Hidden Art meets Kay and Stemmer

The bed for Cowley Manor Hotel's best room.

Designers Andrea Stemmer and Sarah Kay were commissioned by Jessica Sainsbury to design furniture for Cowley Manor Hotel near Cheltenham in the Cotswolds. This major project transformed the old Horlick's family home from its former use as an elderly people's home into a beautiful 30-bedroom contemporary country hotel.

The job brought the pair together while they were working side by side in their Dalston workshops.

"We were asked by Jessica Sainsbury because she saw and liked our work at New Designers and I'd done a private commission for her before," says Sarah. "It was a beautiful job too – fun, challenging and terrifying."

"It was the size of the job that made it so enjoyable," Andrea says. "When doing a commission you have to get into the feel of what the client wants. You can do it by research, intuition and talking to clients but it is basically about finding the story and then coming up with something that brings everything together. You do this every time with any small commission but when it's bigger the story becomes more complete."

Andrea and Sarah regularly attended team meetings with the architects, fabric consultants, the owners and the managing directors.

Simple and elegant dining furniture at Cowley Manor Hotel.

Designing furniture to fit the traditional features, like the sky-high dark mahogany panelling in the dining room, was a challenge. Sarah says: "We decided to make the furniture light visually to make it float in the space rather than being pulled to the floor. It worked out well but it wasn't obvious at first. The same was true of designing a four-poster bed for the main bedroom."

"The things you quarrel with are the ones that you constantly think about," adds Andrea. "It's not surprising that in the end, after you have gone round and round, to the right and to the left, they are the things that come out best."

Kay+Stemmer have since designed reception area seating for the Wimbledon School of Art. Following a speculative letter, they were commissioned to furnish a private screening room at the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead.

"With commissions you need to like the people," says Andrea. You have to understand that they may have a different aesthetic and be able to judge the relationship with the client right at the start - and be confident about saying no if it's not going to work."

Fiona Sibley, June 2004

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