High style for Top Man; Designer Roger Walker-Dack had fallen in love with a London apartment, but he still stripped it bare to create his own dramatic look.

Byline: SARAH SMITH

Roger Walker-Dack is a man who makes big decisions quickly - then he acts on them just as fast. When the fashion designer and entrepreneur saw a London apartment on the Internet he knew he had to have it - even though he was living in South Beach, Miami, at the time.

Within 24 hours he had flown to London, viewed the property and put in an offer which was accepted.

'I just made up my mind,' Walker-Dack says of his plans two years ago to move into the five-storey former Royale Greeting Card print works in Islington.

The property, which was converted in the mid-Nineties, was in perfect condition, but he stripped out all the fittings anyway. 'I have very strong ideas,' he says. 'And I wanted it to be dramatic.' The loft-style space certainly makes a bold first impression. A huge 10ft acid-etched door, made-to-measure by Preedy Glass, slides back to reveal a large living space with a 12ft-high concentric ceiling supported by huge industrial pillars.

The shell houses a spacious one-bedroom apartment with white plaster walls and maple flooring. One wall is dominated by generous windows with French doors that lead out on to a roomy balcony overlooking the Regent's Canal.

Walker-Dack was born in Harpenden-Hertfordshire. His design success-led to the production of his own suit label, Roger Daq, which sold in New York, Tokyo, Paris and London.

He also helped launch menswear chain Top Man.

When he is not in Miami, Walker-Dack, 55, lives in his Islington flat so he can work on his next Designer Warehouse Sales. The sales, which have been running since 1987, give the public a chance to pick up cutprice designer clothes. Time Out magazine listed them as one of the top ten reasons for living in London.

Although Walker-Dack admits the flat was 'expensive, but property prices are ridiculous'. He won't say how much it cost. But local estate agents say one-bedroom apartments in the block sell for between [pounds sterling]250,000 and [pounds sterling]300,000, with an extra [pounds sterling]18,000 for a garage.

Walker-Dack's vision was made possible by his friend and architect John Guest. As well as sharing a designer's discipline for detail, he personally carried out the work to Walker-Dack's meticulous standards.

A dark cherrywood floor was ripped out and replaced with a maple one to make the space lighter. Low-voltage square lights were recessed into the walls to create subtle lighting. The exposed brick wall on the canal side of the building was plastered and painted white to simplify the look. It was painted one of the six shades of white found in the living area.

'I have a friend who is a colour consultant for the fashion industry,' says Walker-Dack. 'He told me that using the different tones of white exaggerates the light and shade of the room, which emphasises the shape.'

A sculptor did the decorating and the painting was precise - the only way Walker-Dack could tell it had been done when he arrived home in the evenings after work was by the smell of fresh paint.

Walker-Dack wanted the place not only to look stunning but to work on a practical level as well. The simple shell was a perfect backdrop for his collection of paintings, photographic portraits and fashion prints.

A narrow ledge was installed round the edge of the room so the pictures could easily be rotated without the hassle of having them rehung.

The apartment reflects Walker-Dack's fastidious nature. 'I hate stuff being out,' he says. 'Some would say I am neurotically neat.' Floor-to-ceiling closets were built to store spare works of art, Walker-Dack's extensive wardrobe and anything else that would offend his taste - like books. 'I don't see the glamour of having loads of bookcases,' he says, 'I don't live in a library.'

When Walker-Dack bought the property the bathroom was new, but it was far from his liking. 'It was too white, too wow and too grand,' he says. He stripped out the half-size bath and fittings and replaced them with a shower, fossilised limestone wall tiles, river slate floor tiles and a basin from West One Bathrooms. The kitchen, which is in a corner on the canal side of the property, has also been overhauled.

'Even though I hate the fuss of cooking, it was still important that the kitchen was functional, while at the same time retaining a clean and simple look. So I decided to take out stupid things like the extractor fan because it was ugly,' says Walker-Dack, who prefers to eat in restaurants.

Blue and white splashback tiles were removed, a stainless steel sink was replaced by a porcelain one from Habitat. Habitat wall units were encased in a shell of skimmed plasterboard. Ikea stainless steel door fronts were added to hide the washing machine and dishwasher.

For a vibrant effect, Walker-Dack recovered his Heal's sofas from a previous home with brightly coloured fabrics. The sofas surround two Conran coffee tables, one sitting on the other.

'When they were put side by side I didn't like them, so I had to use them as they had been displayed in the shop,' he says. The apartment has a definite identity - each area is distinctly separated, but details from one area are echoed in other parts.

The gold leaf on the wall cupboard, which is made from railway sleepers and houses Walker-Dack's stereo unit, is mirrored by gold picture frames in the kitchen.

The boxed-in bedroom on the canal side of the property also has an acidetched glass door.

'When I live here I am working hard on the Designer Warehouse Sales,' says Walker-Dack. 'So although I want a dramatic-looking place, it also needs to be a place in which I can relax. It has to be neat and ordered, too.

'I love this place. Away from main roads, sitting next to the canal, the tranquillity is disturbed only by the noisy Canada geese.'

. For more information on the Designer Warehouse Sales visit www.dwslondon.co.uk