This addition of personality through accessories can be seen on the 150 Harlequin projects complete per year, which can be anything from a 1950s Austrian chalet, which was ‘spectacular and not the Alpine norm’ to a yacht scheme where they can be asked to create a trunk and contents for a picnic set for twelve people, weighing in at 75kilos. There are also the scores of high-end residential projects for elite clients, such as a recent central London townhouse, where the style of the property was ‘classic with an Art Deco influence and a 21st century standard of luxury’.
‘We were asked to dress the entire property to the designers spec and to maximise the selling potential for the developer client,’ Horton explains. ‘With the designer and client in our showroom, we went through every single area of the project and showed them the options that we thought were the most suitable. For the dining room, we used brands such as Christofle, Hermes and Saint-Louis to create a spectacular setting which we knew potential purchasers would admire and feel suitable for their home. By careful selection of both key and secondary pieces, we gave the client more than he thought his budget could achieve and after the installation, ahead of schedule, the client was so pleased that he came back and selected more decorative pieces, especially from Lalique.’