Pantheon of Greats: our 2025 list of legendary interior designers
Welcome to House & Garden’s version of a hall of fame, an addendum to our annual Top 100 Interior Designers and Architects. We like the mythological associations of the word ‘pantheon’, because you could say the people on this list are like gods among men (and women) in their field. They are the most established, the most revered – and often the most copied. Or is it more polite to say they are the most influential…? Many of the names that follow have featured on our various ‘best of’ lists for the past quarter of a century and continue to do brilliant and inspiring work. Let’s take a moment to celebrate the inaugural selection that makes up the House & Garden Pantheon of Greats.
Simon Brown1/11Alidad
Decadence in decorating seems to be the ethos of this interior designer, who has been in the business for more than 30 years. His interiors are richly layered, with an impressive amount of decorative detail, and they often speak of another – far more fabulous – time.
Lucas Allen2/11Colin Orchard
A respected proponent of the English country house style, this talented interior designer has a very dedicated client base. ‘I like a challenge,’ says Colin. ‘And also to be able to carry out research and to be pushed to our limits.’
Paul Massey3/11Jane Rainey
One design observer recently noted that JR Design, the studio of Jane Rainey (née Ormsby Gore), excels at a certain ‘hap-hazard harmony that comes with collected and well-used interiors’. This is a great way of describing her loose and layered take on the English decorating style, based around the idea of the country house, but certainly not limited to such geographic locations. Jane has a flair for using rich and super-saturated colours, but with a lightness of touch that helps to keep the spaces feeling fresh.
Luke White4/11Jonathan Reed
The designer has always been fairly under the radar, but this has been especially true since he stepped down from Studio Reed, the practice he founded in 1996. Renowned for beautifully crafted interiors, which have earned him a host of long-standing clients, Jonathan is enjoying the flexibility and the freedom that come with being a smaller operation and being able to take on the projects that interest him.
Simon Upton5/11David Mlinaric
When all is said and done, David will go down as one of the true greats: an accolade that comes with over 60 years of experience. In 2009, he was awarded a CBE for services to interior design and heritage. He has worked for the great and the good, with many of his established clients still calling on his expertise.
Simon Upton6/11Douglas Mackie
This year marks 30 years since Douglas set up his own studio, which produces relentlessly elegant interiors. There is a timeless quality to his work, whether he is adding modernity to an ancient manor house or depth and texture to a newbuild.
Lucas Allen7/11John Minshaw
This incredibly influential interior designer manages to bring a strong sense of tightly controlled modernity to the most classical period spaces, doing so with a certain spare-ness. At the end of last year, his studio launched the wonderful monograph John Minshaw with Heywood Hill, which features six recently completed projects.
Simon Upton8/11Nicky Haslam
Undoubtedly a once-in-a- generation talent, Nicky has an interior design portfolio that extends from Rothschilds to rock stars. He has been in the business since the early 1970s and, when he does take on projects with his bite-sized studio, he continues to excite with his bold imagination and distinctive flair.
Chris Horwood9/11Nina Campbell
This doyenne of British deco-rating is one of only a handful of designers to have really cracked the international design scene and she has an extremely dedicated following on both sides of the pond. The head-quarters of her company on Pimlico Road, SW1, see her interior design studio and fabric design studio, and her shop all under one rather fabulous roof.
Miguel Flores-Vianna10/11Penny Morrison
Interior design is not the main focus of Penny’s business these days since she has, over the years, developed an extensive homeware collection, including her own beautifully designed textiles. However, if you are able to secure her services as a decorator, she will undoubtedly create the gorgeously layered and textile-rich interiors for which she has built a reputa-tion over more than 40 years.
11/11Jane Churchill
Her ultra-English look is no doubt influenced by her great-aunt Nancy Lancaster’s work, but Jane and her small team also have a modern point of view. This has been expressed in house projects – plus horse-boxes, helicopters and even a rickshaw – all over the world.
