Journal Magazine
Early 2001
Interview by Amanda Dardanis
Photographs by David Loftus
Styled by Elizabeth Cocozza

Celebrity make-up artist Fiona Jolly swapped a dreary basement for a warehouse - determined to create light and colour, and reflect her vision of coastal chic in a Notting Hill mews

You'd have to go a long way to find a London address with a more impeccable fashion pedigree than make-up artist Fiona Jolly's Notting Hill Gate mews. The street is packed with fashion PRs and design headquarters - handbag queen Lulu Guiness has an office there. And grand dame Shirley Bassey keeps a mews house just for the purposes of storing her extensive diva wardrobe.

"It didn't take me long to feel at home here," says Fiona, 30, apologising for appearing "a bit ragged round the edges today". Typical of the nomadic lifestyle her career demands, she has recently returned from working on fashion shoots in Australia, and just finished a promotional tour for one of Britain's most famous female pop stars.

"My job is so varied. One day, I'll be doing a celebrity or model or a pop video, the next, a TV commercial." For this reason, the concept of home as sanctuary is especially relevant to Fiona, who has harnessed her knack with light to create a fabulously relaxed beach-house style in W11.

"Because I'm always on the go, I just love to be cosy when I'm at home - the idea of watching a video, snuggling down and getting comfy. I'd always wanted to adhere to the whole minimalist thing in my own house. I've worked on shoots in a lot of these types of places, but I've realised that my ideal is to be relaxed. For me, that means fluffy cushions and deep armchairs."

Fiona turned her back on her previous basement flat in Chelsea several years ago, depressed by the dreary atmosphere there. "I wanted to move into a space thad had light." Her new place, formerly an antique restoration warehouse, offered the perfect framework, with its metal beams, high ceilings and ivory spiral staircases leading to a mezzanine floor. Fiona promptly added perforated blinds, which let in light even when closed, custom-made limewashed shutters and a bright, cheery palette of colours to reflect her vision of coastal chic.

The three-storey property has also given Fiona the extra space to settle into a more grown-up lifestyle "I've come a long way since I used to have to entertain friends surrounded by my washing hanging out to dry. I remember hosting one dinner party, and being really proud at how sophisticated and smoothly everything had gone. Then, when I got the photographs back, I noticed two of my grubby old bras hanging either side of the room."

When Fiona moved, she refused to be daunted by the big empty space she was faced with. "I was in no rush, because finding the right sofas and armchairs was really important to me. It took me about four months to track them down. It drove my friends mad because they would have to sit on floor cushions when they came to visit. The pieces I've picked have rollers on their legs, so I can move them round and create fresh spaces regularly."

Even the solid-steel coffee table centrepiece made to order by BowWow in Notting Hill, is mobile. "I love the simplicity of this table. It's very graphic. Looking round this place, I think I am quite drawn to things that make a bold statement." Like the huge cow-hide rug Fiona brought back from a recent "Journal" fashion shoot in Las Vegas. Or the glossy cactus, which stands smugly next to her charcoal-grey George Sherlock armchair. Fiona is mystified by the cactus's rude health. "Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that I treat it to either drought or flood conditions, depending on my work schedule. I read somewhere that cacti thrive on extremes, which is just as well. I really fancy myself as a great gardener, but I just have to look at things and they die."

Fiona is more confident when it comes to choosing art. She cherishes her rustic Williamson painting, called "Gorgonzola", which depicts a Yorkshire farmer with his "Yorkshire Post" grabbing for his pickled onions. "Williamsons are something of a family fetish. My parents have got loads and loads. I'm from Lincolnshire, but we spent seven years in Harrogate." Another star player is her fake Picasso, which appeared as a prop in "Blood and Wine", a Michael Caine movie about art smugglers. It was given to her by a friend who knew how much she admired it.

But perhaps pride of place in Fiona's living room is her French salon-style turquoise sofa, from one of her favourite interiors haunts, Baroque and Roll, in London's Fulham, which specialises in outfitting movie sets. Fiona took great pleasure in installing the piece, in spite of her friends reservations that it would look too prissy in such a contemporary open space. "They thought I was mad, but I proved them wrong," she says. The arresting sofa, with its deep-purple scatter cushions, bring a feminity to the room and injects a youthful sense of fun, which neatly sums up Fiona's personality. Its room-mate is a three-seater sofa in spearmint green, the make-up artist's signature colour. It provides a calming antidote. Covered in furry chocolate and purple suede cushions, it beckons visitors to make themselves at home.

Which they do - often. Among Fiona's close circle of friends, spontaneous nights "chez Jolly" are the norm, usually after last orders at one of her locals - the Walmer Castle, the Westbourne, the Cow and 192. "It's always back to my place with wine, to play backgammon, cards or board games. I bore everyone stupid with Monopoly. A model taught me his stash of card tricks once on a shoot. I love doing card tricks because my job involves a lot of sitting round. I do palm reading, too. But I hate it when some celebrity I'm working with sticks out their palm to me. I think, "God, no, I don't want to risk insulting you."

When she's not reluctantly mapping out the fate and fortunes of her famous clientele, Fiona likes to potter in her sleek designer kitchen, making use of her cookery school tuition. She grows all her own herbs on her prized roof terrace, where she often settles down on sunny afternoons with a throw and a good book. "I love doing roasts, and I'm quite into Jamie Oliver [famous British chef]. I'm not a great freestyle chef, though. I really do need my cook books."

Fiona lives a luxuriously fragrant life - literally. She surrounds herself with fresh flowers which she collects regularly from nearby society florist, Wild at Heart, and relishes the romance of her giant brass four-poster bed with its heart-shaped lavender aromatherapy cushion. This was a gift from a friend, and the matching lavender ribbons were lovingly hand-embroidered by her mother on to her white bedlinen. "My parents gave me the bed for my 16th birthday. I wasn't like normal 16-year-olds - I just wanted a huge bed, to make me feel I was sailing around. It's pure "Bedknobs and Broomsticks".

Fiona confesses to being a real magpie, unable to resist the lure of glittery trinkets, festive fabrics, such as saris, and luscious handbags like the one she keeps on display in her bedroom because "it reminds me of Tutti Fruttis - you just want to pick one of the beads off and eat it." Her "boudoir babe" style extends to her wardrobe, largely populated, Fiona says, by kitten heels (Jimmy Choo and Prada, naturally), sexy mid-length skirts and floaty, girlie dresses.

"I'm a retailer's dream. If I had a couple of hundred pounds burning a hole in my pocket, it's hard to say what I'd prefer to spend it on - clothes, shoes, make-up supplies, things for the house... it depends who gets me first."