“…very often we are working on houses built before walk in wardrobes and en suite bathrooms, they had chamber pots, wash stands and a jug of tepid water. We have to shoehorn all the modern conveniences into these spaces, whilst at the same time respecting the proportions, the regulations and the practical. Our detailing is grounded in the classical, however we’re not constrained by it. Like cooking, once you have a full understanding of the fundamentals you can mix your ingredients to come up with something completely new. Well founded details never date, but they can evolve…’”

~ Mathew Claridge

Mathew is responsible for working with the designers and the client on the architectural interiors, which involves space planning, built-in joinery and some free-standing furniture.

This usually involves an initial brief with the client and the designer where the use of the house, in terms of the function of the various areas is discussed and differing options worked through. This results in a series of 1:50 floor plans which are further worked until all are satisfied.

Once this is agreed, further detailed drawings showing plans and elevations are produced and finally construction drawings for manufacture. This will include detailed drawings for Dressing Rooms, Bathrooms, Kitchens, Panelled Libraries, Saunas and Summer Houses. Indeed anything that might be part of the interior and very often the exterior of a property, he has had to design.

Mathew’s background is in furniture design, though he spent fifteen years working in theatre and film production, where he learnt to prioritise time lines for design and manufacture, to ensure that everything appeared on time, before curtain up or the camera rolled.

He has spent the last twenty five years working in interiors with only the best designers and international clientele. He joined Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler in 2012 and was made a director in 2021.