ONE DAY WITH | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA

In this series, we glimpse into the daily routines and rituals of creatives and tastemakers. Benedict Foley is an interior designer and antiques dealer who has recently launched a fabric collection with his partner, fellow decorator Daniel Slowik. With a love of storytelling, history and attention to detail, Benedict talks to Eleanor Cording-Booth about the rhythms of his day-to-day. 

INTERVIEW BY ELEANOR CORDING-BOOTH | MASTERS & MUSES | 7 MARCH 2025

Benedict's London flat, photographed by Boz Gagovski

I normally wake up at 8:30am. I’ve often gone to bed at 2am, sometimes later if I'm working. I immediately make coffee, then I’ll go back to bed and read the news. I think it's important to know what's happening in the rest of the world before starting your day.

I always wear a version of the same thing: a navy smock. I was born in Singapore, so my ‘uniform’ is quite traditional for a Malay man in Southeast Asia. A friend’s daughter once told her grandmother that a man comes around quite a lot and he wears a dress. They couldn't figure out who she was talking about, then they realised it was me! As I’m lucky enough to make many aesthetic decisions throughout my day, I don't feel the need to express myself through my clothes, which is actually quite freeing.

People often ask me to summarise what I do. I’ve always bought and sold antiques and paintings, as well as decorating, but I also make things. I process the world around me by synthesising what I see and turning it into something else. I started making colorful frames during Lockdown because, after six weeks of virtual drinks, I felt a bit like Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? I looked in the mirror and thought, 'oh my God, who’s that'? I needed to get on with something.

My partner Daniel and I split our time between a flat in London and a cottage in the country. We also share a studio space in East Anglia, where I usually work on Mondays and Tuesdays. Last year we launched our first joint venture, a fabric collection called Nuthall Temple. I’m also finally sorting out a website for my antiques – I’ve previously only sold privately to clients, so a website means I can justify buying more, and then let it all go! 

Interiors by Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik. All images © Boz Gagovski.

If I had a day off in London, I might go to the V&A. It’s an obvious choice but I could spend months there. I also love Apsley House because it has an historic interior but is set up in a domestic way. I had my first job at James Smith & Sons umbrella makers and that’s a fascinating shop to visit – it’s niche but a theatrical experience in itself. I particularly like moments where you can slip into another time or place.

I am still very much a paper person. I have a drawer and if anyone needs to ask me a question, or if there’s something I have to remember, it gets printed and goes in the drawer. On Mondays, I lay out all the pieces of paper on a big table and we prioritise them – it gives me a visual schematic of what needs to be done that week. I think setting yourself a fixed amount of time to complete a task is a helpful way of achieving things.

Daniel and I have very similar interests but the way he sees things is different, and I always find that inspiring. He has a love of doing things beautifully, showing both attention to detail and an understanding of form. It goes back to his training as a decorator at Colefax & Fowler. John Fowler was obsessed with 18th and 19th century dressmaking and that informed his curtain-making. It’s the understanding that you can appreciate detail anywhere. Storytelling is central to my design practice.

I think an interior is a bit like an autobiography of sorts. You collect the things in your life that you wish to remember and that's why home is so important. Even if I move, I’ll take the idea of home with me and create it again somewhere else. The experiences in my life come together within objects around me. My cottage is probably one of the fullest interiors you've seen in terms of volume of items per square foot, but I could tell you about every single object. Everything has some special significance.

Benedict's country cottage, photographed by Boz Gagovski

I either travel to decompress after an intense period of work or to seek inspiration from a changing environment. In October, we took this trip to Ravenna, and then we travelled around northern Italy. We went to Vicenza and we saw villas by Palladio, then went on to Venice. Travel like that is a bit like gorging yourself because you're so stimulated by it all. I came back filled with energy but also exhausted because I'd seen so much and I had a million new ideas. It was a fantastic trip.

Away from work, I love to spend time in the garden of our cottage. It’s slightly experimental and it would be some people's idea of hell because I let everything self-seed. We live on a small island and the garden floods, so I live with this constant reminder that we are but tiny things in comparison to the power of nature. I think a lot of people working in design choose it because their psychological response to their environment is to try and impose order. Gardening is a useful lesson in unexpected success and unexpected failure. 

When I’m in London, we often go out for dinner with friends. I love Daquise, a Polish restaurant in South Kensington. It has this feeling of being in a different time and place – you could possibly be in Poland in 1920 and I think that transportive nature is exciting beyond just the food. Another old favourite is dim sum at Phoenix Palace. It's kind of hilarious inside – all red and gold and it's looked the same for decades – but you feel as if you've left London. For me, it’s like going back to Asia, without the 14-hour flight.