Designing for the super-rich from Kerry to Kuwait

Erick Lynch left Cork in the late 1970s to study art in London. But it was a Christmas job in a posh shop in Knightsbridge that led to his career as an interior designer working mainly for rich Middle Eastern families. Based in Kuwait, he talked to Michael Parsonson a flying visit home

'LET ME tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me" is the famous opening line of an F Scott Fitzgerald short story.

"Yes," Ernest Hemingway reportedly replied, "they have more money." But they still have an eye for a good deal.

"The very rich are terrified of being ripped off," according to Erick Lynch. And he should know. The Cork-born, international interior design consultant caters to a discreet clientele garnered from among the world's wealthiest families.

Many are Persian Gulf Arabs and, with oil prices gushing towards $100 a barrel, they have endless reservoirs of loot. But they still hate to be hoodwinked. "However," adds Lynch, "once you've established yourself as a person they can trust, then they don't mind spending."

He passes "substantial trade discounts straight on" to his clients and claims that by employing him "they can therefore save money".

Fifty-seven-year-old Lynch, who emigrated to London in 1975, is a hidden star in the galaxy of the Irish diaspora and divides his time between three homes and has a gruelling, costly and glamorous lifestyle. He has bases on three continents - an apartment in Kuwait, from where he operates, plus pads in London and Marrakech.

It's all a far cry from his roots in Cork. His father, Jack Lynch, was an engineer with Cork Co Council and a cousin of the famous hurler who shared that name and went on to lead Fianna Fáil and become taoiseach.

Educated at a Christian Brothers school (which he "loathed") and, later at the Crawford Municipal School of Art in Cork city, Lynch then went to Dublin for a five-year spell at the National College of Art before heading to London's Central School of Art.

In 1978, armed with a degree in art and design, he turned down a teaching position because he "considered art colleges as self-perpetuating establishments" and wanted another area in which to channel his creativity.

A chance encounter through a friend resulted in a Christmas job at a posh interior design shop in Knightsbridge run by John Siddeley (Lord Kenilworth).

Lynch quickly proved himself, was taken on full-time, and within a year was appointed manager.

This opened doors to the world of the fabulously rich - including many Arabs who were then flocking to London to enjoy the fruits of the oil boom.

Lynch met an architect to the Kuwait market and was in turn, introduced to the top families there.

In 1983 he left to set up his own business - taking much of his Kuwaiti client base - and, in 1986, opened a Knightsbridge showroom in Lowndes Street.

But after five years, and "high overheads", he closed the showroom and concentrated on freelance work, primarily in the Middle East.

His principal clients are Middle Eastern ruling families and he currently has projects in Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt and Morocco, as well as France and the UK.

Lynch spends a good deal of time advising rich Kuwaitis on the design and decor for their "villas"- large family homes which tend to be "around 20,000 to 30,000sq ft". (Ha! And you think Meath Mullahs build large houses?). The families also need assistance to decorate their weekend beach houses - known as "chalets" - which line the main road to Saudi Arabia and can resemble "a modern Taj Mahal by the sea".

He also provides an overseas service for these clients, many of whom own properties in London, the south of France, Cairo, Beirut and other places. Most of his assignments come through "word of mouth and personal recommendations".

He's currently refurbishing a £10 million house in Knightsbridge for an Arab princess.

"She wants to put a wall made of onyx in the entrance hall," he explains, and the cost - just for this aspect of the job - "is between £85,000 and £90,000".

Another client wants his minimalist London apartment entirely redone in an "ornate, late-19th century Arabic style" which involves having all the doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl imported from the Lebanon. Maybe the rich are different after all.

Lynch says "some women have rooms dedicated just for handbags". One woman asked him to design a walk-in closet where shelves like a room in a Hermes stores will display her collection of 250 bags "each costing between £7,000 and £10,000".

Married couples generally have separate bathrooms - an upper-class tradition echoed in a recent interview by Princess Michael of Kent who revealed that her mother advised separate bathrooms and separate bedrooms as "the only sure way of keeping a marriage alive".

Lynch says "hotels have a great influence on the tastes of the super-rich" and nowhere more so than in the design of bathrooms. Sensor floor lighting (which lights up automatically when you walk in) and infinity-style baths (from which water laps over the edge into a tray) are fashionable.

While "ladies like to have a bath and a shower, men prefer just a very large walk-in steam shower with two seats, a stone tray, and a rain-dance showerhead".

Wash-hand basins should be oval, preferably made of stone, and sit on a vanity unit made from "concrete, stone or driftwood". Glass basins and marble-top vanity units are, apparently, so last century.

And what about the room at the heart of every Irish home? Lynch claims that while "the kitchen is important to a middle-class lady who wants to impress her friends by saying 'I have a Poggenpohl kitchen and it cost £75,000' wealthy Arabs often renovate London apartments and don't bother with the kitchen".

That's because "the super-rich don't go into kitchens" and prefer to eat out or rely on deliveries from smart Lebanese caterers. Of course staff use the kitchen: "If there are young children the maid will make them a hamburger."

Not all Lynch's clients are oil-rich Arabs. He has worked for a number of leading British businessmen and members of the aristocracy. And he's also used to dealing with eccentric demands.

While assisting with the refurbishment of an apartment in Belgravia's Eaton Square for the late Christina Onassis many years ago, Lynch was puzzled by the billionaire Greek heiress's request for "fake paintings".

She wanted copies of lesser known works by famous artists - with the obvious stipulation to avoid choosing paintings known to be in museums.

Lynch asked the French contractor overseeing the project why and was told: "If you were invited to the apartment of Ms Onassis and spied a Picasso on the walls, would you think it was fake?"

Lynch claims her father, Aristotle Onassis, "did exactly the same thing - all his paintings were fake" and surmises their attitude as: why bother having the real thing - when nobody will believe it is a fake. He adds "if you have paintings worth millions each - then you have insurance problems".

Lynch has, to date, had only two commissions in Ireland. In recent years he oversaw the interior design of An Culu, a castle built from the ruins of a folly overlooking Kenmare Bay by an Irish businessman living in England who "wanted to create a fairytale castle for his children". The first castle built in Ireland since the Victorian era was a lavish no-expenses-spared undertaking which saw Lynch employ a small army of artisan specialists from Ireland and Britain.

They included John Warne (best-known for the Egyptian Room at Harrods) who created a grotto-style, 'dungeon' swimming pool; Capital Mouldings of Cork, who created the ornate plasterwork; and Isle of Wight artist Alan Goodall who painted the ceilings.

Incidentally, now that the children have grown up and apparently no longer regard Kerry as the magic kingdom, An Culu castle is up for sale - priced at €15 million through joint agents Knight Frank Ganly Walters and Sherry FitzGerald Daly.

In the North, Lynch has overseen a partial refurbishment of Caledon Castle in Co Tyrone, the "country seat" of the Earl of Caledon, a cousin of the Queen and her Lord-Lieutenant for Co Armagh.

If you're thinking about renovating your castle, dolling-up your schloss, patching up your country seat or simply creating the home of your dreams and need advice, then Erick Lynch, speaking during a flying visit to Ireland last week, said he "would welcome the opportunity to do more work on home turf".

[ ericklynch@fsmail.net ]

Top decor tips for the rich

• It's very non-u to have a Jacuzzi now
• Outdoor hot tubs are hill-billy, swimming pools (preferably infinity-style) are still in
• Home cinemas with seating for 12 are now pretty standard
• Lighting should be very high-tech and programmed for mood changes
• 1970s furniture and light fittings are becoming seriously collectible
• Paint the walls black - black bathrooms especially look stunning
• Bathroom tap fittings should be minimalist
• Bidets are still in (though "in the Arab world they prefer a personal douche spray and don't use loo-paper")
• Glass basins are out
• Steam showers are very popular
• There is a drift away from baths to very large walk-in showers
• Marble-top vanity units are being replaced by those made from concrete, stone or driftwood
• The great mistake people make is that they put too much stuff in a room - one painting on a wall can look better than four
• The super-rich never go to the kitchen - only the staff do
• If you have paintings worth millions each, you have insurance problems