KELLY HOPPEN

Kelly Hoppen is the interior designer whose minimalism earned her the epithet "Queen of taupe". She has offices in London, New York and Paris and created the British Airways first-class cabin and homeware for Debenhams.

Covering 35,000 square feet, Alfies Antique Market opened in Marylebone's Church Street, London NW8 (www.alfiesantiques.com) in 1976. The wares of its multiple dealers reflect the current interior obsession with 20th-century furniture over older antiques.

"I come here a lot. For individual pieces, you can't beat Alfie's. Look at that (a Sixties Vitosi chandelier composed of hundred of bright green Murano glass discs) - it's sculpture. I don't want things that other people have got, and neither do my clients. I've been coming here for what feels like a million years - I grew up in Chelsea. It's a great place for gifts, too, and for crocodile vintage handbags.

My style is always moving on. If I stayed static, I'd be bored senseless. Being a designer is like being an actress, taking on a role. When I started working on a beach house outside Cairo recently I had just been on holiday in Greece, and I was thinking heat and dust. On holiday you're so different from what you are like in the city.

I spend a lot of time in London - the only thing uninspiring about it is the weather - but I love to travel. I found incredible things in LA. We're opening an office there. Yes, we did do the Beckham's house. I don't talk about my clients, but she told the world, so everyone knows.

The last thing I bought for myself here at Alfies was a Murano glass owl and a papier mache hand painted table. The owl moves around the house; it's in my dining room at the moment. My financial director said owls are good luck in the house. I totally fell for that. I love that sort of thing. I'm very spiritual."