By Design: Charles Burnand

Charles Edward Burnand was a north London grocer with an entrepreneurial streak. So he would doubtless be proud to see his name above the door of London’s newest design gallery. Simon Stewart opened the Fitzrovia space in April, and walks there every morning from his Marylebone home. “I never met my grandfather,” says Stewart. “But I’ve always loved his name – such gravitas – so I named my gallery after him. Without the Edward.”

Stewart works closely with his artists and interior designers, including Robert Stilin and Jenny Fischbach in New York, to develop unique and limited-edition works in highly refined materials, often using age-old techniques. “We have a master craftsman in Brittany who does all our straw marquetry,” he says, giving an example. “It’s such a noble art to take this humble material and turn it into something luminous and exquisite.”

For Ellie Cullman, of Cullman & Kravis, he recently took on the challenge of a site-specific chandelier, four meters tall in cast bronze and Murano glass. It now hangs over a sweeping stone staircase in a home in Connecticut that sits on its own peninsula. “Other people might say, ‘It’s not possible’,” says Stewart of the commission, which he designed himself. “But we never say that.”

Stewart puts this drive down to his training and subsequent 17-year stint as a professional musician; for him, the design business is a successful second career. “Music is all about determination, willpower, dedication, sheer hard work,” he says. “And I’ll admit, I had an illustrious career, freelancing with all the major orchestras, including the London Philharmonic.”

But his mother’s influence was never far away. Cathy Stewart had been in charge of the flower arrangements in the windows of the Liberty department store, when she was discovered by Elizabeth Taylor, and went on to work for other distinguished clients, from Twiggy to Princess Margaret. From here, she began to advise on interior decoration. “She had quite a cult following,” laughs her son, who started working with her in 2013. “I simply exchanged sound for vision,” he says. “But I feel I have more control in this part of my creative journey.”

Now running the business with his partner, Michael Totten (“He does the financial side, thank God”), Stewart’s stable includes designer Alexandra Champalimaud, craftsman Callum Partridge and the artist Pierre Bonnefille who works with mixed media and bronze powder on metallic mesh. Stewart also creates his own designs to client’s requirements. “No one needs anything we make,” he says. “But they might want it.”