IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RANGE ROVER
Behind the scenes with THE GLOSS Contributing Editor Susan Zelouf and her husband Michael Bell, owners of furniture-making business Zelouf & Bell …
Your favourite virtue Zelouf: Curiosity; I’m here on earth on a need to know basis. Bell: Practicality; a thing has got to work.
Your favourite qualities in a man Z: Smarts. Michael is the smartest man in any room. B: Intelligence. I may be dyslexic, but overcoming it made me smarter.
Your favourite qualities in a woman Z: Playfulness; girls just wanna have fun(damental rights). B: Naughtiness; nuff said. ?
Your chief characteristic Z: Vanity; I’m the vainest person I know. I adore beautiful clothes, shoes, jewellery. But I don’t mind hard work, as long as I’m dressed for it. B: Resourcefulness; I love problemsolving. ?
What you appreciate the most in your friends Z: The ability to keep a secret. B: Strength, when I need a lift with something heavy.
Your main fault Z: I seem to have no Off switch. B: Stubbornness. ?
Your favourite occupations Z: Writing and designing. B: I’m doing it; designing and making furniture.
Zelouf & Bell Kimono with Peonies cabinet
Your idea of happiness Z: Waking up in a hotel, with high thread count and maid service every day. B: Filling the bird feeders and mowing the back field. ?
Your idea of misery: Z: A life without dogs. B: Holidaying with an agenda. ?
If not yourself, who would you be? Z: Queen of Feckin Everything.B: A Formula 1 driver; I’m an adrenaline junkie. ?
Your current state of mind Z: Worried for Democracy. B: Impatient for recovery from my full 3D ankle replacement surgery; bring it on. ?
Your favourite colour and flower Z: Any colour as long as it’s black. Hedgerow honeysuckle. B: Ditto. Poppy. ?
Most overrated virtue Z: Honesty; lie to me. B: Religiosity; keep your beliefs to yourself.
Zelouf & Bell Beverly Hills Bar Cart
Which talent would you most like to possess Z: It’s a toss-up between trapeze artist and to sing as well as Tony Bennett. B: To be able to play the piano.
Your favourite authors Z: Rob MacFarlane. B: Miguel Ruiz (The Four Agreements).
Your favourite poets Z: Mary Oliver. B: Ivor Cutler.
Your favourite heroes and heroines in fiction Z: The Tempest’s Prospero. Cabaret’s (I Am a Camera) Sally Bowles. B: Flipper. Lassie.
Your favourite artist Z: Bernini. B: Louise Bourgeois.
Your favourite musical artists and composers Z: Tony Bennett and Bill Evans. B: David Byrne.
The principal aspect of your personality Z: Inventiveness; I’m never at a loss for an idea. B: Confidence; there is only one me.
Your idea of good taste Z: Good taste eludes and bores me. B: Rings on every finger, layering pearls with silver chains (me).
The quality I look for in my surroundings Z: A housekeeper. Know anyone? B: Comfort and light.
The country where I should like to live Z: Italia. B: I quite like living in Ireland.
I look to the road ahead with … Z: An eye to the sky; I’m always on the lookout for the first swallows of B: A headlamp on; it gets dark very early four months of the year.
READ MORE: At Close Range With Designer Niamh Barry