Anthony Paine Limited started life as a London based interior design and decoration practice which won major awards and became one of the UK’s leading names in the field, occupying retail premises and a studio in Highgate Village for 27 years. Over the years APL moved away from interior design and decoration into architectural and later garden design, specialising in classical and traditional design at the very top of an international market. The company moved to Bath in 2007. Its directors are Anthony and Alison Paine.
Anthony Paine is an international designer specialising in classical and traditional buildings, interiors and gardens. Coming from a successful building family, he was expected to take over the family firm, but after initial training in building he switched to surveying, and finally to interior design, establishing his own design practice in London. This unusual background in construction and design triggered a passion for classical and traditional architecture which has characterised his work for the past 40 years.
During the 1980s and 90s, Anthony was listed as one of House & Gardens’ top designers for his work in Chelsea and Belgravia, but from 2000–2016 most of his projects were overseas, for a relatively small number of clients, many of whom remained with him for decades. During this period Anthony’s work included a hotel in Frankfurt, an extended farmhouse complex in Provence, Georgian shops in Spitalfields, a traditional chalet in Gstaad, a folly by the Baltic, a Kasbah near Marrakech, and a classical villa near Munich. He is also well known for his retail design work for Gieves & Hawkes, for whom he designed Nos 1 & 2 Savile Row, 14 stores in the UK, and a further 120 in the Far East between 1991 and 2008.
Since moving to Bath in 2007 Anthony has gradually reduced the scale and geographic range of projects he undertakes, in order to focus on conceptual and aesthetic design and planning, usually on smaller jobs in and around the West Country. Recent projects have included Royal Beehives for Highgrove, a classical annexe to a Georgian Rectory in Worcestershire, an award-winning redesign of a listed house in Bath originally by Goodrich, and a new Gothic Orangery. Anthony continues to specialise in listed classical buildings, often designing extensions, remodelling interiors and incorporating modern facilities, and always aiming to achieve the clients’ dreams without compromising the qualities of the original. Clients praise his unique ability to draw on the richness and wealth of a building’s original architectural language and adapt it to meet the needs of modern living in an appropriate, sensitive and creative way.
Normally only involved at the conceptual design and planning stage, after assessing the site and building and absorbing the client’s brief, Anthony produces a series of multi choice sketch designs. Those chosen by the client are then developed into beautiful hand drawn visuals – often water coloured – which have proved to be very effective in getting listed building consent. Now semi-retired, Anthony enjoys applying his design skills to even the smallest of projects, whether it is a house, a garden, a room, a piece of bespoke furniture, or even a drawing for a special occasion. His wife Alison Paine also works in the business, helping him to assess potential jobs, agree fees and timescales, and ensure the client’s brief is met.