What does a man who designs and creates for the stars choose to have as the centrepiece of his living space? Well, it's not what you might initially think. Noted fashion designer, Richard Nicoll doesn't choose an expensive Francis Bacon oil painting or a classic Eames chair, but a startling and beautiful mauve-coloured traditional chesterfield sofa. And the reason for this is, simply that he fell in love with the chesterfield sofa when he spotted it many years ago, and just had to have it. There was unfortunately an immediate problem however: it was too large to accommodate in the place he lived in at the time. So, instead the chesterfield sofa lived at his friend's house, artist, Anthony Campbell. The good news is that sofa and owner have now been re-united and now the chesterfield sofa sits in pride of place in the living room of the London Georgian terrace he shares with Anthony Campbell.

Nicholl is a major player in the world of fashion, and has designed for and dressed musical luminaries like Björk and Kylie. After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2002, he gained experience by working as a freelance consultant alongside the giants of the fashion world, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, as well as becoming the Creative Director of Womenswear at Cerruti. Since launching his own independent label in 2008, he's been named the Best Young Designer at the Elle Style Awards in 2009 and was twice shortlisted for the BFC/ Vogue Designer Fashion Fund.

So why did such a style icon opt for a chesterfield sofa then?  Well, in short, because he views the chesterfield sofa as an iconic piece of British furniture, and thinks its adaptability makes it special. It is capable of blending with any decorative scheme, traditional, modern or eclectic.  As far as eclectic spaces go, the living space at Nicholl's Victoria Park terrace is up there with the best. Hanging over the mantel of the Georgian marble fireplace is a large oil painting, entitled ‘self-improvement plan'. It's a painting that features two almost identical-looking men, and was purchased by Nicholl's mother back in the day. He says it reminds him of his father, a retired eye surgeon and world champion rower. 

There's also a vintage yellow chair bought from Bethnal Green Road and a number of Linda Sterling collages. However, the undoubted centrepiece of the room is the chesterfield sofas. It might not be the most extravagant piece that the designer could've chosen, but it's tasteful and understated in a typically British way. As he said himself, he fell in love with it when he first saw it and just knew he had to own it. Having seen the chesterfield sofa, you know exactly what he means. We might not, as lay people, fully appreciate the world of high-end fashion, but we do understand and appreciate quality and craftsmanship when we see it. It's satisfying to know that one of our top fashion designers can appreciate this too.