On a bright June day, members of The Calico Club travelled to East Sussex to visit a creative duo who are a favourite with many of House & Garden’s Top 100 Interior Designers: Tess Newall and Alfred Newall.
Tess is an accomplished decorative artist, who creates bespoke murals and painted furniture for clients all over the world. She designs and produces her exquisite work with the help of a small team of skilled painters in an ever-growing studio. She is the founder of Pierrot, which specialises in beautifully hand-painted children’s chairs, alongside her namesake brand, which has developed into a thriving business encompassing wallpaper, fabric, hand-painted furniture and decorative objects.
It is very appropriate that Tess has ended up being based a stone’s throw from Charleston, the East Sussex farmhouse that was the country base of Bloomsbury group members, including Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. While Tess’s work has been compared to the work of the Bloomsbury artists, she has developed her own signature style, often characterised by delicate floral and botanical motifs. Having started out in set design, Tess continues to add magical and theatrical touches to interiors. With her characteristic humility, Tess guided Calico Club members through the process of producing her intricately beautiful murals.
Next door to Tess’s studio is the workshop of her husband Alfred, who has been designing and making artfully crafted furniture for more than 10 years. His designs are rooted in his love of historic vernacular furniture, and utilitarian style and proportion. Each piece is lovingly made in the East Sussex workshop using sustainably sourced materials and traditional methods. Alfred can take more than a little credit for the revival in popularity of bobbin furniture, which is reflected in so many of the houses featured in House & Garden in recent years.
Alfred has a large team working with him. Some produce the aforementioned bobbins, some are tasked with assembling the furniture pieces and others are responsible for the careful finishing that each item receives. They are currently working on some reeded consoles, along with an impressively long and grand table for a Scottish project.
After the exclusive behind-the-scenes introduction to Tess and Alfred’s workshop spaces, we were invited to join them at their house. Just minutes away, it is set in an undulating valley surrounded by ancient trees and swaying meadows of tall grass. We arrived to discover a table in the garden laid out with the season’s best food provided by Sophie Ridding of Loam Kitchen, with handwritten menus and flowers from Rose Cotswold Flowers. The Calico Club group sat down to lunch in a wonderfully shaded spot, as the sun beat down through the branches and leaves of the trees above.
After lunch, the members joined Tess for a creative workshop, during which they were able to paint some of her signature designs onto bobbin candlesticks specially made for the event by Alfred.
Membership of The Calico Club starts from as little as £75 a month, and gives instant access to events like this and many more. Membership also includes access to the full catalogue of online talks Conversations with The Calico Club and House & Garden’s online masterclasses How To with House & Garden, an annual subscription to the magazine, and exclusive offers and discounts for your favourite interior shops.
Keep an eye on the calendar for exciting new events and experiences announced weekly.
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