Style Compass Kathryn Ireland
By Windsor Smith

Amidst a new glossy breed of style makers, where brand positioning and genetic talent by proxy have seemingly grabbed a front seat to pure-organic originality, may we please give a “woo woo” to the undeniably authentic one off – the irreverent – Kathryn M. Ireland.

“My first memory is of the pyramids,” muses Ireland. ”My mother took me as a small child to Egypt to reclaim her stake in the shipping fortune my grandfather made trading from East to West through the Suez Canal. He was the Japanese consulate – even though he was British!” If pioneer-ism is attached to a gene, Miss Ireland’s chromosomal chart reads like Jacques Costeau’s!

Attending the posh Heath Field School in Ascot, Kathryn became chums with Britain’s pedigreed pack. “It was important to Mother that I be educated alongside a vast diversity of cultures. There were Indian girls at Heath Field that brought a wonderfully colorful and exotic quality to my schoolgirl life,” she says. With a race-car-driving uncle and an Olympic high jumping father, Kathryn’s  athleticism was also encrypted in the family’s DNA. Ireland spent countless afternoons galloping – on horseback, of course – on the back of Tassy (her first love, a Welsh mountain pony) through the hills of Cumbria – and the grouse moors of Scotland where she also learned to shoot. A shameless flirt to this day (resulting in three strapping sons), she was the gregarious girl everyone wanted to be with at the Orbin & Skye Highland Balls.  Even then she stood out from the crowd as a true original – an Annie Oakly – but with exemplary breeding.  A statuesque natural beauty, her acerbic wit and colorful antics were legendary – and those antics she chose not to recant, she shares to this day at fireside, leaving everyone howling with laughter. The backdrop of the Great Houses of England from the West Country, Summerset, Yorkshire, and Sussex are loomed through the life tapestry that influences Kathryn Ireland’s work today.  Good bone structure, cultures, and life’s happenstance are woven though all of her interiors.  

Trying on her filmmakers hat, Ireland produced a documentary on “New Religion,” filmed in Ghana; she was but in her early 20’s and was seriously regarded but was often found sneaking off in between takes to learn polo with the locals.

Never formally trained in design, “I only took one course in sewing that taught me the difference between the weft and the warp!,” she scoffs. Ireland decided to gamble on the payoff from experiencing fabrics and furnishings first hand to acquire a strong foundation in designing. Her bet was a good one with Ireland cashing in as a popular and highly regarded decorator.

In Ireland’s own homes (both in Southern France and Los Angeles), as well as those of her affluent and artistic cliental, one is drawn into the utter comfort and depth of the homes; how perfectly imperfect they are. Chock full of art, textiles and antiques from her worldly travels, coupled with her innate talent for layering cultures effortlessly – one over another – Ireland’s home designs are so instantly comfortable and familiar that an afternoon can easily turn into a week’s stay. Her signature Suzani and block-printed linen pillows on a nearby hammock remind us that Kathryn’s environments are mirroring her – and that of her very existence – so textural and boundless are ultimately welcoming.

“A well balanced room exists where all colors have an intrinsic relationship to one another” states Ireland. A lover of Matisse and Rothko for their mastery of color, Ireland shares the two artists’ bold point of view. Like playful watercolors, her own printed linens are like root words in the world’s top interior designers creative vocabulary. They are playful and approachable, derived from characters or cartouches from tribal weavings or a Spanish embroidery’s delicate bouquets. Unearthing and exploring native artisans and the deeper layer of art, textiles, and furnishings a region has to offer inspire her work deeply.

Seldom has one so completely lived their point of view. What to some is purely aspirational, Ireland’s lifestyle is truly inspirational. Kathryn’s parties are filled with diverse and robust personalities. From the next-door dairy farmer or punk musician to heads of state and countries – all are on equal footing at one of Kathryn’s soirees. Her yearly Mushwee (roasted pig on a spit) is the event of the season in Toulouse. And at the end of the day, riding on her Arabian horses across the endless fields of sunflowers, is a special treat for her equestrian-accomplished guests. When she is not floating on a felluca down the Nile, she can be found working out with Kettlebells alongside the Russian gymnastic team on the Santa Monica Pier, She manages to juggle international decorating projects, with writing books, and expanding her product line to include floor covering, tabletop, and garden accoutrements.

On the subject of gardening, Ireland is flush with opinions: “I’m bloody tired of watering and weeding and maintaining a grassy garden. It robs us of life’s real adventures. A garden should look as though it’s been there forever... not too manicured or self conscious.” She pauses for a nanosecond and continues, “I’m most inspired by Alistar McAlpine’s garden of pots at the convent in Puglia. It’s mesmerizing in that it exists in an area that is virtually barren. And at the other end of the spectrum, you have the breathtaking Riad Madani Gardens in Marakesh and Ann’s Grove in southern Ireland with the bullrush leaning wildly over the riverbanks...” It’s as if we are listening to someone daydreaming.

When asked about world architecture, Ireland is as impassioned as she is informed.  “I am as moved by the fishermen’s cottages in Cadaquez as I am by the Palladios Villas in the Veneto, but the most arresting building that I had the good fortune to spend 3 months in (of course she did) was La Rocca Pisani, a villa built by Scamotzi, Palladio’s apprentice. It was the perfect marriage of the very grand and the very simple. With the launch this month of her second book Kathryn M. Ireland Creating a Home, published by Gibbs Smith,  Kathryn allows us to be the third inamorato in a love triangle with the Wallace Neff Estanza she brought back to its former life in the Obalada of Ojai,California.            

In delving into the architecture of one Kathryn M. Ireland, we realize that it is her unique life’s journey that feeds her vast creative mind’s eye.  An international tastemaker, with a fabric line in top showrooms across the globe, and now with two books under her belt, it’s fair to say that Miss Ireland has lived her way into her very own style point of view. She’s the real deal alright. And chances are good, hers is a deep well that will never run dry.