WHERE THE EYE WANDERS

August 2025

The phenomenal writer Maggie O’Farrell shares a piece of advice she received from her poetry teacher, Michael Donaghy: put up scaffolding when you write. By this, Donaghy meant building a structure around your work—a temporary framework that helps the piece take shape. Crucially, he insisted that every last bit of this scaffolding must come down once the work is finished. The reader should never see it.

O’Farrell takes this idea a step further. She describes the comfort she finds in writing a first draft that is strictly for her eyes only—a place to meet her characters, understand the period and immerse herself in the world of the story. This draft isn’t meant to be polished or shared; it’s a private exploration that precedes her work in earnest.

I found this hugely exciting because it made sense of my own creative process – particularly when starting a new project. When a new opportunity happily comes my way, I spend time understanding the home: its surroundings, its architecture, its period, what the light does, the original features that define its character and so on. Most important of all – who are the people who live here? What role will art play? These are the characters in the story.

From there, I dive into research. I turn mostly to books— to the work of great designers, many of whom I return to time and again for inspiration: John Stefanidis, Verde Visconti, Elsa Perreti, Jaimé Parladé, Studio Peregalli, Madeleine Castaing, Josef Frank, Renzo Mongiardino and more! Or I head to the library. Living in Oxford, we have so many wonderful options, but my favourite is the Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library.

Then comes the part I love most: pulling together colours and patterns that feel meaningful for the space. I usually work on the floor, surrounded by swatches, building a feeling and a mood with colour. I need time for this stage and I give myself permission to play, to follow instincts and to let things surface without judgment.

What I realised after hearing Maggie O’Farrell is that my first boards for any project – like a writer’s first draft – are almost always kept private. They are an exploration relying on intuition and free association of ideas. They rarely make it to my clients because they are simply not good enough, often too obvious and even impractical. But those first boards are absolutely essential to me as a way into a project and to get lost in the rush of excitement and discovery.

Listen to Maggie O’Farrell speak with John Wilson on This Cultural Life:

*https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/maggie-ofarrell/id1588922162?i=1000703864388

That the things in life which don’t go to plan are usually more important, more formative, in the long run, than the things that do.

Maggie O’Farrell