Meet Lauren Kemp
Art lover, fashion stylist and interior obsessor Lauren Kemp is an expert at finding the perfect pairings, whether it’s the perfect jewellery for an outfit or the perfect art to finish off a hallway. We were lucky enough to visit her West London home, a treasure trove of antique finds, vintage paintings and quirky details. Lauren’s interior aesthetic manages to capture the original essence of a house, whilst adding her own unique stamp and colour palette to make it a home.
Thank you for letting us visit your beautiful home - it’s truly stunning. We’d love to know more about your inspiration for the interior design and where you started when planning the look for your home.
I have a passion for fabrics and texture, and find so much inspiration at the Chelsea Harbour design centre. I usually find a curtain or sofa fabric first, and then from that base I will choose the wall colour and other colour details for cushions and rugs. But I’ve also worked the other way around, and bought a painting that has dictated the whole colour scheme of a room, but I think that only works if you’re renovating a room from scratch.
We collect Victorian furniture from the Aesthetic period, so as an initial starting point, that style of furniture dictates a certain ambiance within a room. We love antiquing and spend many weekends visiting antique shops, emporiums and fairs such as Sunbury Antiques, but we also love the French Brocantes and will drag our children to any that we can find whilst on holiday in France.
Mogul Tiger Petworth Dress
Your art collection is so inspiring - who is your favourite artist and why?
I have always been drawn to portraiture, I find the ability of the artist to convey the subject’s emotions or to tell a story, very compelling. On a recent trip to Paris I discovered an Italian painter called Boldini. His paintings have such energy and movement whilst being painterly in style and he uses beautiful soft tones.
What is your best advice for picking art for the home?
It’s important to buy what you love rather than what’s deemed to be fashionable or ‘an investment’ as you have to live with the piece. I like to buy different art forms such as needlepoint, drawings or painted tiles - and I love a bargain, so I'm always hunting around in charity shops too!
Fuschia Cord Gina Dress
As well as having an impressive eye for interiors, you have a background in styling and costume design. What are your top tips for elevating a look?
It’s all in the details - I’ll adorn almost every dress with a belt if I can. I wear short or knee high socks with most dresses - even with heals on a night out.
What trends are you loving at the moment?
We all need to take responsibility for our impact on the planet, and sustainability is a great move for the fashion industry. I'm conscious of buying new clothes that I love and cherish and will wear for years to come. PCP ticks all those boxes for me with the emphasis on traditional craftmanship, and small scale production.
Chatsworth Tilda Dress
Which wardrobe item could you not live without?
As cliched as it sounds, the white shirt is such a timeless classic. I think of myself as having a feminine style, and I wear a lot of vintage dresses, but I love the crisp, modern look of a white shirt - it’s such a versatile item, that I wear masculinely with jeans or high waisted trousers, or tucked into a full skirt.
Geranium Mabel Top and Skirt
