‘It’s about the feeling of the door handle in your hand, and all of those other little things you touch and experience when you enter a home,’ says Clemence Pirajean, one half of design duo Pirajean Lees. She and co-founder James Lees have a deep love of process and craftmanship. It’s what lends their projects an innate feeling of warmth; a sense of care being taken.
This apartment in London’s Marylebone is testament to that care and attention, with bespoke designs at every turn – all of them manufactured in London to keep the project’s carbon footprint down.
Several of the standout pieces are from Pirajean Lees’s own collection of limited-edition, handcrafted furniture. There’s the mirror in the hallway, surrounded by a walnut frame (each small section of which was individually carved and dipped in oil), and the dining table, formed from London plane timber, that is a specially reworked, extendable version of one of the pair’s favourite creations. The headboard in the guest bedroom, painstakingly woven from Danish cord, is another highlight.
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‘It’s the little details that can trick your mind into thinking a space is bigger and more luxurious,’ explains Clemence, revealing the secret behind this seemingly simple apartment’s magic.
The two-storey flat had gone through numerous bad renovations before she and James stepped in, tasked with producing a comfortable home for a busy businessman who travels regularly. Ceilings had been lowered, original mouldings, roses and cornicing had been destroyed, and the Georgian property’s typically large rooms had been poorly divided up. Its potential was there, but hidden. It was the pair’s task to tirelessly return the grandeur of its past.
‘There was a plasterer on a ladder forever, just delicately recreating the cornicing leaf by leaf,’ recalls Clemence of this lengthy process. ‘The patience that man had was amazing!’
If it seems like this home has a timeless quality, it is perhaps down to Clemence and James’ lateral approach to their work. The pair eschew thinking about design trends and instead read poetry, watch films or, in the case of this home, do a little historical research to build a narrative for each project.
‘Sometimes,’ Clemence admits, ‘we have to make the story up. But this one was a gift.’ They discovered that the square this property is built on was named after the mistress of a chimney sweep – the first man to ever lease a house here. Charmed by this unlikely tale of devotion, the duo imagined what the mistress would be like. In their minds she was French, worldly, a lover of literature and art.
The library, painted a deep, inky blue, was curated to please this fictional lady of the house, as were the floors – reclaimed smoked oak from Paris. It is her spirit that underpins every design decision. The result is a serene and calming atmosphere – a place that makes you feel instantly at home. pirajeanlees.com
