House Style with Lauren Davies
After showing us around her family home in London Fields, designer Lauren Davies shares her house style…
You’re happiest at home when…
Pottering and listening to a food podcast.
I love nothing more than when our family is in a state of flow in the house, each person pottering about and moving between their own creative activities – such as gardening, cooking, lego or playdough – and occasionally sharing what they are playing with or working on but also able to get into an individual flow. This is a rare occurrence but when it happens, it is magic!
How would you describe the interiors of your house?
Playful, graphic, modular.
I see our house and garden like a grid with strong graphic lines, but also somewhere that creativity, experimentation and play are encouraged to burst over the lines, softening them. My love of vibrant colour is visible throughout and the modular furniture we own allows us to evolve and adapt within the house. We have a huge pegboard wall in the kitchen, plus three bays of Ladderax and a modular sofa with storage and beds underneath in the living space. These pieces of furniture mean we can rejig the space whenever we want, which keeps things fresh and exciting.
If you could only save one thing, what would it be?
It would have to be my paint palette coffee table.
I bought it from the North Laine in Brighton when I was an illustration student there and it’s the only piece of furniture or accessory I’ve held on to. During my more chintzy phase, I owned four cocktail cabinets, various teacups and saucers and many other bits, which I totally went off and have since sold or given away. However, I still love this piece as it is totally unique. I see it as a symbol of creativity and experimentation that can be applied to colour, flavour and scent, which is very much in line with the sensory themes of my work.
What was the last thing you bought for the house?
Colourful enamelware by the Turkish company Bornn.
I bought a selection of large bowls for pasta and ramen, baking trays and a teapot from their “Colorama” and “Kids & Family” ranges. The designs are super playful but also durable, which satisfies my love of design but is also practical and more sustainable with a young family… I hope they will be passed down to the boys when they are older.
Top three coffee table books?
Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs. Drawing With Scissors, 2 Vol by Gilles Neret and Xavier-Gilles Neret. Radical Matter by Kate Franklin and Caroline Till. La Grotta Ices by Kitty Travers.
Henri Matisse is my all-time favourite artist and his cut-out period is the truest expression of a preserved childlike curiosity that I know. I don’t actually own this book but it is on my ultimate wish list! Radical Matter is a compelling compendium of designers working with materials and ingredients in such inspiring and thoughtful ways for a more sustainable future. I love what Franklin Till do, and this is a beautiful manifesto of their progressive thinking. Lastly, La Grotta Ices is a riot of kitsch colour and flavour, proving that cooking consciously need not be boring. Kitty’s stories are so descriptive and motivating; they take you on a vibrant and resourceful journey through the seasons.
If money was no object, what changes would you make?
A spiral cellar for growing food, a sauna and an automatically controlled trampoline with a grass lid.
My husband and I are fascinated by spiral wine cellars but have a non-existent wine collection. So instead – inspired by Growing Underground in Clapham – we would use it to grow all sorts of unusual mushroom varieties and other foods that might grow under artificial light. Powering it sustainably would be a large part of the challenge and cost. We are also both obsessed with saunas so we’d have to design one into the house or garden. My ultimate dream is to design and build a contemporary outdoor sauna, including treatments that use local ingredients. Lastly, a decent-sized trampoline would solve high energy levels in young kids but totally dominate our modest-sized garden. If we could sink it into our postage-stamp-sized lawn and cover it with a grass lid that could be controlled with a remote control, then bingo!
You’re having people over for dinner: what do you cook?
Snacks, dips and homemade bread, a one-dish main and homemade ice cream – all pre-prepared so I can concentrate on socialising.
On the occasions I have cooked something whilst guests are here i.e. homemade pizzas or Burmese Mohinga, I end up not socialising as much, which is a wasted opportunity. So, I’d make some snacky bits from Olia Hercules’ Summer Kitchens to have with aperitifs. Then a big sharing dish from Anna Jones’ new book One Pot, Pan, Planet that requires little washing up after, or a pilaf from Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem – because Ottolenghi’s seasoning is always spot-on, even when trying new dishes for the first time. I’d finish with a La Grotta Ices seasonal homemade ice cream in one of Martha De Lacey’s homemade sourdough ice cream cones.
What does a Sunday here look like?
An earlyish start with eggs, homegrown chard and chilli sauce on toast, before a day out exploring the city.
I love having a simple cooked breakfast looking out onto our garden at the weekend when we are less rushed. The kitchen is filled with light in the morning and the garden full of birdsong. After this, we’d get out as swiftly as possible with scooters and snacks – prepared for rain, sun and all other eventualities – and head down to the river via Broadway Market and Columbia Road, stopping at playgrounds, browsing shops, having a pub lunch and doing a bit of mudlarking with a pint in hand. Ideally, we’d meet some friends or family for all or part of it.
What are the best things about the neighbourhood?
E5 Bakehouse, Victoria Park and Pavilion Cafe, Haeckels, The Prince Arthur, Dalston Curve Garden.
We are surrounded by parks and green spaces, great food, nightlife, markets, art galleries, independent shops – we’re totally spoilt for choice and there is nowhere in London I’d rather live. If I had to choose, my favourite places in the area are E5 Bakehouse – a local institution, where I go most mornings for coffee and freshly-baked pastries; Pavilion Cafe in Victoria Park; Haeckels for progressive natural beauty and products; The Prince Arthur for a laidback glass of wine in the evening sun and Dalston Curve Garden, which is the most magical hidden oasis. I love to cycle to the marshes via the canal, Victoria Park and the Olympic Park, making food and drink pit-stops along the way… usually foraging something or other.
How long will you be here for?
Unless we crave a larger, sunnier garden at some point, I see us being here for a very long time.
We are lucky that this house has so much potential to grow with us. So unless the calling for a bigger, sunnier garden gets louder, then we will move into the rest of the house at some point (we currently have a lodger) and enjoy the evolution of the space. We have so many plans for the rest of the house that we are only just getting started! Despite the lack of evening sun, the uninterrupted view of majestic London Plane trees in the park beyond our garden is hard to beat. They make this house and garden very unique and special.
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