Shaun Clarkson’s successes in the 1990s, including venues such as the Raw Club, with its rolling concept of six-monthly reinvention, and Pop and Jerusalem, echoed the excesses of the late 20th century.
Their triumph and that of more mature restaurant venues, such as Berkeley Square Café and Cheyne Walk Brasserie, have given Clarkson the chance to invest in his own projects, including the William IV pub in Hoxton, London.
A self-confessed control freak, Clarkson still generates all the design work of his studio, Shaun Clarkson ID, working with a team of project managers and loyal sub-contractors. He has a roster of clients whose repeat business is enough to keep him busy – a recent project, the Electric Birdcage in central London, is a surreal realisation for a client forwhom Clarkson produced the hugely successful Denim a decade ago.
Following the success of Cliff Barns, his first Rancho Deluxe hometel, comes another, Carrington House. And if that weren’t enough, he has plans to open a new lifestyle store that will include fabrics, rugs, wallpapers and a bespoke furniture service – plus no end of humour and creative energy, as expected from the fertile imagination of Shaun Clarkson.
Shaun, one of your latest projects is the Electric Birdcage bar on Haymarket in London, tell us a bit about it.
Electric Birdcage is one of a new breed of bars that we’ve started doing. Back in the early 1990s I was taking over grotty little clubs in basements and turning them into style bars, like Pop, Jerusalem and 10 Room. Some of those are still around, but I think people want something a bit more glamorous now. Birdcage is in a lovely old bank, and we’ve gone with a very eclectic approach, being sympathetic to the structure and working with the grand scale and high stucco ceilings, but injecting irreverent touches, like painting all these lofty domes in fluorescent pink. We’ve created a surreal experience – it’s a bit mad really.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
A lot of it comes from the client. It’s important to have a clear understanding of what they want. With Electric Birdcage, they asked me to go to Bali, and I found some great things you’d never find in the UK – 19ft rearing black stallions and the ornate birdcages I’ve used, which are a great example of how just one little trinket seen on your travels can spark off a whole idea. But we did buy a lot of furniture out there which has since fallen to pieces, so it can be a false economy. You hear so many horror stories about sourcing abroad, and I would say buy British.
Environmental issues are high on the agenda right now, how is this affecting your designs?
We’re trying to push our clients to be as green as possible, but the trouble is that things that work very well, such as tungsten light bulbs, are being withdrawn and not replaced with viable alternatives – energy-saving bulbs give a horrible light and you can’t dim them. On the other hand, there are some good ideas out there. For my new pub, the William IV, we have been looking at a scheme where you can get a government loan to install a carbon-friendly kitchen – that’s something I’d definitely suggest to my clients.
Owning a pub is a new direction for you, are there any others?
Well, a while ago I decided I was fed up working exclusively for other people and making lots of money for them. I thought I should do my own thing, and what’s come out of it is Cliff Barns, my Dallas-themed place in Norfolk. It’s what they call a ‘hometel’, a very high-end holiday home that has all the services of a hotel, if you want them. I’m just starting on the next one, Carrington House, which will have a Dynasty theme – very 1980s – and is going to include a spa and a teaching kitchen, all in a gorgeous Grade II-listed Georgian house.
Do you have any tips on how to succeed in the interior design business?
Despite what anyone says, there are certain tricks you can use in this industry, and the most important ones to remember are colour and lighting. There are colours that don’t flatter people, and colours that do. Similarly, with lighting, you should never use a yellow light – when people are having a drink at the end of the night it will just make them look jaundiced! Really, the best advice I can give is don’t be scared, just go for it – if it’s out there, give it a whirl.
