Jess lives in Victoria Park East London with her 3 Children and pet pooch Clara. With her background in photographic styling and fashion editing, Jess set up shop on Columbia Road in 2006, selling low priced exciting art work from emerging artists. She now divides her time between the urban art gallery Nelly Duff and working as a freelance creative director and designer.
I previously worked in Fashion as a stylist and art director but have always had a passion for art. My father was a set and costume designer with the RSC and ROH, so I spent a lot of time amongst art and design as a child. Our walls were painted by him by hand, a mixture of Gauguin (my mother’s favourite) and trompe-l’oeil.
"Always chose what you love; never buy purely for investment"
"I love space, and working out how to maximise what you have."
The interior. I love space, and working out how to maximise what you have. But I think it’s almost a chicken and egg scenario. My art is always present, and I always choose art I love which works in my environment as a given. I am lucky enough to have a big choice when it comes to what art to hang, so I am often changing things around, adding pieces, improving.
It’s a toss up between a small oil painting I have by Allan Douglas Davidson and a large work by street collective Faile which I commissioned from them the year I opened the gallery; 2006.
What advice would you give to someone looking to build an art collection, what should be their
first step? Always choose what you love, never buy purely for investment.
You have some fantastic pieces in your children’s bedrooms, do you find being surrounded by art inspires them to draw themselves? I hope so!
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