Lara Bohinc talks personal taste Part One

Slovenian-born jewellery and accessories designer Lara Bohinc trained in industrial design and brings a beguiling sculptural modernity to her pieces

My personal style signifier is red lipstick. It brings out my features and is quite dramatic, but without it I look very pale. I have about five shades to pick from, but the one I like most is YSL Pur Couture The Mats in Rouge Rock. £26; www.yslbeauty.co.uk.

The last item of clothing I added to my wardrobe was a pair of Nicholas Kirkwood for Roksanda black and white pointy high heels with a bow. I like the unusual curved shape of the heel. I bought them about a month ago and have worn them a lot. I rarely buy anything without wearing it immediately. £560; 9 Mount Street, London W1 (020-7613 6499; www.roksanda.com).

To Every Seed His Own Body by Polly Morgan, similar taxidermy pieces from £4,000. | Image: Tessa Argus

The best gift I’ve given recently was a taxidermy piece by Polly Morgan, to my husband. A tiny bird lies on top of a tiny book with a miniature working chandelier above it, all encased in a glass dome. It is both serene and macabre. www.pollymorgan.co.uk.

And the best one I’ve received was a vintage cubic brass lamp by Curtis Jeré. My husband gave it to me as a surprise – he knows I love metal lamps and that I’m fascinated by folding techniques. He gives me the best gifts but won’t tell me where he got this one.

The last meal that truly impressed me was dinner at the bar at Bentley’s in Mayfair. It is one of the best fish restaurants in London and I had two specials of the day – scallop ceviche and lobster soufflé – but my favourite dish on the menu is tortellone of Cornish crab with tomato and basil. 11-15 Swallow Street, London W1 (020-7734 4756; www.bentleys.org).

The person I rely on for personal grooming and wellbeing is my homeopathic facialist Dr Tatyana Telnikoff who topically applies and injects homeopathic medicines to the skin and also does facial acupuncture. Her treatments really work so I see her once a month. 07947-073 148; www.health-alternative.com.

Bohinc’s Nicholas Kirkwood for Roksanda bow pumps, £560

In my fridge you’ll always find eggs, soya milk, blueberries, avocado, smoked salmon and vodka. The latter has to be Russian, but I’m not faithful to one brand. We eat a lot of Slovenian food such as rabbit in hunter’s sauce and apple strudel, but I buy the ingredients on the day.

The site that inspires me is the Bauer Hotel in Venice. It has a Gothic-Byzantine façade and a wing built in the 1930s, but the back of the building is modern; the mix inspires me. S Marco 1459, Venice (+39041-520 7022; www.bauervenezia.com).

An item I would never part with is my Alexander McQueen Marie Antoinette-style lace wedding dress. I never intended to wear white but I saw it at a McQueen sample sale and just had to have it.

An unforgettable place I’ve travelled to in the past year is the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix. This off-piste ski route is 20km long and you have to go with a guide because it is so steep; at one point we had to climb with skis on our backs, clinging onto an entrenched rope. I grew up skiing in Slovenia, but this was the most James Bond-style skiing I have ever experienced. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I loved it.

YSL Pur Couture The Mats lipstick in Rouge Rock, £26.

The last music I downloaded was SBTRKT’s Higher from the album Wonder Where We Land, which is a real mish-mash of electronic genres from house and hip-hop to jungle and soul. It’s really interesting and the lyrics are off the wall. Designing is very solitary so I listen to a lot of music.

The one artist whose work I would collect if I could is Naum Gabo, a Russian-born artist I discovered 20 years ago while studying art history in Ljubljana. He used mixed materials like metal and Perspex and his work seems contemporary, even though it’s about 100 years old.

My favourite websites are Dezeen, which covers innovations in architecture design and graphics and offers the only newsletter I subscribe to; SoundCloud for finding new music and bands; and Vice, which is one of the few news feeds I read, as I like to live in a bubble and don’t watch television. It has very independent views. www.dezeen.com. www.soundcloud.com. www.vice.com.

As told to Beatrice Aidin