The First Shop: A Chocolate Paradise

Armed with a little knowledge, and a dangerous passion for chocolate, I opened the first Rococo shop on the King’s Road in Chelsea at Easter in 1983, at the age of 23. This was the moment I had been waiting for all my life and I was excited and nervous in equal measure. The decor in the first shop was wild and extremely camp. Working with Frank Taylor and Kitty Arden (who now designs Prestat’s packaging), I created the theatrical backdrop for Rococo. We stippled the walls with scumble glaze and I commissioned a sugar chandelier. Frank painted a beautiful ornate ceiling, a homage to Boticelli’s Birth of Venus with cherubs and clouds. From the minute the shop opened I was adopted by a charming couple, Leo and Philippa Bernard, who owned Chelsea Rare Books. Leo, my very first customer, was standing outside with their spaniel Tess on the morning I opened, just before Easter. The shop was filled with handmade eggs from a chocolate factory that supplied Charbonnel et Walker, and they rapidly sold out, but the wonderful Raymond Matthias – who had a garage filled with Belgian bunnies and Easter treats – dropped in daily to replenish supplies. We were all very happy.