In memory of Peter Twining who died on the 3rd February 2022. 1936 – 2022

Peter Twining was a mentor to many and a friend to many more who worked and thrived here on The Pimlico Road. He sadly died on the 3rd of February aged 86. His friends and colleagues remember him with deep affection.
Peter, who changed his surname to Twining by deed pole, originally set up in business with George Sherlock on The Kings Road in the 1960s. George moved on, further down beyond Lots Road, whilst Peter created a wonderful esoteric atmosphere in his long narrow shop on the King’s Road opposite Poulton Square. It held a cornucopia of early furniture and full-length Elizabethan and Jacobean portraits. Perhaps an early tapestry hung behind an oak refectory table draped with antique Persian carpets, rather like a 17th century Dutch still life, as remembered by Piers Von Westenholz. 

He moved again to Ledbury Road, a large premises which he filled with Grand Country House castoffs where Christopher Hodsoll joined him in the mid-1970s before he moved on to work with Geoffrey Bennison in The Pimlico Road. Later on, Peter dealt from lofty apartments close to Hyde Park. Peter spent a short time in America before returning to England and continued to deal but without a shop, placing many a find in the shops of Westenholz, Ruth Sheradski at Loot then taken over by Gill Goldsmith, or with his friends Christopher Gibbs, Robert Kime, Geoffrey Bennison and subsequently Christopher Hodsoll. 

He helped Christopher Hodsoll when he opened at 69 Pimlico Road and then when Christopher continued the Benisson business from 1984 which morphed into Hodsoll. He mentored Christopher Howe when he moved to the Pimlico Road from his smaller premises on Bourne Street. Peter helped Lulu Lytle; who was then working with Christopher Howe,  set up her own business; Soane, in the basement of Christopher Hodsoll’s shop and again when she moved across the road to Christopher’s other premises when they were vacated by Hodsoll Mckenzie Fabrics. He became head of the Antiques Department there for many years until only very recently also helping to design furniture and lighting with Lulu Lytle’s team.

Despite being severely beaten up in the 1970s, and having suffered a severe stroke in the 1990’s he continued to pop up all over London hunting for that special something that others may have missed. In his earlier days, he was seen in both town and country in black leathers dashing from one place to another on his powerful motorbike. Many of his contemporaries sadly died of Aids; George Sherlock, Ross Hamilton, Tony Cloughly, Sheridan Duffrin and others. He haunted the auction rooms and the antique shops scattered all over London, from Portobello and Bermondsey to Lillie Road and Bond Street. If he did not want something but thought you would like it for your shop he would point you in the right direction. 

Who could forget his atmospheric apartment, every wall covered with glazed tiles. Lapis Lazuli blue in the hall and Kitchen, aqueous sea greens and cream in the bedroom and bathroom, a soft yellow in the sitting room, all edged with creamy woodwork topped by matching painted paneled ceilings with books and magazines everywhere. Each room was separated by mirror paneled doors, a distant echo of Thomas Chipendale. It was photographed for The World Of Interiors in the July 2019 issue. I urge you to read the article so beautifully written by his old friend Christopher Gibbs. This gives us a reminder of the true character and extraordinariness of the man who appeared so simple and understated to many.

I first met Peter in 1978 when I went to work with Ross Hamilton. Peter was a very quietly spoken, very measured, gentle and extremely courteous man with impeccable manners.  He always sent me a birthday card for decades because once he overheard it mentioned in a conversation. Peter never forgot a friend or a colleague and remained loyal to all those dear to him come what may and his close friends remained loyal to him to the end, chiefly Christopher Hodsoll and his brother Peter, Christopher Howe, Lulu, and Piers, and not forgetting Peter Hinwood.  I hope many of you on the Pimlico Road will remember him with affection too. 
Mark Boyce