Meet Di – The Creative & Witty Owner Of Ghost Furniture
Whether this is your design style or not, pay attention to what what my friend Di has to say. She is one smart and playful cookie. And what a fun life she lives! Residing in a 300-year old country home and on a regular basis hopping into her van and driving from the UK (!) to Paris to scout products for her business.
Di Overton is a witty and creative UK based designer who always inspires me and makes me laugh out loud. Yes, the blog world brought us together about a year ago (she is behind DesignersBlock which is the leading eclectic style blog in the UK) but I am so looking forward to meeting her in person.
This week Di is launching Concrete Ghost in collaboration with the very talented Kathy Dalwood. Concrete Ghost is a business line which is part of Di’s successful company Ghost Furniture.
I am pleased to be the first in the US with an exclusive on this!
Inspiration comes from everything around me. The strangest things can inspire it’s a hard thing to explain. On the Ghost Furniture website there is an inspirations page I put together to show people how some of my ideas came to fruition. I have even been inspired to create a table by passing one of the lions in Trafalgar Square. My advice to anyone searching for inspiration is LOOK UP and never have a closed mind.
What prompted you to get started in the design world?
Many of us know about your fabulous and oh-so witty blog. Tell us more about your company.
Ghost Furniture, so called because we are bringing things back from the dead, employs only two people – myself and my partner Harvey. He writes the website, helps with the design ideas (sometimes he stops me being too wacky) and more importantly carrying heavy stuff around for me. We do all the photography, copy writing, web optimization etc etc ourselves, the advantage of having been in advertising for so long. As we decided to semi-retire we are determined to keep it personal.
Splendid Willow’s comment: This is why I love this girl! Look at her Marie Antoinette chair – and what inspired her.
How lovely and fun isn’t this tasseled bedside table!
Well this has been kept a deep dark secret for a long time now but at last it can be revealed - Concrete Ghost. Late 2009 both Kathy Dalwood and myself discovered that we had both been admiring each other’s work from afar, as far as London, where Kathy lives, is from the wilds of Northumberland where I live. As you will already know Kathy creates fabulous concrete sculptures from flea market finds and I asked her to create something I could apply to my Ghost pieces.
Splendid Willow’s comment: People, this tassel is made of concrete! A sculpture!
These mini-sculptures, each individually cast by hand, are concrete casts of real silk tassels with all the intricate detail of the original.
The best part is applying the first coat of paint which is the start of the transformation. When I buy the pieces for Ghost they are deceased, as we say – bringing quality furniture back from the dead and making it hauntingly beautiful – I would never think of touching a piece that still has some life in it.
Do you have a signature design feature/technique or object?
My signature design feature is the truly matte finish of the paints I use. These paints are specially mixed for us in Paris. Applying them to the pieces is like applying fresh cream. If I told you the source I would have to kill you 
It has taken years to find the right mix and the right colors and I am in love with it, sad but true – Di Overton is in love with her paint.
Never, never, never. It is the road to ruin. Imagine how much stuff I would be left with if I followed trends they are in and out like a fiddler’s elbow.
What’s your favorite wall color?Stone. If you want to add color put something colorful on it. It is so versatile and clashes with nothing. A close second is black which if used in the right way can be stunning. I have black walls in my kitchen but the cupboards are stone and bronze which puts the wall in the background and it also can carry any color placed on it.
Monika, I am in it! I visited some rich friends recently and was sitting in their orangery thinking how I could actually fit my cottage into it. We were looking out onto their huge garden and I thought – how the hell do they manage that. We used to live in a huge town house in the city so I’ve been there and done that and truly appreciate that fact but I look out every morning and evening and see a changing landscape that most people would give their eye teeth for. My cottage is over 300 years old maybe older and has a fascinating history and it works for me, I cannot ask for more.
Thank you Dear Di! I so enjoy your company and your unique style!
I think that interior design at times can be boring and predictable. (Yes, really!). Your playfulness is such a relief! And so is Kathy’s! You both inspire me to add much more personal spunk and beauty to my own home!
Image, Paris, via Flickr. All other images are the rights of Di Overton.
