WHERE THE EYE WANDERS
May 2025
I’m so delighted to share with you that our work on a unique home – with an even uniquer photographic collection – has just been published in House & Garden magazine’s new July edition. It’s a publication that I adore and read cover to cover each month – I couldn’t be happier!
Originally a warehouse in a quiet and secluded Georgian street in southeast London, the building was purchased by my wonderful clients about 10 years ago. Having worked together on two previous projects, they invited me to collaborate once again- this time alongside 23 Architecture, a brilliant studio celebrated for their calm, restrained, and characterful spaces.
Together, we transformed the house into what I think is the very beautiful form that you can see in the pages of this month’s House and Garden: a home that reflects the clients aesthetic sensibilities and centres and celebrates their remarkable photography collection.
Working with Lex Germanos of 23 Architecture was a joy. Lex’s focus on natural light and proportion was behind the striking spiral staircase at the heart of the home, as well as the intimate upper-floor spaces that float above the expansive ground floor. Our design process was full of lively discussions in their Notting Hill studio. We pored over an incredible range of beautiful raw materials, including Japanese Tatami which we laid on the floor of one room for a grounding, tactile feel- hanging it on wardrobe doors to soften the space with its woven warmth.
In some of the more intimate spaces we took bolder creative journeys. We upholstered a bespoke sofa that wraps around the TV room with a custom fabric from my collaborative collection with the acclaimed Colombian fashion brand Mola Sasa.
But at the heart: the photography. The collection – lovingly and expertly built up over many years – always at the emotional and aesthetic core of the project. We worked to create interiors that resonated with the artwork, building from a restrained palette and treating natural light as a dynamic, ever-changing element to bring the space to life throughout the day.
I gave my all to this project, but it never felt like hard work. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with such thoughtful owners, whose vision, and incredible eye for photography were at the heart of a joint creative mission: to create a home both personal and compelling.
One of the most meaningful activities we are ever engaged in is the creation of a home. As we create our rooms, we engage passionately with culture in a way we seldom do in the supposedly higher realms of museums or galleries. We reflect profoundly on the atmosphere of a picture, we ponder the relationship between colours on a wall, we notice how consequential the shape of the back of a sofa can be and ask with care what books really deserve our ongoing attention.
The School of Life