Denna Garrett coordinated the design and implementation teams during the 10-year restoration project at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, which reopens on 24 March. She is also the project manager of the Chatsworth Renewed exhibition, which runs until 21 October.
Could you describe how much attention to detail the restoration required?
Getting the right cloth for the walls and window dressings in the Sketch Galleries took quite a while. It’s tricky to find something that’s new yet has the right look and feel for a historic interior. We chose one that had been made on old looms in a mill in France but then had to ensure it was the right colour through many trials and samples. The design of the curtains and window pelmets involved references to myriad historical sources, with our textile team making up calico toile mock-ups for the design team’s consideration.
And on a smaller scale?
The new metal naplock bars holding the carpets together had to have the right period look and quality to fit in, while the strength of the lightbulbs on the visitor routes had to be right from both a practical and aesthetic point of view.
Is all this reflected in the exhibition?
Even that has grown exponentially. The original idea was for a celebration featuring the in-house photography that was documented every Friday throughout the restoration. We then decided to tell the story through the voices of the people who did the work and the raw materials - including stone, timber and fleece sourced from the estate - they used. There are looms in the state drawing room to enable visitors to have a weave while headsets with oral histories and animation will give them the experience of going out on to the roof of the house. Before all the fabric was hung in the South Sketch Gallery, our staff were invited to sign the walls and select objects they might hide under floorboards for discovery in 200 years’ time.
How did you get this job?
I certainly didn’t plan this. I worked for the Duchess in Yorkshire and moved down with her in 2006. The role just mutated and I had to learn quickly. When we commissioned our first fabric and arrived at colour trial number five, I remember thinking: “Oh goodness, this is rather detailed work.”
Presumably colour charts from Homebase won’t feature next time you decorate your own home?
I must have had a reaction to all this as I don’t have any carpets at home and there are no curtains downstairs. That says a lot, doesn’t it? I probably get my fix of texture and colour at work.
Could you describe how much attention to detail the restoration required?
Getting the right cloth for the walls and window dressings in the Sketch Galleries took quite a while. It’s tricky to find something that’s new yet has the right look and feel for a historic interior. We chose one that had been made on old looms in a mill in France but then had to ensure it was the right colour through many trials and samples. The design of the curtains and window pelmets involved references to myriad historical sources, with our textile team making up calico toile mock-ups for the design team’s consideration.
And on a smaller scale?
The new metal naplock bars holding the carpets together had to have the right period look and quality to fit in, while the strength of the lightbulbs on the visitor routes had to be right from both a practical and aesthetic point of view.
Is all this reflected in the exhibition?
Even that has grown exponentially. The original idea was for a celebration featuring the in-house photography that was documented every Friday throughout the restoration. We then decided to tell the story through the voices of the people who did the work and the raw materials - including stone, timber and fleece sourced from the estate - they used. There are looms in the state drawing room to enable visitors to have a weave while headsets with oral histories and animation will give them the experience of going out on to the roof of the house. Before all the fabric was hung in the South Sketch Gallery, our staff were invited to sign the walls and select objects they might hide under floorboards for discovery in 200 years’ time.
How did you get this job?
I certainly didn’t plan this. I worked for the Duchess in Yorkshire and moved down with her in 2006. The role just mutated and I had to learn quickly. When we commissioned our first fabric and arrived at colour trial number five, I remember thinking: “Oh goodness, this is rather detailed work.”
Presumably colour charts from Homebase won’t feature next time you decorate your own home?
I must have had a reaction to all this as I don’t have any carpets at home and there are no curtains downstairs. That says a lot, doesn’t it? I probably get my fix of texture and colour at work.
