Minimalism with bells on

In the eyes of Robbie Spina and Joe Zito, the duo behind deluxe passementerie company Spina, the world would be a bleaker place without frivolous tiebacks and froufrou tassels. 'Tassels have moved on from the plain old John Lewis ones,' asserts Joe. Fortunately, there are others who agree, not least Madonna, whose Marble Arch home is adorned with Spina's handmade, exquisitely detailed, black and green tassels used as light pulls, while her sofa sports an extravagant silk bullion fringe.

Spina's unashamedly bijou confections drip with goose or guinea-fowl feathers, Japanese silk, mohair, suede, satin ribbons and Swarovski crystals. Colours range from subtle toffee brown, lilac and coral to dazzling kingfisher blue. Given that arid minimalism still has a huge influence on interiors, the Spina enterprise might have proved a dicey gamble, but it has thrived since it was set up two years ago.

Why the tassel and tieback revival? Designer Robbie and business-brains Joe put it down to a 'revival of Victoriana, fashion's love affair with decoration and the maximalism of places like Shoreditch restaurant Les Trois Gar?ons'. In fact, one of this eatery's directors - a friend who also owns Notting Hill antiques shop, Solaris - spied Robbie's first feather tassel ('a prototype') in his home and put in an order for ten for his shop. 'They sold out in ten days, so I designed some new styles,' recalls Robbie, a former actor who supplemented his income by assisting interiors stylists. 'It all started when I worked on a feature about feathers for Harpers & Queen. I went to a feather merchant and was blown away by their potential. After my Solaris designs, I thought, why not aim for the top? I showed them to Nicky Haslam and Kelly Hoppen, who loved them. Nicky adorned a parasol with them at a charity ball. Kelly spotted them and commissioned some as Christmas decorations for another charity bash.' Spina's ritzy fripperies are now available at Mulberry, Peter Jones and the General Trading Company.

Robbie and Joe lovingly handcraft what you could call their haute homeware in their equally theatrical West Hampstead pad. A bland panorama of beige flock wallpaper when they moved in, the flat was transformed by opening up the space as much as possible to allow light to flood in. 'We converted one bedroom into a bathroom and put in Philippe Starck fittings. We created a large studio, and had built-in cupboards fitted to minimise furniture, as well as wooden floors and lots of wood panelling. We justified the expense of the d?cor by seeing it as creating the perfect showcase for our business.'

Eclectic and exotic are the only words to describe the Spina residence. At times, it feels like an ethnographic museum: in one bathroom hangs a Moroccan mirror made of camel bone dyed with henna, in the studio stands a heavily carved Rajasthani domestic temple and in the canary-yellow hallway, a framed Native American chieftain's headdress. Nearby there's an Assyrian amphora out of which spill the mother and father of all tassels: two gargantuan maroon creations encrusted with semiprecious gems. 'We used to say they were very Moulin Rouge. But Bollywood is a better description - more now.' Joe and Robbie travel the world to source the best silk threads ('to compare their strength and luminosity'), and can't resist buying gorgeously ornamental pieces - like their Thai mirror - along the way.

Their furniture and artefacts hail from so many eras that visitors inevitably feel they're whooshing through a time tunnel. A spectacularly elaborate bed is inlaid with Art Nouveau mother-of-pearl motifs. A cluster of cream ceramics crowding an Edwardian fireplace are a mix of antique Wedgwood pots, Twenties Sylvac vases and contemporary pieces from The Conran Shop. Joe is also a painter and two splashy abstracts in the flat are in stark contrast to its classical antiques. So, too, are several Sixties space-age lights and futuristic chandeliers, produced in conjunction with Spina, by Joe Boyd, a designer who works with crystals.

It's Robbie and Joe's patience and love of detail that takes the breath away: it took two to three weeks to make just one of the intricate tassels in their hallway. But it would be wrong to suppose that these two peddle a baroque aesthetic for its own sake. Surprisingly, perhaps, they believe in opulence counterbalanced by restraint. In other words, theirs is a measured maximalism. If, in the past, tassels and tiebacks festooned busy, patterned curtains, now - according to Robbie and Joe - people prefer to give plain fabrics and furniture a decorative accent to lift them a touch.

Spina can be contacted on 020 7624 7974; www.mycbsite.com/spinadesign