Sir Paul Smith, a living design legend, comes to Kettle’s Yard

A February lunchtime. The Kettle’s Yard house is packed with an expectant audience eager to spend an hour in the company of the legendary designer Sir Paul Smith. Many are long-time aficionados of the iconic label and have arrived duly kitted out in their favourite Paul Smith items, from socks to scarves to one Friend who was dressed entirely from head to toe in his beautifully crafted clothes and footwear.

Now 75 years old and as creative and productive as ever, Paul Smith has become one of the most influential figures in the world of fashion and design. He had generously agreed to share with the Friends of Kettle’s Yard his reflections on his long-time love affair with Kettle’s Yard, its harmonious collection and the ethos of demystifying art that guided its founder Jim Ede.

The event, hosted by art and design writer Aimee Farrell, had been billed as an exploration of the influence of Kettle’s Yard on figures outside of fine art and also on the the intersection between art, fashion and design. Smith, a hugely engaging and amusing speaker, needed little prompting to draw his audience into the fascinating story of the origins and progress of his remarkable career spanning more than fifty years. Starting out in 1970 with a tiny men’s clothing shop in his hometown of Nottingham, Paul Smith has grown into a global brand with stores in more than seventy countries.

“Where did your passion for collecting art spring from?” asked Aimee. “In my very first shop, I realised that having works of art alongside the clothes was a good way of breaking the ice and making people feel at home. In those early days, we showed works by Warhol and Hockney in the shop. If it was a choice between paying the gas bill or buying a David Hockney print, I bought the print,” replied Smith.

You have only to wander into a Paul Smith store anywhere in the world to realise that they are much more than outlets for selling beautiful clothes. “We design all our own shops – so we have our own in-house teams of architects, furniture designers and makers,” he explained. “Many of our stores are actually situated in what were originally domestic spaces. The inspiration for this approach came from having attended a fashion show in Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment before she died.

In the same way that Jim Ede carefully placed natural, found objects next to paintings and sculpture, Smith’s ideas for new designs spring from varied and often unusual sources. He is not only a collector of art but also of ephemera. Paradoxically, Paul Smith’s London studio is the very antithesis of Jim Ede’s cool, calm arrangement of art and objects. It is piled high with mounds of eclectic, often kitsch objects that fans from all over the world have sent him. One unknown fan has been sending him presents for over forty years – ranging from a skateboard to a fishing rod. Yet it is this serendipitous collection that provides him with infinite inspiration for his imaginative fabrics and designs.

The audience came away beaming with delight at their glimpse into Sir Paul’s creative life. Asked why he feels an appreciation of art and design is so important in today’s world, he replied: “Many people look but don’t see. Kettle’s Yard is so important because it’s about opening people’s eyes. It’s about passion, touch, companionship and good manners.”