Jane Seymour is an English actress best known for her performance in the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die. Since her time as a Bond girl, the multi-talented philanthropist has branched out to the design and fashion worlds, as well as made a footprint in floral design. Movato Home publisher Leah Lipkowitz sat down with her for an interview.
Jane, you clearly caught the design bug. When did it all begin? At the age of 15 I started my own company in England designing and producing embroidered blouses. I wanted to be a ballet dancer and my parents couldn’t afford ballet shoes. So I used what I knew how to do to make money, which was knitting, crocheting and embroidering. Then I started selling my crocheted pieces. Then, when I came to America and had a little bit of money, I would buy houses nobody wanted, fix them up and sell them. I did everything myself. I had no training in any of this but I definitely had the taste factor.
Tell me about your furniture line. I teamed up with Michael Amini on the furniture line and it’s sold all over the world, except Western Europe. I actually physically hand-painted some fabric pieces that are now in the line, and they’re doing quite well. I’m excited about integrating my art, taste and design sense into the furniture line. I literally hand-paint actual lampshades. It’s not just a licensing thing; I’m actually physically involved in the design and the concept.
Where do you find your inspiration? My Inspiration comes from my life, my travels and my artistic sense. Everything, including my art, pretty much comes from what’s happening in my life. On a daily basis, my head is full of ideas, which I’m then privileged to share with major professionals in the field. The same thing goes for my line of silk florals.
It’s such an interesting concept. How did you get into botanicals? I’ve always loved flowers. I love colour. Before I started the collaboration, I thought, I have a big house and I’m not here all the time, I want to know that there are beautiful flower arrangements in every room. Then I got involved with Windwood Silks, the major company that I work with on the line. Firstly, they make by far the best products. Secondly, their price is way better than what I’ve seen at some of the high-end stores and Matt Wood, their designer, is brilliant to work with. I also like to paint flowers, and I often like them kind of strewn rather than neatly in a vase. If you do that with real flowers, they change shape every twenty minutes and then die. So for me, as an artist, it’s fabulous to have botanicals that are so realistic I can use them in a still life and not worry about them changing shape.
What inspires your home design aesthetic? How would you describe your own home’s design? I always change up my home. I wrote a book about my own style called Making Yourself at Home. In the book, I showed how you could have basic décor as a foundation and change it up by adding colour. My living room is white on white and I change up the accents. Sometimes I’ll throw in some bright colours with paintings, throws, pillows or floral arrangements. My home is very eclectic. Our entertaining area is flavoured with ethnic bright colours, but the kitchen is very French Provençal, while the office has a lot of African art work and is also rock and roll. Our screening room is almost turn-of-the-century looking. Different parts of the house have different feels. I let my kids decorate their own rooms and they’re very modern, all black and white.
What design advice would you give to our readers? I always feel you should make your home your own. I always ask myself, is there a collectible or a painting or a floral or something that makes my heart sing? Something that I see and think: that’s me. Then I ask myself, what do I care about in my home? Do I care about what other people think of it? Do I care about how comfortable it is for me in terms of how I use it? Do I want to entertain? Do I have collections I want to show off? What am I trying to say with this space? I want people to come into my home and immediately feel that this is my space, but I also want them to sit down comfortably with a drink and not feel like they’re perched in a museum. Other people want a home that’s more like a showcase. I need a personal touch. I have lots of people and experiences I want to remember so I like having way too many photographs around my house.
Do you rotate them? I move everything around. My garage has never had a car in it – it’s basically been turned into an art storage facility, and I can move art around. When you ask someone what they want in their home, it’s like clothing: there are suggested trends, and then there’s what actually suits you. If you want to put an element of what’s in style because you like the idea of being fashion forward, I think that’s fun, but I don’t think you need to be dictated by it.
What do you think of fashion and interior design converging? I think it makes a lot of sense. If you’re buying into the Ralph Lauren lifestyle and you’re already wearing the clothes, your natural instinct is to go toward that same style in your home. It’s easy because they already know what you like. For me as artist, the art is very much the entertainment. The art and the florals are the focal points in my house. I’m always switching them up. In different seasons I’ll bring out different collections.
What is your favourite room in the house to relax in? Where do you feel happiest? My bedroom is sort of my nest. It has an amazing view of the ocean and my garden, and it has artwork that’s inspirational to me. It’s a private place. But the room everyone gravitates to is the kitchen. We have a kitchen-dining area with sofas and a lovely roaring fireplace, and that is probably the room that is most used in the house. As much as I love the coziness of that room, I really love being able to see nature in a house. I like the indoor-outdoor feeling. I need to see the view. I love bringing light into my house.
So what’s your focus right now? The furniture collection’s doing really well. The modern Hollywood-inspired collections are selling the best, and that’s really fun because my home is not remotely like that. The collection is very much inspired by a contemporary version of old Hollywood. I certainly made plenty of movies from that era, and I love that. I love the glam aspect of it.
It’s astounding how much you have done in your life. I enjoy what I do and I see it as an extension of bringing beauty into our lives. It’s not a question of how much money you spend; it’s about exploring what makes you happy. When art speaks to you, that’s what you should have.
For more on Jane Seymour, check out www.janeseymour.com
