Designer Man Cave – A night with Timothy Oulton

Being a Brit I was a little bit excited when I heard that Timothy Oulton was coming to launch his range of furniture and accessories in Sydney – it seems that the Aussies are secretly embracing that Union Jack flag… (although I suspect it is more the embrace of the old school charm)….

….and even more excited last week when I received a very posh invite in the post to the launch!!!!

Tim has been given the chance to show case his range as part of the designers collections at Coco Republic.  The London connection was evident from the moment you walked in the door, with a London black cab and red telephone box poised by the red carpet (for a quick photo shoot…..yes maybe I should have sorted my hair out!)…..

Waiters then greeted you in bowler hats and black waste coats and a glass of Veuve (Oh if I must!) and hidden in the vintage circus themed corner was a british pick and mix!  With sherbet flying saucers, swizzle sticks and Maynards wine gums…..

(I had to adopt the position of sweet translator to the guests, as these apparently cannot be purchased in Oz, but I loved the excuse of being able to transport myself back to the days of Woolworths pick and mix!!)… anyway I digress…. Lets get back to the man of the night…..

Tim hales from a family of antique dealers, and from that morphed into reproduction furniture.  Tim was introduced as someone who very rarely does interviews, but given the night was about his products, he could not escape a couple of questions being thrown at him. Tim explained that his furniture pulls in his knowledge from his family antique connections, but stated that antiques are not really in trend, as such he has pulled in the ideas and inspirations of antiques to create furniture which brings the past into the future.

I perhaps am not so convinced that antiques are dead, I think most would prefer the original to a reproduction.  Where Tim succeeds is that he takes the inspiration and mixes it up a little to create something which is not an exact reproduction, bringing it up to date.  For example old chests becoming writing desks, or mixing up the delicacy and grandeur of a chandelier with the industrial / medieval textures of wrought iron which add a little romance to the masculinity. ( apologies for the wobbly photo’s – probably too many wine gums!!!)

Aviator Chair – Inspired by the Spitfire

The designs are very masculine and as such would be great for the more flamboyant (money not too much of an object) man cave or batchelor pad.  Although that said, I could quite happily go couple of the spitfire inspired aviator chairs in my girl cave!!!  I also loved the whole set design around the furniture…. Yep could get used to this idea of a girl cave…. with lashings of verve and sherbet flying saucers!!

Tim has been opening stores all over the globe from Dallas to Hong Kong.  Admitting that he managed to get the Coco Republic Australia gig by sending his young son to sweet talk the representative in the Subway sandwich shop. When asked what his son got for pulling in the gig, he responded a “Subway Sandwich”….Hopefully he will take him home a couple of swizzle sticks and sherbet flying saucers as well!!!

How would you do up your man / girl cave?…. meanwhile on with the colourful journey ( and my bag of goodies!)……

#TimothyOulton #design #British #vintage #CocoRepublic #furniture #UKdesigner #InteriorDesign #trends