Q & A: The great spring clean of luxury furnishings

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS & GORDON

High-end interiors firm Carden Cunietti to sell off 20 years’ worth of treasures

WANT to get your hands on a lamp destined for the home of an A-lister? Ever wondered what a rock star’s rug would look like? Now’s your chance as Carden Cunietti, an interior design firm to the stars, is offloading two decades’ worth of furniture.

Since founders Audrey Carden and Eleanora Cunietti set up their antique furniture shop in west London, they’ve built up quite a collection of spare treasures. Now, as a 12-person consultancy creating interiors for the likes of Robbie Williams and Annie Lennox, they need to catch up on 20 years’ worth of tidying, so they came up with the idea of holding charity sale The Spring Clean.

“When we get furnishings shipped in, some things arrive damaged, in the wrong colour, or we’ve made a mistake in the order somewhere,” says Carden. We’ve accumulated so much of this stuff over 20 years, and we just keep thinking we’ll use it some day. The truth is, we don’t.”

A lot of items are bespoke one-offs that simply didn’t make the final cut, meaning they’re sitting in perfect condition in the warehouse.

“We’ve got one rug that’s 17ft by 14ft that we had custom-made for this huge house. Most people don’t have space to put that in their house, so it’s just sitting in storage, looking brand new. We thought, we couldn’t be the only ones that have all this stuff. So we called everyone we knew and got them involved, too.”

Carden and Cunietti now have a committee of nine high-end designers behind The Spring Clean, all donating furniture that’s been lying in storage. Proceeds will go to the Kids Company, which provides support to vulnerable young people in inner cities.

Expect hundreds of items from lamps, sofas, cushions, curtains, artworks, fabrics, bespoke lighting, photography and beds. “Where a lampshade might have been £300, we’re going to be selling them for £30. We’re pricing to sell, really,” says Carden.

The Spring Clean takes place at Londonewcastle Project Space, 28 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch on Friday 30 May and Saturday 31 May from 10.30am to 6.30pm.

I have been renting out my flat but the letting agent looking after the property never seems to be available when I want to contact them. What can I do to make them return my calls?

It doesn’t sound like you’re off to the best start with your property investment portfolio. When you hand your asset to an agent, they should – at the beginning at least – be in constant contact as they’re handling your money. If it makes you feel any better, the Property Ombudsman receives more complaints about lack of communication than any other subject, so you’re not on your own.

This is set to change this year. From late spring, all lettings agents will have to be members of a redress scheme so you will have the ability to hold them to account. Of course, this doesn’t help with the sleepless nights worrying about your property. You can usually alleviate a lot of these worries by picking an ARLA registered agent, so you know they can be trusted with your asset. If the letting agent is still unresponsive, try sending an email, a registered letter and leave a voicemail, all reminding the agent you expect to be sent the relevant documents. Make sure to explain how often you expect to be contacted. If they refuse to comply, you can send them a warning that you’re going to the Ombudsman, which usually gets a result. And, of course, you always have the free market alternative, which is to threaten to withdraw your business.

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