing a house, but don’t want to adhere to any one look. Then there are those dealers with a great eye: James Graham-Stewart, for instance. Everything is deeply stylish and I trust him implicitly. When you’re getting to a certain level of investment, it’s about curating the right partnerships.

Do you have any original art in your home?
I love the unsung heroes. I collect decorative art, because that’s what my budget allows. I have a portrait of my very old spaniel that has always hung by my bed. Next to it there’s a still life that I bought at the Decorative Fair, and a landscape that was my grandmother’s. I’m lucky that my husband has also collected lovely things. He’s an artist, a ceramicist, so we share that. 

Can you name some key figures who have influenced you?
I published a book last year called The One Day Box, which talks to that collecting thing, and wrote about key women in my life – my grandmothers being two of them. They both had a strong sense of style and how they wanted their homes to look. [Antiques dealer] Robert Kime was also someone with extraordinary taste.

Which projects have you particularly enjoyed working on?
I’ve just done an apartment in The Whiteley, a development by Finchatton in London, which I loved. People associate me with country-house style, so it’s great to have the opportunity to do something more streamlined – the challenge of having five pieces rather than 15, but every one still has a job to do.

And finally, which one object would you save from a fire?
I was given a beautiful starburst mirror by my grandmother that has moved and moved with me, and it tells quite a few stories. That would be an easy grab.

florasoames.com