By Alice Meets Pandora Sykes
By Alice Chats with Pandora Sykes, Journalist broadcaster and author of How Do We Know We're Doing It Right? She discusses her weakness for mid-century pieces, and where she finds her inspiration for the home...
Name: Pandora Sykes
Job Title: Journalist and broadcaster
Is there anything for the home that you collect?
I like to say I collect (but more accurately have a weakness for) mid-century lighting and interesting ceramics, normally vases but I'm open to anything. I am currently spending an inordinate amount of time gazing at Constance Spry vases and Swedish rollakan rugs - I love the way the master weavers like Ingegerd Silow 'signed' their rugs, by weaving their initials onto the corner of the rug.
What is your most treasured piece of furniture/homeware?
Furniture, it would probably be my bed, which has Pierre Frey's Lasso fabric cantering across it, or the 2 metre long gilt mirror we have hanging in our kitchen that we bought from a closing down sale on Portobello Road for a couple of hundred pounds. My favourite piece of homeware is my Cristaseya vase, which I bought from New York when I was pregnant with my daughter, and I have happy memories of finding one, as I'd been hunting for a while.
Where do you go for home inspiration?
Old issues of House & Garden, vintage sellers like By-Alice and Tat London and newsletters like Pieces and the Pinterior... people who have an eye for history, colour and style, not just what's trendy at the moment. I also love Beata Heuman's new book, Every Room Should Sing, which has a gorgeous humanist take on interiors.
What do you feel makes a house a home?
Thoughtful textiles and trinkets - although I'm averse to clutter!
Favourite By Alice product/products?
Your new Lady Valentine table, your handblown Italian glasses and your wonderful hand embroidered pillowcases.
What projects are you currently working on?
The Missing Season 2 starts on March 29th, and How Do We Know We're Doing It Right? comes out in paperback on 13th May.