In My Studio
With Barneby Gates
In a new series, In My Studio, we peak inside the working spaces of creatives we admire to find out what inspired their studio and how it now nurtures their creativity. To kick it off, we turned to wallpaper and fabric studio, Barneby Gates to talk through their beautiful new barn studio and showroom in Wiltshire…
Barneby Gates was established in 2009 by lifelong friends, Vanessa Barneby and Alice Gates. They are known for their diverse range of fabric and wallpaper prints, which combine traditional techniques and historical reference with a fresh, contemporary twist. The pair launched their business after separate careers - Vanessa was the Living Editor at British Vogue while Alice a fine artist designing prints for fashion brands; after both graduating from Edinburgh University.
This year, 16 years after they began, they realised their dream with a purpose-built studio barn and we couldn’t wait to have a tour. Here, Vanessa talks us through the inspiration and their favourite parts of studio life…
Please tell us about your studio…
Our studio is a lovely black barn on a farm in Wiltshire – a really beautiful spot in the Vale of Pewsey, nestled beneath the historic Pewsey White Horse and 15 minutes from Marlborough. The new build barn is our main Barneby Gates headquarters, housing our design studio and office, showroom and warehouse under one roof.
Was there a particular inspiration or style you went for when designing it?
We were lucky enough to be involved in the build from the ground up, so were able to have the layout just how we wanted it. The exterior is modern black corrugated metal, with solar panels on the roof and plenty of glass. The warehouse side is spacious and practical, but we wanted the studio / showroom side to be open plan and airy, sociable and welcoming. We needed to be able to display as many designs as possible, but also wanted a coherent flow from one room to the next. We left a lot of the walls bare plaster as that soft pink colour goes with just about anything and is the perfect backdrop to our ever-changing displays, and then we wallpapered smaller areas like the kitchen, the loo and the meeting room, to create little vignettes of inspiration for visitors.
What do you love about it most?
The light, the flow, the views over the fields, the peace.
What are 3 essentials for your studio space?
1. Kettle and teabags!
2. Magnetic boards for our ever-changing mood-boards
3. An organised samples unit is ESSENTIAL!
The best time of day in your studio?
Mid to late afternoon – particularly at this time of year - when the sun is low and pouring in through the west facing floor to ceiling windows, giving everything a pink glow.
Who is allowed in your studio?
Everyone! It’s our daily workspace so it’s manned 5 days a week - anyone can drop in and see the collection, pick up samples, or just come for a chat and a cup of tea during the working week.
What are your studio comforts?
Our little kitchenette for the endless tea and biscuits.
Reed diffusers by our friends at Cochine – these are really effective even in the double height space, and safer than leaving candles burning by mistake.
Our little studio armchair beneath the stairs provides a lovely quiet corner
.
Do you have studio artwork? A moodboard? What’s on your walls?
Our studio loo is a kind of tongue in cheek homage to Barneby Gates! It’s covered in photos of Alice and I spanning our 40 year friendship – from our school leavers photo, fancy dress parties and travelling in Mexico, to one of our first big pieces of editorial and some more official portraits – a real mix of serious and silly!
The magnetic pinboards in the studio tend to be colour coordinated arrangements of our samples – an easy way of grouping the designs and having them all to hand.
What is your desk set up?
We had our fitted desks made to fit the room using old scaff planks and metal poles, so they’re solid and utilitarian but also rather lovely. Our desk chairs are by Louw Roets – a Bauhaus inspired designer from Cape Town. The design studio / office area is a mezzanine above the showroom, with the desks are placed against the walls around a big Tate & Darby rug. We love this large area of floor space for spreading designs and samples out – it’s great when we’re working on a new collection.
Studio soundtrack - what do you listen to when working?
Actually we very rarely have any music, radio or podcasts on at all in the studio. That may sound surprising, but in a world where we are saturated with content and noise, we find it more peaceful to work like that – surrounded only by the hum of nature and the farm – and a lot of chitchat!
Tell us about your new Rectory Collection…
For the past year or so, Alice and her husband have been restoring a really special Grade II listed Rectory that’s been in Harry’s family for generations. While the structure of the building remained beautifully preserved, the interiors hadn’t been touched in over 60 years – since John Fowler himself helped decorate some of the main rooms. Obviously it’s an incredibly exciting project, but one that also came with a deep sense of responsibility – to honour the past and respect the home’s legacy, while getting every detail just right.
It was in the midst of this ongoing project that our latest collection of papers and fabrics came to life: inspired by the textures, palettes and patinas discovered throughout the Rectory, and influenced by our own travels and longstanding love for the layered English country home aesthetic.
The collection includes 6 wallpapers and 7 corresponding fabrics – many of which have found a place within the Rectory, some serving as the starting point for entire rooms, others woven around original features and furniture that have been lovingly restored.
Alice didn’t really want a house that felt overly ‘designed’, but for a home layered with history and warmth, and our aim was that this collection – which is very much designed to mix and match - would bring the same sense of character and charm to many other homes around the world.
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