Many years ago, World of Interiors ( June 2001) featured my first flat in London. Following that, came a call from the American interior designer Michael Smith asking if we could meet. We have been friends ever since because of our mutual love for the English Country house aesthetic. A great working relationship has developed between Jamb and Michael Smith inc using our mantel and lighting designs on many of his projects. I was delighted when he asked me five years ago if Jamb would be the exclusive stockist in the UK and Europe of the Jasper and Templeton fabrics and wallpapers.
Jamb’s Augusta sofa covered in Jasper lemon Silk Crescent fabric.
I am deeply inspired by his work. Michael creates extraordinary interiors. In 2010 he was appointed by President Obama to design the private quarters of the White house and more recently has redesigned the USA embassy in Paris and Madrid (the latter of which we had the great privilege to see when Michael invited us to his wonderful 50th birthday celebrations last year) He has a deep respect for tradition and with his depth of historical knowledge mixes European classicism and American modernism in the finest way I know. His talent is ever flowing and innate, making the most complex design issues appear effortless. His ability to change aesthetic and style is extraordinary, giving his fabric collections a depth and variety beyond all others.
A selection of the Jasper Fabrics
The Jasper collection illustrated above with its traditional English prints, soft stripes and Indiennes is inspired from his personal archive of historic designs and named after one of his beloved dogs. I had a nineteenth century nine foot giraffe which we dressed in Jasper Fabrics for our first advertising photo shoot.
A selection of Jasper Fabrics illustrated on the nineteenth century nine foot Giraffe.
We have housed the collections in the top right and lower floor of the gallery in Pimlico on wings that show the breadth of the collection. There are over one hundred and fifty designs in wonderful natural materials: hemp, cotton, linen, velvet, corduroy and silks. Some of the textured and sumptuous fabrics are illustrated below encased in a George II oak bookcase.
The collection includes sumptuous velvets, silks and corduroys.
The second fabric range, the Templeton fabrics are displayed on the other side of the showroom and are inspired by the great aesthete James Templeton Crocker, who through is inherited wealth was able to fulfil his life long aim to own the most beautiful objects in the world and commissioned the most respected designers of the 1920’s and 30’s. This is beautifully reflected in the range.
Templeton’s San Francisco penthouse was designed by Jean Michael Frank which Vogue magazine in 1929 described as “perhaps the most beautiful in the world” but which unfortunately doesn’t exist anymore.
Michael has a new and exciting collaboration for his Templeton range with the acclaimed artist, painter and illustrator of French and Italian Vogue, Konstantin Kakanias. He has created eight hand drawn designs on cotton, linen and hemp, inspired from his love for nature, memories and his travels.
With so much choice within the collections the possibilities seem endless – there are so many different ways in which the fabrics can be used and beautifully mixed and it gives us great pleasure here at Jamb to sell them.