Like many people I’ve always felt caught between the dream of a big city designer abode and quirky country living. In our place in the city, I’ve killed some wild ideas and gave a firm no to many a beautiful object because it just wasn’t right. At Lescure I feel inspired to make some bolder choices. Interior design greatly affects people’s mood and I’d love for the estate to become an amazing space for both creativity and relaxation. I want to craft spaces where guests can leave books trailing around without feeling messy, where they can play music and brainstorm new ideas, but where they can also have a good cry or reflect on a new phase in life as they have their morning coffee in the rusty orangerie. Social and inviting, yet intensely private and individual. Yes, I really want it all! And the ancient Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi is going to help me do it.

Impermanence and imperfection

Standing in abandoned woods, revealing layers of wallpaper from eras passed and with the paint peeling of its façade, Lescure is a wabi-sabi dream. To my eye, the faded, muted colors inherent in wabi-sabi are exquisite. Soft slate grays, smudged browns, washed violet, stone and moss shades and the occasional spot of rust. These colors allow the eye to relax, but also teach us to really see, revealing what only the beauty of the passage of time can create. In a world obsessed with youth, perfection and design (I plead guilty to all charges), it’s time to add some wrinkles, a little disorder and randomness, just like in nature. I’m taking my time coming up with decoration ideas, learning to appreciate where time has left its beautiful mark in some places, and what needs a new coat of paint in others. The ‘nothing is perfect, nothing is finished, nothing lasts’ philosophy of wabi-sabi is bound to spill over in the way I live my life. I’m trying to go with the flow of life at Lescure, allowing its old soul to teach me to trust my intuition and be true to myself.

Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering.There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen, "Anthem"