November 2019 is a major celebration for Francis Sultana. One of the UK’s most prestigious interior and furniture designers, Francis celebrates his 10th Anniversary and launches a major furniture collection. David Gill Gallery plays host to an accompanying exhibition of his work and his first book, Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors is published worldwide by Vendome Press.

Considered one of the most important designers in the UK, Francis Sultana’s work, both his interiors and furniture designs, is loved by his clients who include major art and design collectors. Clients are drawn to his flair in both shape and decoration and his unique ability to merge domestic spaces with often large-scale art and design collections.

Francis Sultana: Designs & Interiors, edited by Bronwyn Cosgrave with a contribution from British Vogue Style Editor Gianluca Longo and The Art Newspaper contributor Brook Mason, is published worldwide. The book celebrates the anniversary of the studio through an examination of Francis’s work, both his sumptuous interiors and his elegant and highly collectible furniture collections. The book was launched at events in London and New York.

“My career to date has been a combination of skill, tenacity and a lot of hard work. It’s very easy to miss these moments when you are so busy, but I am glad that we decided to mark ten years with the book and a new collection, named in memory of my mother. It’s been a wonderful journey and I cannot wait to see what the next decade has in store.” Francis Sultana

Francis has created a very special collection of furniture to celebrate this landmark moment. Named ‘Marie-François’, after his late and beloved mother, the collection is a celebration of Francis’s design signatures including his love of natural and highly crafted materials such as cast bronze and carved wood and his references to Art Deco, in materials such as marble and silhouettes that juxtapose curves and angles. There is a sense of Mediterranean classicism throughout the collection with a palette in blues and greens and in its decorative finishes. Exciting new decorative applications include fluorite stone, Rosso Levanto marble and Palladium gilding.

A series of major furniture pieces sit at the heart of the collection that Francis originally designed for his newly decorated apartment at Albany, the prestigious Sir William Chambers building on Piccadilly, that has been home to the likes of Lord Byron and one of Francis’s inspirations, the renowned decorator David Hicks. Both Francis’s new apartment (the former home of socialite and writer Fleur Cowles) and his former apartment in the same building, feature heavily within the new book. Within the anniversary collection there is a desk, sofa, side table, coffee table, banquette and stool that were all originally designed for the new apartment and all the pieces are named after the building.

Palm wood and palm trees have always been an inspiration for Francis, inspired by the designer’s Maltese heritage (in 2017 he was announced as Ambassador for Culture for Malta). A stool, lounge chair, day bed, console, floor and table lamp all feature palm motifs and forms. Other motifs and decorative finishes that nod to Francis’s Mediterranean heritage include the classical use of trompe l’oeil faux marble finishes in aquatic colours of blue and pastel green. Gilded wood, lotus leaves and marble offer a series of Baroque flourishes rooted in one of Francis’s favourite buildings, St Johns Co Cathedral in Valletta, Malta.

The colour red is one of Francis’s favourites: the red of Malta’s cross, the red of Caravaggio’s brushwork, the reds used in the Art Deco work of Émile Jacques Ruhlmann and Jean Michel Frank. Within the Marie-François collection Francis has used red marble on two lamps, a floor and table lamp. He also features red in the leather work of his new valet design, another piece that he originally designed for his wonderful collection of bespoke Anderson & Sheppard suits. Red leather also appears in the bespoke hand-­‐woven tweed of one of the armchairs.

As with all Francis Sultana collections, it is the detailed and immaculate crafts skills that have been employed throughout the collection that add a sense of timeless elegance. Supporting artisanal crafts throughout Europe and the UK is something close to Francis’s heart and an essential element for any of his collections: cast bronze work, carved wood detailing, decorative finishing such as trompe l’oeil and hand-­‐woven fabrics are at the core of his work.

The Marie-François collection is a wonderful reflection of the career of one of London’s major designers, who continues to fly the British and Maltese flags around the world, creating stunning homes and highly collectible furniture. It is no surprise he continues to be one of only a handful of UK designers to be consistently featured on the Top100 lists in UK, France and the USA.