An ode to the bracket: interior designers on why you should always have one on the wall

Although the herm was very much out of vogue by the Middle Ages, sconces were familiar articles in churches, once you’ve got a consecrated candle you can’t very well leave it lying around, similarly statues of various saints and apostles. So again up and out of the way they went! Considerably artistic effort went into elaborating sconces at this stage, whether you think this was to the glory of God or to the glory of the people who ran the church is an open question, but certainly those cliff-like walls of the High Gothic movement were considerably more jolly for a scattering of brackets.

Post Reformation and with the ever-burgeoning trade between East & West, the vogue for confections celebrating porcelain along with a clipping of mirror glass and a bit of gilding – the girandole in any style that took your fancy – got more and more elaborate to the point were you might have well wondered if you were looking at a flock of HoHo birds double parked in a china shop, or simply Thomas Goode’s closing down sale. Nonetheless less the idea of a wall bracket being something very jolly was established and has stuck about.

Schloss Charlottenburg in Berlin demonstrates the extreme end of the range of possibilities when it comes to populating a wall with three dimensional objects, I’ve always loved its sheer frenetic exuberance. But for me I always come back to the idea of the conversation between a smaller grouping, or even using a bracket to support something unexpected. Marbled paper trays, papier maché chickens, Staffordshire figurines, give me a bracket any day. I again I suppose really for me it’s all about having fun.

Campbell Rey

“We love using brackets in a space. It’s a great way to emphasise the symmetry of a room as part of a wall hang, and to give prominence to objects that might otherwise live on a coffee or console tale. An interior we keep coming back to on our moodboards is Denise Hale’s Russian Hill apartment created by Mark Hampton in the early 1980s. The all-green scheme and richly upholstered velvet walls make it feel like a space for a seriously good time, but it’s the oversized foo dogs perched atop a pair of giltwood brackets that are the stars of the show.”

Gavin Houghton

“I’ve always loved brackets, ever since my first shoot with Min Hogg – lots of brackets with lidded jars on them, nothing’s really changed! They’ve got these associations with Chinoiserie, stately and playful but I don’t like them to be too serious. I’ve got one up in my kitchen I’d probably use one in a loo too and put the loo roll on it!”

Nicky Haslam