The Tamesis
It was vital to the team that everything about Tetbury House was imbued with a sense of heritage and history. But how do you get this patina on a new product? “Our team of in-house designers have really become students of antiquity…they are deeply fascinated by how materials age and how the finish of something changes over time,” Kendall said, noting solid oak, reclaimed pine, aged metal and heavy linen as key materials in the collection. (“Plastic is not all we have,” she laughs.)
Photo: Michael Clifford
The James Martin table is a perfect example. “For this piece, it was layers and layers of paint,” Sotelo said. This approach stems from techniques developed over time by their craftsmen in India, but reimagined alongside the in-house design team. “This process doesn’t happen quickly,” she explained. “It’s layers and layers of paint, and then they come in and break it up, and then they come in again with the paint. That process can take several days.”
Or the aforementioned Neverland bedside table, complete with a removable cotton dobby skirt. “This nightstand actually has eight layers of wax on it, just to give it the feel of a really well-kept antique,” Sotelo said. “So when you put your hand on it, it feels like wax, it’s deep, it’s smooth, it feels like it’s been through many lifetimes.”
Photo: Michael Clifford
