Q&A With Pippa Paton | Pippa Paton Design

Award winning Pippa Paton Design is an interior design company based in Kingston Bagpuize in Oxfordshire. The company work predominantly on historic and character properties throughout the Cotswolds with a notable focus on gutting and renovating manor houses, transforming them into 21st century properties.

What is particularly special about the way the company works is that the character of the properties are preserved as well as cleverly enhancing historical buildings that works harmoniously with the newly designed contemporary interiors.

We recently caught up with Pippa to find out where her love of interiors began and get some insight into how the company works…

As the founder of Pippa Paton Design, where did your love of interiors begin and what led you to become an interior designer?

I’ve always loved textiles and texture and I’ve collected fabric all of my life.  When I bought my first home I started recovering furniture, designing curtains and ultimately sourcing eclectic bits and pieces to create schemes. I found this a brilliant creative outlet and a great release from my daily life as a Finance Director.

Then, in 2005, I decided to train as an interior designer with the intention of starting my own studio. Pippa Paton Design was founded in 2006.

Your company specialises in renovating, refurbishing and transforming properties for modern living, how do you begin this process?

Firstly, it starts with understanding the client, their hopes, needs and wants. Really understanding not just top-level but a deep interrogation of what this house means for them, what role it plays in their life (quite often it’s a second home) and what does the next 5-10 years hold for them, so the house is future-proofed.

Once we have that understanding and a measured survey, it’s all about spatial planning: creating the spaces and circulation routes this house will need to deliver for that client.

What would you say is a typical day at Pippa Paton Design? (…if there is there such a thing!)

One of the great things about interior design, especially with the wide range of services in addition to interior design we bring to a project (from architecture and planning through to full project oversight and construction management), there is no such thing as a typical day.

But the studio is always busy developing schemes, sourcing new items, suppliers etc or doing the detailed development to implement a scheme so it works perfectly and looks stunning.

What’s the most important thing to you and Scott for the future growth of the company?

Continuing to focus on building our reputation in the Cotswolds by continuing to deliver exceptional projects and continuing to build our team of talented designers, technicians and artisans.

Whilst you seem to undertake most of your projects in the Cotswolds you also work in other areas of the UK, what has been your favourite project location so far and why?

Our real love is the Cotswolds and the exceptional and characterful buildings of the area. Each has its own story and whilst they can be altered and refurbished and updated as they have been through the generations, it is essential that both spatially and aesthetically our work enhances the essence of the buildings rather than detracting from it.

We love that your interior design style really focuses on texture, light, using a neutral colour palette and furniture to create calm, inspiring spaces people want to live in.

Can you share any tips on how you achieve this look?

The buildings we’re lucky enough to work with are frequently made of the oolitic limestone local to the Cotswolds and the soft, buttery colour of the stone with its deeper hues where it has weathered creates the perfect palette to start with.

From there, we focus on colours that enhance the soft stone colours and materials that naturally soften the stone (linens, wools, leathers, timbers etc) and then add interest and focus through including eclectic, often one-off pieces.

So many of our clients opt to incorporate a kitchen into an open plan space along with a dining area and soft seating. Do you have any advice for those looking to create a cohesive design for an open plan space?

The overriding advice for these spaces is great lighting and lighting control. This is what allows the spaces to really deliver on its varied roles from cooking, dining and lounging to the use as the home office, watching TV and a reading space.

Your book ‘Twenty First Century Cotswolds‘ is really inspirational, why did you decide to create it and are you planning on writing another book in the future?

Too often the houses of the Cotswolds seemed to be caught in that time warp where every house had a kind of ‘faux grandeur’, owners had tried to make everything from a two-bedroom cottage to a grade II listed farmhouse into the next stately home with added fenestration and washed-out floral prints.

Clients were wary of whether they could create a home with both the style and the features they wanted in the 21st Century, so I decided to write a book to let people see what is possible with these amazing buildings and how flexible they can be.

Lastly, tell us what’s next for Pippa Paton interior design?

We’re looking forward to 2019 as we have a number of big projects that will come to fruition and some great new ones we’re starting.  Beyond that we hope to see our team grow and we’ll be moving to a bigger studio.

To see the full portfolio or to find out more about Pippa Paton Design visit the website here.

Images: Paul Craig