Aside from his academic pursuits, Weston is also widely known in literary circles for writing Alvar Aalto – a book dedicated to the Finnish architect and designer, which won 1995’s Sir Banister Fletcher Prize as the architecture book of the year. Weston says his love of pattern has been long-standing.
“I’m known in architecture as a writer but I’ve always been intensely visual and in love with colour,” he tells us. “My first year tutor was an extraordinary Iranian who saw ‘architecture’ as embracing visual order in nature, buildings, everything. I’ve got lots of books about natural forms and patterns, Islamic tiling, rugs, fabrics, etc., and the ‘decorative’, mostly French, painters whose work I particularly love – for example Matisse, Bonnard and Vuillard.”
The professor admits venturing into fashion has been a far cry from his day job, but he’s enjoying the experience.
“So far it has been an almost unalloyed pleasure – getting in had its frustrations, but the fast-moving world of fashion and sensual delights of high-end retail are a welcome contrast to Britain’s under-funded and over-audited universities,” he says.
With his scarves collection proving a hit, Weston’s label looks set for expansion.
