Interior Design

In Conversation with Max Rollitt

In this edition of In Conversation With we spoke with the incomparable Max Rollitt, friend of Salvesen Graham and a mainstay of the interior design industry.

We discussed inspirations, how to use both antiques and contemporary pieces and buying tips.

Antiques and Decoration

Can you tell us a little about yourself

I trained as a cabinet maker, dropped out of university, lived as a hippy in a commune in Wales, decided that wood was the answer and got a job as a French polisher. That job gave me access to get into furniture college, and from there I got an apprenticeship as a restorer.
Following that, I set up my own workshop and my own antiques business. I found my market doing a fair in Olympia, which was a real bun fight and great fun. It was at a time when antiques were at their peak, which meant I was able to get in touch with high-end interior designers, which became my main source of income.
I was brought up with a very academic approach to antiques and I found myself taking that across to the interiors world, viewing antiques not just as a commodity trade but also an aesthetics trade.

Somebody then asked me to do their house, and a few projects later, we had a house in House & Garden. From there it’s just really grown. In 2006 I started making product, mainly to fill those gaps that weren’t readily available in the antiques trade.
My expertise really lies in understanding the architecture in antiques, the value of what really works in a house, what’s comfortable, and what’s beautiful. I am really interested in the patination and authenticity as well. It’s a combination of the aesthetic value, the practical value, and the depth that’s developed. And, of course, its character.
I was lucky – my dad was a draftsman and engineer, and my mum was a fashion designer, which meant I was surrounded by this stuff. I was constantly being taken to salerooms or through different antique shops on my holidays. I was always exposed to it, and I see it in my children now. I’ve got four boys, three of whom are artists and one who’s a cabinetmaker, so the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Have you got any tips for using antiques alongside contemporary pieces?

I think when it comes to contemporary, the kinds of pieces I would use would be art, or my own contemporary pieces that I make, which are often integrated into projects.
I’m often making pieces that are designed to work with antiques, so for example a really nice wardrobe with de Gournay paper on the front, or a side cabinet with horsehair panel doors.

Do have a favourite era for antiques or feel like there is an era that’s underrated?

The 1730s to 1760s is when English design was becoming its own. We used to take so much inspiration from the Dutch and the French, but there’s something very English about that particular period. It’s quite severe, but very pure in its form. It’s my favoured period, but not necessarily the friendliest of periods!

There are also all those naïve interpretations of traditional form, which have their own charm because they are provincially made, often adaptations of something that somebody has seen, then drawn, and then give them to their cabinetmaker to make. They aren’t pure in their original concept, but they often develop their own form because they reflect the aesthetic of those local crafts. I think idiosyncrasy is what I really like, and something that shows character rather than just convention. We look for something with a bit of nuance.

Do you have a design hero?

Mine are contemporaries and people that I’ve grown up with. The first is a chap called Edward Marnier, who unfortunately passed away last year. He was a film editor – I used to travel around with him looking at antiques. He had a manner that he would arrange things, and his eyes were just thinking in a different way. I think he was a really big influence on me.
I had another friend, John Corbett, who worked for me for a long time, and who again had a very maverick attitude with how things should be arranged or put together. He would see things that you or I wouldn’t notice but, put into a different context, would become something special.
I have many other friends who’ve influenced me in a similar way, and I think with all of them it’s their attitude and their approach that is so interesting. I was quite an alternative type in my youth, and I think that’s part of my generation’s approach. Very different to this whole classical and formal world – which we love, but sometimes it’s good to have a slightly different way of using and looking at things.

Do you have any occasions where you’ve let an antique or particular piece go?

I’ve got past that, I’m afraid. You soon learn as an antiques dealer that things come and they go. What I will say is – learn to give yourself time with these things. It’s a really good idea to buy from another dealer, because you’re not forced to make a decision. I used to spend a lot of time driving around to look at stuff, and you would know that if you were four miles up the road and still thinking about a piece that you’d seen in the shop, then it was right to be buying or at least seriously considering it.
If you’re buying in another way, such as through an auction, you need to really think about it and let it sink in. You need to go through that mental exercise – thinking about the cost, the shipping price, the price to restore. A good business deal is when both people are just slightly unhappy – that’s usually the fair price.

Are there any key things that people misunderstand when buying antiques?

People underestimate the cost and value of restoration. That is my major expense and can often be as much as the cost of the piece or more.
I think you need to really understand scale when buying, because that’s a key element. If you’re buying things like carpets, that’s a dark art. You need to understand what it’s going to look like in the room.
The second interior design project I did, I had to find a carpet for the drawing room, and I literally borrowed 16 different carpets for this room. None of them worked because of the light and the scale of the room, which is a whole process to understand. Buying something like that without being able to try it out, or without seeing it in situ, is really difficult. It’s a bit like buying a paint colour for a room. You can’t pick a colour without actually being in the room – it’s just silly.

Is there anything that we should be particularly proud of in English design?

The greatness of our design really reflects our ridiculous wealth during the 18th and early 19th century. We were able to attract the best people in the world and bring in all the best design. It all went a bit wrong when machinery came along and we decided we could over-complicate things – put all the ingredients straight into the pot and try to make something else.
I think our skill is in other areas – you know, we’ve put our energy into fashion and other things in more recent years. But I think we are still great designers, and there are people who are doing fantastic stuff, someone like Cox London who are producing beautiful things and really promoting craft.

Do you have rules, do you have a formula or a method and approach to a project?

I normally work out the function first, and I will draw out a layout of where everything is going. The client needs to see not just what you’re going to produce but how it’s going to work – a purely functional thing.
I always think there’s three people in a job – there’s the house, the client, and myself, and you’ve got to figure out how to make the whole thing stick. I think of it as painting; you’ve got your layout, and then comes the feel and what are we trying to achieve. How much romance can we get into this house? How can we get beauty and joy into it? How can we make it playful through colour and movement?
We all design one room at a time, but at times you almost have to throw that out and think ‘how is this going to work together, as you’re walking from one room into another?’ So, I do my pencil sketch, then I pick my palette, and then I’m working with the colours and textures.