Pure Style - Hardcover

Cumberbatch, Jane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 190051804X ISBN 13: 9781900518048

Publisher: Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd, 1996

Synopsis

An interior design book that reflects the vogue for an uncluttered and balanced look.

About this title

Review

Any book that claims to "[reach] beyond the bounds of interior decoration" should be treated with extreme caution. There is a modern puritanism abroad, a kind of mutant fin-de- siècle Mrs. Beetonism that found its first expression in the platitudes of Delia Smith's How to Cook TV series; even Nigella Lawson, who could once be relied upon to cook up monstrosities unworkable outside an Italian deli in W1, now sees fit to tell us How to Eat simple fare in simple surroundings. Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Syle--an entire lifestyle bible in one book--is an even more naked attempt to reduce our home lives to Shaker-like simplicity.

It is irresistible. Chapters on furniture, objects, food and even sleep show how light, colour, scent, flavour and texture work together to create mood. Stripped of fashionable excess, Cumberbatch's interiors, captured in a matter-of-fact style by photographer Henry Bourne, express a new kind of simplicity that has nothing to do with exclusive, elitist 80s minimalism, and everything to do with cotton rugs, stove-top kettles, utilitarian glass jars, "good bread or new potatoes cooked with fresh mint".

But is it doable? Well yes--with one caveat. The Shakers--that religious sect whose form-follows- function furniture and objects are Cumberbatch's silent but pervasive inspiration--were not only master craftsmen; they also abjured having children. What price uncluttered sensual interiors when your kids are throwing Furbie-fuelled consumer tantrums? There is a huge amount of sound advice and good sense in this book--but for pity's sake don't inflict it on the kids. --Simon Ings

Synopsis

A collection of interior design ideas accompanied by advice on colours, fabrics, textures, furniture, decorative objects and lighting. Includes ideas which can be recreated on a low budget and details of how to rejuvenate old pieces of furniture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 190051804X
• ISBN 13: 9781900518048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160