On a grand scale

TEXT JULIA FREEMANTLE

Designer John Jacobs layers subtle tones with fine finishes in a Joburg home that speaks of supreme sophistication.

There aren’t many occasions in life for a ‘do over.’ The chance to revisit something and perfect it with the insight offered by hindsight, Yet, designer John Jacob had that exact opportunity with a previous project, made even more poignant by the fact that it was his former home.

The Victorian terrace house in Bantry Bay, a much earlier creation by the designer, nevertheless had his signature balance and classical beauty. It was bought by a Joburg business man  for whom John’s aesthetic really resonated – to the point that he offered the designer a chance to redress the house and change the things that he would have done differently.

John Jacob – ever the perfectionist – had definite ideas of what to add ,subtract and adjust.

‘I amped up what was already there rather than redesigning the space as such,’ he explains.

Expanding on this symbiotic experience, the owner asked him to redo his house in Johannesburg, a project which ran almost in tandem.

The owner embraced John Jacob’s famously thorough approach. Originally aiming for a ‘tweak’ or two to his Herbert Baker home in Houghton, the owner found what many clients of John Jacob Interiors discover – that the designer’s ethos is distinctly at odds with doing something in half measures.

Adamant that to get design right you have to start with the fundamentals, and perfect these before filling the space, he brought the owner round to his way of working.

John Jacob started the ball rolling by asking the owner to come and spend time in his library in Cape Town.

With ‘rich and opulent’ as the owner’s vision for his Houghton home, the designer set about pinpointing what that meant.

‘The idea was to find “good” examples of the style he liked and to go from there,’ he explains.

The owner took the project fully on board, researching decor and architecture, amassing a collection of books of his own.

‘I find I attract clients with the same need to understand things as I have,” comments John Jacob.

The next phase included buying trips abroad – New York, Europe – to achieve the level of sophistication that was so integral to this look.

What has come out of this intense run-up is an interior of which has just the right amount of luxe; the richness of texture (antiquated mirrors, rich fabrics, hard-printed wallpapers, marble) balanced by the subtle and sophisticated use of colour and tempered by a healthy dose of restraint – not to be confused with understatement.

Rather than opulence in the crude sense of the word, the effect achieved is one of optimum elegance.

Although a firm believer in starting from scratch John Jacob did merit in a few existing features and the details that could be harnessed to the designer’s intentions were retained and given a face lift. These included the mouldings in the living room and beams in the roof, which, through a simple colour change, enhanced the overall effect.

‘I upped the ante with some of the architectural components, exaggerating them to turn them into features,’ he says.

As with all John Jacob’s projects, every detail has been thought through. Rooms are loosely themed – the entrance hall’s plinths and urns and the charcoal-and-plinths upstairs living room are a bod to neoclassicism, while the sitting and dining rooms have a conservatory garden- room feel complete with frescos, florals and latticework on the walls. The master bedroom, a full throttle chinoiserie, with a bamboo bed  and wall-to-wall toile, started with a shade of yellow and grew from there.

In a similar fashion, each of the other rooms takes on a palette – the owner wanted to use a variety of colours in this house, so pale blue belle, soft sage and charcoal hold court.

The rooms are full-bodied and yet completely harmonious furnishings and finishes completely in sync. Fabrics from Studio H, John Jacob’s collaborative range with Hertex Fabrics, were also used extensively, contributing to the cohesion.

Even the garden was given the designer’s signature treatment – overt colours removed, form resolved.

This is what he’s good at – in layering and filling a space – he paradoxically refines it down to its most important elements.

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