Crafted homeware adds charm and character to any home, but what of the homes of the people behind these creations? Often they function as part home, part showroom or even an incubation space to road test new designs. As London Craft Weeks takes over the city, it’s a timely moment to step over the threshold and into the homes of makers and designers to see how they live amongst their own work.
An eco-minded flat for a glass designer
Sustainability is at the core of Juli Bolaños-Durman’s home. After purchasing a flat in Edinburgh’s artistic Leith district, the glass designer joined forces with Alexander Mackison of the Edinburgh-based studio Architecture Office, whose sustainable approach she had long admired. The restrained palette and roughly hewn surfaces of the space are the perfect foil to the high shine, brightly coloured pieces she produces. ‘Since my work is so colourful, it needed to be somewhat neutral yet warm for it to not be overwhelming,’ she says.
The rustic French home of a ceramicist
The perfectly imperfect philosophy of wabi-sabi informed the way ceramicist Justine Lacoste and her husband, Jean Hay de Slade, designed their home in the French countryside. After six months of non-stop renovation, the couple and their daughter moved into the newly open-plan home. When it came to the interior design, Justine notes that ‘perfect interiors aren’t really our thing,’ adding, ‘we didn’t want to use modern materials everywhere. We like a rougher look that shows traces of a house’s history.’
The inner-city home that feels like a country house
With its rustic bare stone walls, exposed ceiling beams and greenhouse-like entryway, this is not your typical Parisian home. Painter and ceramicist Ema Pradère and her partner Frédéric Winkler, one of the founders of the lighting design company DCW Éditions, fell in love with the crumbling former carriage house and set about removing the smooth plaster on the walls to restore the original stonework to highlight the tactile quality of the surface.
Colour drenching in the home of a ceramics designer
The London home of Emily Johnson is an explosion of vivid colour. The founder of Stoke-on-Trent-based ceramics brand 1882 Ltd looked to the magic of her own childhood when devising the palette. ‘The house was a chance to bring back a little fantasy,’ she says. ‘Why not have a bit of fun and escapism?’ Emerald, peach, cobalt and shell pink clash in spectacular fashion throughout the period property, with wallpaper murals, lush textiles and graphic modern art all emphasising her fearless attitude to design.
A wicker workshop brought back to life in Provence
When Benoît Rauzy and Anthony Watson discovered this abandoned yet preserved home in the village of Vallabrègues, they had no idea it would birth a new creative venture. Located on the banks of the Rhone, the village is surrounded by wild growing rattan. After discovering the home was in fact a former wicker workshop, the couple joined forces with friend Raphaëlle Hanley to launch Atelier Vime. Working with Provençale craftspeople, they produce vintage wicker, as well as new designs made using leather and marble. ‘Wicker can be very simple, but also very sophisticated,’ says Benoît. ‘We use these materials together in a classic, refined way.’
