“Art is a crucial layer in telling the story of a room,” says designer Martin Brudnizki. “It adds a whole other dimension to a space.” He should know. The mastermind behind some of London’s most sumptuous dining rooms, from the Ivy to J Sheekey, he recently unveiled a £55m makeover of Annabel’s. It’s art that helped to dictate the extreme maximalism of the Mayfair nightclub’s decor (including the Picasso formerly known as Girl with a Red Beret and Pompom, but renamed Annabel by owner Richard Caring). “We built a narrative around the art,” explains Brudnizki, who used paintings by the British artist Ian Sidaway as the starting point for the series of botanical murals that decorate the club’s Garden Room. “Sometimes, though, the art comes last and is simply used to amplify the design story.”
It’s an approach he takes home with him, too. Visual art adds a layer of interest to the flat he shares with partner Jonathan Brook, who runs the Martin Brudnizki Design studio’s art advisory service in a Victorian mansion block in Parson’s Green, southwest London. It’s not just the rich assortment of works on display that amps up what is otherwise a serene, understated space, it’s the fact that they’re often hung cheek-by-jowl, wall-to-wall.
“I like to make sure every square inch of a space works and has purpose,” says Swedish-born Brudnizki. Here, British art sits alongside architectural drawings and abstracts alongside botanical prints – an eclecticism that’s the result of combining their two strikingly different collections.
For Brudnizki, picture hanging is its own art form. “It’s a creative practice that’s all about personal taste,” he says. When artist Luke Edward Hall gave him a blue line drawing for his birthday, he used its cool tones to guide the framing: “I got a blue frame and a blue mount – that made the whole thing pop,” he explains. “It works really well to pick a colour from a painting and build the mounting and framing around that. You can customise it in matching – or clashing – tones. The possibilities are endless.”
Brudnizki and Brook have taken years to perfect their ever-evolving display. “It’s a slow process,” he says. “You can’t rush it – you look at these pieces every day so they should make you smile.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
