IN CONVERSATION WITH OUR FOUNDER, OLIVER THORNTON
Hello Oliver, tell us a little about yourself…
My name is Oliver Thornton, I am an interior designer, creative director, and actor. Originally from South Wales, I now live in London with my husband, although I have moved around a lot over the years. I started my career on the stage and spent over sixteen years performing, however an organic shift of focus led me to taking time away from the profession to retrain in design, and to subsequently open my eponymous interior design studio. I was living in New York at the time and found that there was a huge amount of interest in creating a British aesthetic within people’s homes. I had always loved British heritage and found it was an authentic way of expressing myself and my style.
How did you come to be living in America?
I starred as one of the leads in the original West End cast of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, a musical based on the 1994 movie. There was a conversation about taking me to open the show on Broadway, so I began a visa application. By the time the visa came through, which took over three years, the show had passed me by in America, but I had a green card, so decided to make the move to New York regardless. It felt like an adventure which was calling me, and I couldn’t really say no. That said, by the time all of this came around, I was considering pursuing design and taking some time out from performing, so I moved to the states with one foot in and one foot out, which wasn’t the best way to approach auditioning in a new market. Eventually, I decided to make the break and go back to school, initially studying tailoring. I wanted to learn a skill with my hands and have always been obsessed with vintage clothing, specifically from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I think this is the most flattering era for fashion and actually, design in general. Political and economic issues aside, it was such an elegant and glamorous era. I’m especially romanced by the interwar years in the British Country House and the Bright Young Things. They were a group of bohemian aristocrats and socialites who lived as artists, creators, writers, poets and were celebrities of the day, living a hedonistic and glittering lifestyle.
So, was the plan to go into fashion and tailoring?
I’m not sure I really had a plan at the time, I just knew that I wanted to explore other areas of my creativity. Even through my years as an actor, I’d always loved design. Back when blogs were at their height of popularity, I wrote a design blog called Design For Living. In fact, I think that was the seed of an idea from which Oliver Thornton Home grew. I remember at the time, I really wanted to find a way to make it into an online shop, which in many ways, was ahead of its time. Nowadays, positioning oneself in such a way has turned into the role of the modern influencer, but in 2009, monetising a personal, digital platform was quite a new idea. I had explored selling some homewares through an ecommerce branch of the blog but could never find anything that would stick from a product perspective. I realise now that I would have to manufacture my own product. That is the only way to create a true and authentic representation of oneself.
Sorry, I think I’ve gone off topic…
Not at all, it’s interesting to hear that you were thinking about this idea for a business over sixteen years ago. I was just asking how it was you got into designing interiors?
I was learning to be a tailor and at the same time, I was renovating my home in New York. I got onto the property ladder at a young age and had flipped a couple of properties. I was obsessed with interior magazines, and within my own home would constantly move my furniture about, repaint, wallpaper, and try new ideas. By the time I was doing that reno project in Manhattan, I had settled on a British heritage style and the contractor I was using was very complimentary. He asked if I would consider working for a few of his clients, designing and helping them with schemes, so it all happened very organically. Before I new it, I had a number of interior design projects on the go, which eventually led to forming my own interior design studio. It grew and expanded really quickly and naturally. I realize now that the universe was really pointing me in the direction I needed to travel. I have come to understand that when success accelerates in this way, it isn’t luck, it’s that you are focusing your energy in the right place, and the more you follow these kinds of offerings from the universe, the more that life opens up.
Tell me more about that…
Well, I am about as British as they come, so it can be uncomfortable for me to talk about things which exist in a spiritual, or other-worldly realm. My upbringing taught me to celebrate practicality, and to be sensible above anything else… but truth be told, starting Oliver Thornton Home has been a lesson in believing in a vision, an idea, and manifesting a way for that idea to come to fruition. I have absolute belief that the world is waiting for a leading, British born, consumer led, luxury home brand which redefines the British heritage aesthetic, and I have absolute belief that I am the person to deliver that. I know that sounds like a pretty audacious claim, and as I alluded to, it’s a very un-British thing to say out loud, but I believe it takes that kind of core, unshakable belief to send out the kind of energy which will move the obstacles in place to make a dream happen. That’s not to say that it’s as easy as just sitting at home and wishing for something, you have to put in the work and have everything teed up, so that when a door opens, you are person most equipped to walk through it, and you also have to accept that when an opportunity does present itself, it may look differently to how you imagined it, but if you are manifesting for something to happen in the deepest and most fundamental way, it’s like a blossoming, the universe has to respond. I wish that meant that being a founder was sometimes an easier path to tread, I promise you, there have been many times where I’ve felt the frustrations of starting a new business, but the way things have fallen into place with such clarity and opportunity has proven to me that I am aligned and in control of bringing this brand to life.
On that note, do you want to tell us what your vision for Oliver Thornton Home is?
Yes, I am so excited about it. I had something of an epiphany when I realised that my work as an actor informs my career as a designer. The way I approach design is entirely through a lens of storytelling. I want to equate the experience of going to the theatre with the experience of walking into a room, or a home. Why shouldn’t our most intimate and sacred spaces, our homes, fill us with a feeling of joy, awe, wonder and escape. I want to provide people with a place, and a way, to transform the everyday into the extraordinary. Which is so much of what British heritage and the Country House stands for. In their most ostentatious of faces, they are markers of unimaginable beauty and aspirational achievement, allowing us to dream of all that a home and a life can be. I will say, however, that I do want to find a way to re-contextualise Heritage, to give it a new voice which feels of the day.
Isn’t that going against everything that Heritage stands for? Isn’t it about celebrating the past, and what has been?
I would never want to take away from that aspect of British heritage and the Country House. Yes, we love them because they represent a lost beauty, or the history of a family, indeed a nation, but our heritage has a complex past, and I think we must find ways to re-contextualise it for everyone to enjoy. As a queer, non-binary person, I know firsthand how important representation is and the reclaiming of a painful past. I guess I want to take all of the things I love about the idea of heritage and a bygone era; the elegance and the glamour, the refinement, the tradition and community, the attention to detail, the beauty, the craftsmanship and the aesthetic but showcase these aspects in a way which is entirely inclusive and adapt them to suit contemporary living.
It sounds like this is a personal mission, as well as a professional one?
Definitely. I think a lot about the power of providing a place for people to escape and dream, which can be a powerful tool in the process of not only surviving, but also, thriving. I have always been a dreamer and a romantic, and I have found happiness and abundance by moving beyond challenging circumstances and the limitations of the world as it is, by visualizing and arranging the world as I want it to be.
