An ultra-sophisticated London apartment by Douglas Mackie
It was, Douglas Mackie admits, a rather wonderful position for any designer to be in when he was presented, in 2023, with a three-bedroom flat in central London and given complete freedom to decorate it as he wished. It must have been slightly daunting, since its busy owners lived abroad but, in fact, any design decisions and object purchasing were approved on WhatsApp – and usually instantaneously. This level of involvement and the fact that they had been his clients over a period of several years meant their trust in him was triumphantly rewarded when Douglas created an interior that bears all the hallmarks of his connoisseurship.
The flat required very little architectural work, leaving Douglas free to focus on decoration. Some designers begin with a painting or carpet for inspiration, but he likes to start with an interesting object. In this case, it was an extraordinary 17th-century Momoyama screen that he found at Sotheby’s in perfect condition. Soon after, he fell in love with an exceptional 20th-century Japanese lacquer cabinet in red, gold and black. Combined with what he describes as ‘ethereally beautiful’ alpaca and linen fabric by George Spencer Designs for curtains, the interior began to take shape.
Douglas has deeply European taste. For part of the year, he lives in France and so the ateliers of Paris are as familiar to him as those in London. From the Galerie Alexandre Biaggi on rue de Seine – whose distinctive pieces he had long wanted to use – he acquired contemporary gilded bronze and alabaster chandeliers by Patrice Dangel for the drawing room and dining room. ‘These began to define the ceilings and the apartment,’ he explains.
Held three times a year, The Decorative Fair in Battersea Park is a regular date in Douglas’s calendar, and he always makes a point of going on the first day in the hope of coming across just the right piece. That year was no exception. Visiting one of his favourite stands, Foster & Gane, run by the mother-and-son team Val and Ed Foster, he found a section of Roman mosaic, which had once been part of a larger floor believed to be from Morocco. He designed a heavy bronze base to hold it securely, transforming it into a coffee table at the centre of the drawing room.
The entrance hall is painted a deep brown – Douglas used colours by the French manufacturer Argile throughout – and furnished simply with two antique tortoiseshell-veneered chairs and a vintage Swedish rug from Nazmiyal in New York. The broad sweep of dark paint brings out details such as the rug’s veining and the elegant curves of the chairs, demonstrating how Douglas treats negative space as carefully as surface.
The colour scheme leads seamlessly through to the drawing room, which is divided from the dining area by pocket doors. Sofas and armchairs are upholstered in George Spencer velvets in rust and green, with cushions in Prelle velvet, which, Douglas explains, is ‘one of my favourite velvets of all time, giving a feel of the 1920s’. Here, his layering of colour and texture is almost musical – velvet, lacquer, bronze – with each note expertly com-posed. A comfortable Svenskt Tenn daybed has been placed in front of the window and as it is low, it does not block the view.
In the dining room, a bespoke eucalyptus table by Simon Orrell Designs is surrounded by custom chairs upholstered in aniline leather, which had previously been in the interior designer’s own flat. The kitchen is similarly stylish yet simple, with an island in Calacatta Oro marble and chairs by Otzi, lit by Nymphenburg porcelain pendants. A vibrant, abstract aquatint by the French artist Max Papart hangs above the chimneypiece.
The colours chosen for the rest of the flat are equally restful: the walls of the three bedrooms are in Osborne & Little’s ‘Kanoko Cork’ wallcovering, featuring cork tiles over metallic grounds that glimmer in hues from mustard to terracotta. A 20th-century Japanese screen hangs over the bed in the main bedroom, which is flanked by bedside tables from Fabrizio Casiraghi. All the linen is from Bruder. There is precision in these rooms: a palette confined yet layered, each surface given space to shine.
As you walk through the space, it feels as though you are seeing the collection of an individual, accumulated over time or on a Grand Tour, rather than the work of a designer. In reality, it is testament to the knowledge and unerring eye of Douglas – and the trust placed in him by the flat’s owners.
Astrid Templier1/7Custom-made dining chairs designed by Douglas, upholstered in aniline leather, complement a bespoke eucalyptus table by Simon Orrell Designs on a mohair rug by Annette Nix. On the wall, a Swedish early-20th-century textile from Foster & Gane hangs behind a lacquered Japanese 19th-century cabinet on which ceramics and glassware are grouped.
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Astrid Templier4/7In the kitchen, porcelain ‘Beta’ pendants from Nymphenburg’s Lightscape collection are suspended over an island in Calacatta Oro marble, with chairs from Otzi. Max Papart’s colourful Indian Summer aquatint is displayed over the chimneypiece
Astrid Templier5/7In the main bedroom, Osborne & Little’s ‘Kanoko Cork’ wallcovering showcases a 20th-century Japanese screen from Grace Tsumugi above the bed and a painting by Étienne Cournault, from Galerie Jacques Lacoste. Fabrizio Casiraghi bedside tables bear lamps from Hervé Van der Straeten.
Astrid Templier6/7In the spare room, an olive-green version of Osborne & Little’s ‘Kanoko Cork’ wallcovering sets off a vintage mirror over the headboard in a Bruder linen. A Tarquin Bilgen lamp brightens a ‘Richter’ bedside table by Julian Chichester
Astrid Templier7/7Douglas, next to a lacquered Japanese 19th-century cabinet sourced from Sotheby’s in New York.
