Shop of the month
Plain English Design, 61, Pimlico Road, SW1
I WAS inspired by the “below stairs” areas of grand country houses in the 18th and 19th centuries,’ says Katie Fontana, the creative director of Plain English, about the showroom that she designed on Pimlico Road in Belgravia. The joinery business, known for its traditional, Georgian-style kitchens, has its headquarters at Stowupland Hall in Suffolk, where the materials are still made. In London, the shop unfolds room by room, not unlike a home. ‘I would often find myself daydreaming of playing house here and I hope that visitors to the showroom enjoy doing that, too,’ says Ms Fontana.
The surrounding neighbourhood is a hub for interior-design businesses and antique dealers, but remains residential—there’s a thriving farmer’s market outside the shop on Saturdays and shoals of families on the school run most mornings. ‘What I like is the number of dogs who come to visit us with their owners,’ says Ms Fontana. ‘I’ve set up a little treat basket for them, full of bones.’ Many of
