The Velvet Hour
Alter Ego is a capsule collection of cut velvets from George Spencer Designs, with a sensuous and tactile feel, and a rich approach to colour. The three fabrics – atmospherically photographed at the John Soane-designed Regency house, Pitzhanger Manor – are theatrical and versatile, with distinctly different characteristics.
‘Queen of Spades’ (pictured top and above centre) draws on George Spencer Designs’ links with the Suffolk silk-weaving house Gainsborough, with a damask-like pattern taken from the archives, while ‘Chess’ (above right) is more mid-20th-century in its approach: its abstract design features a patchwork pattern of irregularly sized geometric shapes, piece-dyed to create interesting colour variations with each shape. Finally there’s ‘Hokey Cokey’, a thick stripe (pictured above left, on foreground chair)
Visit the showroom to see Alter Ego, alongside two new brands to have recently joined the George Spencer Designs stable: Blithfield, the 25-year-old company whose collections include archive designs based on the work of 20th-century artist designer Peggy Angus; and Chelseagem, a London-based design house specialising in characterful and colourful hand-printed linen fabrics.
