Clair Wayman is an interior stylist and multifaceted creative, who is now staging properties, enabling homeowners, developers and investors to sell their homes faster and for more profit.
As an expert in her field, she also works within the publishing industry, writing and styling interiors-related features for leading homes magazines, as well as styling commercial campaigns.
Following a 6-year career in London as an interior stylist on homes magazines, she moved to Australia and became part of the editorial team that launched the award-winning interiors magazine, Real Living. She worked as their Melbourne Style Editor for 5 years.
She was co-founder of Curio & Curio, a design studio that became an iconic destination homewares store in country Victoria and inner-city Melbourne. Her ranges of vibrant cushions, artwork and homewares have graced stylish homes internationally.
Moving back to the UK she became the Houses Editor for The English Home magazine for 5 years, collaborating with many well respected interior designers, photographers, writers and stylists. This much-loved, quintessentially English monthly title is published both in the UK and America. During this time she transformed the houses section and thanks to her wealth of contacts was able to feature some of the most beautiful historic houses in the UK. This new and engaging content has brought The English Home to the attention of influential taste-makers and design luminaries around the globe.
BIOGRAPHY
Growing up in the historic country town of Ludlow in Shropshire, Clair has always had an eye for design. It was the 1970’s and the interiors of her family’s rambling Victorian house were eclectically decorated in flamboyant William Morris fabrics and wallpapers. Her fashion designer mother made everything, from crocheted window dressings to tapestry wall hangings and patchwork quilts. Drawers full of fabric started her lifelong obsession with textiles, pattern and colour. Being encouraged from a young age to draw and paint, she would often be found with sketchbook in hand, roaming the countryside with her beloved Springer Spaniel, Bella.
Moving with her family to the Spa town of Cheltenham, she attended Cheltenham Ladies College and then Aberystwyth University to study for a BA Honours Degree in Art and Art History. Further education included a Post Graduate Diploma in Textile Design at Leeds University and a Journalism course at the University of Gloucestershire.
Following this she moved to Hackney in East London and started working as an interiors assistant on homes magazines including Homes & Gardens, House & Garden, and Country Homes & Interiors. She learnt from the best and assisted established freelance interior stylists, including Melanie Molesworth, Julia Bird, author of Pure Style, Jane Cumberbatch (@janecumberbatch) and Janie Jackson from Palma Lilac. This introduced her to the exciting, fast-paced world of photography, photo shoots and styling, assisting on a wealth of editorial + commercial jobs for well-known brands such as Laura Ashley and Marks & Spencers.
She became Head Stylist at Good Homes magazine, which, at the time, was based at the BBC in White City, London. After this post came to an end she embarked on a freelance career as an interior stylist, working for many leading publications including Living Etc and Ideal Home magazine. She then became Deputy Homes Editor at Essentials magazine for 2 years, working alongside Sally Denning.
Clair became known for her fresh, uplifting decorating stories, which she created both as room sets in photography studios, and at location houses around London. She would create multiple set ups in one day, bringing in everything from furniture to home décor. She worked with teams of set builders who would follow her briefs, building room sets, as well as painting and wallpapering walls.
When Clair first moved to Melbourne, Australia she worked as a home stager at a leading property staging company, Smart Presentations. Freelance styling and writing commissions for Country Style and Australian House & Garden followed, before she was taken on by Real Living magazine (@reallivingmag) where she worked closely with Editor-in-Chief, Deb Bibby (@deb_bibby) and Deputy Editor, Natalie Walton (@nataliewalton).
During this time she was also in demand as a decorator and took on numerous interior design projects including a mid-century beach house in country Victoria, a Victorian terrace and new builds in inner city Melbourne. Her styling work has appeared in a range of campaigns for advertising clients including Globewest and Molmic. She was hired by Annie Abbott to design the interiors of her Habbot Studios pop-up store in The Block Arcade Melbourne.
Another highlight was being asked to do the wedding planning for Arlene Todd, which was held at her sister, Lynda Gardner’s home. Clair was inspired by the location and designed a beautiful, pared-back feel, combining simple white furniture, ethereal laser cut perspex butterfly shapes hanging from glass chandeliers, custom made botanical cushions and stunning blue hydrangeas in globe vases.
Clair was asked by The Design Files to be a guest speaker as part of The Melbourne Design Fair, sharing the stage with fellow creatives Beci Oprin and Lara Davies from Home-Work (@home_work_). The Creative Women’s Circle (@creativewomenscircle) also asked her to talk about her career in front of a packed audience.
Through her work, Clair has met many inspiring artists, designers and entrepreneurs. During her time as the Melbourne Style Editor for Real Living magazine she was commissioned to interview and style the homes of numerous creatives, including Australian fashion designer, Lisa Gorman (@_lisagorman), illustrator & author, Beci Orpin, founder of The Design Files, Lucy Feagins, jeweller and founder of Pieces of Eight (@po8gallery) Melanie Katsalidis, founder of Nancy Bird, Emily Wright, artist, Rosetta Santucci, illustrator, Kat Macleod, co-founders of creative agency Ortolan, Chloe Quigley and Simone Elder, designer, Craig Miller-Randle (@craigmilran), founder & creative director of Cable Melbourne, Georgina Austin, co-founders of Poppies for Grace (@poppiesforgrace), Alana Waterson and Sara Dickins, Love & Lustre co-founder, Prue Brown, and co-founder of Mozi, Camilla d’Antoine. Clair was also asked to interview contestants on the popular Australian reality TV show, The Block, where 5 couples compete against each other to renovate and style houses. She then wrote about their journey on the show and their renovation stories, which became a feature in Real Living magazine.
During Clair’s time as the Houses Editor at The English Home magazine she interviewed and wrote about leading interior designers, becoming immersed in their world, learning about their design process and what drives them. These designers included:
Rita Konig, Brandon Shubert, Sam Todhunter, Joanna Wood, Emma Sims Hilditch, Max Rollitt, Stephanie Dunning of Dunning & Everard, Justin van Breda, Max Buston, Susan Deliss, Todhunter Earle, Liz Millington, Victoria Wormsley from French Brookes Interiors, Laura Passey, Charlotte Boundy, Emma Benyon Designs, Lisette Voute and Maddalena Minerva.
Clair also styled a number of the designers projects herself, as well as art directing on the photo shoot days.
Projects Clair styled (which appeared in The English Home magazine) included a house in Dorset designed by Sam Todhunter, Emma Sims Hilditch’s Wiltshire home, Victoria Wormsley’s rectory and Justin van Breda’s London terrace. The rectory and the Dorset house also appeared on the front cover of TEH.
Recently Clair was asked to style two properties on the Frampton Court Estate, working closely with owner Charlotte Clifford to select new lighting and soft furnishings. This was in readiness for a photo shoot for boutique holiday lets company, Kate & Toms, and to refresh the interiors before paying guests booked their stays.
Clair also recently completed a festive decorating job for Cubitt House which involved styling nine gastro pubs around London over the Christmas period. Director, Georgina Pearman gave Clair free rein to come up with styling ideas and trusted her to make it all happen. She planned everything meticulously - selecting all the festive decorations, managing the buying process, storage and delivery. Clair co-ordinated the whole job so it ran smoothly and styled the pubs with assistant and floral stylist, Laura Hart (@laura_jasmine) over the course of 5 days. The directors and staff were thrilled with the end result, which was sophisticated, but most of all cosy and Christmassy.
Clair loves the collaboration process, working with other like-minded creatives. Over the past 25 years she has teamed up with many talented photographers to produce beautiful imagery for editorial and commercial clients. These photographers include:
Rachael Smith, Dan Duchars, James McDonald, Boz Gagovski, Natalie Dinham, Astrid Templier, Kirsty Jones (@kirstyjonesphoto), Brent Darby, Nick Yarsley, Andreas von Einsendel, James Geer, Sharyn Cairns, Dan Magree, Derek Swalwell, Lisa Cohen, Armelle Habib, Mikkel Vang, Christopher Drake, Jan Baldwin, Emma Lewis, Nick Smith, Penny Wincer, Colin Doswell, Eve Wilson, Tanika Blair, Tim Young, Nick Huggins, Huntley Hedworth (@huntley_hedworthinteriors), Nick Pope (@thenickpope), James Braund, Joanna Henderson, Simon Whitmore, Amanda Turner, Chris Tubbs and Lizzy Orme.