From The Collection Of Min Hogg

The magazine’s first edition was released in 1981 as Interiors, before it was bought by Condé Nast in 1982, when it gained the name that has now become synonymous with style and sophistication, and which has done so much to educate a whole generation of interior designers and tastemakers.

In her twenty years in charge of the publication, Hogg diverted from the industry norms of text-heavy content and formulaic layouts, instead advocating the effectiveness of simple and salient imagery. She tailored The World of Interiors to her own taste, rather than to those of the advertisers, or indeed its readership, focusing on things that she believed to be beautiful and enduring, and, as Veronica Horwell writes, 'Hogg rejected perfection to show dusty attics, flaking frescoes, crowded shelves, worn carpets, the kitchens of the schloss or the potting shed of the palazzo. Her curiosity was ethnographic, about how landscape, society and history shape local habitations and living, and she realised that, by the 1980s, national styles could travel: a Gustavian country house glimpsed in an Ingmar Bergman film led her to pursue such Swedish buildings, and people are still painting their walls the Scandinavian blue-greys she promoted'. The lasting influence of Min Hogg and her style on The World of Interiors and its readers is vast. Today, hundreds of thousands of people look to the publication, both in print and via its flourishing social media accounts, for inspiration, instruction and escape.

Nowhere was her attitude to interior design more evident than in her Kensington home, which over forty years, she imbued with a seemingly effortless blend of colour, pattern and texture. As Carolina Irving points out in Phaedon’s Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century, 'the living room at her two-bedroom London flat is quintessential Hogg: far from minimalist, infused with a deep understanding of art and decorating history, with eclectic pieces that just seem to synergize perfectly. Paintings above the sofa are suspended in tight rows as they were in galleries of the past. Textiles are nonchalantly mixed, such as a chintz and a stripe. Colours are deployed subtly and cleverly'.

Min Hogg’s outlook on decorative technique and interior style, exemplified by the pieces included in the first of this year’s quarterly Fine Interiors sales, is in direct alignment, and through The World of Interiors, has influenced the spirit in which we try to curate each sale. We firmly believe that, when put together with a little bit of care and attention, furniture, paintings and works of art of all periods and styles can sit together to create an inspiring interior. Modern buyers are always drawn to a well-assembled private collection, and we are in no doubt that wherever Min’s pieces end up, their new owners will treasure them just as much as she did.

View The Collection

For more information about the collection please contact fineinteriors@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778