We love seeing Pooky lamps and shades out of the showroom and in people’s homes. Here’s fashion expert and interiors enthusiast Gareth Scourfield on lamps, design and how to create a room with style and personality…
Gareth Scourfield is one of those people who just can’t help spotting stylish things wherever he goes. Indeed, the name of his Instagram account is @stylegazer1 (which is where we discovered he was a Pooky fan) and if you follow it you’ll be treated to a steady flow of beautiful objects, places and people, all expertly photographed. There’s an accent on menswear – unsurprisingly, since Gareth is one of the leading names in men’s fashion magazines, with a CV that includes a fourteen-year stint as Senior Fashion Editor at British Esquire. Now he combines work as a freelance menswear fashion director and stylist with a position as Managing Director of Zoe Bradley Design Ltd (Zoe is a quite remarkable artist who works in paper sculpture. She also happens to be Gareth’s wife).
Both roles take him to all sorts of glamorous places: he’s just back from Sydney where Zoe and her team created this incredible Red Rose Dress and now he’s about to pop off to Madrid for a cover shoot, followed by a commission for Country & Town House magazine and then a Game of Thrones exhibition in November. In amongst all that he’s been styling Mr Darcy himself, Colin Firth, for all his press promotion on Bridget Jones’s Baby. Perhaps it’s understandable then, given all the travel, that Gareth has become increasingly interested in home. The couple recently left London for a Georgian farmhouse in South Wales, and kitting it out with lovely things has helped spark Gareth’s latent passion for interiors. He says: ‘With the move to a much bigger house, my interest in design and interior styles has grown. I’m always looking at furniture, lights, colour schemes, unusual objects in hotel rooms, restaurants, location houses we use on shoots… There are so many great blogs and Instagram accounts out there now to get you inspired, and I've also felt the fashion world and interiors world collide a lot more these days.’
Pooky makes an appearance on Gareth's instagram timeline
Gareth describes his style as ‘vintage mixed with a bit of contemporary’ and says ‘the house is a mixture of Ebay, Etsy and vintage finds at carboots, and of course trawling the internet.’ Luckily for us, Gareth’s trawling turned up Pooky’s lamps and, particularly, lampshades. Like a number of designers, he’s a fan of our ikat shade range and sees the bold colours and patterns as part of a wider trend in interior design.
Pooky's straight empire linen ikat shade in 'heraldic' design - shop here
‘People are getting a lot braver with colour and pattern in the home now and I think the likes of designers like Kit Kemp, especially with her Ham Yard Hotel interiors, has helped realise that <we agree, see our 10 Most Beautiful Hotel Interiors in London>. I think Pooky’s ikat range is pretty unbeatable. Great colours and patterns and they show you how adaptable and versatile they are. ‘That's why I turned to Pooky to revamp some lamps we have had for some time to give them some new life and colour. My wife bought this kestrel base lamp from a car boot, and I was really not impressed with it at first. However, after a brush with some French Annie Sloan grey paint, it was crying out for a bold shade and the green and white Pooky shade was perfect for it. It gets a lot of comments.’
Pooky empire shade in green block printed cotton - shop here
Like us, Gareth sees objects like lamps as forming part of an overall interior scheme. ‘I've found it’s important to stick to no more than three or four colours within a home and build upon these, either with bold contrasts or subtle shades to get a sense of calm. ‘My home office has a lot of blue accents so the blue ceramic lamp <Fingal> and cotton print shade were perfect – and then it helps you build other elements into your room.’
Pooky 'Fingal' ceramic table lamp with temple blue block printed cotton shade.
Indeed, it turns out we share a great deal of Gareth’s philosophy about home style: ‘Interiors are really important. It's the foundation of your style and personality. Just like fashion though, interiors are not for ever and can be constantly tweaked by adding lamps, cushions, pictures and chairs without having to rip up carpets or re-paint walls. ‘It’s all about starting with a good foundation. But creating a good interior is also a lot of fun and doesn't have to be vastly expensive.’ We couldn’t agree more.
Follow Gareth on Instagram at @stylegazer1 and take a look at the wonderful Zoe Bradley website here.
