EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS
(In alphabetical order)
PATRICK BATY
Paint
Patrick Baty is an expert in the decoration of historic buildings. His work covers research, paint analysis, colour surveys and technical advice. Projects have ranged from King Henry VIII’s heraldic beasts, Baroque churches, country houses, wartime RAF stations and London social housing estates, to structures such as Tower Bridge and Holborn Viaduct. He also works in the USA. Patrick’s first book is just out. He blogs at -http://patrickbaty.co.uk/blog/.
Edward Bulmer
Paint
Edward has spent 30 years in historic decoration, not generally working for heritage organisations; mainly for private owners and trusts. Nevertheless his work can invariably described as ‘historic decoration’ as these owners, like heritage organisations, aspire to historic integrity in the treatment of their buildings. The single biggest difference is that these houses are lived in and need to be fit for purpose in this sense. Edward’s career has been an exercise in delivering these two needs.
Stephen Calloway
Decoration
Stephen Calloway is an art historian, curator and writer. From 1974-2013 he was a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, specialising in the fine and decorative arts of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century, with particular interest in the history of taste, collecting and interior decoration.
He has curated many exhibitions at the V&A and elsewhere, including Aubrey Beardsley, the centenary show in 1998, Rex Whistler: The Triumph of Fancy (Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, 2006) and The Cult of Beauty, the V&A’s major exhibition on the Aesthetic Movement (2011).
In addition to exhibition projects, he divides his time between writing, lecturing and broadcasting, and is also been called upon as a consultant for period films and the arrangement of real interiors. His books include Twentieth Century Decoration; The Elements of Style; Baroque, Baroque: The Culture of Excess and Traditional Style: How to Recreate the Traditional Period Home. In addition to scholarly articles, he also writes regularly for magazines including The World of Interiors and House and Garden.
ALLYSON MCDERMOTT
Wallpaper
Allyson McDermott is a leading authority on conserving, recreating and hanging historic wallpapers. She was formerly Head of Sotheby’s Conservation Studio, advisor to the National Trust and Chair of the Historic Interiors Group. Allyson draws on many years of experience to identify pigments, papers, varnishes and processes used by the makers historic wallpapers. Her practice offers specialist services including wallpaper design and printing, conservation and restoration of original wallpapers, investigation and research and historic interior design consultancy. Her clients include The National Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, interior designers and architects worldwide. Much of her work is for top properties such as Brighton Pavilion and the Palace of Westminster but she also gains great pleasure from creating decorative wall-coverings for private houses. Her studio has an important archive of designs from 17th to 20th Century, any of which can be recreated to order. She also has a ready-to-hang collection.
HUGH PETTER
Classical Proportions
Hugh Petter is a recognised authority on classical and traditional architecture with a broad range of experience. He works throughout Britain, Italy, the Caribbean, North America and Russia. He has published various articles and essays on architectural subjects and is a visiting tutor to several colleges in the UK and abroad. He was a Vice-Chairman of The Georgian Group.
DR. FRANCES SANDS
THE DRAWINGS OF ROBERT ADAM
Frances Sands is the Curator of Drawings and Books at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, where she has worked since 2010. She is responsible for a collection of 30,000 architectural drawings and 8,000 books ranging from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. She is a specialist cataloguer of architectural drawings with a research interest in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and particularly the work of Robert and James Adam: a subject on which she lectures and publishes widely.
Prior to working at the Soane Museum, Frances studied for a PhD at the University of York. She is a trustee of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.
Annabel Westman
Textiles
Annabel Westman is a textile historian, writer and consultant who has specialised since 1980 on the restoration of historic interiors. She has worked on a wide range of significant projects for heritage organisations, including Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust and English Heritage, carrying out detailed research on the original furnishing schemes and advising on their implementation. She is the Executive Director of The Attingham Trust.