It’s lovely to have old pieces in every space;  the depth of character, resonance and patina that only comes  from life lived, the knocks and bumps of  time, brings an atmosphere into the mix that a  new piece, however well made and even however convincingly it has been artificially aged, will always lack.   Just as middle class white boy can’t ever really sing the blues.

However,  it’s also good to have drawers that glide effortlessly, clean lines, forward looking pieces. This is one of many such pieces that we’ve designed to order – the size, and shape, the depth of drawers and the sections within them are always bespoke, but built around a specific ideal.

This one arrived in gold lacquer. We’d chosen if of course, from many other options,and it didn’t really work when we put it in the room-  between ordering and arrivalanother dimension has changed. As it had come from Italy  sending it back to the workshops wasn’t the most viable option and so we over-painted it with a soft silver leaf.

Mistakes happen, and we have to deal with that. However, the silver has started to wear back and there is now a really lovely patina –  no doubt helped by the bathroom atmosphere, but it is beautiful and it wouldn’t have happened without the mistake, the underlying gold…the silver lining of this particular cloud.

The company who make these pieces are well worth mentioning – their work is as excellent as their ethos. They are San Patrignano – an entirely self supporting, ‘community for life’ with an unprecedented philosophy and condition of care. In their own words ‘a home for young people who have lost their way’.

To quote “ San Patrignano is a community for life, that welcomes all who are afflicted by dependencies or social exclusion so that they regain their own way through a program of recovery that is primarily a path of love.”

“Free of charge, because love is a gift.”