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Design.Special 2026

Curious: A visit to Paul Smith

If anyone has brought more colour to the world of fashion, it's Paul Smith. Even better: he knows exactly how to transfer this to the automotive world. Currently on show at the Salone del Mobile in Milan at Via A. Manzoni 41, where he installed his  "Garden of Curiosity" with MINI.

What does his home look like? He revealed this in an exclusive interview with ramp editor-in-chief Michael Köckritz. The designer also reveals how his world-famous brand of the same name came about, how he works - and what good style means to him.

  • Text
    Michael Köckritz
  • Photos
    Simon Upton / The World of Interiors © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd.

Keep it simple, but have fun. A recipe for success. It originated in 1970 in a small shop in Nottingham. Today it has become a global brand: Paul Smith. A brand in which the designer and founder of the same name is still very much involved. Paul Smith is one of the most famous fashion designers of our time - and occasionally he lives out his creativity on an art car. But who is this Sir Paul Smith? Do you know the man if you know the brand? Let's take a look. And the best place to do so is where you really get close to a person: in their home.

This is where the master of style & stripes lives: born in 1946 as the son of a tailor, Sir Paul Smith opened a fashion shop in 1970. In 1976, he showed his first collection in Paris - the rest is fashion history. Today, the Paul Smith brand is a global fashion empire. The Brit was knighted for his services in 2000.
This is where the master of style & stripes lives: born in 1946 as the son of a tailor, Sir Paul Smith opened a fashion shop in 1970. In 1976, he showed his first collection in Paris - the rest is fashion history. Today, the Paul Smith brand is a global fashion empire. The Brit was knighted for his services in 2000.

If you take a look at Smith's house in west London, where he has lived with his wife Pauline Denyer for three decades, you will see that it fits. It is furnished in an extremely stylish way, nothing seems artificial, but it captivates with a wonderful joy of form and clarity. This is certainly also due to the fact that the passionate collector Paul Smith does not store his countless treasures here, but at the company headquarters, out of consideration for his wife.

Despite all the clarity, there is also room in his home for the little special features that make it - and the person behind it - really interesting. Sir Smith also skilfully plays with different shades of colour within his own four walls. As with his legendary "Signature Stripe", the colourful stripe pattern that is iconic for the Paul Smith brand worldwide.

"I decide quite instinctively whether to accept or reject. There's nothing specific that I absolutely want to do, but I'm always interested in working in very different industries because I learn so much."
Paul Smith
1/7

"There was never a plan to design this stripe," says Paul Smith about his trademark. Like everything else in his company, it developed very organically. The whole world now recognises it and it has adorned numerous vehicles, turning them into art cars. It goes without saying that the vehicles were not planned in advance, but rather came about spontaneously. At least that's what Smith himself says: "I decide quite instinctively whether to accept or reject. There is nothing specific that I absolutely want to do, but I am always interested in working in very different industries because I learn so much."

→ Read Michael Köckritz's exclusive interview with design legend Paul Smith in rampstyle #25.

→ Find inspiration, innovations and timelessly beautiful design in our digital design.special on the occasion of Salone del Mobile 2026.

Michael Köckritz

Michael Köckritz

Editor in Chief
As a journalist, author, artist and media maker, Michael Köckritz succeeds time and again in creating both attention-grabbing and sustainably stimulating impulses in the context of contemporary and future topics as well as lifestyle and luxury worlds. As publisher and editor-in-chief, he has realised a whole series of book and lifestyle magazine formats that have regularly won numerous national and international awards over the years. The car culture magazine ramp, the men's lifestyle magazine rampstyle and the design magazine ramp.design are published internationally and are considered style-setting.
rampstyle #25 Keep It Simple and Smart
Curious: A visit to Paul Smith

rampstyle #25 Keep It Simple and Smart

Wir erleben unsere Welt nicht nur als ziemlich kompliziert, sondern auch als äußerst komplex. In komplexen Systemen ist alles unvorhersehbar. Und wir sind mehr oder weniger fröhlich mittendrin.

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