At home with Paloma Faith, as she launches her first interiors label
Sam Wylie-Harris chats to the singer about her style influences, and why she takes the same approach with decor as she does with her outfits.
Opulent glamour, vintage chinoiserie and romantic noirs influenced by the cinematic works of Wong Kar-wai, deserve to be showcased with a flourish.
And as someone who likes to feel “every minute of every day is beautiful”, Paloma Faith knows how to channel her love of retro bohemia and vintage style – whether that’s with her scene-stealing outfits on stage, or her home style.
In-between finishing albums and filming projects – she’s set to tour her fifth album, Infinite Things in September – the singer-songwriter has just launched Paloma Home (palomahome.com), a blueprint for the personal style reflected in her own London townhouse.
“It’s inspired by the way I decorated my own house,” says Faith who turns 40 later in July. “Because I’m never at home and usually on tour pre-Covid, I tend to take pictures of a space and then imagine it in my mind and put everything together while I’m away,” she adds. “And when I get back, it’s all done and I just pray that it works – and it usually does.”
Her debut line features three collections – Spiced Up, Rock N’Roll and Lady Muck – to help you create a ‘beautifully bohemian set up’. With 10 house prints, including Pouncing Tigers and Oriental Leaves & Birds there’s eye-catching bedding, a parade of striking scatter cushions, furnishings and wallpapers – all with a hint of luxe and prices starting from £21 for a ruffle cushion.
Faith says she’s applied the same ethos as she takes with costumes and clothing.
“The way I do it is like putting an outfit together, like every room is an outfit, and I’ve made this range to be that way. A collection with inter-changeable pieces,” she explains.
“Almost like when a designer makes a capsule collection and you buy every bit of it, and then mix and match. I would say it’s probably more of a curation than a design, more about curating prints that shouldn’t be friends, but for some reason are.”
As well as being her favourite eras, Faith sees the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies as the heyday of design. “When you look back at the way everything flowed, the clothing, the interiors, there wasn’t really a differentiation between the two things, it was a lifestyle.”
Chatty, fun and a self-confessed maximalist, Faith says her love of thrift shops and shopping started when she was in her early-20s. “My mother and father were very much into minimalism. They were both young in the Sixties, when white walls and trying to make a house look as empty as possible was the trend.
“So it was all about the opposite of maximalism. But my father’s mother, who was Spanish and Catholic, just loved tat, which I think is where it might have come from. Lots of Spanish Catholic influence, hoarding ornaments and stuff. And my mum and dad were always culling, throwing things out and saying this place is too full up.
“Whereas I became the opposite,” Faith states. “I really enjoy looking for old things, and over the years, travelling and everything, I never go to a city without having a quick look through vintage homewares and clothes, to bring stuff back.”
As every maximallist knows, there’s always room for more stuff. “Like the other day, I sort of secretly bought some life-sized ceramic dogs for my house, two of them. And I didn’t mention it to my boyfriend, who hates the fact I constantly buy and believe more is more.
“They arrived and he texted me: ‘Two life-sized ceramic dogs just arrived Paloma, what are you doing? Where are they going to go?’ I said, ‘There’s plenty of room, I’ll sort it out when I get home’, and he was so annoyed with me!,” quips the musician, who lives with her partner, French artist Leyman Lahcine, and their two children. “I was like, ‘Oh sorry’, trying to keep it light, but he was so irritated. He was like, ‘This is ridiculous now!'”
Fortunately, she’s found a place for them. “They’re outside my daughter’s bedroom, because I told her they would guard the room for her.”
Along with her passion for music, her love of films and romantic noirs – by acclaimed director Wong Ka-wei – first influenced her when she was a student. “I was doing a masters when I was 21 at Central Saint Martins and I became obsessed by him then.”
Film fans might be familiar with Faith’s favourite film, the romantic drama 2046, set in China in the Sixties (the sequel to In The Mood For Love). “It was all very saturated and romantic, with loads of vintage to fit in with the Shanghai Sixties look. It stayed with me for years,” she recalls.
“When I started to do up my own house, the first one, I looked for that wallpaper [from the movie] and couldn’t find it,” Faith recalls. “I’m very good at sourcing things, so it wasn’t for lack of trying. And so the next time, when I bought after that, I tried to look again and still couldn’t find it.”
Determined to make this vision a reality, she admits her Oriental Leaves Red Wallpaper was one of the first prints in the new range to be brought to life. “I’m over the moon I’ll finally be able to admire it in my own home.”
Lady Muck features more of a ladylike palette. “I can just imagine someone sitting with a powder puff, that’s where the name comes from, and it’s got that pastel-y, very feminine look,” notes Faith.
Rock N’Roll, meanwhile, with its leopard print seating, sparks thoughts of sultry backstage sets and a cocktail of style statements – but you can create your own story.
“I feel like leopard and tiger, to me, are a neutral colour. Very much a staple, almost like a black T-shirt, so it plays around with that,” Faith continues of the collection. “And also, with Rock N’Roll, it’s got that uninhibited, leaning towards not really caring whether things go together or not…”
And if she had to pick just one piece? “It would be the tiger print sofa,” says Faith. “It’s with the same fabric as the cushions and bedding. I’m already trying to imagine which piece of furniture from my home I can get rid of, so I can make space for it.”
And another bonus? No need to worry about little ones and sticky fingers mucking up your plush furnishings. “The good thing about this range is there’re so many patterns and clashes, you probably won’t notice any stains at all,” says Faith. “So just go for it and let the kids draw all over it. You won’t be able to see it!”