From coasting the blue waters of Capri to the billboards of Times Square… David Gandy is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable faces in fashion working with some of the biggest moguls in the industry. Easing off the fast paced jet setter lifestyle, David now invests his time into his clothing brand Wellwear founded in 2021 which combines his passion for clothing, wellbeing and entrepreneurship.
Having renovated numerous homes, his current residence, and biggest project to date overlooks Richmond Park, a property that dates back to 1925 when it was first built for an American Film maker. As a long term lover of sofa.com his historic home is infused with classic comfy designs from our collection, perfect for family life. Explore the most cherished parts of his home, his interior influences and who he’d love to share his sofa with if he had the chance…
A home of heritage
“We bought the home in 2020. It is a building of town merit, so has historical significance to the Richmond area. It overlooks Richmond Park, built in 1925. A sister house was built to mirror this also in 1925 in the south of France.
The house was built with a copper cupola, it’s an unusual design, but everyone talks about the house next to Richmond park with the ‘Turret and green copper’ roof. Obviously architecturally that is wrong, but everyone knows the house people are talking about, my daughter calls it her ‘Rapunzel tower’, so it’s very unique.”
Timeless style
“I would not say I have a particular style for interiors. I am sympathetic to the architectural style of the era when the house was built and try to take as much inspiration from the original design and keep as many original features as possible. I adore the history and stories that go into any particular design piece, whether that is a house classic car, vintage watch, that’s the uniqueness. Historic design definitely influences me more than contemporary design.
With the house in Richmond we have just renovated, an architect described it as an architectural mongrel, which describes it perfectly as the original designer was clearly inspired by so many different eras of design. I therefore, felt like we were not restricted, and could really put our own mark on the house and make it our own, without much boundary”
A love for handcrafted quality
“I love the fact that sofa.com are a British brand and each piece is hand finished. Not only do we have the latest pieces from their collections, we have also incorporated the older sofas and armchairs we had at previous houses. Some of the pieces are now 10 years old, which shows the incredible quality of the products, but also that the designs don’t go out of style. Even our Master super king Bed is a sofa.com Angel Bed from 10 years ago. I still adore this bed, but it did need new fabric, so I used some of their new velvet fabrics and had it reupholstered.
Having worked and bought sofa.com pieces for over 10 years I know the ranges very well. I feel all the pieces I have chosen including the fabrics are like the house, traditional, warm and inviting but with contemporary design twists to them. Designs where traditional merges with modern, so the pieces have fitted in perfectly.”
Homemade moments to cherish
“I was so very close to my grandparents and uncle who sadly died all very suddenly around 15 years ago. Just to have one more chance to sit, relax and laugh until we cried like we use to would be wonderful.
Memories like these mean I never want to feel like the house is a design or show house, or somewhere that’s been not lived in and loved. We are very fortunate to have been able to have the space for a couple of offices/working spaces but these rooms also act as drawing room/library rooms so are utilised fully. We have playrooms with indoor treehouses for the children, and the design details and colours used are soft, warm, cosy, people always say they feel very comfortable and relaxed in the houses I design. We wanted a house and gardens we could host in. All our friends have young children and they all visit with their children and Dogs and it’s a very fun, happy house that hopefully everyone enjoys.”
The heart of the home
“It doesn’t matter how big your home is, the kitchen always seems to be the area that everyone congregates to. As a family the kitchen living area is where we spend the majority of the time and this is also where we host our guests. The sofa.com fabrics are all pastel colours, with Teddy sofas have Herringbone design, that fit with the rest of the design theme throughout the house. The pieces not only act at dividing the two spaces, they also have to look special and have the wow factor but more importantly have to be incredibly comfortable as this is where we relax in the evening. Also as anyone with young children and dogs will understand they also have to be hardwearing and high quality.
The drawing room/office is my favourite room in the house. We have decorated the room in a dark studio green paint colour including the ornate ceiling with the colour also, it has a huge open fireplace and we have are dark blue Isla sofas from our previous home in there. It acts as a lovely place to work during the day, but a great place to relax with the fire on at night.”
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