Meet the CEO adding fashion flair to interior design company Heritage Sanderson

LONDON – Lisa Montague has spent most of her career managing luxury fashion brands. So when she ventured into the world of high-end interior design, it was only natural that she would bring designers along on this journey as well.

Having run companies such as Loewe and Aspinal of London, where she served as managing director, and Mulberry, where she was chief operating officer, Montague knew how to manage high-end brands steeped in history. But his job as CEO of Sanderson Design Group involved working on a whole new level.

The group’s flagship brand, Sanderson, has enjoyed a Royal Warrant since 1923, supplying its rich botanical fabrics, paints and wall coverings to royal residences, and the late Queen Elizabeth II in particular. Founded in 1860, it is the oldest existing English brand in the furniture industry.

The group, formerly known as Walker Greenbank, is listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with an annual turnover of around £110 million.

It owns the Morris & Co. archives and undertakes work to preserve the designs created by the iconic William Morris and his Victorian artistic cohort. Other brands in the portfolio include Zoffany, known for its silk damask and velvet fabrics made in mills in Suffolk, England, and Harlequin, famous for its vibrant colors and patterns.

The group also owns the Anstey wallpaper factory, based in England, in Loughborough, as well as Standfast & Barracks, a fabric printing factory, in Lancaster, which offers a full range of techniques from handblock to digital, which which is unique to the UK.

The group’s archives house tens of thousands of historical documents, drawings and color recipes, which have recently been digitized and transferred – along with the rest of the group – to Voysey House in Chiswick, London.

The Arts and Crafts building designed by architect CFA Voysey was Sanderson’s home from 1902 to 1928 and underwent extensive restorations before the team returned earlier this month.

As Voysey House underwent its transformation, Montague decided to carry out her own update, exploring how to add a 21st century dimension to Sanderson’s designs and marry interior design with the industry she knew best, fashion.

It wasn’t a difficult match. From a management perspective, she said “there are many more similarities than differences: it’s a creative activity that involves interaction with designers and the joy of building a future legacy for heritage brands “.

“The pace is a little different, and the good part is that we can take the time needed to refine a design and product to be the best version of itself – without the pressure of missing a season,” he said. she declared in an interview.

Montague added that consumers – and designers – are influenced by the same cultural references, noting that period dramas such as “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Bridgerton” influence interior design as well as clothing and accessories.

Customers also overlap. Montague believes the transition from “wardrobe to wall” is easy for any luxury client who places high value on materials, craftsmanship and design flair.

That’s one reason she tapped London designer Giles Deacon to take a fresh look at some of Sanderson’s archive pieces. Once a regular at London Fashion Week, Deacon now makes ready-to-wear and couture pieces for private clients around the world.

Deacon worked closely with Sanderson’s in-house design team, blending the house’s designs with his own iconic illustrations and patterns for a collection comprising approximately 37 fabrics and 34 wallpapers.

The collection, Sanderson x Giles Deacon, ran for two years and saw Deacon and the Sanderson team create designs including Mydsommer Pickings, based on Deacon’s ink drawings of poppy heads, and Oology Portal, which features eggs of different shapes and colors.

The egg pattern was taken from one of Deacon’s archive dress designs.

The designer also applied his signature sawtooth stripe to fabrics and created a wallpaper mural called Pygmalion, a grand, theatrical design with curtains, a classic temple, giant artichokes, rococo dolphins, fennel, garlic bulbs and mollusc shells, pearl necklaces and feathers.

Deacon’s drawings, Montague said, “added a layer of interest that enriched the original drawings.” He also refers to the updated models as being suitable for a “tiny” home, meaning they’re not just for larger homes.

The designer said his goal was to immerse the viewer in a world of “magical storytelling”. Colors range from rich, deep jewel tones to softer organic shades, like indigo, olive and berry, that appear to have been bleached by the sun.

Deacon said that although the designs and inspirations came from the Sanderson archives, “everything was completely redesigned for the collection. I wanted everything to seem like it came from one hand and belonged to one world. Very little was done on the computer, which gave everything an extra level of authenticity.

The work was similar to fashion in many ways, Deacon said. “We used the same Suffolk makers and weavers as for the clothing collections, and the design process is the same,” Deacon said.

Contrary to fashion, these designs are meant to last for decades. “I designed this item to be timeless and to last forever,” he said.

The response to the Sanderson x Giles Deacon collection has been “very strong,” particularly in the United States, where Deacon and the Sanderson team visited cities like Los Angeles, Houston and New York, Montague said.

The United States generates about a third of the group’s sales and Montague wants that figure to increase. The company has offices in New Jersey and showrooms in New York and Chicago, and Montague said the group can furnish an oversized Texas mansion as easily as a cottage in the Cotswolds.

Montague had fashion on her mind even before the Giles Deacon revelation. Last year, she tapped photographer and stylist Damian Foxe, editor of Man About Town and former fashion director of the Financial Times lifestyle magazine How to Spend It, for a Sanderson campaign.

The campaign aimed to “redefine Sanderson for a new era” and shows models becoming one with their inner selves, wearing wallpaper dresses, hats and accessories made from the brand’s historic prints.

“There’s beauty in patterns,” Foxe said. “Our muse is so lost in the joyous process of decorating that she has forgotten to stop until she is completely enveloped in the space around her.”

Montague has another fashion collaboration in the works. For fall 2024, she asked fashion designer-turned-ceramist Henry Holland to collaborate with Harlequin, with the collection due out August 4.

Montague’s past work with heritage brands – Loewe is even older than Sanderson – particularly influenced his approach to Morris & Co.

The group worked with François-Joseph Graf on the Arts & Crafts-inspired interiors of At Sloane, the new hotel on the edge of Sloane Square, and is currently collaborating with the Huntington Library, Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens. San Marino, California. , which houses a number of unfinished designs by William Morris.

The Huntington contacted Morris & Co. to make over 35 models. Montague said these designs would inspire a new series of fabrics and wallpapers, scheduled to launch in September 2025.

Morris, a 19th-century textile designer, author, poet and social activist, inspires Montague in multiple ways, particularly on the sustainability front.

Sanderson’s “history of botanical prints and love of gardens” will guide the company in its next phase of design, Montague said, adding that she often finds herself thinking, “What would William Morris do if he were alive today?”

She uses this question to guide the company’s efforts to reduce waste and emissions; explore the use of natural dyes and fibers and focus on traditional craft skills. It was Morris and his colleagues who admired the natural world and appreciated tradition, craftsmanship and handmade objects.

“We must be bold and fearless, challenge the status quo of our industry and do things efficiently, responsibly and with little waste. These designs last for generations when we do them right,” she said.

Montague is even considering returning to the idea of ​​using fabric wall hangings for insulation, something medieval and Renaissance royals loved to do in their drafty castles. The proposition will no doubt whet the appetite of designers, illustrators and creators in Montague’s orbit.