I am absolutely delighted to be able to showcase the work of talented artist - and rising star - Duncan Tattersall. Based in Bristol, but Scottish through and through, Duncan is a multi-talented creative: he is at once an artist, designer, writer, illustrator, screen-printer and soft-furnishings creator. His passion for, and interest in, abandoned buildings and historic houses has determined the arc of his career; he currently runs his own design studio, and also works at the Landmark Trust, for which he produces hand-printed curtains. Duncan painstakingly researches each design, producing unique and fascinating prints that hang as living pieces of art in many Landmark Trust properties across the UK. He spoke to Manderley Press about the books and buildings he draws inspiration from.

What was your earliest childhood memory of reading or books?
Books were always one of my most anticipated Christmas presents as a child. In the cocoon of winter and school holidays, my sister and I would while away entire days sat on her bed together contentedly exploring other worlds through the latest additions to our bookshelves. Between us sat a box filled with all the sweets and treats we’d also found under the tree which we would frequently dip into – blissful memories!

In what place, house or building are you happiest?
It is perhaps not always the same feeling as happiness, but the places in which I certainly feel most alive are abandoned buildings. I find it a strange but enthralling dichotomy that a place sliding towards destruction has the power to heighten my senses and transport me to a higher plane. Lifeless as they may first appear, such places buzz with energies from their past and burst with colonizing flora and fauna of their transient present, among which I have gained some of my life’s most profound experiences.

Cats: friend or foe?
Friend, on their terms of course!

Can you share a few of your favourite recent reads with us?
I’m still reeling from the gut-punch that is Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winner Shuggie Bain. The tragedy of the tale crept up on me, but it has a heart of pure gold. Another recent highlight was The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, an incredibly touching tale derived from legend and set in the Alaskan wilderness. It’s full of richly evocative descriptions of the harsh landscape, and as a big fan of winter, it hit the spot for me. I am quite guilty of often having more than one book on the go at once, so currently have bookmarks in Claire Fuller’s Unsettled Ground, and Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn.

If you could visit one fictional building, what would it be?
If I think too long on this there will be several! But one which springs to mind instantly is Hundreds Hall from Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger. The ancestral seat to a family on their uppers, its decline is paralleled by the unravelling fortunes and minds of those still half-living in its faded splendour. I read the book when it was first published in 2009, and its atmosphere left a lasting impression.

What is your favourite word and why?
I recently had cause to use the word ‘aggrandized’ for the first time in ages, and was reminded what a belter it is. It was in reference to the nineteenth-century enlargement of a Scottish tower house, and it’s just the perfect term to describe the very Victorian ‘more is more’ manner of architecture which I love. It also seems to sum up the particularly nineteenth-century preoccupation for building to impress; a mania I’m certain I would have found myself caught up in had I been a man of means at that time.

What do you find most inspirational creatively speaking: buildings or people?
In simple terms, I am most inspired by buildings. But not in a sterile architectural sense; I am inspired by the life of a building, which of course is intrinsically linked with the lives of the people who designed, built and lived in them. Without these human lives going on in and around them, buildings would not be the living, breathing entities which I consider them to be, so an interest in one inevitably leads to the other.

What was the best book you were ever given as a gift?
Last Christmas a close friend and fellow artist gifted me CAMP – Notes on Fashion, the pages thoughtfully marked with all her highlights. The book is the accompanying catalogue to The Met’s 2019 exhibition, a delectable tome in pale pink and mint, worth having for its aesthetic value alone. Before finding my way into soft furnishings, I loved making clothes, so I valued the gift as a reminder of those roots and a passion which still lingers.

If in doubt: hardback or paperback?
If only I had the space and budget it would always be hardback, but I love a tatty second-hand paperback copy too.

Could you tell us about your favourite library?
The library which has consumed most hours of my life by far, and where I could happily spend many more, is the Historic Environment Scotland Archives and Library in Edinburgh. I first visited years ago when researching ruined Scottish mansions, drawn by the promise of images of their long lost splendour. Walking down the aisles filled floor to ceiling with green box files is a tantalizing experience; each whispers of ancient and forgotten places and some photographic treasure waiting to be unearthed. Their book selection on Scottish architecture is of course superlative too, and instigated the wish list for many of the titles I’ve gone on to seek out for my own shelves.

Where do you feel most at home?
I grew up in Scotland, and this is absolutely where my heart still is. From the Borders to the Highlands, there is a particular energy and intrigue which runs through the land, as if the ancient traditions and customs which formed it are barely beneath the surface.

Which building makes you go weak at the knees?
I feel very lucky to be able to say this about the building I currently live in – a Victorian Gothic revival house in Bristol. I have loved the building ever since glimpsing it on an early visit to the city before I moved here, never thinking I would end up living in one of the flats behind its dramatic facade. Surrounded by regency terraces and restrained classical villas, the two adjoining houses here conspicuously buck the trend, best described by Pevsner who remarked that they ‘strike out on their own in unapologetic Perpendicular Gothic.’

You can find Duncan at duncantattersall.com, on Instagram and on Youtube too!

Instagram snippets | @manderleypress