Imagine a space inspired by life experiences, travel, and luxury – and you?ll be somewhere in the midst of design consultant Anouska Anquetil?s work.
Originating from a fashion & marketing background at London College of Fashion, Anouska decided to go back to college to retrain as an Interior Designer. After completing her studies, she went on to work for prestigious design consultancy David Collins in London, and began her involvement in projects including The Fountain Restaurant at Fortnum & Mason and their 1707 Wine Bar. Anouska currently provides trend & design consultancy services through her company Gilt&Gloss, to some of the largest fashion retailers in the US, and in more recent years her expertise has been channelled into developing concepts for world-renowned interior design companies, as well as for her own residential projects.
If you?re a frequenter of Rojo?s cocktail bar in town you may be familiar with her work. Alongside her brother (who co-owns the bar), Anouska came up with the concepts and collected the materials and samples from his ideas of having a red, passionate, and sexy theme for the downstairs bar and delicate fabrics and a luxury high-end style for the restaurant upstairs. Rojo, meaning red in Spanish, is the ultimate bar in terms of a romantic ambiance with a warm winter feeling. Anouska believes that each house or room has a feel, and from walking in and gauging the mood, this ultimately influences her designs.
Anouska recently rescued a residence from an ugly 1980?s renovation (as pictured). The concept for the house was Modern Parisian Vintage She told me she wanted to ?put a very luxury but individual Parisian edge into the bedrooms and then more of a South of France mood in the garden and bathroom to work with the warmth and light.
?I wanted to bring out the personality of the house that had been stripped when it was modernized in the 1980?s. I did this by using a very soft vintage palette of Farrow & Ball colours, by using slightly different tonal shades I managed to put back the three dimensional sense of space and brought out the character of the house. I think it?s very important to work with the spatial, atmospheric and architectural elements of the property and to work with what you have rather than try to make it something it absolutely is not. Therefore each project is completely individual and unique but still with my style blueprint.??
Through travelling to places including Morocco, Rome, Ibiza, Florence, and Paris, she told me ?I love the outdoor living and bright colours which are reflected in the french country kitchen and sub tropical garden of this refurbished house.?.
With inspirations including architecture, the Art Deco period, elements of modernism, extensive travel and designers such as David Collins and Anouska Hampel, Anouska understands the language of design, but more significantly understands the importance of the total design package. ?I am totally inspired by high-end living, and am obsessed with luxury hotels. Through my extensive travels I?ve journeyed to many of the best hotels and this love of luxury from many different cultures is really reflected in my work, although I manage to achieve it on a substantially lower budget!?
This year Anouska is completing a large residential project in London, and hopes to move away from the fashion industry completely to concentrate on this type of work. With strong ties on the island, she is frequently here and I for one, am looking forward to seeing more of her interior work here in Jersey.
