Paula Benson is a talented graphic designer, the Co-founder & Creative Director at Form, a London-based design agency founded together with her partner Paul West, 25 years ago. In this interview, she takes time to talk to ConnectiD about her new business Film and Furniture, a captivating online resource which identifies and furnishes you with fascinating facts on the furniture and decor you spot in your favourite films.

When we met Paula she handed us a very sleek, professional business card which definitely stands out! This enticed us to find out more about her work and entrepreneurial projects, and how she keeps her address book up to date to avoid losing contacts details over time.

How did you come up with the idea of Film and Furniture? What made you create this online world for design and film lovers? 

I was revisiting Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining movie and became completely mesmerised by a particular piece of the film set – the graphic patterned carpet of the corridor in The Overlook Hotel. I started researching it and ended up down a rabbit hole of conjecture and conspiracy theory about the meanings and representations of this iconic carpet. It’s been homaged and parodied many times and was featured in Toy Story 2 and Minions. In fact, the director of Toy Story has dedicated an entire website to the cult of The Shining.

With this piece and together with other research, I realised that there are many people as fascinated in the detail of furniture and décor in film sets as me, which set me off researching other iconic pieces of furniture and led me to creating FilmandFurniture as a blog. It’s grown fast and now we’re developing it into a business because this fantastic and avid audience are also interested to buy these pieces for their own home. We show people exactly where they can buy the pieces they spot in their favourite movies, including prop auction houses – from vintage classics to contemporary items.

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