Telegraph.co.uk- Even for the affluent residents of London’s Holland Park, the arrival in the area last year of Gerard Griffin, head of Tisbury Capital, was big news. Curtains twitched as a multi-million-pound refurbishment of his house began. Rather than buy furniture or even appoint an interior designer, Griffin and his wife Sarah commissioned top artists to produce original work specifically for their home.
Soon the Griffins boasted a dining-room chandelier by glass artist Deborah Thomas, two installations by potter-sculptor Edmund de Waal (including a complete room of more than 600 porcelain vessels), and an architectural version of a Morandi painting in the gallery by ceramist Julian Stair. It was, Mrs Griffin modestly told one visiting reporter, "simply an extension of collecting on a domestic scale".
To the neighbours, the house had been "hedged" – snapped up and spruced up by a rich hedge fund manager. These flash Wunderkinder are branching out, and surpassing toffs, lawyers and even footballers’ wives with their reputation for ostentatious opulence.
