Interior Designs - High-end Homes The Extraordinary Collector

For the country's super wealthy,

there's only one man to turn to when it comes to good taste.

I think I've got what the antique trade and the dealers call the eye.

There's no question, I've got to buy all three.

I've got a very defined and some would say refined sense of taste.

What is extraordinary is how beautiful it is in this room.

Gordon Watson is one of the world's leading authorities

on 20th century design.

-7,500 and we are out.

-Thank you very much.

-OK.

Turning his passion for collecting into a multi-million pound business.

At £4 million, 250. Sold.

It's a mania, it's not natural how much I buy

and how much I need to buy.

Oh, my God, this is so exciting.

Always on the hunt for the most desirable pieces to buy...

It's been a long time.

He's charming his way into the grandest of homes,

gambling he'll make the deal of a lifetime.

Very nice to see you.

I've a feeling it's going to be an easy sale

and I'll make a lot of money.

I'm hoping.

London is one of the world's most vibrant and dynamic cities.

It's a magnet to the transient super rich.

I would say it's probably one of the most expensive

places in the world to buy property now.

They buy houses worth millions

and that's just the start of their spending.

Houses sort of get demolished and rebuilt.

Houses have huge excavation where they go down two or three floors

to put in a gym, to put in a swimming pool, to put in a cinema.

It's quite extraordinary.

There's sort of a revolution going on in the building trade

in London at the moment.

These high net individuals need to furnish these homes

but they're too busy earning money to visit Gordon's shop.

They employ someone else to do that for them.

Interior designers really are a vital

and important part of my business these days.

-It's exquisite, Gordon.

-Isn't it?

They are a buffer between me and the client.

Very often we don't get to meet the clients.

In fact, most of the time, we don't actually meet the clients.

They're really lovely, Gordon.

The interior decorators, the core that I'm talking about,

are highly successful business people in their own right.

They only deal with the elite and they charge accordingly.

These interior designers have big budgets

and significant buying power.

They don't come with a banner or something stuck on the head,

I've got £10 million to spend. But you know it's serious.

One top end designer who buys from Gordon to fill

the homes of the rich and famous is Louise Jones.

You do have to find the things that are extra special.

That is part of our job.

They don't come to us, our clients, to have what everybody else has got.

Louise's work is often published in glossy interior design magazines

and she has a wealthy international client list.

Well, I've been working with Gordon

and using his shop for probably nearly 20 years.

That's a gorgeous mirror. Really nice.

When you go in, you know you're going to find something rather nice.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Very well.

-Is it raining out?

-Yes, it's just started.

Louise could potentially spend thousands of pounds today

on items for her clients' homes.

So, number one is that.

-As soon as I walked in, I spotted that.

-Oh, right.

-It's fabulous, isn't it?

-It's beautiful.

I don't know why we haven't sold it. It's absolutely extraordinary.

I love the colour.

The great thing about Louise Jones is,

she doesn't just have one client, she's got five, 10 clients,

so when she comes in, in her mind, she's looking around because

she's like, that would be great over the fireplace for the client

in Russia, that would be great for the client in Eaton Square.

So, when Louise is in the shop, I'm in a very good mood

because I know the potential could be enormous.

-Then I also saw a console with a reeded front.

-Round here. Yeah.

-It's good, isn't it?

-I haven't seen anything like that before.

Then I've got here a glass table lamp by Matt Zager.

I think it's really glamorous.

What you're getting is the layering of all these shapes,

so they look like shadows.

-It's exquisite, isn't it?

-It is.

Louise wants to try items in her clients' homes before she buys.

For Gordon, that's one step closer to that precious thing, a sale.

What I might also do for the same client,

-can I borrow a few bits and bobs?

-Yes.

-Because she hasn't seen any of these.

-Oh, right.

She's allowed to take anything she wants.

I would bend over backwards to please Louise. Please Louise!

Please, Louise, buy something, please!

Gorgeous!

-For hanging towels or anything or coats.

-Oh, she'd love that.

Isn't that fabulous?

Louise, why don't you just take the shop and then try it.

-I'd love to do that.

-OK.

-Do you want them in the car now?

-Yes.

-OK.

In just 20 minutes, Louise has spent £8,000 on a chandelier,

and another potential £6,000 on objects she wants to try out.

So, have you got somebody to help you on the other side?

We did the deal on the blue chandelier

and she has taken away four items to try in this house.

-All in all, it's good. Very nice.

-All right.

I'll let you know how I get on with these things. Next day or two.

We'll never see her again!

Gordon has his own interior design project in Tangier.

It's a house that has been in his family for years

with a full staff of six.

Why aren't you wagging your tail?

That's it. Come on. Wag that tail.

That's not so terrible.

The old property is having a major renovation.

When completed, there will be six bedrooms, a vast living room,

a dining room and a library.

There's also a hammam and massage room.

My fabulous masseurs will cause me

so much pain and pull every single ligament

and every bone will crack and I will feel good for about half an hour.

I won't be moaning about my aches and pains.

Gordon can't be here all the time.

The project is being overseen by lifelong friend,

the designer and silversmith Paul Belvoir.

The reason for me being here doing the house is, when I was young,

17, 18, when I met Gordon, he helped me out a lot.

I'd love you to make one of your curries.

As soon as we have a kitchen.

You couldn't pour me a cup of coffee, could you?

I've always had a sense of, I owe the debt.

When this opportunity came up and he asked me for help,

I knew that was a chance for me to repay a debt that I felt I owed.

Gordon is in old Tangier,

fuelling his addiction with a shopping spree

to furnish the many rooms of his large house.

I love that cool breeze. I'm in the mood to shop today.

I haven't shopped for a couple of days. It's what makes me tick.

It's in my blood.

There's usually a treasure or two and there better be today

because I am not in the mood to go home empty-handed.

For two rolls, no?

I like buying. I know it's a mania.

Buying it and then you own it, you possess it,

maybe that's what I like.

Linen has a real old, quite nice smell to it.

Musty, like Granny's knickers.

It's nice, isn't it? Very beautiful.

The things that I've bought, I like them all.

I like sitting down and thinking about where I bought them

and how I bought them, why I bought them.

These are Moroccan drains.

They are made out of the thickest, oldest marble

and they will set into the hammam, so it's for the water to go.

I think they're such beautiful objets

and I've got about 60 of them and I sell them.

I put them on wonderful mounts

and they become really decorative things

and nobody knows that they're from old loos!

Although a familiar face at the shop,

Gordon is struggling to get a good deal.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

OK, merci beaucoup.

That's a present but I'm really paying for it

and we got all of those for 8,000.

In a flurry of activity,

Gordon spends nearly £600 on home furnishings and a drain.

Oh, look what I've found. A tap.

Quickly, quickly. How much is this?

I've been desperate for one of these.

I can't believe, I can't tell you, we've gone everywhere.

OK, I come too tight. No, it's all right.

Oh, the dust.

-The tap has cost Gordon a further £70.

-This is good, no?

Look, that's a really big tap.

That's going to look fabulous on the wall going into a marble

basin, it will be fabulous.

Gordon must leave the heat of Tangier and return to London

for one of the hottest, most hectic events in his calendar.

In three days' time,

London's Berkeley Square, in the heart of Mayfair,

will be given over to one of the world's top

art and interior design fairs.

It's called the Pavilion of Art Decoratif.

It's an important, prestigious fair in the centre of London.

All the collectors, all the museums, all the curators are in town

for the week, so London is absolutely throbbing

with the kind of customer and the kind of client that I want to find.

It's an honour to be asked to exhibit but that invitation

comes at a price.

PAD costs me around £60,000 plus the VAT.

The shop costs me slightly less,

so imagine, for a week, between the set-up and the dismantling,

a week at PAD costs more than a year in a prestigious shop

on the prestigious Pimlico Road, and it's a big shop with a big basement.

That's how insane it is but I need to do it. I have to be there.

Behind the scenes, Gordon's PA, Nicola, has spent the last year

planning the stand and today she is waiting for Gordon's sign off.

-So, Nicola, how are we doing?

-Well, we're getting there.

-Have you done the computer mock-up?

-Yes.

-Everything is to scale?

-Yes.

Pride of place this year will be a large, but intricate,

late 1950s Italian chandelier.

Here we have a ceiling light.

This is the whole thing. It will hang by chains.

It is 1 metre 70 by 70 and these are the 64 elements

of different coloured glass that are all fixed in the grid at the top.

There will be someone who needs this piece.

They don't know they need it but when they see it glimmering

and shimmering like a jewel at PAD, they'll want it.

On the morning of the fair, Nicola is joined by fine art handlers

who will be transporting the carefully selected items.

It's that portion there.

There's a load of crates, there's an armchair

and a few more boxes over there.

Right, have you got it over?

Mind my fingers!

We are moving thousands of pounds' worth of furniture and art work.

We make sure that that leaves the shop and gets to the show

in the same condition, so, for us, we have a big responsibility.

At the design fair, top dealers from around the world are setting up

their stands with extraordinary works of art,

many worth millions of pounds.

Gordon's team are setting up with nearly £800,000 worth of items.

They include a vast painting by Paul Winstanley, at £32,000,

a lacquered in-laid table at £64,000,

intriguing objects and finally, upholstered chairs.

We just need to do as much as possible today.

But the large, fragile, chandelier, is a cause for concern.

The problem with these monumental pieces, these one-off pieces,

there's always an element of risk.

At any stage in this procedure, something could go wrong,

and I don't want to jinx it. Touch wood.

If one of these pieces breaks, then I've got an incomplete work of art.

There will be such a sense of relief when it is sold

and it's paid for and it is safely delivered to the new owner.

That will be a great moment.

OK, Nicola.

What we have tried to create is a drawing-room,

somebody's living room.

These look horrible under here.

Despite Nicola's hard work, for Gordon,

nothing less than perfection will do.

It's got to be right.

It's a very, very classy show. That gang are one of the best.

I've been around so long, this is my world.

The doors of the fair are open and wealthy potential buyers flood in.

Amongst them, are some of the top interior designers,

accompanied by their well heeled clients.

If they've got a sandwich,

cheesy or beef or something, I'm starving.

There's a buzz about the marquee but Gordon is not off to a good start.

There's been no-one, I've seen no-one.

I've been there half an hour and I'm bored already.

Gordon's trademark technique is to stay behind his desk

and not look too desperate.

I sit here and I wait for the victims.

So, it's like a spider waiting for the prey.

If they express interest, they come on the stand,

they ask a price, then Nicola and I are off.

I'm hoping for a bloody client, what do you think I'm hoping for?

We haven't paid all this money for it to be, you know...

Over the week, he sets himself a target of £250,000.

We've made all this effort, we've put all this money into it,

I just want it to be done.

I want a few sales, a few red dots and then I can relax.

Gordon needs to hold his nerve.

His centrepiece is not attracting any attention.

The chandelier, no interest yet. They've not even looked at it.

Don't you think this is fabulous?

I think it's one of the most beautiful chandeliers I've seen.

It's interesting, I love the colour.

-We have seen some very nice things here.

-That's good.

I can't force people to buy, so there's always

the possibility that this will be the one dud sale, this will be

the one dud exhibition that you do that nobody will buy anything.

It's possible.

I don't know where everyone on my stand has gone.

Now she's walking off.

It may be quiet on the stand but thankfully,

Gordon has great clients who buy from him year on year.

At a highly desirable address in St John's Wood,

interior designer Louise Jones is trying out the 1960s Italian

glass chandelier, bought from Gordon.

OK, great. Do you like it from over there, Katie?

Does the colour look good? Good. We want this sapphire blue, definitely.

Because it runs into the sitting room downstairs.

So as long as we can really get it lit and it looks punchy,

it's supposed to look like a big jewel over the staircase.

Although the place is still a vast building site,

Louise knows the chandelier will fit into her scheme.

It just gives off the right feeling.

Because it's quite a long walk from upstairs down into this

basement sitting room and we want this walk to be as inviting

and interesting as possible.

Standout pieces like the chandelier are strong enough to design

a whole room around.

Well, I think it's the colour.

I think the clean lines, and I think once

we get this perfectly lit in the space, it's going to be a knockout.

This fine home will have other items bought from Gordon,

including another chandelier.

-It looks quite delicate.

-It does.

Much more delicate than I thought it would look.

The whole thing will just sparkle

and I think it will be absolutely gorgeous.

-It's very beautiful.

-Yeah.

More and more wealthy individuals are choosing to buy property

in London and these new homes need furnishing.

Top end design fairs are where these affluent individuals

might go to buy.

However, Gordon is having difficulty attracting the discerning crowd.

I want somebody to come on but you've got to wait for them.

But he has a trick up his sleeve to entice them into his web.

Turkish performance artist, Kutlug Ataman.

This video installation is on sale for £22,000.

I want that!

He's called Kutlug Ataman and he is Turkey's best contemporary.

Have you seen it where he goes back and then he can't get up?

-Have you seen that part?

-No, I haven't seen that bit.

I just like this with the hair.

-£22,000.

-OK. It's a bit more of a decision.

You could have me for a bit less!

A customer Gordon is always pleased to see

is another top interior designer John Minshaw.

With large budgets and lavish houses to decorate,

interior designers are some of Gordon's most prized clients.

Come on, let's go.

John has a trademark look and caters for those, who, for money,

but not the time or taste, to create such a stylish home.

A product of art school,

John is known in the business for his creativity and knowledge.

People that tend to target me are people that live in a fairly clean,

hard edged sort of way.

It's called minimalism but for me, it isn't minimalism,

it's just pared back.

I have spent my entire life studying this

and the nuances of different bits of furniture and periods

and all of those kind of intricate things that designers

get off on and the client won't

because they've been too busy earning money doing something else.

Who are my clients? Well, this is often asked

and the only common denominator is that they are wealthy.

John's latest client, Russian businesswoman, Tatiana,

owns a company with her husband.

We have a construction company in Russia and now it is about

7,500 people are working for him.

This successful Russian family bought a large end of terraced house

in one of London's most sought-after locations.

The house cost over £10 million and under the guidance of John,

they plan to spend a significant amount more on its refurbishment.

John was involved in this project from the beginning.

When he first came, he also saw a lot of potential of the house

but the house looked quite ugly.

At this level, with money no object,

it's common to strip it back to a blank canvas.

They gut these houses that are finished beautifully.

They don't like the bathrooms, they don't like the kitchen.

You gut it, you strip it, you destroy it and you start again.

For me, it's exciting because I've got my hands, at last,

on a non-listed building.

So, Tatiana, basically, we're reinstating, as you know,

the traditional staircase here

and the building is now completely opened up.

I would say probably 65% of the roof is going to be glass.

-Oh, wow!

-We lifted off the entire roof

-and built a glass canopy on the top of it.

-I am impressed.

You have this floor, your bedroom floor

and the children's floor above.

It's a peach of a job for me

and they're buying lots of antiques and Gordon will love this client

because we're buying a lot of antiques from Gordon.

Oh, yes, an enormous budget.

Yeah. Yeah.

Back at the design fair, Gordon has had some interest,

but has so far yet to make a sale.

By carrying a handbag that cost £25,000,

and are looking at a vase for £6,000 to £8,000,

you don't have to be a genius to realise it's possible

they could get their little gold credit card out and buy something.

They're extraordinary, aren't they?

Gordon has spotted his opportunity.

Can you see on some, he has put the silver flecks inside?

He's an architect and a designer.

She had £200,000 or £300,000 worth of earrings on plus the ring.

He calls them champagne coolers

because he likes drinking.

You see that green.

-It's a mixture of silver and gold.

-Inside, yes.

OK, so, a deal? Thank you very much. So, Nicola?

I love glass and I am collecting vases usually.

But this, for the vase, it's a little bit too wide,

so it was a good idea for champagne!

OK, very nice meeting you. Bye. Thank you.

Now I can relax.

I have done my favourite thing which is red dotting.

It's good, I've got another six at home.

After selling the Japanese vases, business takes off

and by the end of the week, Gordon has more than covered his costs.

Have a look at that, that will chew you up, dear!

She's called Tamsin Van Essen.

She's obsessed by apothecary vases in the 16th century.

He has made priceless contacts

and sales totalling nearly £250,000.

That black is...

Yes, it's really strong.

The Winstanley painting was bought and will be off to Germany

and items such as the red Cosmo chairs at £12,500,

have found homes in the capital's finest properties.

Cheers to me!

He has not managed to sell his chandelier.

That must be taken down piece by piece

and taken back to the warehouse.

Gordon's at the shop to welcome interior designer John Minshaw

and his Russian client, Tatiana.

John is interested in something he spotted at the design fair.

-Hello, John.

-Gordon, hi!

-How are you?

-What an honour!

What an honour to have you in the shop!

I like to come at least once a season.

When a decorator such as John Minshaw comes in with a client,

that's quite rare.

That's... I don't know, once a month, maybe.

These, we saw, and that's the reason why we're here.

Yes, we absolutely adore them.

Gordon is top of the heap, really.

He has such integrity.

And he's a joy to work with, really,

once you get over the initial Gordon!

I mean, I'm a big man, as you can see, and even for someone like me...

Very often, if this was French, it would be so wobbly and delicate.

-There is a real, it's been designed so cleverly.

-They're beautiful.

-Shall I show you my new passion?

-Yes.

When they enter the shop, into my lair, it's an opportunity

for me to show them things that even they didn't know they wanted.

This is a milk jug.

They didn't know they were going to buy

anything other than chairs.

I knew that I'd got the potential to sell anything in the shop

and I'd try my darndest to fulfil that potential.

-Your taste?

-Not really, no.

No. I find... Gordon, can I be honest with you?

I find things like that a bit embarrassing.

I find that needless sculpture, not pottery. The table is smart.

-Yes?

-It's nice.

-I think it's very smart.

I love this detail here as well.

My hit rate with Gordon is pretty high.

Most shops I will just wing in and wing out.

In Gordon's shop, you tend to hover and look around

because he will have things which make you think twice about it.

Let me sketch it in but I like it.

OK, we will send you the details. The chairs are 21.

We quoted you 18, and I would sell them...

OK, 16.5.

They're good.

The colour's great.

You shouldn't just say, I know you're already rich,

we'll buy that at any cost, because that's crazy.

OK, if we can have the details of them, we'll put them in the thing.

I love them.

John buys the pair of John Gibbings chairs for £16,500.

Thank you very, very much.

Tatiana, I hope it's picking up the children

and not going to another shop!

Very nice to meet you.

I'm sorry I've given you the full sales thing,

I'm usually much more gentle.

You don't go to Gordon if you're on a budget.

But what you get is, in the end, worth it, I think.

Tatiana, thank you very much.

-I will see you for the site meeting on Wednesday.

-Bye, Tatiana.

-Oh, she's lovely.

-She's gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

When Gordon has endured a hectic time in London,

he likes to escape to his Moroccan refuge.

I love Tangier.

This is where I've got the dog, where I have my library.

This is really where I consider home.

I love deadheading.

Deadheading and watering are my favourite things.

It's where I just potter around,

I wear a white nightie most of the time.

And I just potter.

The days just go by with me thinking.

It's where I recharge.

It's a well earned rest. The art fairs have been a success.

Cheers to me!

Gordon has travelled far and wide,

seeking out the rarest pieces to buy.

Oh, my God, extraordinary!

Not only is it functional, it is astoundingly beautiful.

He has sold many of his finds to collectors.

-OK, so a deal?

-A deal.

Thank you very much.

And impressed lords, ladies and billionaires.

I love the way they rock in the wind.

But for now, Gordon can put all thoughts of work behind him

and relax in his Moroccan oasis.