We talk inspirations, successes and processes with the designer of this year’s Decorex bags, which, if his wonderful wallpapers are anything to go by, we have a feeling will be something most special.  Claud Gurney: Passionate? Yes. Charming? Of course. Inimitable? Most definitely.

You started life in the industry as an architect student, and then went on to work as an economist, what eventually drew you towards interior design?

I am an economist from the University of Chicago, I’m an accountant from PWC, and I was in banking and business for a long time. But they can be very dreary industries. All my friends who have stayed there are very jealous that I have gone out and done something creative. I have always loved design, and I have always loved creative things, but I don’t consider myself to be either an artist or interior decorator. I love beautiful things, and love surrounding myself by those beautiful things. It just developed from that really.

If you could describe your work in 3 words, what would they be?

Happy, Vibrant, Luxurious.

Temple Newsham Design, Credit to Balfour Castle

Evidently your work has 17th /18th century European and Oriental inspirations, which ties in beautifully with this year’s Decorex Silkroute theme. How do you apply this inspiration in your work?

Along the Silk Road came all of these lovely objects and artefacts, which were then housed in these European Chinese pavilions, which were decorated in the Chinese taste. We are carrying on this taste.

People have to make decisions about where they are going to live and how they are going to decorate. Some people do have gorgeous 18th century Palladian mansions in Italy which they can decorate, and we do of course do that. We will restore old papers or match them if needed. We have worked with historic housing associations and also the national trust, and it’s an important part of our work.

However, most people are constrained to living in slightly smaller, more modern houses or apartment blocks, so one has to adapt what one does to people’s tastes and the way people live. Very often the colour and scale dominates, we can take something very classic and change the colours to make it more contemporary. There are various ways of adapting our work.

If you could have a space anywhere to place a De Gournay work, where would it be?

It is complex, because our work is that of painting. We paint want clients want, we paint what clients need, and we have to interpret clients’ tastes. Each thing we do is appropriate for the space we put it in. I am not an artist, who has a particular style of work which would look better in a power station like the Tate Modern, than it would in a lovely building like the National Gallery. To that extent we don’t really have a specific place. If you want to be happy, vibrant and luxurious you really do need to have light, air, and space, so big windows preferably. A Palladian mansion in Italy somewhere would be the nicest thing to be decorating, if I were given the choice. Sadly not everyone can afford to live in a Palladian mansion in Italy!

What would you say is your favourite work in the showroom currently?

The designs depend on spaces, but I do love the Earlham in Sung Blue Williamsburg from the Chinoiserie collection. I love the soft monochromes with the birds brought out in quite bright colours. I especially love it when a client will come in and say ‘we’re from Louisiana, could you make it with birds all from there?’ And we can make sure all of the feathers and colours are right for the birds of Louisiana. We can tailor everything to the clients’ tastes.

What is the biggest challenge for De Gournay?

Our biggest challenge is that everything we do is hand painted by artists. Our products are all works of art, and art is luxury. The finished product reflects the soul, the spirit resonance of the artist, which is what art is about. Our problem is that we don’t really have an incredible supply of artists. So unlike other people we can’t just pay more people to turn a handle and make more products. Each is individual. Our artists are mostly based in China, it’s very expensive but they very much understand Chinese art.

As the designer of this year’s Decorex bags, could you tell us a little about your thoughts on the show?

We have always been huge supporters of Decorex, and a lot of businesses owe their existence to the show. We all feel very strongly towards Decorex and love to help out. I love Decorex, and I love the Orangery – what a wonderful venue. Bigger and Better, upwards and outwards!

How are plans going for the stand and the bags? Any chance of a sneak preview?

Brilliantly. We have lots of goodie bags en route, and everything has been ordered for the stand. Things are definitely going well at this stage. The bags are very beautiful, that’s all we will divulge for now!

Is there an interior designer that you are particularly fond of?

I was with a rather nice designer in LA recently, Martin Lawrence Bullard. Martin is absolutely charming; we had a lot of fun with him in LA. He has a good eye and a wonderful reputation. Similarly to me he has picked up a lot of things in markets and collected them along the way. He’s quite eclectic and uses our products in his designs out in Hollywood, we love him.

Martyn Lawrence Bullard

What is the process behind a De Gournay work?

We pride ourselves on the fact that we give our clients the creative freedom to design their own product. For us the greatest accolade is for a friend to come to one of our client’s houses and to have them say ‘look at this wonderful wallpaper I designed and De Gournay painted for us’. We love to think of ourselves as painters and our clients as designers. If we can help them design beautiful things that we create then Eureka! We have achieved success.

We have to understand their requirements, and the spaces they want to decorate and the effects they want to create. Then we measure their rooms, and play around with miniature samples. Then we design their product for them. Once the paper is finished we have our own and also recommended installers to follow clients through to the very end. Until the client is happy they are our responsibility. We will make changes and can add things, to make sure we have happy clients.

Portabello by De Gournay

As a renowned figure within the industry, what advice would you give to aspiring designers?

Marketing I guess. They have to market themselves, people either have taste or don’t have taste, and of course people have different tastes. Good taste is defined by the odd lapse into bad taste, without which good taste wouldn’t exist. You can’t go and learn taste, but you can learn marketing.