Pieces of me: Lucy Downes, fashion designer

Award-winning designer Lucy Downes' fine cashmere Sphere One knitwear is sold in top boutiques all over the world and she shows in Paris twice annually. In Ireland her knits are in Brown Thomas, Havana, Samui, Kalu and Juju. A first-class honours graduate in fashion from NCAD, she worked with Donna Karan in New York for 10 years before returning home and setting up on her own. She is currently working on two collections for 2017 as well as revamping her Sphere One packaging by growing and creating organic aromatic anti-moth sachets with dried flowers and herbs as fragrant swing tags for her knitwear.

Describe your interiors style?

I would call it botanical modernism. I am crazy about indoor plants and with the architect Tom de Paor I have created an indoor room at home with an earthen floor and granite steps to house them. I am always drawn to botanical structures and simple understated shapes.

Which room do you most enjoy and why?

It has to be the bathroom. When I bought the house there was a little outdoor lavatory at the back of the garden with an old fashioned cistern. So I have made a new bathroom that is also accessed through the end of the garden. It has black walls and a white sunken bath – black being the best backdrop for foliage – and when you are sitting in the bath and slide open the doors, you are sitting in the garden. It’s very Japanese.

Which items do you love and why?

An Isabelle Egan porcelain sculpture – I love its texture and the contrast between the delicate upright pieces and the solid block underneath – it reminds me of skyscrapers and yet it's also like coral. Another favourite item is a shop sign by Rob Draw from "Lucy's" cosmetic store which I bought in Hudson Street in New York when I was working for Donna Karan 25 years ago. I love its rockabilly 1950s vibe. I also have a 1952 operating table, which weighs a tonne, salvaged from the former Hume Street hospital and which still moves perfectly and is great for displaying favourite objects.

Who is your favourite designer?

The Danish designer Preben Fabricius who made furniture with Jorgen Kastholm in the 1960s. I have a chair, a couch and a little coffee table that I found in a Sex Pistols second hand shop in London. I have subsequently discovered that their pieces are now collectors' items and quite rare. I also love Jasper Morrison for his lighting and cork stools that are like giant champagne stoppers.

Which artists do you most admire?

There are too many to mention, but my all-time favourite is Alexander Calder and I saw his work for the first time when I was 12 on a trip to New York with my parents. I find his work technically ingenious and yet charmingly light-hearted and I have arranged a few trips around Europe to see more of his work. A recent discovery was the US contemporary artist Suzan Frecon – her colours have influenced my winter collection.

Biggest interior turnoff?

Most assuredly, chemical air fresheners. They are something that you can’t tell in advance that you will encounter if you are staying in an Airbnb. Also Led lighting because it is so miserable, cold and unflattering.

Which travel destination stands out?

I have been lucky enough to go to Peru and Mongolia for work, but I would have to say that Japan really stands out – it is so exotic and touches so many points for me such as their sense of presentation, deep sense of spirituality and culture. And the mosses in the gardens are so beautiful. I was one of 35 designers selected to represent Europe in Japan in the European Union's "Gateway to Japan" initiative.

If you had €100,000 to spend on anything for the home, what would you buy?

I have been lusting after a lacquered desk that I saw in the Conran shop in Paris on the Rue de Bac – I sit down and pet this exquisite table by Roberto Lazzeroni which costs just short of €5,000. In the realm of fantasy I would love a 1974 Jensen Interceptor!