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Delicious detail blends with modern luxury at Bovey Castle
The illustrious history of Bovey Castle has inspired a flexible and vivid play on art nouveau style in a bespoke carpet, beautifully highlighted with rich purple hues and flashes of accent tones.
Renowned for history, excitement and glamour, Bovey Castle is one of a select number of architecturally stunning country hotels owned by Eden Hotel Group, winner of the AA Small Hotel Group of the Year 2014-2015.
The Inspiration
“We were charged with the task of creating a supremely comfortable and relaxing experience in the public rooms of this luxurious hotel,” explains Nicholas Hollinshead, principal, NH Interiors. “So we turned to the history of this grand 20th Century building, which was once under the ownership of the Great Western Railway, for an early 1900sinspired scheme that could trace the heritage and glamour of one of the UK’s top country retreats. “We wanted a carpet that referenced the art nouveau and art deco period, but that could be translated into a simpler form to create different environments within areas while retaining a sense of integrity and flow,” continues Nicholas Hollinshead.
“Wilton’s proposed working of the design using a sustained linear element that could be layered with a damask in key areas such as the restaurant and on the grand staircase was the ideal solution.” The design also had to have an element of practicality, with the hotel residents often enjoying the companionship of dogs and its country setting meaning a high chance of tracked-in dirt.
Design Development
Wilton Carpets Commercial developed design options based on the brief with NH Interiors opting for a subtle two-tone stria that could exist on its own, or be overlaid byan elegant and intricate damask to add visual depth and interest in key areas. Wilton then provided recolourings of the design until the base tones and highlights provided the ideal scheme from which to create the rest of the interior. A subtle colour palette of grey and neutrals highlighted with a rich purple and flashes of accent colour gives the carpet an elegant quality that achieves the fine balance between paying homage to the history and Jacobean style architecture without sacrificing a sense of luxurious modernity.
Solution Delivered
Expertly installed by AJ Rudd Contracts, the 125 square metres of bespoke axminster carpet were woven in a high quality 80% wool 10-row construction to help combat the traffic encountered in this 63-bedroom hotel. The carpets were manufactured in the UK at Wilton’s Wiltshire facility on high-speed electronic jacquard looms, helping to meet the project’s tight deadlines.
“Wilton provided a variety of trial samples which were essential in selling the brief to the client and despite concerns over the tight timescale, the carpets were delivered before the deadline. The quality of the carpet is first rate and it has lived-up to our intention of bringing the scheme together,” concludes Nicholas Hollinshead.
