Clive Rhodes Interior Designer

20/02/2024

We uplifted, we dismantled, we rebuilt.
Zoffany decorative velvet “Nyala” in colour Serpentine.
Concept Clive Rhodes. Master upholster Dean Tompkins.

13/10/2022

Rarely in the rich tapestry of my forty year career as an interior designer have I had so singular a brief…..from a client who had acquired a series of life size bronze statuary……..
please could you provide for each of the unarmed warriors,their weapons and shields?

Poseidon was not too difficult to identify, though the length of gas piping currently serving as his spear didn’t quite represent his legendary power capable of shaking the Earth.
The figure with his arm raised could have held a measuring device or caduceus but as the original figure was recovered from the sea off Antikythera Greece with nothing in either hand this was anyone’s guess.

The other two warriors were also recovered from coastal waters, as recently as 1972,
off Calabria and we’re given the working title of the Riace bronzes sand again we’re unarmed when found.It occurred to me there was a pattern here…..
Were the originals plundered for their weapons and dumped? If so should we contrive to restore their armaments at all? The debate
ensued between the client and my associate Kevin Beales and myself to and fro over following weeks into months.
Finally it was Kevin, a specialist in making in resin copies of antique furniture, mirrors and lighting who speculated that the Antikytheran youth may actually have been the hero who slayed Medusa and the raised arm held aloft the severed head! The client needed no convincing and readily accepted the hypothesis.
This breakthrough won us the commission to design and recreate the artefacts.
Easier said than done, though references and designs were not difficult to find, the hot Spring and Summer this year meant the initial wax moulds melted and halted progress.
Deciding meantime to transport the figures to Kevin’s Norfolk workshop on a low loader led to rare sightings of warriors on the move along Lincolnshire and Norfolk highways. This to ensure a good fit to those empty hands.
Cooler weather finally permitted progress and the casts were made. Next challenge was to replicate the bronze colour and patination but a past master at this Kevin achieved just that.
Just last month the installation you see was finally realised to the eminent satisfaction of
another grateful customer.

02/12/2021

02/12/2021

These vaulted cellar spaces until recently served time as a pretty gift shop which closed towards the end of the second lockdown.
The enterprising owner saw an opportunity to fashion the space as a convincing wine cellar for tasting and acquiring
fine wines.
Mary Daw, my associate and fine artist Mary Daw has given the white painted brick surfaces a Neo-Pompeiian fresco of sepia wash and trailing vines redolent of the vendange.
The carved and painted wood panels conceal mirror tiles and add detailing to a flush door and architrave but are wallpaper panels by Emanuel Viscosi. The realistic look of these is due in no small measure to the preparation and precision hanging by my associate decorator Mark Copeland. Mary’s rampant vines intrude on the panels in places so enhancing the trompe l’oeil effect.
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21/09/2021

Calling all Wallpaper Addicts, I've set up a Group where we can discuss examples of the treasure trove of wallpaper designs and colours available to us today and those of past times still available to be enjoyed from archived material

18/09/2021

01/06/2020

We are pleased to announce our curtain making department will be reopening on the
8th June
9am to 5pm Monday to Friday

Interior Design consultations are available by appointment only through Clive Rhodes on
07837 989 447

Retail sales of wallpaper, fabrics, paints and any sample requests remain to be ordered by phone or email for direct home delivery

Social distancing adhered to

19/03/2020

We appreciate this is a very difficult period, but happier times will be ahead. Please be assured that we are here to support you as best we can.