And just like that, I've been at the helm of House & Garden for 10 years, February 2015 being my first issue as editor. Back then, we barely had a website, and it certainly hadn't occurred to me we would be producing video, or be the host of an online directory - The List - and its community of designers and suppliers. TikTok was probably just a twinkle in its creator's eye and Instagram something we dabbled in. And I had only one child, Jago. Margot was born a month after my first issue went on sale and Ivo a few years after that. So it's been a busy time and I'm hugely grateful for my talented, dynamic, wonderful team, which has grown as our output has (and also to the people who keep the show on the road at home).
Our much watched Design Notes video series, which offers invaluable insight into the philosophies of today's tastemakers, can and does reach the corners of this planet and ensures we have footage of these brilliant designers (in the case of the late Robert Kime, the only footage). However, it is the physical magazine that you have in your hands that continues to be the anchor and vital flagship of all that we do.
I've been geekily passionate about interiors and architecture since my teens, and have been reading magazines since then, too. And I still get a thrill every time the photographs for a new story - be it a house or a garden - come in. This February issue included some particularly exciting stories. There's the full-on, mad, totally bespoke brilliance of Rachel Chudley's design for her client - I couldn't live in that house, but find the sheer creativity of it very exciting. In complete contrast is the humility and simplicity of Julian Broad's restoration of his Welsh longhouse, furnished with memories collected over time. I am a huge admirer of dealer and designer Edward Hurst and his latest project, demonstrates that his eye for colour is just as unerring as his eye for the amazing pieces he discovers. Meanwhile, in New York, interior designer Ceara Donnelley's Manhattan pied-à-terre is inspiring and homely in equal measure. All four houses reverberate with the energy of their owners, be this a quiet thrum or a lively dance, whether a designer is involved or not.
It is this sense of soulfulness that leads me to my selection of 10 rooms for 10 years. I spent some time looking at issues of House & Garden from the past decade and the huge array of glorious houses we've featured in order to choose these rooms. It was so hard I almost gave up, but I feel now, seeing the pictures together in these pages, that they rather beautifully encapsulate the spirit of this magazine in some way or other. None of them is just about the curation of fabrics and colours; each expresses a spirit of its own, a point of view and a thoughtful response to its situation, brief or inhabitant.
