Paul Smith, Gentleman Collector

Published on 24 October 2019, by Mylène Sultan

The most stylish of English fashion designers is also an art lover who visits exhibitions, takes countless pictures, admires architects, and collects as he breathes. At home, collecting rhymes with creating.

The fashion designer in a room of the "Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith" exhibition at... Paul Smith, Gentleman Collector

The fashion designer in a room of the "Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith" exhibition at the London Design Museum in 2013.
© Paul Smith

At his desk in Covent Garden, Paul Smith almost disappears behind stacks of books, a globe or two, a metal dinosaur, a pair of mini-binoculars, some drawings, etc. A huge bookcase with 10,000 books about graphic design, architecture and photography stands behind him. He is an eclectic collector. At home, an entire room is devoted to robots, boxes and watches, his guilty pleasures, and a wall is devoted to works from the Slade School of Fine Art in London, of which he is a patron, in particular works by William Coldstream (1908-1987). "Artists whose common thread is working by instinct,” he explains. A bit like him, in fact: Smith buys…

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