K R i S P I N T E R I Ö R : December 2013

Looking for a New York flat online, I stumbled upon an image of this gorgeous spot called 47 Park Avenue -- but it was in London! A happy accident, that was... My jaw just dropped in amazement. I was hooked! I even featured his reception area here. I've had chats with Michael since then…

Kris:Who is 47 Park Avenue?

Michael:That will be me!

K:What is your design background? Is this something you studied, or is it more a personal interest that grew into something big?

M:Ive always had a keen interest in all aspects of design. My mother has stories of me rearranging her furniture as a child and cutting up old clothes to make new for my sister when growing up.

My art teacher said that one day I would end up designing clothes or dressing windows as a career…and because of this, my school sent me for work experience as a window dresser for a store in my home town, this then led to me getting offered a job at the very same place as a window dresser when I left school

I then moved to London at 20 and started dressing windows on Oxford Street. With lots of determination, dedication, and HUGE sacrifice! I ended up working as Art Director for a company that has stores world wide.

Its something Ive never studied! I don't think its something that you can really teach someone…you either have or you don't!

K:What are your influences?

M:Its hard to say what influences me. I never know what or when something is going to turn my way thinking upside down!

K:Do you have designers or artists you admire and/or follow at the moment?

M:Nobody does it better than Ilse Crawford for me at the moment. I LOVE her work! I also admire the work of Faye Toogood, another creative genius!
(More on Faye Toogood: http://krispinterior.blogspot.com/2013/11/toogood-to-miss.html)

K:I notice you have a wide spectrum of styles in your choice of furnishings. Can you share some of your resources?

M:Some of my favourite places to shop are:

French Antique furniture, beds, mirrors, chandeliers, wardrobes, HOME

Newark Antiques & Collectors Fair – IACF

Lincolnshire Antiques and Home Show

Antiques Centre - Antique Furniture & Dealers in the UK

BUT, I never rule anything out. You never know what your going to find and where!

K:Where in your home do you drink your morning coffee?

M:My morning coffee is normally within reception one on the leather sofa, this room gets the morning light and there is enough room for the dogs to sit with me.

K:Do you have a favorite city you like to visit, and why?

PARIS! The architecture, the fashion, the food!

K:When in a flea market, what do you normally gravitate to?

M:Thats the great thing about flea markets…you never know! I've ended buying stuff I never thought I would!

K:What's on your mood board right now?

M:I'm looking at paint colours for the master bed and ensuite ceiling, fabrics for curtains needed within the master bed and i've just ordered samples of the things called brick slips which I want to add to the wall behind the basins and bed + tiles to go under the bath tub.

K:Describe your style.

M:My style is continually evolving. I’m open to all kinds of influences and I’m learning all the time. If I had to pin it down I’d say that a particular English Eclecticism runs through my work. We don’t like things to be too perfect. There has to be an oddity or a strangeness amongst all the tradition.

K:How did you end up with weathered Balinese wood planks in your home?

M:I wanted the home office to feel like a separated space from the staircase and landing area-- a room within a room! We'd just re-shot one of our London location houses for www.shootfactory.co.uk and when looking at the new images of the house. I notice that the home owner had covered a bedroom wall with wooden panels. I started to pull some visual references together and really fell in love with the idea because what this area needed was texture. My home office desk is made up of glass and chrome and the lights above are from a Eastern European factory and the walls need something unexpected and something that was the polar opposite for it to work!

After months and months of searching, driving up and the country. I eventually found a guy that in ports all manor of things and normally supplies interior designers who work on shop fits and restaurants he had just enough for me to cover the area needed.

K:Who's idea was the pink sofa?

M:This is just one of the many sofas that I've always LOVED and have collected lots of visual ref over the years and when I saw that Tom Dixon had worked with George Smith at Shoreditch House in London and used this trad looking sofa in a modern way I was sold.

After adding the wooden panelling to the second reception room and repainting it Farrow and Ball Off Black, I knew that I needed to add some kind of unexpected colour when it came to the choice of sofa, this got me to thinking about what Tom Dixon had done at Shoreditch House in London and how amazing the pink looked up against the black!

K:Which chair in your home do you claim a favorite?

M:Well that has to be the Pink sofa-- its pure luxury!

Sooo blessed to have this exchange with Michael. He has this special touch, utmost taste and sophistication that I have yet to achieve. The wood planks definitely caught my eye at some point because I had intended to do this same effect in my living room, and similarly for the exact reason: to create a room within a room (except I wanted to use wallpaper instead). That was the beginning of my conversations with 47 Park Ave...