Fashion statement

What do bathrooms and fashion have in common? Quite a lot, according to couture fashion designer Ben de Lisi, whose beautiful gowns adorn the likes of Kate Winslet and Liz Hurley when they take to the red carpet. Fresh from completing more designs to add to his bathroom collection for Abacus Direct, he explains: “I use the same philosophy for designing bathrooms as I do dresses. I try to keep it pared down, keep it pure and never overstate it.”

This clean-lined aesthetic is something he’s applied in his own home, a pretty Victorian terrace a stone’s throw from the River Thames in London. Apart from his three French bulldogs, Luca, Noah and Tèa, lounging on a cushion in the centre of the open-plan ground floor living space, there is little to disturb its immaculate presentation. But though the look may be pared down, it’s far from austere. “Everything in the house is punctuated with red,” says Ben. “I’ve always loved red with black and red with chocolate. It’s reminiscent of the 1950s and I love that functional, dateless, clear style.” 

Groupings of ceramics and glassware reflect his love of these colours, as does his bathroom, recently refurbished with his own Ben de Lisi designs and presented in rich walnut, black stone tiles and yes, you’ve guessed it, splashes of red.

From the doorway, the room is constructed on several different levels, with a view that telescopes towards the bath at the far end. “I wanted to create a very covetable kind of space with a sense of separate rooms,” the designer explains. 

“I wanted it zoned with a section for hands and face, then body. I didn’t want to walk in and see the WC, which is hidden around the corner.” 

The clean-lined furniture and sanitaryware are simple, elegant and designed to stand the test of time. “I just don’t do superfluous detail,” he explains. Instead, he says that a bathroom, most particularly, needs to have an almost Zen-like feel. 

“It has to be the kind of place that takes you, cares for you and makes you feel secure,” he says. The harmonious colours, deep bath and spa-like zones are all designed to create the relaxing environment he wanted, while the crisp lines and black stone tiling add a masculine feel.

Born in New York in 1955, Ben studied sculpture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before moving to London in 1982. After establishing himself as an internationally-known and in-demand couture designer, what led him to interiors? “I was asked to create some apartments called The Edge in Manchester in 2002,” he explains. 

After tackling the lobby, show flats and eventually a total of 800 Ben de Lisi-branded apartments, he realised he’d uncovered a new talent. “It was a huge learning curve, but before I’d even completed the first venture, I got the next,” he says. It was also something he particularly enjoyed. “It comes from a love of design and from growing up in a home with a certain aesthetic. If my mother wanted something, my father made it, and I got that bug.”

The Edge wasn’t just the start of his venture into interiors, it also led to his meeting with Steve Bradbury, chairman of bathroom products manufacturer and distributor, Abacus Direct. Since Steve was planning to create a designer range for his company, Ben was the natural person to approach. “Ben is a very good designer,” he says, simply. “He’s not the type of designer who’ll take a bit of MDF with some silk wrapped around it and say it’s great. Ben is a proper designer, and that’s why we got involved with him.”

Having launched the Ben de Lisi bathroom range in 2004, kitchens are now to be added to the mix. Ben’s own kitchen is a prototype for his Prism range, to be launched in the spring, a characteristically ‘pure’ design with nothing to interrupt its clean lines. The look may be streamlined and simple, but it’s highly functional too. “I love entertaining, so the kitchen has to work well,” he explains. 

Ample drawers and cunning use of space are key, as is plenty of work surface to knock up his signature dishes, including Italian spring rolls filled with rocket and gorgonzola. Not for nothing, we learn, do his friends call him ‘Bendelicious’.

In between designing a new homewear range for Debenhams – launched in September – his couture work, TV appearances, painting and sculpting, Ben has somehow found time to create four kitchen ranges for Abacus Direct.

 “I know what I’m not good at, like maths and organisation, and I have the worst sense of direction God ever gave,” he laughs. “But I also know what I like to do and what I’m good at.”