An elegant west London pied-à-terre packed with clever surprises
It would be hard to find a house more meticulously designed for the needs of its owner than the West London bolt-hole designed by Artichoke for a client who split his time between the USA and London. The client, who had worked his whole life in tech, came to Artichoke founder and creative director Bruce Hodgson with an unapologetically unique vision for a pied-à-terre, one which would transform a tired flat which had been unchanged for half a century. Bruce and his team took that vision and ran with it.
The design philosophy of the house is informed throughout by ease of use, and of high-tech luxury. The client wanted “a house that you could talk to,” says Bruce, “that was as automated as possible”. The lights, television and curtains can all be voice-activated thanks to a Crestron control system, while the client wanted built-in fans to blow very gently across the flat’s ribbon windows to prevent condensation. The automation even extended to the bathroom: “You can stand in front of the loo and say ‘flush’ or ‘squirt’. It’s one of those squirty-bum loos.” This all offered Bruce a challenge: how to incorporate all the wiring – 40 kilometres in all – that the automation would entail into the structure of the listed, 1960s Brutalist flat, which was largely built out of hard- or impossible-to-move concrete slabs? And one which was Grade-II listed, at that?
Luckily, the answer lay in Artichoke’s expertise: as a joinery business turned full-on interior design studio, they specialise in the clever design of surfaces. As such, rooms and hallways in the flat were re-panelled to incorporate the wiring, while the ceilings were coffered to disguise overhead cables. “We modelled it all in three dimensions,” recalls Bruce, “using CAD software called Inventor,” which allowed Artichoke to take a 2-D cut through any part of the building to know which wires were running where. The minute lowering of the ceiling left 2.35 metres of headroom in the flat; every iota of spare space has been put to use, while retaining a classic but fresh look on the surface. “I don’t think there’s a wasted inch, and I’m not exaggerating there.”
Despite the concrete slab construction, Bruce and his team did manage to somewhat reformat the house to suit the needs of the client, who wanted a place to work. After “trying to find some centre lines through the house and create some order”, the team alighted on the idea of reducing the bedroom space to configure a small study that became known as the “ticket office”, thanks to Bruce’s inspiration from a Belle Époque meat market in New York. “I went to New York a few years ago,” he explains, “and in the middle of this old market was this office. I’ve never really forgotten it because I love that period of joinery. Things back in the last century were built so beautifully.”
The “ticket office” was also a pun of sorts: because the client is a major investor in the stock market, Artichoke debossed a ticker tape with all his stock market interests on the back of the leather-clad entrance door, a theme repeated in the glass tabletop in the flat’s living space. Everything was distinctly designed with the flat’s owner in mind. On the door to the office, there is a playful decal where the word “Entrepreneur” has been struck out and replaced by “Retired”. On the ceiling is a painting that represents the night sky and stars that the client would see if he was back at home in the States, which can be illuminated by LEDs. And in the office itself, Bruce’s team incorporated a surprise: small, hidden lift where the client could press a button and a bottle of whisky would rise out of the desk. “I think it was 30-year-old bourbon whiskey that we found, and some crystal glasses.”
If the “ticket office” study with its idiosyncratic details is the epitome of a personalised space, then the rest of the house is more traditional – albeit marginally. Each room still tells a story that reflects an aspect of the client’s interests. A washroom papered in crimson monkey-motif De Gournay wallpaper is a deliberate nod to a painted ceiling in the same room, where the client had commissioned a tongue-in-cheek recreation of Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam”, with Adam replaced by an ape.
Bruce says that the kitchen was inspired by the US East Coast, where the client has a farmhouse – “We wanted to bring a degree of Americana into it for him” – but in the guest bedroom they took a different tack, with japonaiserie marquetry inspired by the park onto which the bedroom looks out. Even then, the inlay itself is still intertwined with the client’s life: charmingly, it features small jewelled insects designed to be sought out in a “bug hunt” game for the his young grandchildren. Motifs from the park outside are continued through into the fabric of the curtains, which were designed to resemble the bark of the trees outside, and the leaves embroidered into the silk carpet.
The resulting flat is a melange of the personal and the high-tech, a totally unique space chock-full of detailed reminders of the life and achievements – so far – of its owner. For Bruce, it was a dream project, not least because of the trust the client put in Artichoke. “He learned pretty quickly that we would probably had even better attention to detail than he did,” he says, “and it enabled us to really let loose with our imagination.”
Christopher Horwood1/12Reeded glass (which is echoed in other parts of the apartment) and a planked ceiling add an interesting retro American East coast vibe to the kitchen.
Christopher Horwood2/12In the bright and airy kitchen, marble is used as a strong design statement adding character and drama. Calcutta Oro marble was chosen for its neutral, pared-back colour and pronounced veining which complement the two-tone detail of the painted furniture and Nanz ironmongery. Maximising storage space was a priority for the client, to house cooking supplies as well as a large collection of crockery and cooking equipment. Hidden cupboards are integrated at every opportunity – even above the canopy over the hob.
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Christopher Horwood4/12A Roger Oates rug lines the hallway.
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Christopher Horwood7/12The bedroom is a masterpiece of artistic marquetry. The beds were made by the team too. Artichoke even developed a special treatment for the single glazed windows: they embedded hot water pipes, a bespoke grill and silent fans in the stone window sill to blow warm air over the glass to prevent condensation.
Christopher Horwood8/12For the banks of built-in cupboards, the team used American red cherry with designs featuring highlights from the neighbouring park. There are hidden jewelled insects, each representing a grandchild, and providing a bug hunt game for them to find butterflies and beetles when they come to stay. Motifs from the park were continued in details such as leaves embroidered into the silk carpet and the fabric for the curtains which was chosen to resemble the bark of a tree.
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Christopher Horwood10/12The handsome second bathroom in this London apartment is lined in marble – the green stone is Vert d’Estours – chosen for its uniform green grain and butter coloured background, which provides a striking contrast to the soft grey of the Carrara marble. The taps and light are by Waterworks.
Christopher Horwood11/12The master bathroom is dressed in travertine. The design used different cuts of stone on the floors and wall to create the impression of one big block of stone.
Christopher Horwood12/12A bathroom has been papered with Deco Monkeys by DeGournay, inspired by a textile from the 1920s. Lights from Sigmar London by Michael Anastassiades sit either side of a mirror from 8 Holland St. The sink is sourced from Drummonds.
