Claudia Donaldson was the photography director at Wallpaper magazine, before becoming editor-in-chief of Nowness, the video platform that revolutionised the way we consume arts and culture. Under her stewardship, it is now considered a go-to source of inspiration and influence, featuring pioneers in the creative industry and established and emerging filmmakers who have a singular approach storytelling. More latterly, Claudia founded her own print magazine and digital platform, Cloakroom. For the latest episode of Homing In, Matt Gibberd hangs up his jacket to discuss Claudia’s own relationship to home.
“During her tenure at Nowness, Claudia commissioned the well-known ‘In Residence’ series, which took us inside the homes of the biggest names in design and architecture. Today, I’m meeting Claudia in her beautiful London home to give her a taste of her own journalistic medicine …
“She tells me about what it was like to grow up in an English prototype of the American dream, and talks fondly about her ‘impossibly glamorous’ grandparents’ house, which had shagpile carpet, pink loo roll and a telephone next to the sunken bath.
“We discuss why she prefers to define space with furniture rather than architecture, what happened when she broke her hip and couldn’t get down the stairs, why a home is never truly finished, and the power of procrastination.”
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