The Late Summer Return

This time of year has always carried a slight back-to-school feeling, whether or not there's actually a school run involved. After the looseness of summer, there's something nice about returning to familiar routines with fresh energy and perspective.

When the studio closed for a summer break, I headed to Provence with my mum for a little savoir-vivre. We stayed at Le Pigonnet, an eighteenth-century bastide nestled in verdant gardens on the edge of Aix-en-Provence, where leisurely dinners and the electric buzz of cicadas offered a welcome change of pace.

I came home rested but also full of ideas.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons travel is so valuable creatively. Stepping away from the familiar stimulates your senses and sharpens your eye.

Harmony in Parallel with Nature

One thought in particular followed me home. Provençal l native Cézanne, who painted and repainted his muse Mont Sainte-Victoire outside Aix, described art as a "harmony parallel to nature". He wasn't interested in reproducing what he saw but in capturing something essential through his own prism of experience.

With the mercury reaching 37 degrees during our stay, I found myself thinking about his words in relation to design. Traditional Provençal architecture was shaped by its surroundings. Thick walls and shutters tempered the intense summer heat, while locally available stone, clay and timber gave buildings an intrinsic connection to the landscape from which they emerged. Gardens and shaded terraces softened the boundary between indoors and out.

Le Pigonnet's Folie Verte spa, designed by Marion Mailaender offers a contemporary interpretation of vernacular architecture. Plaster walls, regional clay tiles and limestone flagstones sit alongside a particularly beautiful local plane wood clad gym. Instead of reproducing an idealised version of Provence familiar materials have been given a fresh, contemporary expression.

It was a reminder that inspiration is often it's about understanding what lies beneath our response to something rather than emulating something as is. That distinction is important in our own work. Inspiration might begin with a favourite hotel, a piece of art or even a something more conceptual like favourite type of landscape, but the interesting part is what happens next. Taking something too literally rarely produces an interior with much individuality. Instead, we try to understand why something resonates and allow that idea to evolve.

Back in London, we're doing exactly that at our Putney project, where we're working alongside architectural practice Well Studio to reimagine and extend a family home. The context could hardly be more different from an eighteenth century bastide but some of the underlying questions one asks on a period renovation are surprisingly similar. How do you preserve character while making a house work for contemporary life? How do you ensure the practical and beautiful coexist? And how do you introduce something new without erasing what made a place distinctive in the first place?

Behind the scenes, that currently means working with Calibre Climate to integrate air conditioning discreetly within the architecture while simultaneously developing the more expressive layers of the interiors. Our early palette brings together earthy tones with fresh blues and greens, tactile natural materials, pattern and pieces that reflect the family's travels and heritage. The mood board offers a glimpse of where we're heading, while the existing bay window is a glimpse of the house as it stands now…

These two sides of the process can sometimes appear contradictory. One involves ducting, dimensions and technical drawings; the other colour, textiles and artistic flourishes. Of course, good interiors depend upon both. The technical work should underpin the design but be unobtrusive enough that it’s the architecture and decoration that you encounter.

Needless to say it’s a joint effort and we lean on each member of the wider team to bring their knowledge and expertise to the table so that we can dovetail the architecture, engineering , mechanical and electrical with the beautiful things we get particularly excited about, like gorgeous plaster cornicing, panelling details and woodwork of all descriptuons.

So, to a fun and fulfilling return to desk!

Anouska.x