COOL PAINTED FINISHES BY NGS

Contract: Designers Guild UK – Working in colour 1986-1998.

1986

Above: Tricia Guild CEO of DG UK casting her eye over the selection of salads in the HO staff canteen. My tables and benches were commissioned to add a sense of passion to the room and dull Wormwood urban backdrop.

The original rustic finishes of Designers Guild UK

Nick Garrett Shabby Chic master, Furniture painter, Distressed paint finishes,

25 years of superb, authentic ‘Driftwood’ furniture

IN TOWN – HISTORY MEETS PURE MODERNISM

A truly contemporary feel was further created by me , with bright-bold, heavy rustic crazed finishes, for the 1987 Designers Guild book ‘In Town’.

In the Brixton workshop. I thrived making this collection which ran for 9 years.

INSPIRATION

Our original distressed inspiration came from the Santa Fe furniture, London Dockland Wharfs, beach and barn-house styles.

The cupboard below came about in a moment of pure abstraction.

tricia-guilds-painted-furniture by nick garrett

THE RUSTIC TYPE

Above: An NGS Signwriting Ghost sign wall panel CHECK THIS NGS ‘GHOST SIGN’ ARTICLE

THE RUSTIC TYPE

Spirit of Paint Lives On

Le Labo Collection

CREATING WEATHER-WORN DRIFTWOODS

Cracking and distressing the paint became an obsession that carries on today with NGS Guitars.

Yet the materials I discovered that worked best on furniture were traditional gum Arabic and plaster based paints. These were strapped down with fine damar varnish with a hint of colour to enhance the final bees waxed patina.

The result… a powerful fore-runner of shabby chic!