Forward Planning

For over thirty years this delightfully proportioned and well-drawn plan chest has housed inspiration and mood boards, stone and tile samples, layout pads, tracing paper, drawing instruments, hard edges, glue, masking tape, blades and all the design related paraphernalia we have amassed.

We found it at the Flee Market in Paris, with Michel Morin, one of France’s pioneering folk art specialists. It has been a good companion and central to both of the design studios we have occupied since the mid 1980s and somehow feels integral to the journey of our design consultancy, Riviere Interiors, from humble beginnings to being nominated in the House and Garden Top 100 Interior Designers 2020, for the fifth consecutive year. 

Dating from c.1880-1900, it was originally made for an artists materials supply store. Free-standing with all-round scumbled “faux-bois” painted decoration, it retains the original cup handles, shows evidence of natural wear and has developed an engaging work-related patina over the years. 

We are making final preparations to vacate our Riviere Interiors design studio, since the building has been sold for redevelopment, and sadly we now need to part with pieces we have owned and worked alongside for many happy and productive years. 

Compact, quirky and wonderfully functional, it is a rare vernacular statement piece, with a happy history.