Last week, I was invited by a central London design team to give a talk on Styling.  There's nothing quite like amassing a selection of visuals, and analysing the styling of those photos - rather than the decoration  - to focus the mind.  Why does a particular image work?  How do the props make it welcoming yet serene?  What's the secret to a perfectly balanced photo?

I like to think of styling as a 'visual tidying up', the crucial setting of ambience, and the creation of an image that you'll look at once, twice - and perhaps a third time, peeling back the photo in layers.