owl's house london.

from the archive: a parisian pied-à-terre.

51 rue Raynouard is an apartment block in the16th arrondissement in Paris, designed and built in 1932 by Auguste Perret. Perret is a seminal architect of the 20th century, responsible for heading the re-build of Le Havre post–Second World War (now a World Heritage Site), and for his pioneering use of reinforced concrete. He constructed no. 51 to house his design firm and his family, in an…

finnish contemporary in france.

The Maison Louis Carré, the eponymously named home of a French art dealer and collector, was designed by master of Finnish modernist architecture (and design hero of mine), Alvar Aalto. Set in the French countryside 60km from Paris, the building and landscaped gardens were designed by Aalto in the late ‘50s, in his characteristically functional, modernist style, using natural materials and…

finnish contemporary in france.

The Maison Louis Carré, the eponymously named home of a French art dealer and collector, was designed by master of Finnish modernist architecture (and design hero of mine), Alvar Aalto. Set in the French countryside 60km from Paris, the building and landscaped gardens were designed by Aalto in the late ‘50s, in his characteristically functional, modernist style, using natural materials and…

brazilian modernism: midcentury furniture in brasilia.

Brazilian modernism is some of the most enigmatic and delightful of the modernist genre, often designed by well known architects of the times – Oscar Niemeyer and Lina Bo Bardi, for example. The forms of their furniture are as iconic as their buildings – strong in form, playful and spirited. 

Here, the owner of specialist gallery Naiara gallery, Neri, shares her thoughts and findings on the best…

from the archive: intimate spaces, defined.

Since I first wrote about the work of Romain Laprade, he has gone on to photograph campaigns for Isabel Marant, Kinfolk and Aesop amongst others: a dizzying array of exciting brands. His work is stylish and bold, often reminiscent of a movie still, and always distinctive. From the archive – my post from 2017:

Bold, modernist spaces in and around European cities dominate the site of French…

I wrote about the wonderful Isokon Gallery for Museeum.com. You can read the article, here

If I could be anywhere this coming week it would be Palm Springs for Modernism week and the Palm Springs Art Fair. Palm Springs is of course a modernism enthusiasts’ delight, with its plentiful single and split level homes, all shifting planes and open plan layouts, with big glass sections and cantilevered floors.

Instead, I’m rediscovering the work of one of my favourite proponents of the style,…

modernist works on paper.

I discovered the work of Carsten Nielsen, owner of Bycdesign Studio, on Instagram. Appealing to both my modernist and minimalist sensibiliites, Carsten’s works are simple and geometric in form, bold, and resolutely modern.

Born and raised in Aalborg, Denmark – the ‘Paris of the North’ – inspiration came early, from photographs of buildings and geometric shapes through to mathematical…

Good art and beautifully designed chairs. Two of my very favourite things will be brought together in an exhibition by the Madrid-based artist Nikoleta Sekulovic, at Rebecca Hossack gallery in London. 

The Hypatia Collection, named after an Ancient Greek female philosopher famous for being the greatest mathematician and astronomer of her time, consists of ten paintings of female nudes, each…

It’s been a good long while since I’ve been here, so I’m starting with a project we completed late last year. I’m very much looking forward to regular postings again.

The Tractor Shed involved the conversion of a dilapidated tractor shed in Hertfordshire into a 4-bedroom home for an artist, including two generous studio spaces.

Approaching the house from the north, the simple, bold openings of…

lubetkin’s house.

If you’re the architect of one of the best examples of modernist architecture in this country, then chances are your own apartment – in the same building – is going to be fabulous. Berthold Lubetkin designed this penthouse as this own home, set atop Highpoint II (Highpoint I had been designed 3 years earlier in 1935) with its panoramic views across London and afar. I wrote about Highpoint I…

If our summer vacation involved a trip to the south of Italy, then this is where I would want to stay. Built by Italian architect Michele Capobianco in 1964, the aptly named Villa Bianca is all geometric lines and elegance. Perfectly suited to the heat of its southern location, slim, double height columns elevate it high above its already lofty perch on the hills above Naples; the roof…

a painter and a sculptor.

Peter D. Cole is known for his wonderfully exuberant and playful works. I discovered him on Instagram, his works colour-bright set against their pure, white background. His abstract, watercolour paintings and bold, minimal sculptures are firmly rooted in the landscape of his native Australia; a simple vocabulary of singular elements floating on a sea of colour. Forms are broken down to represent…

a bauhaus vision in white.

Originally designed in 1934 by architect Nachman Kaplansky, Villa Kaplansky demonstrates the clean, geometric lines that were part of the Bauhaus movement’s influence. The exterior, with its linear, three bayed facade sitting on a raised plinth, uses the simple, functional language of the Modernists; the interior, recently remodelled, utilises these forms too, but with a contemporary take on ‘30s…

These beautiful spaces belong to Abode, a waterside development in Greenwich, created by lifestyle magazine-of-the-moment, Cereal magazine. The thoroughly contemporary interior is achieved with floor to ceiling glass, with ceilings floating above and concrete floors anchored below; unadorned concrete columns hang elegantly between. Not your typical contemporary palette of white and wood, and not…