Collaborations often produce designs that are significantly greater than the sum of their parts. This is true of a new joint venture by Malcolm Russell of vintage store Retro Living and interior designer Anna Burles of Run for the Hills, a creative design house whose interiors include Tivoli – a boutique cinema, bar and café in Bath – Kricket White City and pop-singer Ellie Goulding’s home. The pairing of Russell’s skill in sourcing and restoring vintage furniture with Burles’ eye for fashion-forward fabrics and finishes has resulted in a collection of classic pieces with contemporary edge.
The duo's debut series of armchairs – chosen for their pleasing form and freshly upholstered in fabrics by Linwood or Arley House – should appeal to fans of both art deco and midcentury-modern design. They include a 1930s Czech deco H269 armchair (£1,595) by Jindřich Halabala for UP Závody Brno, and a 1930s beech-framed design (£995), also by Halabala, in Linwood’s electric-blue Palm fabric. Halabala’s H237 chairs (pair, £1,800) – notable for their sweeping bentwood arms and flared legs – are similarly updated with a Linwood parrot print.
Midcentury aficionados will find 1950s bentwood HF11 chairs (pair £1,995) by Karel Kozelka and Antonin Kropacek, updated in Arley House’s Timor Rose Pink 25 fabric, and a 1960s beech-framed armchair (pair £1,800) by Jaroslav Smidek for Ton in a green palm-leaf design.
