Through their curated selection of considered, high-quality, timeless pieces, independent British homeware brand OKA has slowly but surely become one of our go-to shopping destinations at House & Garden. And it's not just the team that love their pieces either; we frequently spot leading interior designers incorporating OKA furniture and accessories into their schemes across our magazine's pages. So we've done the hard work and rooted through our archive to bring you the OKA pieces most coveted by interior designers. Where items are sadly no longer available, we've done our best to select another piece to achieve a similar look.
Founded in 1999 by Lady Annabel Astor, Sue Jones and Lucinda Waterhouse, OKA has an East-meets-West ethos running through their designs, which is underpinned by a traditional British design sensibility. On sourcing trips across the globe, the brand's founders and designers look to everything from antique Ming pottery to richly patterned Persian rugs for design inspiration, while pieces such as their Stafford dining chair showcase more the British heritage style. With 12 bricks-and-mortar stores across the UK and a well-stocked website displaying their wares, there are several ways to shop OKA. Below, discover a stylish selection of rooms that house pieces from this elevated high street brand.
In the sitting room of Jo Rodgers' Sussex home, the Wallace leather upholstered coffee table takes centre stage. It elegantly sits between a coffee table and an ottoman, with open storage underneath so achieves a lighter look than a traditional ottoman with hidden storage. Use a tray to store items and books as Jo does, which can be whisked away at a moment's notice, for when it's time to put your feet up.
Another OKA coffee table put to stylish use is the Marylebone, in oak and glass, which can be seen below in this Cotswold cottage. The piece strikes a lovely balance between contemporary and traditional, its neutral colour and and humble silhouette fitting unassumingly into the airy scheme, which elsewhere incorporates more ornate detail such as the chinoiserie murals and antique china plates hanging on the walls.
In this incredibly charming cottage on the Bradford Estate with interiors by Emma Ainscough, OKA fur and brass fenders around the fireplace add another layer of pattern and texture to the space, along with the antique slipper chair upholstered in Soane fabric, and the bold checkerboard tiles covering the kitchen walls beyond.
The Rander striped ceramic stool is one of OKA's signature designs. It is available in a few different colourways, though we think the red and white one, reminiscent of a strawberries and cream boiled sweet, is the most iconic. In Alice Palmer's playful and layered London house, the stool finds a smart use as a plant stand for a tall cactus. A versatile piece, it could also be used as spare seating for when guests are over, or as a side table next to a sofa or armchair.
Another of our favourite OKA accessories is the elegant and affordable Grisewood lamp. A pair of them have been placed atop the mantlepiece, emphasising the symmetry of the sitting room in this Regency house in Marylebone, which was decorated by Anahita Rigby.
While the exact banquette chosen by interior designer Lucy Mayers for her small Kensington flat seems to no longer be available, the Radcliffe modular seating range is an excellent alternative. Simply select one corner unit and as many of the armless units as your space requires, to achieve the same asymmetric open-ended look. The price shown below is for two armless units and one corner unit in a blue linen. The deep colour scheme of blues, oranges and reds, accented by patterned soft furnishings, creates a richly opulent scheme in the tiny space.
OKA's Stafford chair, designed by co-founder Annabel Astor, is a beautiful, traditional choice for a dining room, with studded upholstery and available in a range of fabrics. The mustard velvet that Emma Burns selected for this dramatic kitchen in a Wimbledon flat is not currently available, however the leather finish in ‘aged tobacco’ would be ideal for a similarly warm, neutral option.
The Fenghuang ceramic table lamp in the sitting room of this Oxford house by Charlotte Boundy adds a pleasing accent of colour to the otherwise neutral space, and picks out the colour of the patterned cushion that sits on the Howard & Sons armchair.
In the bohemian sitting room of Rixo co-founder Orlagh McCloskey's London house, she has chosen several OKA pieces to decorate the space. The same harlequin patterned rug is not currently being sold, however we have selected the Vanern style for a similarly neutral yet subtly graphic design. A pair of Andromeda cushions sit on the two chairs, while the Contorno cushion cover is very similar to the two cushions that Orlagh has beside the Picasso cushions on her buttery leather sofa.
This spare bedroom with built-in niche bed has a flamboyantly theatrical appearance, and was designed by Beata Heuman. The bedcover is the Fretwork style from OKA, but is sadly no longer available. While not quite the same, the Sheki and Sibylla embroidered throws are delightful choices to add texture to a bed, without being overly loud in their patterns.
In the romantic, pastel-hued sitting room of Greta Bellamacina and Robert Montgomery's Georgian house in Kent, a pink ottoman from OKA is the perfect companion to the similarly rose-tinted sofa, cushions and antique rug. While unfortunately the same design is not currently online, we think the Sheki ottoman, with its blushing botanical print inspired by an antique rug found in a market, would also look right at home in the room. A highly practical piece, an ottoman makes for both a comfy footrest and a surface for displaying books, while concealing a wealth of hidden storage beneath the lid.
Again, sadly the appealing brown OKA rug in this Victorian house in the West Country isn't sold on the website anymore. It grounds the room and echoes the leafy, russet-toned headboards. While much lighter in colour, the Persian-inspired, hand-tufted Homar rug also has bold, botanical decoration across its surface. ‘Traditional but with a twist’ is what the owner was aiming for in their house's interiors, which is also a succinct way of describing the overarching style of OKA's output.
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