Shedding light

Bridget Hanley from Mid-Century Design. Photo / Babiche Martens

Bridget Hanley runs Mid Century Design, a Newmarket-based design store that sells vintage pieces sourced from America. The boutique sells a wide range of classic and unique items, from a painting of Grace Kelly to a tall yellow cabinet.

There's also a large array of lamps, chandeliers and sconces; Hanley is clearly a fan of lighting, saying that you can "never have too many" lamps. Hanley also works as an interior designer, having studied at New York's

Parsons School of Design and worked with interior design companies in Manhattan. She works with clients to create a space that suits their tastes; her own design tastes are wide-ranging, from historic motifs to luxurious cashmere. She tells us her 10 favourite things right now.

10 favourite things

1. Chinese Chippendale designed anything

The look was "invented" by English furniture designer Thomas Chippendale in the mid 18th Century. The designs are wildly Rococo, embellished with all sorts of architectural details from temples, palaces and pavilions. Often pagoda shapes and fretwork are used along with openwork geometric Zs and Ts on chair backs, taking inspiration from the Brighton Pavilion.

2. Greek Key motif

The Greek Key motif with its rectilinear meander pattern - one very long and continuous line which folds back on itself repeatedly. Variations have been found on Egyptian tombs as well as archaic Peruvian weavings, on Chinese buildings and Aztec sculptures. Examples can be seen at Mid Century Design on items as diverse as a lamp base and gorgeous chests of drawers. A very cool timeless look.

3. Tiffany blue

The colour, the boxes, the wrapping, the stores... Images are summoned up of surprises inside the little boxes all stashed inside crisp tissue; and the building itself on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, all wrapped ready for Christmas, and security staff wired like the CIA ready to pounce on any unsuspecting ring thief while looking like they walked out of a Calvin Klein advertisement.

4. Kingfishers

I love seeing glimpses of their blue feathers and their fluffy caramel fronts.

5. Cashmere

So fine and soft, whether it's snuggling up in a throw or flinging on your favourite sweater or scarf. I was recently at home sick and to be curled up with my cashmere throw made me immediately feel as though I was on the road to recovery. A particular range I admire is To Sir with Love cashmere available from the Karen Walker stores.

6. Tiny cocktail food

Especially delicate postage stamp-sized chicken and watercress sandwiches. The best ones I've ever had were at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

7. Flowers

At any time, but particularly peonies in season. I guess because their time is so short that it is always a thrill when you see them in the stores. Hot pinks, soft pinks, creams and their subtle fragrance. I also love the way their colours change from intense to pale and dusty - where does the colour go?

8. Lamps, lamps and more lamps

You can never have too many. Lamplight is so flattering as well as creating a wonderful atmosphere. Nothing beats it. My favourite at the moment looks like Carmen Miranda's hat, an impossibly towering pyramid of yellow ceramic fruit, a lamp and sculpture wrapped in to one, aside from a fabulous shot of colour.

9. Furniture with signs of patina from many eras

A room without a piece of furniture with age makes the inhabitants feel unsettled and transitory, without them realising why.

10. Books

Nothing better than to curl up and lose oneself in the story. I can't wait to read Monica Ali's In the Kitchen after her talk at the recent Writers & Readers Festival. What a thought-provoking session, and love her way with the written word.