Sarah Andrews - Principles of Style

Principles of Style

Sarah Andrews

Dearest Reader, this book was written for you. May it guide the inner beauty you carry to your world around.

Dear Reader, how wonderful it is to be able to distil my life, teachings and experiences down into this book. May it inspire and guide you to create beautiful work around you that reflects who you are, as my school has done for so many others around the world.

My approach to design and styling has been shaped both by my education in the sciences and design, but also by my life, which has been so far thankfully, a big one. I started off my professional life after a childhood in remote Western Australia riding bareback on horses, swimming in azure blue seas surrounded by books and maps and encyclopedias, dreaming of all the faraway places I might visit one day as, unsurprisingly, a spatial scientist. A scientist of space and location and understanding and explaining how the world works.

I loved my profession there was something really exciting about using the logical side of my brain to make sense of the world but eventually I needed something more than that. A good friend once said to me, You should be doing for a living what you love to do in your spare time. In my case, she was only partly right I actually wanted to find a way of bringing together all the things I was interested in. Design and aesthetics has always been such a love of mine, which I know anyone reading this can relate to, so I went back to university in my later years to study it. It didnt take me long to realise that design was science everything I was learning was familiar to me, and not a million miles from my spatial sciences studies. Design is so often viewed as purely creative a bit mysterious, and relying totally on inspiration. But to me, design has structure and patterns, and follows rules. I believe its something that anyone can learn; you dont need to have a naturally good eye to make something beautiful.

After I finished my design degree, I had my own little design and marketing studio for a few years, and it was here that I started to study and dabble in interiors, houses, renovations and styling an arm of my business and life that was truly for the love of it, and would become the greatest love of my life. I tried out many of my ideas at a rundown little shack Id bought on the west coast of Tasmania which, even though frustratingly difficult to get to, went on to become one of the most successful and iconic Airbnbs on the planet, in a part of the world where I was told that it couldnt be done.

Emails started to trickle in from people wanting me to help them do what I had done, and I started consulting. The trickle turned into a deluge, and thats when my scientists brain kicked in again. I realised that for everyone who was hiring me, I was essentially taking them through the same process again and again, partly around storytelling and partly around some of those rules of styling I had devised. And so I created a system that could be modified and adapted, unendingly, always producing rare and unique results.

My clients were so interested in my work and process that I developed the information into a masterclass. This brought so much success to the students who dived into it that I then set up an online school that now teaches people around the world.

This book gives a small part of my teachings to you, part art, part science ten simple rules to guide you to create your own spaces that are uniquely yours and authentically beautiful.

My greatest joy is the fact that some of the spaces Im going to show you are the homes of my students, with my teachings applied to them. It is a pleasure to feature them alongside my work and the work of so many I admire.

The power is yours to create a space that is beautiful to be in and is well and truly yours. As far as Im concerned, whats beautiful is whats natural, and whats natural is whats real. If you can get to the heart of whats real for you the truth of your story that is unbridled, undeniable beauty. Id really love to see what you come up with. Reach out to me and share the work you create from this book; it would bring me boundless joy to see the magic you make and know your story too.

Ive made a map to get you from where you are to where you want to be, leaving plenty of room for mischief and magic. Magic, after all, is just science unexplained.

Anyone can create their own beautiful spaces its a skill we can all learn. I now know this from teaching thousands of students the world over, some of whom started out terrified and paralysed with self doubt. Im excited to be able to share a small part of my teachings with you ten rules of styling that can help you build a more, sensitive world around you that suits the way youd like to live. One thats completely your own.

D UNMORE F ARM , M OLYULLAH , A USTRALIA

Imperfection makes us feel human. Gentle movement, and elements that are twisted, folded and frayed, make us feel at home. I love the knots in the fabric, the rounded table legs, the old books and windswept branches against the timber boards. Imagine a plain white wall with a roller blind it wouldnt look nearly as beautiful.

Rule One CURVES SPEAK OF LIFE

In the natural world around us, youll see lots of curves the outer trunk of a tree, birds eggs and feathers, clouds and waves. There are straight lines, too, but theyre definitely outnumbered by curves.

If you look at the rule in terms of design on a more general level, someone who really understood the power of curves, and the way they can work with straight lines, was the industrial designer Raymond Loewy. He managed to make even the most mundane object beautiful, but hes probably best known for his designs for cars, trains, planes and even spacecraft all sleek and streamlined, but amazingly curvaceous as well.

Somewhere along the line, decoration, age, signs of wear and the curved form started to get downplayed in many modern houses, and lines and angles began to be the hero. I have a bit of a theory that lines and angles are cheaper to build, and hence they became the norm. I bought the house I live in now for three reasons. The first is that it sits on the edge of the sea sheltered in a way that the calm water tends to bring me peace. The second is that theres so much natural forest around it that I could always wonder at, with its changing forms and colours in different seasons and light. The third, because not a single wall here has a corner; all the bricks are laid so the rooms are rounded, and each doorway, big and small, is an arch.

Curves, in the natural world and in the spaces around us, make us feel human, comfortable, safe. They dont need to be a part of your space to begin with to have this effect on you: you can introduce them, and youll be surprised how welcoming it will start to feel circular rugs, round lights and coffee tables. Much more subtle curves help even more the rounded arm of an old chair, the slightly curved spine of second-hand hardback books, a folded blanket. And of course, natural objects themselves, such as branches, dried grasses, pebbles and whatever else you can find. Proportion doesnt come into it just because you have an enormous rectangular window doesnt mean you have to match that equally with curves. Try to balance the ratio of curves to straight in your home for a harmonious feeling.