Meet the Kips Bay Designer: Ben Pentreath Studio
At the Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York, studio principal Ben Pentreath and Associate Director Amanda Flood craft a spirited drawing room that pulls from a swath of English influences
From two beautiful studios in London’s Bloomsbury district, Ben Pentreath oversees a close-knit, multifaceted team highly regarded for their work across various disciplines—from master-planning and urban development, to private houses and playful interiors.
He is the author of three books, most recently the 2024 monograph An English Vision (Rizzoli), and was awarded the Richard H. Driehaus Prize, given to a living designer whose work embodies the highest principles of traditional and classical architecture and urbanism in contemporary society.
What was the inspiration for your room at this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York?
“We have been inspired by the best of classic English interiors: drowsy, relaxed, comfortable and with a palimpsest of styles and periods–overlaying a beautiful arts and crafts wallpaper, and fabrics from Morris & Co, with 19th-century furniture, aesthetic movement pieces, contemporary furniture by our friends at Soane and Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, neo-classical antiques, and mid-century art. We hope that our drawing room has a gentle, autumnal feel that will match the mood of New York in the fall, a room to curl up and read a book in.”
Please tell us about a significant piece that helps shape the mood of your space.
“We were immediately drawn to a new wallpaper from Sanderson’s Highgrove Collection, a wonderful, William Morris-inspired, leafy design that itself draws direct inspiration from His Majesty the King’s garden at Highgrove, Gloucestershire. This paper is very new, but responded beautifully to the late 19th-century aesthetic movement fire surround at the core of our room. From here we built a palette of gentle colors and tones. We wanted to create a layered, immersive room, redolent of the English country house—in fact, a room in which we hope the King might feel rather at home!”
How does your work for this Kips Bay project exemplify your style as a designer – or is it just the opposite, something you have always wanted to try as a designer but haven’t found the client?
“We’re definitely working within our usual style, although we don’t have a single ‘look,’ to be sure. We like to draw inspiration from the taste of our clients, the period of a building, and the inherent atmosphere of a place, rather than coming in with a single fixed idea. But we think we are known for a timeless, layered, English approach to decoration—rather un-done-up, and relaxed, which we think are themes inherent in this room. The Kip’s Bay organizing team urged us to think ‘crazy’ and try ideas we’d never been able to achieve before. Then we suddenly thought, would it be so crazy to not try to be too crazy? But just to create a beautiful space which we’d be happy to live in forever?”
This is your first Kips Bay New York—what are you most looking forward to in the experience?
“Well, it’s already been a fantastic experience and that’s just in the first few weeks of designing and making it all happen. The generosity of so many makers, suppliers, antique dealers, and collaborators has been astonishing and we get that this sense of shared collaboration infuses the whole project. It’s been lovely to design in an intensive way—so many of our projects are what we’d call really ‘slow cooked’—where we make decisions very slowly, over a long period of time, trying out different colors, building the room element by element. Here we don’t have that time. And we’ve realized there’s a strange luxury in not having any time. We just have to make decisions and run with it! It’s about trusting your instincts. And that’s rather refreshing.
Amanda, who’s leading the project with me in our studio, is American and has worked on a Kips Bay before so brings a whole level of experience that I don’t have! That’s proving to be absolutely invaluable already; she was immediately on a plane from London to measure the room, meet key suppliers, try out samples and ideas in the space, and to feel the elusive atmosphere of the building. So we’re a combination of extreme novice (me) and assured experience (Amanda). A good one I hope!”
What does it mean to you to be part of the 50th anniversary of Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York?
BP: “It goes without saying that it’s an immense honor to have been invited to join the wonderful roster for the 50th anniversary Show House. And I’m so happy the house is in the Village. I lived in Greenwich Village for five happy years between 1999 and 2004; I have so many happy memories of being here, and it’s wonderful to be back!’
AF: “It is exciting to be participating in the event and being able to flex our decorating skills at such a fast pace. It is not often our interiors projects are physically public to this many people, and being able to represent what our studio can do during the 50th year is very special.”