For creative agency Studio MacLean, design is something of a way of life. During his 20s, Jason MacLean started early in the bar and pub industry, designing spaces with a saturated and graphic-art approach to decoration that defined the Noughties club scene. Passion, skill and charisma led his charge. Jenny Rose MacLean is from a fashion background – after studying at Central Saint Martins, she became the secret talent behind many clothing and accessory brands. Founded in 2013, the couple’s shared studio is a smörgåsbord of creativity, embracing colour, shape, furniture and pattern.
Long-time collaborators with Eley Kishimoto and the Adidas Originals concept stores, they were always ahead of the curve. Jason kicked off a boutique house getaway in France way before Airbnb became a thing, and Studio MacLean’s ‘Yellow Dot’ kitchen designs featured cupboards with round, indented handle details long before they became a mainstream trope.
Like any creatives with visionary ideas, the couple moved on. So, when they refurbished this early 19th-century house in the Cotswolds, to create their own country abode, it was inevitable that its cottage interior would be radically altered to an urban-minded, decluttered aesthetic.
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A Grade II-listed property in the town of Minchinhampton, it’s a departure from
the last home for Jason, Jenny Rose and their nine-year-old son Stanley: a vibrant, modernist-built case-study house in Camberwell, south London.
Two properties knocked together, with a studio shop and glass-boxed gallery on the ground floor, their new property dates to around 1800 when it was Simmonds, a well-known builder’s yard that’s intrinsic to the town’s heritage. Up until the 1990s, the building was used as the village newsagent and gift shop, which was owned and run by Jenny’s great-uncle.
‘The readjustment was easy,’ says Jason of the move to his wife and partner’s childhood village, where her family still live. ‘We knew what we were getting into.’ The quirky chopped-and-changed layout was part of the building’s appeal.
That said, the house did require a full-on renovation, which Jason undertook with a lot of help from friends, family and colleagues over a period of 10 months. ‘I literally worked seven days a week, 8am until midnight,’ he recalls. ‘I’d go home for dinner, then I would do a few hours more.’
Sympathetic to the age of the property, the original fabric of the building remains unchanged. Lime plaster was used on the interior walls, while old beams and flooring were discovered and restored (not including the terracotta-tiled kitchen floor, which is new and the only glossy element in the house).
Dialled back and clean, the interior has no trace of country kitsch. A predominantly neutral palette allows the couple’s collected furniture to stand out. ‘We wanted a muted space that would show off our work,’ Jason explains. ‘We’re obsessed with the table in our studio space,’ he says of the super-rare Christophe Gevers ‘Working Table’, which the couple found in Belgium to much delight. ‘It’s outrageously beautiful.’
Drawn to simplicity, more so than specific eras, they found other amazing pieces including the curved De Sede ‘DS-600 Non-Stop’ sofa that they had shipped from their property in France. The biggest of its type, the sofa had to be transported in 32 individually zipped pieces. ‘Getting it in that space was a moment,’ Jason recalls.
Throughout the home, there’s an overriding sense of confidence, particularly when it comes to colour play. Bright hues vie for supremacy with the neutrals of the natural lime walls. For instance, the Studio MacLean-brand yellow denotes the transition between gallery and studio.
Upstairs in the living room, built-in bookcases are painted an Yves Klein blue. Why? ‘I don’t know,’ confesses Jason. ‘A lot of it is instinct. We decided it would be nice to do something bold within the muted palette.’
In the attic, the bedroom spans the entire footprint of the property, a not-insubstantial 121 square metres. ‘It’s ridiculous,’ Jason smiles. ‘If you put it into context, our three-bedroom house in Camberwell was half this size.’
In lieu of upholstered furniture, they designed oak cabinets and benches, all custom-made by the studio. ‘We love designing, creating and making,’ says Jason of the custom cabinetry, which includes a bespoke kitchen. This signature feature informs all of Studio MacLean’s residential and commercial work, be it a new office for an advertising agency or a concept hotel.
The move, the couple tell us, has been revitalising.
This spring, the studio opens its Minchinhampton gallery space, which will host hand-picked shows, either design or fashion based. A living art installation, the house is an extension of Studio MacLean’s work and vision. ‘We always wanted a combined studio, gallery and home space,’ says Jason of the family’s new base in an area that just so happens to be a-buzz with like-minded artists and makers. ‘We’re enjoying the freedom,’ he continues. ‘Creatively, it’s a calm environment to work in.’ studiomaclean.com
