Pitfield | Shaun Clarkson

East London is on the cusp of becoming even more of a noteworthy destination with the launch of Pitfield, a brand‐new shop, gallery and café, at the beginning of December. Interior designer Shaun Clarkson and textile designer Paul Brewster have long wanted to open a store that reflects their bold, whimsical tastes and create a retail and exhibition space that is pure fantasy and escapism. They will throw open the doors to Pitfield in Shoreditch this winter. Clarkson and Brewster discovered the area’s charms almost 20 years ago, having lived and worked in the neighbourhood long before it became the place to be. A much‐needed addition to this edgy corner of the city, Pitfield promises to be as much of a stylish curiosity shop as it is a curatorial space with a constantly rotating exhibition of local London designers, craftspeople and artists sitting alongside well‐established international brands, design classics, re‐invented items, vintage pieces and Clarkson’s and Brewster’s own designs. The Pitfield Café will be an extension of the lifestyle, bringing Clarkson’s designs to life in an environment that people can experience and buy into. The café will be a community umbrella – offering a meeting place and an inspired gathering place in which to socialise or work. Clarkson and Brewster have partnered with Eddy Grappy who will design the menu and run the café. Freshly ground, specialist coffee will be complemented by brownies, muffins, cakes and luscious, fluffy meringues made on‐site. On the savoury side, super‐healthy salads, sandwiches and pizzas, all using local produce, will also be on the menu. What’s more, the café will be furnished with found items and reworked vintage pieces and each will be unique and for sale. “If somebody wants to pay for the chair he is sitting on and walk out with it, we can arrange that,” says Clarkson. “Or if they like the cake stand, they can buy that too.” Pitfield will change and evolve regularly. In what is effectively a raw space, the vignettes created by Clarkson and Brewster will always compel, inspire and draw in the creative and curious. Their work can never be described as bashful: it is dramatic, sometimes over the top and always incredibly rich in cultural and historical references. Either way, their designs reveal a perfectionist’s eye for detail and an absolute passion for every single item in the room, be it a distinctive mid‐century vase or some unusual wallpaper from a small manufacturer in California. Nothing is an accident. With Brewster’s unparalleled experience in the textiles world, coupled with his sharp exquisite taste, pattern and colour will be the order of the day. Brewster’s work with designers such as Versace, Gianfranco Ferre and Diane von Furstenberg has allowed him to bring an elegant splash of tasteful excitement to the interiors environments he helps to define. Most of us have been in a signature Shaun Clarkson‐designed environment, be it the Harvey Nichols bar, the bar at the Oxo Tower, the Dukes Hotel Bar or a seemingly simple but wonderfully loud La Porchetta pizza restaurant, all of which exude Clarkson’s unique and vibrant style. Brewster and Clarkson’s beautiful east London house was recently featured in World of Interiors magazine and was photographed in all its glamorous glory with their fantastic collections of objects found at car‐boot sales, flea markets and antiques fairs. Equally, their two other country retreats in Norfolk, Carrington House and Cliff Barns, are stamped with their unwavering spirit, hallmark clashing patterns and unforgettable colours. It is this very spirit that will be transported straight into Pitfield, the only store of its kind in London. “I’ve been designing for 20 years,” says Clarkson. “And it’s now time for us to open this space and bring a bit of our fantastical lifestyle into a retail environment.”