Latest Homes magazine

Matt McGuire meets Martin Thomas to discuss his beautiful wooden furniture – naturally

Well, here we all are, loitering uncomfortably in the firing line of Christmas. G-g-ghastly, isn’t it? Still, it does present the perfect opportunity for me to introduce you to an excellent carpenter. (No, settle down at the back, not that one…)

This splendid chisel-wielder is one Martin Thomas, the man behind Mahdi Mu and creator of such furniture and interiors as to make your heart sing. His workshop on Farm Road is overflowing with knick-knacks and pieces-in-progress and is a wonderful and serene place to visit.

“I work predominantly with found objects and recycled materials – stuff that comes my way,” begins Martin. “For example, I’ve just sourced lots of timber from the Palace Pier, including some gorgeous purple-heart wood.” He shows me some sanded sections and they are indeed a joy to behold.

“there’s a spiritual edge to my work, working with found objects I allow each piece to take shape naturally, it’s often an organic progression”

Martin’s been working with wood for 20 years. After studying at art college in Epsom, he left the UK to travel the world. “I found inspiration here, there and everywhere,” he smiles.

“There’s a spiritual edge to my work,” he adds. “Working with found objects, I allow each piece to take shape naturally. Sea-worn timbers, for example, can come in such incredible shapes. When I begin to work it’s often an organic progression to the final piece.” Many of the shapes and forms remind me of Gaudi and his seaweed balconies, his wonderful and unlikely, rippling structures.

Martin creates any and all one-off pieces – from chairs to ornaments, tables to shrines – as well as full commercial fit-outs. “I’ve done a few of commissions for Zel”, he says, “as well as the full install for the Bee’s Mouth bar. But my current major project is for the forthcoming Myhotel (the boutique hotel chain) on Jubilee Street. I’m doing a range of desks and furniture for their themed suites on the top floor. So I’ve got my hands full for a while!”

But when he isn’t busy bevelling, Martin also travels the festivals with Zuvuya, his hazelwood geodesic dome that houses a cinema and bar. Oh, and as if all that weren’t enough, he’s also found time to fashion a monumentally marvellous moustache. Top marks all round, then.

Tune in next week, tinsel fans, for Brighton’s first frankincense and myrrh boutique, as well as a beguiling online swaddling store.

Gardens join modern technology and take a step into the future

Design and construction

The crimplene garden
Please! Can we all raise our standards just a bit!

What are your expectations when it comes to a garden? Don’t you think that you deserve to have somewhere fabulous, amazing and gorgeous outside your door?

Things have changed so much in the last generation. There was a time when being forty meant you were resigned to trousers with elasticated waists and crimplene was the only suit material. Mothers wore pinnies, dads were the only ones allowed to wire a plug and the Ford Anglia was about as fast as it got.

In just a small time, just a few short years, we have gone from a life of no choice to multiple choice and a throwaway society. Mums and dads have better clothes sense than their children and we can all borrow each other’s stuff.

Houses have digital things and huge TVs and the Roberts Radio is seen as an icon of nostalgic style. Baking and dusting has been superseded by the ping of piercing film and microwaves and mum dashing off to the gym.

Yet somehow, our gardens are still back there in the crimplene age. People don’t seem to think that they deserve a garden that matches their house, clothes or personality. We buy awful things for the garden that we’d never have indoors. My own courtyard looks like a bomb’s hit it at the moment. But I have an excuse. The builders did it.

Please, please think about having a lovely garden next year. If it was a room, you wouldn’t be so neglectful and thoughtless. Do you really think that your garden does you justice? Do your friends go “Wow” when they look out of the door? Are they just desperate to get out there and explore?

I know getting the garden done hasn’t been a priority up until (hopefully) now, but do think about putting something lovely in its place next year. You could be sitting out there and really enjoying life if you get yourself organised.

You wouldn’t dream of wearing a baggy old cardigan and slippers, or a big pinafore over your clothes would you? So why do you want your garden to look like a flipping time warp?

I know you think that I’m just saying this so you call up and book us to design and build your garden (ok, I admit this would be nice!) but also, I honestly do know what fantastic pleasure everyone gets from their garden when it’s been built properly. We all shop, hoping for that feeling of pleasure, but it’s so transient and sometimes has the opposite effect. A garden isn’t like that. Every client says to me that they haven’t looked back. The garden is a joy and has undoubtedly been worth every single penny.

Ok, I think I’ve nagged you enough. The rest, as they say, is up to you.

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Without Prejudice

I am the sort of person who likes to get on with things – no dilly-dallying or fannying about on the fence for me. Almost without realising it, I usually manage to end up in control of most situations – apart from those involving The Boyfriend, who is very much in possession of a mind of his own and will therefore not be controlled by me, or anyone else for that matter. But I digress. The current situation that I seem to have ended up in control of, is the acquisition of the freehold of the flat in Hastings belonging to Katy and I.

Months ago, in the summer, I attended a meeting in Eastbourne with a couple of fellow lessees regarding this matter. Although I’d been idly thinking that we really ought to try and acquire the freehold, I was by no means the one who started the ball rolling and I was overjoyed that the reins were, for once being held by someone else. Of the eight lessees, only three of us made this initial meeting and I nearly didn’t as a result of almost getting knocked out by some awful fat girls, bellies swinging threateningly over their hipsters, having a fight in the very chavvy pub where I was trying to phone for a taxi. I arrived at the meeting to discover that the two lessees present were both perfectly nice, but very much part of the new school of property development, that is, both of them saw it as a ‘sideline’. They were terribly enthusiastic about property, whereas I would nowadays rather stick pins in my eyes than even think about property developing.

“I slave away on the computer formulating and launching pointless emails into the ether”

We chatted about the freehold for an hour or so, by which time it had somehow come about that I – as the most experienced participant – would be organising the whole damn thing. How did that happen? Then, months down the line and many emails, phone calls and pointless conversations later, we agreed that, rather than going down the valuation route, we would pay what the freeholder was asking, as we’d save no time and very little money going down the tribunal route. All was agreed – even the lessees who live in Australia managed to respond with alacrity – and, last week, I instructed our solicitor to issue an offer letter to the freeholder. Then, this morning I received an email from one of the lessees, who’d decided – after 7 months – that we were perhaps paying too much and should get a formal valuation. Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh! What are these people on? They clearly sit around drinking Chenin Blanc, boring each other senseless with the worth of their portfolio, while I slave away on the computer formulating and launching pointless and for the most part, ignored emails into the ether.

Interestingly, all of the lessees bar two are men and it is the male contingent which has been the slowest to respond to my ever more crapulous missives, citing the arrival of ‘new babies’ as their excuse. Lord alone knows what would happen if they actually had to give birth to them too. I’m sure the whole property industry would implode.

So, this morning, before topping up my rapidly depleting karma at Yoga, I wearily phoned our solicitor to tell him to un-offer the offer he offered last week. Fortunately, the letter he had sent was ‘without prejudice’, meaning that the freeholder couldn’t rely on the contents. Let’s hope he’s not having a baby any time soon, or we’ll all be f****d.

We’ve got Christmas dining all wrapped up

‘Tis the season to be jolly. Even the most diehard Scrooge’s among us have to give up the fight. The shops might have had their decorations up since October, but everyone knows once the calendar reaches the first of December all serious work grinds to a halt as we eat, drink and entertain ourselves silly. And what will the most stylish hosts and hostesses be giving – and receiving – this year? Latest Interiors takes a peek in Santa’s sack.

The Entertainer’ Christmas hamper, £40, www.johnlewis.com

‘Fall’ dinnerware, from £5, and red bauble glass, £4 www.debenhams.com

Seasonal spread

Planning your fine Christmas dining? Assuming you have all the basics (good sized table; ample, comfortable seating… if not, make a mental note to hit the sales), luxury is the keyword for this year’s festive spread. Bring out the fine tablecloth (a table runner in this year’s crimson, purple or black silk would set crisp white off to a tee), the linen napkins, the crystal, and the silver. Light some tall church candles, and add a vase or two of beautiful, pure white flowers. If you’ve followed our advice in the past (unlikely, but possible) then you will be the proud owner of simple white china dinnerware – dress it up with crimson or plum napkins. And crackers, always disappointing if you scrimp, check the contents list and go for quality if you can. Cath Kidston (recently opened in Brighton) have some cheery Christmas crackers; Habitat, John Lewis and Heals can give you luxury. Check out North Laine bouta iques for cheeky one-offs.

12 ‘tree’ crackers, £20, www.johnlewis.com

Gifts for gastronomes

Looking for something to give the chef in your life? The year’s ecotheme has bought slow food back into fashion: food that we spend time preparing from scratch, cooking, or even growing ourselves. Less packaging, less waste, and much more taste. Try a good slow food cookbook, or even (if you’re very flush) a slow cooker – nothing melts in the mouth like slow-cooked pork belly, or a slowcooked (and rib-sticking) vegetable stew with dumplings. Grow-your-own herb, fruit or vegetable kits are another good buy. To keep chef entertained, buy them a retro Roberts DAB radio, in pink, red or even zebra print.

‘Stars’ Roberts Revival DAB radio, £199, www.johnlewis.com

Host(ess) with the most(est)

If you’re hosting a party, though, don’t fuss too much about the food. If there’s time to prepare enough canapés, mince pies and roast chestnuts, great. But if slow food isn’t fast enough, you can still throw the perfect soirée. Having something catered might seem an extravagance, but it can work out to be good value: £3-£5 per head for some serious canapés seems pretty good if you don’t have to stuff the mushrooms (or hit the Christmas supermarket queues) yourself. If a caterer is off-budget, many food stores (M&S and Waitrose among them) happily provide superb, affordable party food (Latest Interiors loves the M&S Christmas food brochure, www.marksandspencer.com – almost as stimulating as their adverts). All you need to do is keep the booze flowing.

Ho ho ho.

Matt McGuire meets a new member of the Brighton artworld, sculptor and general multi-talented artist Keziah Wilkes

The future might be bright, the future might be orange. And, if 80s one-hit-wonders Timbuk3 were to be believed, we may even have to wear shades if we want to view it safely and/or look cool while sauntering about in it. But one thing is certain: it will be chockfull of art.

ArtisticFutures.co.uk is the website of Brighton-based sculptor and portrait artist Keziah Gabriela Wilkes, and it’s bursting at its finely wrought, delicately crafted seams with wagonloads of wonderful work.

“I was drawing and painting before I could speak or write,” begins Keziah. “And later, in secondary school, some fantastic teachers gave me free rein in the art department. They showed me advanced techniques very early on and, well, basically allowed me to make a huge amount of mess! That’s when I knew I wanted to be a sculptor.”

While gaining a first class degree in sculpture and a Masters in art and design, Keziah held a number of exhibitions. One sold out completely, and she’s since gone on to undertake a wide range of private commissions.

“I love portraiture too,” she adds. “There’s nothing more challenging or satisfying than capturing someone’s spirit or character on paper.” Indeed, fellow Brightonians beware, because Keziah rarely leaves the house without her sketchbook and is currently compiling a collection of drawings of faces she sees out and about in cafes and bars, on buses and on trains.

“I particularly love drawing people on train journeys,” she smiles. “Everyone’s anticipating where they’re going to or returning from somewhere and everything they’re thinking and feeling is so transparent. They’re not even really participating in the journey; their faces are relaxed, they’re completely open…”

“It’s wonderful to be around so many creative people all the time. It’s really inspiring”

These found faces will soon be available to view on her website, alongside existing images of other work that includes body castings and bronzes, life drawings and paintings, as well as a range of supremely tactile aluminium casts complete with red flocking.

Keziah moved to Brighton two months ago. “It’s wonderful to be around so many creative people all the time,” she smiles. “It’s a big change from where I‘m from and really inspiring.”

All of which is lovely, of course. But we should clearly all take care next time we find ourselves dozing off on the train, lest our dribbling, gormless chops get stealthily documented and then cast in multiple tonnes of bronze for eternity…

Keziah Gabriela Wilkes,
ArtisticFutures,
www.artisticfutures.co.uk
email: keziah@artisticfutures.co.uk

The Paul O’Grady Show’s Marc Abraham looks behind the beautiful congregations of the starling

Every day there are plenty of reminders as to why we choose to live here in Brighton and Hove. Three of my favourites right now are: sunsets, seascapes, and starlings.

This almost hypnotic combination never fails to amaze and impress me again and again, year after year. Whichever pier these highly agile ‘garden’ birds pick to perform their fine aerial dance around the spectacle is truly breathtaking.

Smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail, pointed head and triangular wings, starlings look black at a distance but close-up are actually very glossy with a beautiful sheen of purples and greens. Their flight is fast and direct, and they walk and run confidently on the ground too.

Living up to 22 years of age, these hardy birds will spend their winter in all habitats, including of course, our seashore. Starlings like to eat both insects and fruit, and if you’re able to get close enough to hear their complicated song you’ll notice it resembles their mynah bird cousins – with an exciting mixture of ‘chips’, warbles, trills, whistles and rattles.

Starlings are gregarious and often flock. Flock sizes vary, being the smallest during the breeding season and largest in winter, as migrants from the north send numbers into the hundreds of thousands.

Flocks allow more efficient feeding, since each bird can afford to be less vigilant. This safety in numbers gives each member a greater protection from predators like the Sussex Heights peregrine falcons.

During the winter starlings live in flocks throughout the day, travelling en masse between feeding sites. They use their spare time for preening and loafing, usually close to the feeding areas at noisy daytime roosts – exposed places such as the tops of trees that offer good all-round visibility.

“Sadly, although one of the commonest of garden guests, its decline makes it a ‘Red List’ species”

Feeding up to 20 miles from their winter roost, they return every evening at dusk to star in their own daily episode of starling version of Come Dancing – jiving and twisting, gliding and turning, and of course shaking those tail feathers! This cloud-like collection, known as a murmuration, of starlings unknowingly entertains residents and tourists alike as they once more prepare to bed down for the night.

Once inside, protected from weather and predators, starlings are slow to settle and are quite vocal. Noise levels increase again towards dawn, and the birds gradually leave again. Flocks can even be detected on radar, allowing detailed monitoring of their movements.

Sadly, although still one of the commonest of all our garden guests, its decline elsewhere makes it a ‘Red List’ species needing urgent consideration, and more importantly, action.

These incredible sunset shows are a sure sign that we should be actively considering the future of these rather special Brightonians. And if you are lucky enough to find yourself on the pier surrounded by this living dark swirling cloud of chirps and swooshes then wear a hat!

Image: rspb.org.uk

Design and construction

Go on, treat yourself! There are simple pleasures in the garden.
Well, what a gloomy time it is. And such scare-mongering too. Half the country’s data lost on a couple of CDs and millions of people rushing off to change their pin numbers in case of fraud. Funnily enough, it’s always the people that are paranoid about these things that get robbed. Those that leave their car unlocked overnight, are cavalier about leaving great wads of cash on window sills when the builders are in and use obvious pin numbers rarely get fleeced. They have a laissez-faire attitude to life, and life treats them in the same way.

And then England lost the football. Poor Steve McClaren only got a 2.5 million payoff and it was the saddest day of his life. Look on the bright side, with Poland getting through our pubs will still be full of loyal supporters cheering on their team.

The sub prime fiasco will continue to hit the banks, and even if inflation falls Mervyn won’t drop interest rates for the man on the street, because the banks are having to pay out so much more to borrow money from each other. Fuel is well over a pound now, mortgage payments are hurting, food is just a ridiculous price if you have even one teenager to feed and Christmas is coming, in all its credit card glory.

I read a really good book this year called Not Buying It. The writer had been rushing around just before Christmas, spending money for the sake of it, racking up her credit card and suddenly saw it for the madness it has become. She spent the next year ‘not buying it’ and had a list of essentials that she (almost) stuck to religiously for the whole year. It was a great read and really made me re-think the useless things that we all buy.

You know, of course, that there’s a garden story coming along here somewhere don’t you! But I just want to remind you of the joy of the garden. I know that building the garden is not an inexpensive venture. (I can almost feel some of my clients nodding their heads sagely!) but the infrastructure of any building work in a house and garden is a permanent, physical undertaking. However, once the hard landscaping is completed, the garden can become a place of really small inexpensive joys. Where else can you buy a small paper packet of seeds and create a whole border of the most wonderful colour and scent, and still collect the seeds again for next year. One small packet of seeds – at £1.99 – and you have a border of cosmos, love in a mist, poppies, candytuft – forever! I just can’t wait for Christmas to be over so that I can start sowing my seeds again for next year. There will always be something different – a new variety I haven’t tried before – or a different colour. There will also be something ‘tricky’ that may or may not work. When you get something special to grow, the achievement is something you want to share with everyone you know.

If you’re a true gardener, you’ll know there is such pleasure in sending a friend or sister home with a small tray of plants or a pot with a newly grown or emerging plant.

Plants

Cut flowers
We will, no doubt, all be buying flowers for friends and family over the Christmas period. I do get fed up with flowers that fade in just a couple of days but ready made bunches from the supermarket are so much cheaper than buying ‘by the stem’ from a florist. Supermarkets guarantee some of their bouquets for seven or fourteen days, but I am sure you have all had roses that have drooped miserably a couple of days later.

If you receive a bunch of flowers, then try to stand them in water almost up to their necks for a couple of hours before you start arranging them. And do arrange them. Don’t just unwrap them and plonk them into a vase in the same shape as the bouquet, please! Take out each stem, one at a time, and remove all the leaves that are going to be below the water level in the vase. Cut at least an inch off the stems of each bloom. With woody stems, slice up the stem of the plant for an inch or two.

Put in the foliage stems first, and then arrange all the similar blooms around the edge of the vase. Start to add the special blooms – the larger headed flowers or gerberas, roses etc.

Keep the water topped up, or better still change the water completely every day. If the flowers are for you, or someone special, go to a proper florist. Find out what day their delivery arrives, and pay good money for each stem. In three weeks time, when they’re still blooming, you’ll have spent the same as your supermarket buy.

Things to do

‘Toe-tal’ presents
I’m feeling sorry for myself. I broke my big toe quite spectacularly this week. A picture fell off the wall and crashed down onto my poor little bare toes. I have broken the joint and the bits either side as well. If you’ve ever stubbed your toe hard, times it by ten and you can imagine how it might have felt,and still feels. I can’t drive for at least four weeks so all my Christmas shopping is going to have to happen on-line or imaginatively. I can’t even get it wet, so soaking in the bath is also a luxury I shall have to forego without one leg stuck in the air.

I am going to order lots of terracotta pots from my local nursery, and soil, plants, bulbs and small conifers and things. That way, I can sit in the garden and pot up some plants to give to friends and family for Christmas presents. The bulbs will flower in the spring, and the winter pansies, ivy and cyclamen will look lovely throughout the next few weeks.

There are lots of people out there that won’t be better in six weeks’ time, so I’m trying not to feel too sorry for myself, but ‘things to do’ won’t be happening much in my garden for now!

Purple Christmas

Bloody Christmas is on its way again and I am not happy about it, I can tell you – well, at least from a financial point of view. My regular London job is no more and a freelance radio writing job I am working on is now not going on air until December, meaning I won’t get paid for it ‘til January at the earliest. Given that advertising agencies are usually very slow at paying – sometimes taking a minimum of 120 days – I will be lucky to see my money this side of March. Then my lodger announced he is moving out on the first of December, leaving me no time at all to get anyone in before Christmas. These two things alone have chopped my income in half at just the wrong time of year.

“I shall not attempt to describe the tenant, who seemed happy with his artistic endeavours”

One of the language schools offered me a Saudi student for a month, which would have tide me over quite nicely ‘til the New Year. The accommodation woman then immediately put me off by telling me that the guy was clearly used to having servants, as he was quite hard work and liked to be waited on hand and foot. I assured her that young people with that kind of attitude would certainly get a foot – but quite possibly where they least expected it. After a bit of a family conference, I politely declined the Language School’s offer as we all agreed that we’d rather have a miserable, poverty-stricken kind of Christmas than an affluent one with a spoilt stranger glaring at us over the dinner-table.

Fortunately, I may just be rescued by the fact that Katy and I are in the process of re-mortgaging our flat in Hastings in order to pay for the freehold, which we are purchasing along with our fellow lessees. I’m not really a re-mortgaging kind of gal, especially not to boost my own meagre income, but Katy has recently blown all her money on a holiday pre-fab in Norfolk and therefore needs a bit of spare cash. Because we own the Hastings property jointly, if one of us takes money out, then so must the other, or everything becomes really complicated. Even though the current mortgage is only a tiny £30,000 and the property is now worth over £100,000, it still makes me feel uncomfortable taking money out of it at this early stage. It is important, however, that we buy the freehold, as our lease is getting shorter and our freeholder more stubborn and greedy and the sooner we are rid of him, the better. Last year, for example, we were charged £35,000 for the painting of the exterior of the property. The freeholder didn’t share my sense of humour when I enquired whether it was going to be painted in 24 carat gold…

As far as the re-mortgage is concerned, the only stumbling-block I can forsee is that our flat – which has been rented out to ex-cons and people with ‘social issues’ for the past four years – currently looks like a pile of shite. In fact, a pile of shite would possibly be a more attractive place to live. I almost fell over when I went to see it recently and discovered that the current tenant had painted most of it dark purple and daubed what remained with religious slogans. I shall not attempt to describe the tenant who, bless him, seemed perfectly happy with his artistic endeavours. I only hope that whoever comes to survey the property is chronically colour-blind. Well, stranger things have happened…