DESIGNER Timothy Oulton is the Damien Hirst of the home decor world. Until now, his show-stopping interior stores — packed with installations that wouldn’t look amiss at Tate Modern — could only be found in far flung corners of the earth. His first shop was opened in Beirut. Other outlets followed in Guatemala, Peru, Seoul and Delhi. His friends thought he was crazy.
Pre-fab: The building could be packed and shipped anywhere in the world
But it seems that Manchester-born Tim had a plan all along. ‘I wanted to be invisible — to stay under the radar while I built my brand,’ he says. ‘Ten years on, we are finally ready to launch in the UK.’
And when he says launch, he means it. His design team went to town to ensure his new flagship store at furniture outlet Bluebird on King’s Road in Chelsea stood out from the competition.
Dome from home: The two storey building is an office and a home for the designer
‘It’s a very strong brand,’ says Tim. ‘We believe in visual overload. We want people to know who we are. This store is not just a shop — it’s an experience.
‘I want people to walk out bewildered. Maybe with absolutely no idea what it is we actually sell.’
The store is a maximalist’s dream — a heady mix of old English gentlemen’s club and the arty, urban vibe that Shoreditch had before the City boys muscled into the neighbourhood.
Idyllic: The ethos of using reclaimed materials is evident everywhere
However, it couldn’t be more different from the place that Tim calls home: a simple eco dome situated in South China.
Nestled in a lychee grove, the two-storey Halodome is also the creative hub of his business. ‘This is where we cook, eat, play music, get creative — and play poker,’ laughs father of three, Tim, 51.
It’s an ultra low-energy building with triple glazed windows and doors. Each handcrafted section — made of reclaimed wood — lines up perfectly like an orange, helping to keep the structure exceptionally watertight and highly insulated. Little energy is required to power all of the lights in the building — the equivalent of boiling a kettle.
And inside, a spectacular spiral staircase (with floating steps made from reclaimed timber and steel) serves to both cleverly connect and yet separate the open-plan living areas.
Tim says: ‘We used reclaimed materials before the sustainability movement became fashionable. You can make new wood look old, but it’s nowhere near as interesting.
Cosy vibe: Soft curves and lighting lend the property a sense of warmth
‘Used materials are more beautiful. An old saddle that someone has polished with their bum for 40 years — you can never get the finish by hand. And I’ve tried.’
Tim created a hand-made, hand-dyed leather circular sofa in order to fit the space. ‘All of our products are hand-made by local artisans. So no two are the same. Everything from the chairs to the lamps to the tables is handcrafted in the same street of one village, an hour-and-a-half’s drive away from here.
‘China was behind the rest of the world on sustainability, but now, as is often the way with late adopters, it is leading the way. I moved here in 2004 and for the first five years, I never saw the sun due to the pollution. Today there are birds and frogs everywhere — and for the first time I’ve witnessed, the rivers are full of fish again.’
The sleek, curved kitchen is stunning yet simple, made from stainless steel with black marble tops. And there is a matching circular table.
The dome itself is surrounded by seven two-storey roundhouses that are built in a circle in order to follow the line of the sun. Each has two bedrooms and is constructed with recycled bricks from local villages and fitted out with reclaimed wood and concrete. Tim’s own brand of wooden beds with horsehair mattresses offer rest for his guests.
But the living quarters weren’t always this sumptuous. Tim laughs: ‘For ten years we’d been living in really grim conditions — it was like a dorm with no proper loo. We were washing out of buckets and the shower was a gas bottle with a dodgy flame thrower.
High-end: The marble and steel kitchen space
‘But we were achieving great things, so we didn’t care. When one of the designers suggested building a creative hub, I agreed — but I wanted it to be something special.
‘I’m usually “more is more”, so it did take me a while to get used to the brutal simplicity. But I just love it now. It’s a sensory overload, not a visual overload. It works.’
The business started with Tim (pictured) and his dad in Manchester stripping pine in the back of a shop where they were turning over just £15,000 a year.
Today there are 4,000 employees. And a turnover of £200million.
‘I’m not a pure designer, I was never trained. I learned about antiques at my dad’s shop, and what I have is an eye for products and commerciality.
‘I still love antiques, but antiques on their own are not relevant any more. It’s not a point of view or an opinion. It’s developing the antiques that really interests me now.’
Timothy Oulton may have been ten years in the making, but it feels like the beginning of something exciting.
■ timothyoulton.com
Replies
Cool ..would love to live in Dome like that